The effects of new dimensions of psychological job demands and job control on active learning and occupational health

Abstract

Recent changes in job content may have led to changes in job demands and control, and earlier operationalizations of the demand concept may be too general (MT). The aim of this paper is to show how new dimensions of psychological job demands are related to two sets of outcome variables, employee health and active learning, and how these relationships are modified or interact with social support and types of job control. The study was carried out as a survey among employees of 13 electric companies in Norway, N=2435. Lisrel was used to assess the fit of the proposed models. Compared to the traditional demands control model, an extended version used in this study increased the explained variance on an average by 4% on various occupational health variables. It was found that various dimensions of demands were differentially related to the outcome variables. Skill discretion uniformly reduced the effect of the demands: for groups low in skill discretion there was a stronger relationship between demands and outcomes than for groups high in skill discretion. The interaction pattern for the remaining control and support variables was however more complicated and warrants further study. The practical implications are that employers should carefully consider the quality of work. Special attention should be given to the quantitative demands of the jobs, since there seems to be few moderators for the relationship between those demands and job stress and subjective health complaints.     

Collaborations between young people living with bodily impairments and their multiprofessional teams: The relational dynamics of participation and power

This paper explores how more or less relationally oriented forms of professional practices could be expressed in collaborations between young people living with bodily impairments and their multiprofessional teams. The analysis was based on life-mode interviews with young people (16–20 years), individual and focus group interviews with the professionals and participant observation in team meetings. Drawing on sociocultural perspectives on participation and the workings of power, different discourses, subject positions and participatory strategies were recognised and related to the participation of the young people. Finally, the relevance of the findings for practice is reflected on in a participation rights perspective.     

How the local supply of day-care centers influences fertility in Norway: A parity-specific approach

In order to assess how expansion of day care facilities affects fertility, the Norwegian Family and Occupation Survey of 1988 was linked with individual register-based migration histories and time-series data on day-care coverage rates in all Norwegian municipalities. Many factors affect both the allocation of resources to day-care centers and a woman's probability of giving birth. The local coverage rate is positively associated with the probability of advancing from parity two, after control for geographical region, degree of urbanization and other confounders. This effect of day-care supply, which is significant at low coverage levels, contributed to a moderate rise in third-birth rates after the mid-1970s. However, if the aggregate employment rate for women is also regarded as a confounder, the effect of day care may actually be insignificant. Moreover, the effect fades at higher coverage levels. Finally, there are indications that second- and first-birth probabilities decline with increasing provision of day care. These results suggest that further efforts to improve the supply of private and public day care - which in Norway are likely to be motivated by non-demographic concerns - will have little stimulating effect on fertility, at least if the subsidies and quality of care remain unchanged.     

Bayesian analysis of spatial point processes in the neighbourhood of Voronoi networks

A model for an inhomogeneous Poisson process with high intensity near the edges of a Voronoi tessellation in 2D or 3D is proposed. The model is analysed in a Bayesian setting with priors on nuclei of the Voronoi tessellation and other model parameters. An MCMC algorithm is constructed to sample from the posterior, which contains information about the unobserved Voronoi tessellation and the model parameters. A major element of the MCMC algorithm is the reconstruction of the Voronoi tessellation after a proposed local change of the tessellation. A simulation study and examples of applications from biology (animal territories) and material science (alumina grain structure) are presented.     

Goodness‐of‐Fit based on Downsampling with Applications to Linear Drift Diffusions

Abstract. A goodness‐of‐fit test for continuous‐time models is developed that examines if the parameter estimates are consistent with another for different sampling frequencies. The test compares parameter estimates obtained from estimating functions for downsamples of the data. We prove asymptotic results for stationary and ergodic processes, and apply the downsampling test to linear drift diffusions. Simulations indicate that the test is quite powerful in detecting non‐Markovian deviations from the linear drift diffusions.     

ANOVA for unbalanced data: Use Type II instead of Type III sums of squares

Methods for analyzing unbalanced factorial designs can be traced back to Yates (1934). Today, most major statistical programs perform, by default, unbalanced ANOVA based on Type III sums of squares (Yates's weighted squares of means). As criticized by Nelder and Lane (1995), this analysis is founded on unrealistic models—models with interactions, but without all corresponding main effects. The Type II analysis (Yates's method of fitting constants) is usually not preferred because of the underlying assumption of no interactions. This argument is, however, also founded on unrealistic models. Furthermore, by considering the power of the two methods, it is clear that Type II is preferable.     

Simultaneous Credible Bands for Latent Gaussian Models

Abstract. Deterministic Bayesian inference for latent Gaussian models has recently become available using integrated nested Laplace approximations (INLA). Applying the INLA‐methodology, marginal estimates for elements of the latent field can be computed efficiently, providing relevant summary statistics like posterior means, variances and pointwise credible intervals. In this article, we extend the use of INLA to joint inference and present an algorithm to derive analytical simultaneous credible bands for subsets of the latent field. The algorithm is based on approximating the joint distribution of the subsets by multivariate Gaussian mixtures. Additionally, we present a saddlepoint approximation to compute Bayesian contour probabilities, representing the posterior support of fixed parameter vectors of interest. We perform a simulation study and apply the given methods to two real examples.     

Estimating stage occupation probabilities in non-Markov models

We study non-Markov multistage models under dependent censoring regarding estimation of stage occupation probabilities. The individual transition and censoring mechanisms are linked together through covariate processes that affect both the transition intensities and the censoring hazard for the corresponding subjects. In order to adjust for the dependent censoring, an additive hazard regression model is applied to the censoring times, and all observed counting and “at risk” processes are subsequently given an inverse probability of censoring weighted form. We examine the bias of the Datta–Satten and Aalen–Johansen estimators of stage occupation probability, and also consider the variability of these estimators by studying their estimated standard errors and mean squared errors. Results from different simulation studies of frailty models indicate that the Datta–Satten estimator is approximately unbiased, whereas the Aalen–Johansen estimator either under- or overestimates the stage occupation probability due to the dependent nature of the censoring process. However, in our simulations, the mean squared error of the latter estimator tends to be slightly smaller than that of the former estimator. Studies on development of nephropathy among diabetics and on blood platelet recovery among bone marrow transplant patients are used as demonstrations on how the two estimation methods work in practice. Our analyses show that the Datta–Satten estimator performs well in estimating stage occupation probability, but that the censoring mechanism has to be quite selective before a deviation from the Aalen-Johansen estimator is of practical importance. N. Gunnes—Supported by a grant from the Norwegian Cancer Society.     

Mental and Physical Health Trajectories of Norwegian Parents and Children before and after Union Dissolution

The aim was to examine the mental and physical health trajectories of mothers, fathers, and children before and after union dissolution. Register data covering the entire Norwegian population, and including information on consultations with general practitioners in 2006–2018, were used. Constant unobserved characteristics were controlled for with individual fixed effects. As judged by the number of consultations, mothers’ and fathers’ mental health deteriorates before the dissolution but improves immediately afterwards. In contrast, a worsening mental health among children before the dissolution is followed by an even more adverse development afterwards. There is only modest evidence of predissolution increases in noninfectious physical diseases, but more clearly rising numbers afterwards especially for mothers and daughters. Less adverse trends are seen for infections, although mothers experience a sharp temporary increase at the breakup time. On the whole, mothers’ health is more adversely affected by dissolution than that of fathers. Daughters may have a disadvantage compared to sons, but results vary across model specifications. The results suggest that effects on children's health do not operate through parents’ health. With respect to union type, the health changes before and after dissolution of a consensual union are not very different from those before and after marital separation.