Dual-earner couples and the decision to work less: A conceptual model

This paper examines the factors that affect the decision made by dual-earner couples concerning the possibility of one (or both) partners working a reduced-hours schedule. We rely on a comprehensive review of the literature on part-time work among dual-earner couples and on the factors that affect the decisions couples make about their work hours as well as preliminary findings from our ongoing study to consider two key questions: (1) What factors do dual-earner couples take into account when they consider whether one or both might work a reduced-hours schedule? (2) If the couple decides that one partner will work a reduced-hours schedule, how do they decide which partner reduces the hours of employment? Most previous research has focused on the centrality of gender in the decisions that couples make concerning the hours that they work. However, our review of the literature and the preliminary findings of our current research suggest that there are other factors that affect (directly or indirectly) the couples' decisions related to part-time options. Based on this review we present a new decision-making model for two-earner couples that will have implications for future research and policy initiatives. This paper is particularly timely for several reasons: the number of dual-earner couples continues to increase; there is some indication that more employees would choose to reduce their work hours if that were a viable option; and recently, managers and professional workers have become more vocal about their interest in part-time career options.     

Diagnosing the pathological gambler

This paper discusses problems of making the diagnosis of pathological gambling, a new diagnosis in the 1980 edition of DSM III. Suggestions are made for taking the patient's history, evaluating it, and ruling out other diagnoses. A checklist derived from DMS III is presented to help facilitate making an accurate diagnosis.An earlier version of this paper was read at the Fourth Annual Conference on Gambling, Lake Tahoe, Nevada, 1981.     

Preface: Women and Work: Where Are We, Where Did We Come From, and Where Are We Going?

The obstacles faced by today's women in the workplace bear out the truth in the old adage that history repeats itself. The maternal wall, the ideal worker, and the ideal homemaker beliefs are current iterations of the century-old tendency to mark women as suited for the home and men as suited for the workplace ( Albee & Perry, 1998 ; Coltrane, 1996 ; Mintz, 2000 ). The belief that the sexes are vastly different—with different needs, values, and abilities—has been a hallmark throughout the history of both women and men in both the workplace and the home ( Ferree, 1990 ; Williams, 2000 ). Generally speaking, these beliefs have been detrimental to all concerned ( Barnett & Rivers, 2004 ).     

The Greater Complexity of Lived Race: An Extension of Harris and Sim*

Objectives. Harris and Sim (2002) recently demonstrated the complexity of lived race by exploring patterns of racial self‐identification. They raised important sociological questions about the role of context in racial self‐identification, but offered an incomplete picture of ethnic fluidity by excluding Hispanics from their analyses. We address this limitation with data on Hispanics from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). Methods. Our social‐psychological approach, using compositional analysis, focuses on the lived experience of race and ethnicity as qualitatively similar conceptual categories. Results. Informed by the cognitive process of social categorization, we find that considerably more individuals show fluidity in racial and ethnic self‐identification across contexts than suggested by Harris and Sim. Conclusions. Harris and Sim's thesis is even more strongly supported by these findings than in their original analysis, and our findings reinforce their challenge to the assumed stability of racial and ethnic measurement in sociology. We conclude by proposing a change in the measurement of race/ethnicity in America.     

The Role of Evaluator-Victim Relationships in Children's Evaluations of Peer Provocation

Second-, third-, fifth-, and sixth- grade children evaluated two hypothetical target peers in three provocation scenarios which differed as to the intent of a provocative act (Ambiguous, Accidental, Hostile). In addition to age and gender, evaluator-victim relationship was manipulated with children portrayed as being in a best friend, an acquaintance, or an enemy relationship with the victim, while the agent of the provocation was an unfamiliar peer. Evaluations were assessed in terms of attributions of aggressor's intentions, behavior response of the victim, evaluator's liking for victim, and evaluator's affect. Results indicated that older children evaluated aggressor's intentions and victim's behavior response more negatively than did younger children. Further, attributions of aggressor's intent significantly predicted the victim's subsequent behavioral response. Evaluator's affect was reported to be more negative when evaluating hostile provocation compared to accidental or ambiguous provocation and evaluators in acquaintance and enemy relationships with the victim reported liking the victim more after the provocation than before it occurred. Results are discussed in terms of the social relational and social situational influences on children's evaluations of peer interactions and the need to integrate these contextual factors in children's person perception research.     

Unaliasing of aliased line component frequencies

This paper is concerned with undoing aliasing effects, which arise from discretely sampling a continuous‐time stochastic process. Such effects are manifested in the frequency‐domain relationships between the sampled and original processes. The authors describe a general technique to undo aliasing effects, given two processes, one being a time‐delayed version of the other. The technique is based on the observations that certain phase information between the two processes is unaffected by sampling, is completely determined by the (known) time delay, and contains sufficient information to undo aliasing effects. The authors illustrate their technique with a simulation example. The theoretical model is motivated by the helioseismological problem of determining modes of solar pressure waves. The authors apply their technique to solar radio data, and conclude that certain low‐frequency modes known in the helioseismology literature are likely the result of aliasing effects. The Canadian Journal of Statistics 38: 116–135; 2010 © 2010 Statistical Society of Canada     

When Precaution Creates Misunderstandings: The Unintended Effects of Precautionary Information on Perceived Risks,the EMF Case

In the past decade, growing public concern about novel technologies with uncertain potential long‐term impacts on the environment and human health has moved risk policies toward a more precautionary approach. Focusing on mobile telephony, the effects of precautionary information on risk perception were analyzed. A pooled multinational experimental study based on a 5 × 2 × 2 factorial design was conducted in nine countries. The first factor refers to whether or not information on different types of precautionary measures was present, the second factor to the framing of the precautionary information, and the third factor to the order in which cell phones and base stations were rated by the study participants. The data analysis on the country level indicates different effects. The main hypothesis that informing about precautionary measures results in increased risk perceptions found only partial support in the data. The effects are weaker, both in terms of the effect size and the frequency of significant effects, across the various precautionary information formats used in the experiment. Nevertheless, our findings do not support the assumption that informing people about implemented precautionary measures will decrease public concerns.     

School Size and the Interpersonal Side of Education: An Examination of Race/Ethnicity and Organizational Context*

Objectives. The purpose of this study was to extend research on the connection between school size and student outcomes by examining how school size was related to interpersonal processes and whether the interpersonal effects of school size varied by race/ethnicity. Methods. We applied multilevel modeling techniques to a sample of 14,966 students in 84 schools from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Results. Increasing school size was associated with decreasing student attachment to school and to teachers as well as extracurricular participation. Student attachment and teacher bonding diminished with increasing school size at a decreasing rate (reaching minimums in schools with between 1,700–2,000 students), but extracurricular participation dropped at a steady rate. These patterns did not differ substantially by race/ethnicity. Conclusions. The size of the educational institution influences interpersonal dynamics among actors in the institution and does so similarly across student groups. More generally, this research demonstrates the importance of organizational characteristics for social life.