Connecting People – Renewing Power Relations? A Research Review on the Use of Mobile Phones

The paper discusses how the power perspective has been considered and discussed in qualitative social studies on the use of mobile phones in practices at home, work and public places. Some themes relevant from the aspect of power negotiations were extrapolated from the reviewed literature: constant availability at home and work, and the mobile phone as a public status symbol in respect to its design and use in space, time, and social surroundings. The review also aims to show how social variables affecting the adoption and use of the mobile phone have so far been analyzed in research. The writers conclude that mobile phones have been interpreted to reproduce and renew traditional power hierarchies. Still, more nuanced research is needed to understand the micro‐mechanisms of power in the socio‐cultural contexts of the use of mobile phones.     

Young people's narratives of depression

This article reports on findings from a study, which aimed to gain insight into young people's depression as a part of their life course by analysing written accounts of 81 young Finnish people who self-identified as having been depressed. The participants’ accounts were seen as reflecting both their actual life and their narrative interpretations of it in relation to the prevailing normative conceptions regarding youth. The accounts can be grouped into four main story types. The story type referred to as growing up on a sidetrack depicts depression as having its origins in childhood adversities that hinder the realisation of normative goals. Falling off the track depicts how a young person's life can be derailed as a result of experiences that cause or exacerbate depression. In the story missing the track, depression is intertwined with one's experience of failure in meeting normative expectations, whereas the story questioning the track features the problematisation of such expectations. The results underscore the importance of tackling different adverse conditions in childhood, adolescence and young adulthood in a timely fashion, as well as the importance of therapy, counselling and guidance, which help young people to manage difficulties and depression in their life.     

Measurement and socio-demographic variation of social capital in a large population-based survey

Objectives The main objective of this study was to describe the variation of individual social capital according to socio-demographic factors, and to develop a suitable way to measure social capital for this purpose. The similarity of socio-demographic variation between the genders was also assessed. Data and methods The study applied cross-sectional data from the national Finnish Health 2000 survey (n = 8,028) which represents the adult population, aged 30 years and over. Several variables indicating social capital were condensed to dimensions on the basis of factor analysis. Participants were categorized into tertiles in each dimension of social capital by means of factor scores. The multinomial logistic regression model was used to produce the adjusted prevalences for the dimensions of social capital according to socio-demographic categories (age, gender, education, living arrangements, income, and type of region). Results Three dimensions of social capital were distinguished: social support, social participation and networks, and trust and reciprocity. Age had an inverse association with social support as well as participation and networks, and a curvilinear association between age and trust and reciprocity, the oldest age groups showing the highest level of trust. Married persons and those in the highest educational and income groups tended to have more social capital than other persons. Residents of urban and rural regions did not systematically differ from each other in their level of social capital although residents of urban regions participated less and showed less trust than people living in semi-urban or rural regions. Social support varied significantly with gender. The decline of social support by age was steeper in women than in men. Social participation and networks increased with education, the gradient appearing steeper among men. The difference between married and cohabiting men was substantial compared to women when it came to trust. Conclusions People who are young, married, educated, and well-off have plenty of social capital. This information might help various services to concentrate the actions on the people in danger of social exclusion. Our results also form a basis for the future by allowing the changes in social capital to be examined over time and over different studies.     

Transition into Retirement Affects Life Satisfaction: Short- and Long-Term Development Depends on Last Labor Market Status and Education

The effect of retirement on life satisfaction is a research topic that received a lot of attention, yet provided heterogeneous results. The current study suggests a remedy for this situation by taking two predictors of diversity (i.e. education and last labor market status) into account. We assumed that changes in social status and changes in resources influence retirement adjustment. The social status change affects retirees in the short-term, whereas individuals’ resources indicated by education predict long-term adjustment. To disentangle these processes, we contrasted exits from full-time employment and transitions from unemployment. We used data from the German Socio-Economic Panel to estimate a multi-group, multi-episodes dual change score model. The development of life satisfaction is lastingly interrupted by retirement. A short-term increase in life satisfaction was found for both transition groups but was more pronounced for those being previously unemployed. Life satisfaction develops in the long-term education-specific: retirees who have more education show almost constant life satisfaction whereas those retirees who have less education experience a decline. The results indicate that retirement entails a major change in the way people live. Adjustment to this can be characterized by two processes: A status change enfolds in the short-term. A building of new daily routines using individuals’ resources develops in the long-term. Both processes can be interpreted in terms of cumulative inequality: last labor market status differences decrease in the short-term but remain. Educational differences increase after retirement.     

Did UEFA’s financial fair play harm competition in European football leagues?

Review of Managerial Science - When introducing UEFA’s Financial Fair Play (FFP) it was argued that as a beneficial side effect competition in European football leagues should become more...     

Estimating Prediction Error: Cross-Validation vs. Accumulated Prediction Error

We study the validation of prediction rules such as regression models and classification algorithms through two out-of-sample strategies, cross-validation and accumulated prediction error. We use the framework of Efron (1983 Efron , B. ( 1983 ). Estimating the error rate of a prediction rule: improvement on cross-validation . Journal of the American Statistical Association 78 : 316 – 331 .[Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) where measures of prediction errors are defined as sample averages of expected errors and show through exact finite sample calculations that cross-validation and accumulated prediction error yield different smoothing parameter choices in nonparametric regression. The difference in choice does not vanish as sample size increases.     

Investigation about a screening step in model selection

In many studies a large number of variables is measured and the identification of relevant variables influencing an outcome is an important task. For variable selection several procedures are available. However, focusing on one model only neglects that there usually exist other equally appropriate models. Bayesian or frequentist model averaging approaches have been proposed to improve the development of a predictor. With a larger number of variables (say more than ten variables) the resulting class of models can be very large. For Bayesian model averaging Occam’s window is a popular approach to reduce the model space. As this approach may not eliminate any variables, a variable screening step was proposed for a frequentist model averaging procedure. Based on the results of selected models in bootstrap samples, variables are eliminated before deriving a model averaging predictor. As a simple alternative screening procedure backward elimination can be used. Through two examples and by means of simulation we investigate some properties of the screening step. In the simulation study we consider situations with fifteen and 25 variables, respectively, of which seven have an influence on the outcome. With the screening step most of the uninfluential variables will be eliminated, but also some variables with a weak effect. Variable screening leads to more applicable models without eliminating models, which are more strongly supported by the data. Furthermore, we give recommendations for important parameters of the screening step.     

No Evidence for Long-Term Causal Associations Between Symptoms of Premature Ejaculation and Symptoms of Anxiety,Depression, and Sexual Distress in a Large,Population-Based Longitudinal Sample

Premature ejaculation (PE) is one of the most common male sexual complaints, but its etiology is unclear. Psychological problems, such as symptoms of anxiety and depression, have traditionally been seen as causal or maintaining etiological components of PE, and previous cross-sectional studies have found weak positive associations between them. The aim of the present study was to test possible causal pathways over time between PE and symptoms of the psychological problems anxiety, depression, and sexual distress. A sample of 985 male Finnish twins and brothers of twins completed a questionnaire in 2006 and 2012. Significant bivariate correlations were found both within and across time between PE and the psychological problems. When fitting structural equation models to test hypothesized causal pathways, symptoms of anxiety and sexual distress at the first measurement time point did not predict future PE. Likewise, PE symptoms at the first measurement did not predict increments or decrements in anxiety, sexual distress, or depression later on. These null findings regarding hypothesized associations may partly be explained by the relatively long time between measurements, or that the measures possibly did not capture the aspects of anxiety that are related to PE.     

Vulnerable children's rights to participation,protection, and provision: The process of defining the problem in Swedish child and family welfare

This study addresses the relationship between children's participation and the protection and provision offered to them by social services in Sweden. It applies a theoretical framework for analysing child welfare that is anchored in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. How child participation may affect child protection and provision is examined empirically using case documentation from 2 municipalities. The main finding is that when children are not given voice or opportunity to influence the framing of what “the problem” is, the design of protection and care tends to be poorly matched to the actual problems documented in the child investigation and vice versa; when children can influence framing, this is associated with well‐matched protection and care. This suggests that traditional child welfare ethos, to the effect that protection should be of such overriding concern that children even should be protected from participation, is misguided. The study further illustrates the intrinsic problems with the family orientation of Swedish social services and its reliance on partnership with parents, which makes it difficult to live up to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Incorporating child participation into existing service models can transform Swedish social services to an augmented child‐focused system that by ensuring participation also promotes protection and provision.