Does social capital determine health? Empirical evidence from MENA countries

Using data from the World Value Survey (2010–2012) for 18 MENA countries, this paper investigates the causal relationship between social capital and health by applying simultaneous-equations based on structural modeling and IVs regression. Our main findings corroborate the hypothesis of reverse causality between social capital and health i.e. bidirectional causality running from social capital to health and from health to social capital is identified. Furthermore, our empirical findings show that individual-level social capital appears more salient in determining health, while community-level social capital seems less relevant in explaining health differences between individuals. Overall, the present study makes evident that high levels of social capital (i.e. high levels of social participation and high levels of trust) and high individual-level socioeconomic factors (i.e. high levels of income and high levels of education) may generate better health outcomes that policymakers must take into account to improve individual and community health.     

Coparenting in Stepfamilies: A Cluster Analysis

The aim of this study was to identify types of coparenting in stepfamilies based on observational data and to examine whether these types differed regarding marital satisfaction and child adjustment. Forty-five couples attended two videotaped discussion tasks on topics of agreement and disagreement regarding coparenting issues. An exploratory cluster analysis identified three main types of coparenting in stepfamilies: (1) Cooperative coparenting (n = 19), (2) Complementing coparenting (n = 16), and (3) Conflictual coparenting (n = 10). The Complementing coparenting type appeared as a new type of coparenting that had not been described in earlier studies and that might be specific to coparenting between non-biological parents. Comparison between the three clusters showed no differences for marital satisfaction and child adjustment. Each cluster is illustrated by a family case to provide a better understanding of coparenting dynamics in stepfamilies.     

A fresh imputing survey methodology using sensible constraints on study and auxiliary variables: dubious random non-response

In this paper, we introduce a fresh methodology for imputing missing values by making use of sensible constraints on both a study variable and auxiliary variables that are correlated with the variable of interest. The resultant estimator based on these imputed values is shown to lead to the regression type method of imputation in survey sampling. Furthermore, when the data are hybrid of both that missing at random and missing complexly at random, the resultant estimator is shown to be a consistent estimator that has asymptotic mean squared error equal to that of the linear regression method of imputation. A generalization to any type of method of imputation is possible and has been included at the end.     

Inequality and Growth in Tunisia: New Evidence from Threshold Regression

Social Indicators Research - This paper uses a threshold regression model to test for threshold effect in the relationship between income inequality and growth for Tunisia over the period...     

No Contagion,Only Interdependence During the US Sub-Primes Crisis

In this paper, we have interested to testing the contagion exists that is caused by the sub-prime crisis, in order to distinguish between the cases of interdependences and “shift contagion” during this crisis. The analysis was conducted on a sample of four highly transition countries: Brazil, Russia, India and china, and the market source of crisis, taking into consideration the index as an aggregate indicator of financial market. The study of contagion is based on the tests of adjusted correlation coefficient and the non-linear error correction models. Indeed, these techniques reject the contagion hypothesis between these markets in order to conclude “no contagion, only interdependence”.     

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Predictive modelling provides a way to increase profitability and customer satisfaction in the financial services sector. Following on from Career Story , Omar Mohamed describes the successful use of this technique in recent marketing activities for the M&S "&More" credit card.     

Preservation properties for the Laplace transform ordering of residual lives

Several preservation results for the Laplace transform ordering of residual lives (Lt−rl) are given. In particular, we show that theTt−rl-order is preserved under convolutions, mixtures and weak convergence. Some examples of interest in reliability theory are also presented.     

Study of Cases of Child Sexual Abuse Referred for Medico-Legal Examination in Cairo and Giza,Egypt,2007–2011

ABSTRACT

Child sexual abuse is a complex problem that results in detrimental effects on its victims. This study aimed to investigate the pattern of child sexual abuse in cases referred for medico-legal examination in Cairo and Giza governorates in the period between 2007–2011. The study included 813 cases of child sexual abuse. Female gender was more predominant than male gender (52.8%, 4.29 cases), and adolescents were the most frequent age group identified as victims of sexual abuse (43.8%, 356 cases). All perpetrators were male and most of them were persons outside the victims’ families (89.9%, 731 cases). It was recommended to teach and encourage children to tell their caregivers if they have been assaulted and to educate parents and caregivers on how to respond when the child discloses sexual abuse.     

Testing for or against a trend in odds ratios

Consider data arranged into k × 2 × 2 contingency tables. The principal result of this paper is the derivation of the likelihood ratio test and its asymptotic distribution for testing for or against an order restriction placed upon the odds ratios. We will show that the limiting distributions are of chi-bar square type and give the expression of the weighting values.