THE SEX RATIO AND WOMEN'S INVOLVEMENT IN CRIME: A CROSS-NATIONAL ANALYSIS

By extending an influential theory relating societal-level sex ratios to women's life circumstances (Guttentag and Secord 1983), this article formulates hypotheses linking the sex ratio with three dimensions of women's involvement in crime: (1) women's victimization, (2) the protection given to women by the criminal justice system, and (3) women's criminal offending. These hypotheses are then tested with data from approximately 60 countries. The results suggest that a relative undersupply of women (i.e., a high sex ratio) decreases significantly women's criminal offending rate (as indicated by the ratio of female–to–male arrest rates for theft). The hypothesis that the sex ratio increases the protection from crime afforded women (as indicated by the percent of rape cases solved by police) receives guarded support. These findings accord with the sex-ratio thesis, which suggests that in high sex-ratio societies women will be highly valued and their roles limited to the family, where opportunities to commit property crimes are minimal. Contrary to our hypothesis, however, the sex ratio does not significantly influence the female homicide victimization rate. Finally, the level of socioeconomic development, as measured by a multi-item index, is shown to have a substantial influence on sex differences in homicide victimization and theft offending.     

Watershed-scale analysis of pollutant distributions in stormwater management ponds

Stormwater management ponds have become a common Best Management Practice in urban and suburban landscapes. Stormwater management ponds are designed to hold runoff from impervious surfaces and allow the settling of sediments and associated pollutants. Various semi-aquatic and aquatic wildlife species have been documented using stormwater management ponds as habitat, but these wetland-like systems are not managed to adhere to freshwater habitat pollutant guidelines. To address the potential for pollutant exposure for wildlife, we used a random sample of 68 stormwater ponds and estimated the proportion of ponds in a third-order watershed that exceed toxicity guidelines for trace metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in sediments and chloride in surface waters. Ninety-six percent of ponds exceeded consensus-based threshold effect concentrations for at least one trace metal. Concentrations of at least one of the PAHs measured exceeded the threshold effects concentration in 63% of the ponds. Nine percent of ponds exceeded chronic toxicity levels of chloride on all sampling dates, and 21% exceeded acute toxicity concentrations on at least one sampling date. More studies are needed to evaluate toxic effects of pollutants in stormwater management ponds and the potential for interactive effects of pollutants on wildlife.     

How do Students Respond to Labor Market and Education Incentives? An Analysis of Homework Time

This study examines the extent to which high school students respond to education and labor market incentives when making decisions about homework. Student and state fixed effects estimators are used to control for unobserved individual and geographic heterogeneity and selection. I find that students’ choices about homework respond to unemployment rates and changes in the minimum wage, but not to changes in the price of higher education. These responses are not constant throughout the population: female students, low income students, and low achieving students in particular increase their homework time in response to a higher minimum wage, while male students are more responsive to changes in the unemployment rate.     

Estimands in hematologic oncology trials

The estimand framework included in the addendum to the ICH E9 guideline facilitates discussions to ensure alignment between the key question of interest, the analysis, and interpretation. Therapeutic knowledge and drug mechanism play a crucial role in determining the strategy and defining the estimand for clinical trial designs. Clinical trials in patients with hematological malignancies often present unique challenges for trial design due to complexity of treatment options and existence of potential curative but highly risky procedures, for example, stem cell transplant or treatment sequence across different phases (induction, consolidation, maintenance). Here, we illustrate how to apply the estimand framework in hematological clinical trials and how the estimand framework can address potential difficulties in trial result interpretation. This paper is a result of a cross-industry collaboration to connect the International Conference on Harmonisation (ICH) E9 addendum concepts to applications. Three randomized phase 3 trials will be used to consider common challenges including intercurrent events in hematologic oncology trials to illustrate different scientific questions and the consequences of the estimand choice for trial design, data collection, analysis, and interpretation. Template language for describing estimand in both study protocols and statistical analysis plans is suggested for statisticians' reference.     

Wage subsidies as an anti-discrimination policy

Using the statistical theory of discrimination, we argue that initial wage offers may be lower for minority workers, but that wage differences for a given level of productivity should diminish with the worker's job tenure. If a wage subsidization policy is designed so that initial wage offers are equal for majority and minority workers and is maintained for a time period sufficient to demonstrate true productivity, then wage differences for a given level of productivity should disappear. We also provide an empirical test of the effectiveness of such a policy by using a sample of participants in a government job program that enforced equal wage schedules for White and Black workers. Our results show that measured discrimination declined among program participants, supporting the hypothesis that wage subsidies would be an effective anti-discrimination policy.     

Reconsidering the increase in father-only families

Previously reported estimates of rapid growth rates among father-only families did not account for cohabitation. An explicit treatment of cohabitation removes about half of the presumed growth. Nevertheless, we find that the number of father-only families grew at more than double the rate of mother-only families during the 1980s. Decomposition analyses show that the largest factor associated with the increase is that fathers now head a greater proportion of all formerly married single-parent families with children. Although the share of single-parent families headed by fathers is larger in 1990 than in 1980 even after controlling for cohabitation, it is smaller than in 1970.     

Diverging fertility among U.S. women who delay childbearing past age 30

In this paper I examine the evolving association between educational attainment and the timing of births. In the late 1970s, women with four-year college degrees had lower first birth rates before age 30 than women with less education, but rates of first births were similar for the two groups after age 30. From the 1970s to the 1990s, first birth rates decreased before age 30 for all women, but increased after age 30 only for women with four-year college degrees. Parity 2 birth rates also increased for college graduates with a first birth after age 30. These results document widening educational differences in fertility timing between 1975 and 1995, which may reflect period changes at later ages in women's work and family lives.     

Variations in infant mortality rates among counties of the United States: The roles of public policies and programs

The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the causes of the rapid decline in the infant mortality rate in the United States in the period after 1963. The roles of four public policies are considered: Medicaid, subsidized family planning services for low-income women, maternal and infant care projects, and the legalization of abortion. The most striking finding is that the increase in the legal abortion rate is the single most important factor in reductions in both white and nonwhite neonatal mortality rates. Not only does the growth in abortion dominate the other public policies, but it also dominates schooling and poverty.     

The absolutely fabulous but flawlessly customary world of female impersonators

Our editorial introduction to this volume on drag queens highlights what we believe are some of the most prominent and important themes of female impersonation in the past and today. Building on contributors' articles, a substantial body of literature on female impersonators/drag queens and the social construction of gender, and our own extensive ethnographic experiences in a multitude of drag settings, we first suggest that such individuals can be seen as symbolic representatives of the cultural ideals associated with the feminine and women and how they have changed over time. We next argue that the notion of the effeminate drag queen is more a myth than a reality with the contextual benefits many performers receive-status and power-being indicative of the hegemony of masculinity in male-dominated societies. We next explore how additional social identities, such as race, class, nation, and religion, often impact drag performances and how others interpret them. We end our introduction by offering a model that delineates what are some of the present transgressive limits and subversive possibilities of female impersonation.