Likelihood-based panel cointegration test in the presence of a linear time trend and cross-sectional dependence

This article proposes a new likelihood-based panel cointegration rank test which extends the test of Örsal and Droge (2014 Örsal, D. D. K., Droge, B. (2014). Panel cointegration testing in the presence of a time trend. Computational Statistics and Data Analysis 76:377–390.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) (henceforth panel SL test) to dependent panels. The dependence is modelled by unobserved common factors which affect the variables in each cross-section through heterogeneous loadings. The data are defactored following the panel analysis of nonstationarity in idiosyncratic and common components (PANIC) approach of Bai and Ng (2004 Bai, J., Ng, S. (2004). A PANIC attack on unit roots and cointegration. Econometrica 72(4):1127–1177.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) and the cointegrating rank of the defactored data is then tested by the panel SL test. A Monte Carlo study demonstrates that the proposed testing procedure has reasonable size and power properties in finite samples.     

Student Perception As Moderator For Student Wellbeing

Student motivation as well as student perception of interpersonal teacher behaviour are linked to the sense of wellbeing at student level. However, while most of the variance in the measurement of student wellbeing was situated at student level, eleven percent of variance was found at classroom level. In this article we focus on this variance at classroom level and the moderating role that student perception of interpersonal teacher behaviour has. From an interpersonal perspective on teaching, the relationship between teacher wellbeing, perceptions of interpersonal teacher behaviour, and student wellbeing is examined. Grade 9 students of technical and vocational training schools are participating in this study. In the analyses a distinction is made between teaching academic subjects and teaching vocational subjects. There appears to be a direct link between the wellbeing of the teachers of academic subjects and the wellbeing of their students. Students who perceive their academic teacher as leading, helpful and friendly score higher on wellbeing, while wellbeing decreases when an academic teacher is perceived as strict and admonishing.The relationship between the teacher of vocational subjects who typifies himself as strict and admonishing, and the wellbeing of his students, is moderated by student perceptions of teacher interpersonal behaviour. A direct relationship between the wellbeing of the vocational teacher and the wellbeing of students is not found. Only when the vocational teacher's wellbeing is high and student perceptions of uncertain or dissatisfied interpersonal teacher behaviour is low, does student wellbeing increase. We conclude that for vocational subjects, student perceptions of interpersonal teacher behaviour are crucial moderators. Finally, students who are highly motivated to learn practical subjects, have a higher score on student wellbeing. By contrast, the fact that education is inherently obligatory has a negative influence on student wellbeing.     

Predicting Career Indecision in College Students: The Roles of Identity Formation and Parental Relationship Factors

Students' identity formation and perceptions of parental acceptance and encouragement of independence were investigated as predictors of career indecision. The Mother-Father-Peer Scale (Epstein, 1983), Extended Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status (Bennion & Adams, 1986), and Career Decision Scale (Osipow, Carney, Winer, Yanico, & Koschier, 1976) were administered to 169 undergraduate students with a mean age of 19.68. Analysis using multiple regression indicated that career indecision was predicted by a greater degree of identity moratorium and diffusion, less maternal acceptance and fewer years in college. Suggestions for future research and counseling applications are provided.     

Positive Feelings After Casual Sex: The Role of Gender and Traditional Gender-Role Beliefs

The purpose of this study was to identify predictors of positive and negative affect following casual sex. Specifically, the primary goal was to investigate how traditional gender-role beliefs, peer approval of casual sex, perceptions of others, sexual assertiveness, and sexual pleasure influence affective experiences. Second, we aimed to determine the extent to which these associations were comparable for men and women. Although we expected mean differences on many of these constructs (e.g., men perceiving more peer approval), we expected the relationships between these constructs to be comparable for women and men. Participants ages 18 to 35 (N = 585) were recruited from a large university and Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) and described their most recent casual sex experience in a self-report questionnaire. Structural equation modeling (SEM) analyses indicated that gender-role beliefs were significantly associated with less sexual assertiveness and more negative perceptions of others; for women they were also associated with less peer approval of casual sex. For women and men, sexual assertiveness predicted sexual pleasure; and sexual pleasure was associated with affect. To decrease the gender discrepancy in positive affect and sexual pleasure, it is important to develop a comprehensive understanding of the interrelationships among norms, casual sex experiences, and affect.     

Children and safety in Australian policy: Implications for organisations and practitioners

Child safety is now a national policy priority in Australia. Extensive enquiries and reviews have escalated legislative and policy responses focused on developing, maintaining and monitoring “child safe” organisations. The recommendations of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse point to the importance of cultural conditions within organisations in supporting child safety and the need for responsive change in some organisations. Drawing on a recent policy analysis, undertaken as part of a larger Australian Research Council Discovery Project, this article examines how children and safety are constructed, within and across relevant state and federal government policies in Australia, and the implications of this. Distinctions are drawn between conceptualisations of children within the broader education policy context and two specific policy contexts in which children are considered particularly vulnerable to abuse – out‐of‐home care and disability. The findings indicate that policy discourses of “child safe” potentially foster different emphases and approaches in organisations. These have implications for the way children are positioned in relation to their safety, how their rights are recognised and implemented, and what is required to foster cultural conditions within organisations to best support children’s safety and wellbeing.     

Modeling the psychological determinants of life quality

A number of subjective well-being scales were compared and evaluated. The Satisfaction With Life Scale emerged as a good measure of general life satisfaction and the Affective Intensity Measure appeared to adequately assess the characteristic level of emotional intensity. Most other scales seemed to reflect both life satisfaction and duration of positive versus negative affect. Of the single item measures, those created by Fordyce were the strongest, whereas for the multi-item scales, several performed at adequate levels. The widely used Bradburn scales showed several undesirable psychometric properties and alternative scales are suggested.