Does Mixed Methods Research Matter to Understanding Childhood Well-Being?

There has been a rich debate in development studies on combining research methods in recent years. We explore the particular challenges and opportunities surrounding mixed methods approaches to childhood well-being. We argue that there are additional layers of complexity due to the distinctiveness of children’s experiences of deprivation or ill-being. This paper is structured as follows. Sections 2 and 3 discuss the nature of mixed methods approaches and tensions. Sections 4 and 5 apply these debates to researching childhood well-being in particular, in both Northern and Southern contexts. Section 6 concludes and discusses future work.

Brave new brains: sociology,family and the politics of knowledge

This article critically explores sociological arguments for greater biosocial synthesis, centring contemporary developments in public policy to demonstrate how such a reframing of humanity tends to reinforce existing political orders and socially patterned normativities. The case for further amalgamation of the social and life sciences is examined to suggest that production of somatic markers of truth from relational encounters largely relies upon an anaemic and politically contained version of the social as acquired in early childhood. More specifically, the gendered, classed and culturally specific practice of parenting children has come to occupy a new significance in accounts of social brains and environmentally reactive genomes. This is highlighted through a discussion of ‘early intervention’ as a heavily biologized policy rationale framing opportunities for biosocial collaboration. It is argued that late capitalist objectives of personal investment and optimization are driving this assimilation of the social and life sciences, pursuing an agenda that traces and re‐scores long‐standing social divisions in the name of progress.     

Labour in Global Production: Reflections on Coxian Insights in a World of Global Value Chains

Abstract

This essay reflects on Robert W. Cox's work on global production, labour, and labour governance, and considers how his insights might illuminate the present conjuncture for labour in production. I work with an understanding of that conjuncture as involving the rise to pre-eminence of global production networks (GPNs) and global value chains (GVCs) as the contemporary expression of the ongoing globalization of production. The primary tasks of the essay are twofold: first, to explore the dynamics of labour and power in the GVC-based global economy, with a particular emphasis on labour exploitation; and second, to link these questions to those of the governance of the global economy, focusing on the shift towards transnational private governance as the dominant mode of contemporary governance, and on the evolving strategies of organized labour and the International Labour Organization in that context.     

Oxidative stress levels are reduced in postmenopausal women with exercise training regardless of hormone replacement therapy status

This study investigated whether postmenopausal women on HRT would experience a greater reduction in oxidative stress after 24 weeks of aerobic exercise training compared to postmenopausal women not on HRT. Plasma thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), an indicator of oxidative stress, was measured in 48 previously sedentary postmenopausal women on HRT (n = 21) and not on HRT (n = 27) before and after 24 weeks of aerobic exercise training. Baseline levels of TBARS differed significantly between groups after controlling for age, BMI, and fasting blood glucose (P = 0.03). There was a significant reduction in TBARS after 24 weeks of training in the overall group. When analyzed separately, both postmenopausal women on HRT and those not on HRT had a significant reduction in TBARS; however, there was no significant difference between groups (-0.71 +/- 0.14 nmol/ml in non-HRT users vs. -0.50 +/- 0.16 nmol/ml in HRT users; P = 0.33) even after controlling for age, BMI, and baseline levels of TBARS. Our results showed that aerobic exercise training significantly decreased oxidative stress in postmenopausal women; however, both HRT users and non-HRT users benefited equally.     

Parametric Inference and Dynamic State Recovery From Option Panels

We develop a new parametric estimation procedure for option panels observed with error. We exploit asymptotic approximations assuming an ever increasing set of option prices in the moneyness (cross‐sectional) dimension, but with a fixed time span. We develop consistent estimators for the parameters and the dynamic realization of the state vector governing the option price dynamics. The estimators converge stably to a mixed‐Gaussian law and we develop feasible estimators for the limiting variance. We also provide semiparametric tests for the option price dynamics based on the distance between the spot volatility extracted from the options and one constructed nonparametrically from high‐frequency data on the underlying asset. Furthermore, we develop new tests for the day‐by‐day model fit over specific regions of the volatility surface and for the stability of the risk‐neutral dynamics over time. A comprehensive Monte Carlo study indicates that the inference procedures work well in empirically realistic settings. In an empirical application to S&P 500 index options, guided by the new diagnostic tests, we extend existing asset pricing models by allowing for a flexible dynamic relation between volatility and priced jump tail risk. Importantly, we document that the priced jump tail risk typically responds in a more pronounced and persistent manner than volatility to large negative market shocks.     

Genetic influence on age at first birth of female twins born in the UK, 1919–68

Using a sample of monozygotic (945, 42?per cent) and dizygotic (1,329, 58?per cent) twin pairs born 1919–68 in the UK, we applied innovative tobit models to investigate genetic and environmental influences on age at first birth (AFB). We found that a substantial part (40?per cent) of the variation in AFB is caused by latent family characteristics. Genetic dispositions (26?per cent) play a more important role than the shared environment of siblings (14?per cent), with the non-shared environment/measurement error having the strongest influence (60?per cent). Like previous studies, this study reveals marked changes in estimates over time, and supports the idea that environmental constraints (war or economic crisis) suppress and normative freedom (sexual revolution) promotes the activation of genetic predispositions that affect fertility. We show that the exclusion of censored information (i.e., on the childless) by previous studies biased their results.

Supplementary material for this article is available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00324728.2015.1056823     

AIDS KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDES AMONG CANBERRA SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

This paper reports findings from a study of 1,014 Canberra secondary school students in 15 government and private schools. Open-ended responses concerning students' understanding of AIDS, and their views regarding prevention, are presented and discussed. Data on source of AIDS information are also investigated. In general, students understand AIDS as sex-linked, that it involves transmission through the blood, and that there is no cure for it. They espouse more research and education as the main preventive measures, although males also propose homophobic solutions. Teachers and television are the primary sources of AIDS information. Differences by sex of respondent and school type are reported and implications for school-based AIDS education policies are suggested.