Gebildet, flexibel und prek?r. Berufseinstieg von Graduierten der Universit?t Salzburg

This article??s aim is to enlighten university graduates?? transition to the labor market, with a focus on atypical forms of work, which have increased strongly in Austria in the past ten years. Especially career entrants, even if highly educated, are affected by these, potentially precarious types of employment. The theoretical part deals with the labor market in general and the specific conditions for academic career-entrants. Using data of the graduate survey conducted by the University of Salzburg in November 2009, this article shows that de facto two thirds of the questioned academic career entrants are employed atypically at the time of the survey. Nevertheless these flexible forms of work seem to decrease the more time has passed since graduation. Therefore a process of normalization of employment forms is assumed.     

Asymmetry models for square contingency tables: exact tests via algebraic statistics

Square contingency tables with the same row and column classification occur frequently in a wide range of statistical applications, e.g. whenever the members of a matched pair are classified on the same scale, which is usually ordinal. Such tables are analysed by choosing an appropriate loglinear model. We focus on the models of symmetry, triangular, diagonal and ordinal quasi symmetry. The fit of a specific model is tested by the chi-squared test or the likelihood-ratio test, where p-values are calculated from the asymptotic chi-square distribution of the test statistic or, if this seems unjustified, from the exact conditional distribution. Since the calculation of exact p-values is often not feasible, we propose alternatives based on algebraic statistics combined with MCMC methods.     

The Diagnostic Utility of the Child Sexual Behavior Inventory for Sexual Abuse: A Systematic Review

Children with alleged child sexual abuse (CSA) need to be assessed systematically. The use of validated instruments during the assessment, like the Child Sexual Behavior Inventory (CSBI), could add diagnostic value. We aim to assess the diagnostic utility of the CSBI to differentiate between sexually abused and non-abused children. We conducted a systematic review. We searched the electronic databases MEDLINE and PsychInfo for studies comparing CSBI scores in sexually abused children and non-abused children (2–12 years old). Two independent reviewers extracted data and assessed the methodological quality. We included 7 (out of 1048) articles. The CSBI total scores were significantly higher in CSA-victims compared with non-abused children (in case–control settings). However, in children with suspected CSA, the results were ambiguous. One study reported significant differences. Another study reported weak diagnostic ability for the CSBI-3 in children with suspected CSA (a sensitivity and specificity of 0.50, with a positive predictive value of 0.28, and a negative predictive value of 0.72). Research on the diagnostic utility of the CSBI for suspected CSA is limited and shows disappointing results. Until more research is done, the CSBI should not be used on its own to differentiate between sexually abused and non-abused children.     

Early Sexual Initiation and Mental Health: A Fleeting Association or Enduring Change?

The present research examined how the within‐person association between sexual initiation and internalizing symptoms decays over time, using data with annual measurement occasions across adolescence (N = 1,789) and statistical models of within‐person change. Sexual initiation was associated with increased levels of internalizing symptoms for early‐initiating girls (ninth grade, approximately age 15), but not for on‐time‐initiating girls or for boys. The association between girls' early sexual initiation and internalizing symptoms declined precipitously over time. Indeed, 1 year after sexual debut, early‐initiating girls were similar to on‐time or noninitiating girls on internalizing symptoms, suggesting early sexual initiation does not produce lasting detriments to girls' mental health. Findings inform how researchers perceive sexual initiation, both as a developmental milestone and as a prevention target.     

Photographs of young generations on the Dutch labour market

In the light of the decline of “standard” employment relationships in many countries and its particular effect on young people, this article provides a detailed analysis of the labour market trajectories of early-career workers in the Netherlands between 1985 and 2014, adopting the approach of the sequence analysis of life-course events. Using two indicators for instability (entropy and turbulence), the authors find that cohorts that entered the labour market after 2000, and particularly in 2008, experience greater employment status instability despite the flexicurity policies applied. Transitions into stable employment are the exception rather than the rule.     

Adolescent Internalizing Symptoms and the “Tightknittedness” of Friendship Groups

Adolescents with depression have lower peer status overall, but tend to befriend each other. We examined the “tightknittedness” of their friendship groups by testing whether adolescent friendship groups’ average levels of or variability in internalizing symptoms predict group cohesiveness. We used four waves (9th–12th grades) of survey and social network data on 3,013 friendship groups from the PROmoting School‐Community‐University Partnerships to Enhance Resilience study. Friendship groups with higher average depressive symptoms were less cohesive; groups with higher average anxiety symptoms had greater reciprocity. Groups with greater variability in depressive symptoms had greater density; variability in anxiety symptoms was not consistently associated with cohesion. The friendship groups of depressed adolescents appear less cohesive than the “typical” adolescent friendship group.     

What do young children know about sex? Research on the sexual knowledge of children between the ages of 2 and 6 years

We investigated the sexual knowledge of 63 Dutch children in the age range 2–6 years. Boys and girls were equally represented in the sample. The children had an average, or above‐average IQ and none of them had any experience of sexual abuse. It was found that young children have a very limited knowledge of sexuality. They only possess some basic knowledge of genital differences, gender identity, sexual body parts and (non‐sexual) functions of the genitals. Knowledge of pregnancy and birth, reproduction and adult sexual behaviour was found to be very limited and decreased in the order presented here. Non‐sexually abused children appear to interpret situations that show physical intimacy between adults and children in terms of their own experiences. None of the children talked about sexual activities. Older children generally knew more than younger ones. No significant differences in knowledge between boys and girls were found. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Recognizing Emotions in a Foreign Language

Expressions of basic emotions (joy, sadness, anger, fear, disgust) can be recognized pan-culturally from the face and it is assumed that these emotions can be recognized from a speaker’s voice, regardless of an individual’s culture or linguistic ability. Here, we compared how monolingual speakers of Argentine Spanish recognize basic emotions from pseudo-utterances (“nonsense speech”) produced in their native language and in three foreign languages (English, German, Arabic). Results indicated that vocal expressions of basic emotions could be decoded in each language condition at accuracy levels exceeding chance, although Spanish listeners performed significantly better overall in their native language (“in-group advantage”). Our findings argue that the ability to understand vocally-expressed emotions in speech is partly independent of linguistic ability and involves universal principles, although this ability is also shaped by linguistic and cultural variables.

Chronic avoidance helps explain the relationship between severity of childhood sexual abuse and psychological distress in adulthood

Recent studies have found that chronic avoidance of unpleasant internal experiences (e.g., thoughts, emotions, memories) is a maladaptive means of affect regulation often adopted by women with a history of sexual victimization in childhood. The primary aim of this study was to replicate and extend previous findings suggesting that higher levels of experiential avoidance may account for the relationship between childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and psychological distress in adulthood. It was hypothesized that, in a sample of undergraduate females (n = 151), the relationship between severity of CSA (e.g., frequency, nature of victimization) and trauma-related psychological distress would be mediated by avoidance. Results supported this hypothesis. Findings are consistent with previous studies, and further suggest that the general tendency to avoid or escape from unpleasant internal experiences may be a specific factor that exacerbates psychological distress among women with a history of sexual victimization in childhood.