Trends in Alcohol Consumption Among Undergraduate Students at a Northeastern Public University, 2002–2008

Abstract

Objective: This study examined alcohol consumption patterns and trends at a public university in the Northeast from 2002 to 2008. Participants: Stratified random sampling was used to select undergraduate students enrolled in courses during spring semesters in 2002, 2004, 2006, and 2008. Methods: Data were collected during regularly scheduled classes for 4 measures of alcohol consumption and 5 demographic categories using the Core Alcohol and Drug Survey. Results: Four groups showed significant increases in both frequency and volume of alcohol consumption—students who were female, over 21 years of age or over, living off-campus, or performing well academically. There were no decreasing trends for any demographic group. These results differ from national college health surveys, which have shown alcohol use remaining steady during this period. Conclusions: Campus-specific trend data can provide unique perspectives and guide programming efforts. These trends suggest a need for new intervention strategies on this campus.     

Fertility and Financial Development in South Asia

The paper empirically examines old-age security hypothesis to explain fertility rates in South Asia. Panel data is used for the period 1972–2013 for seven South Asian countries which include Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The estimated results reveal that in South Asia fertility rate decreases with the increase in financial development. Thus, the findings support old-age security hypothesis that parents use children as financial instruments to secure their old age. This paper validates the theory that the availability of alternative financial tools reduces the incentives of households to have large offspring. Infant mortality is also shown an important factor for high fertility rate in South Asia. This implies that households cover their risk from losing children by producing more children. The results also reveal that fertility rate decreases with the increase in per capita income, which implies that households treat children as inferior good in this region. In other words, households prefer quality of children over quantity of children when their income level increases. The results have also shown that fertility decreases with the increase in education, urbanization, agriculture productivity and industrialization. The study has some important policy implications.     

Saudization (Localization) – A critical review

Abstract

This paper introduces the concept of Saudization and critically reviews its existing and potential impacts and consequences. It identifies that Saudization has positively contributed to reducing the overall percentage of foreign labor. However, there have been some difficulties, such as a decline in competitiveness among regional business companies with respect to a business friendly environment, and reduced direct foreign investment, which influenced the reduction of the tax on foreign investors. Saudization should place importance on skill development among Saudi nationals by strengthening educational and vocational training, and providing time-specific incentives, rather than relying only on a quota system. Saudization should be implemented more through market forces and incentives. Collecting comprehensive information on the nature and magnitude of Saudi unemployment could be a first step in developing appropriate Saudization policies. This paper suggests appropriate coordination and consultation between the government, the private sector and the public at large, so that any policies on Saudization become more easily acceptable and executable in both the public and private sector.     

Construction of circular partially balanced-Repeated measurement designs using cyclic shifts

Repeated measurement designs are widely used in medicine, pharmacology, animal sciences and psychology. These designs balance out the residual effects. The situations where balanced repeated measurements designs require a large number of the subjects, partially-balanced repeated measurements designs should be used. In this paper some infinite series are developed which provide circular partially-balanced repeated measurement designs for p (periods) even. Catalogues of circular partially-balanced repeated measurement designs are also presented for v (treatments) ≤ 100 with p = 5, 7 & 9.     

Toward a New Understanding of Ethnic‐Racial Settings for Ethnic‐Racial Identity Development

The purpose of this conceptual article is to advance theory and research on one critical aspect of the context of ethnic–racial identity (ERI) development: ethnic–racial settings, or the objective and subjective nature of group representation within an individual's context. We present a new conceptual framework that consists of four dimensions: (1) perspective (that settings can be understood in both objective and subjective terms); (2) differentiation (how groups are defined in a setting); (3) heterogeneity (the range of groups in a setting); and (4) proximity (the distance between the individual and the setting). Clarifying this complexity is crucial for advancing a more coherent understanding of how ethnic–racial settings are related to ERI development.     

Effects of Workers' Remittances and its Volatility on Economic Growth in South Asia

This study investigates the effect of workers' remittances and its volatility on economic growth of five South Asian countries by employing long time series data from 1975 to 2009. Cointegration results confirm a significant positive long run relationship between remittances and economic growth in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal, but a significant negative relationship in Pakistan. Conversely, the volatility of workers' remittances has a negative and significant effect on economic growth in Pakistan, Indian, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, but a negative but insignificant impact in Nepal. All sensitivity analyses confirm that the results are robust. A less volatile inflow of workers' remittances is growth‐enhancing for all countries. It is suggested that policy makers should make policies to reduce the transaction cost to welcome remittances into the region. Furthermore, countries like Pakistan should make the policies to discourage voluntary unemployment.

Policy Implications

• This study show the positive effect of remittances on economic growth in India, Bangladesh, Sri‐Lanka and Nepal. These countries should create friendly policies to reduce the transaction cost to ensure the continuous inflows of workers' remittances.
• Results indicate a negative effect of remittances on economic growth in Pakistan. Remittances are considered an uninterrupted source of income, which may increase voluntary unemployment, leading to decreased economic growth. The government should make policies to discourage this voluntary unemployment.
• Policymakers should create effective systems to ensure this inflow comes through formal financial channels for better control.

     

Some extensions of circular balanced and circular strongly balanced repeated measurements designs

Repeated measurement designs are widely used in medicine, pharmacology, animal sciences, and psychology. In this paper the works of Iqbal and Tahir (2009 Iqbal, I., and M. H. Tahir. 2009. Circular strongly balanced repeated measurements designs. Communications in Statistics—Theory and Methods 38:3686–96.[Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) and Iqbal, Tahir, and Ghazali (2010 Iqbal, I., M. H. Tahir, and S. S. A. Ghazali. 2010. Circular first- and second-order balanced repeated measurements designs. Communications in Statistics—Theory and Methods 39:228–40.[Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) are generalized for the construction of circular-balanced and circular strongly balanced repeated measurements designs through the method of cyclic shifts for three periods.     

Spatial smoothing of low birth weight rate in Bangladesh using Bayesian hierarchical model

The term low birth weight refers an event where a newborn baby has a weight that is less than 2500?g. This is an essential indicator while the interest is in public health issues such as infant mortality, maternal complications, and antenatal care, etc. of a country, particularly, for a developing country like Bangladesh. The regional development programs are in the current priority list of Bangladesh government and other policy makers. Many of such regional development programs may need the spatial distribution of relative risk for low birth weight that can be obtained by mapping the risks over small area domains like the districts of Bangladesh. This study aims to find whether is there any spatial dependence among the relative risks of low birth weight for the districts of Bangladesh. This has been investigated using Moran's I statistic and a significant spatial dependence in the relative risks was found. Then, attempt has been made to rediscover the spatial distribution based on the idea of spatial smoothing. A Bayesian hierarchical model is used considering percent received antenatal care and female labor force participation as covariates to smooth the observed relative risks of low birth weight in 64 districts of Bangladesh. Revised spatial distribution taking the spatial dependence under consideration through intrinsic conditional autoregressive model is derived and showed in choropleth map along with its different behaviors.     

When the victim becomes vicious: Combined effects of pseudo transformational leadership and epistemic motivation on contempt and deviant behaviors

Utilizing affective events theory (Weiss & Cropanzano, 1996), the current study unravels how and when pseudo-transformational leaders promote contempt, avoidance, and aggression. Specifically, we examined whether pseudo-transformational leadership enforces feelings of contempt, which, in turn, fosters interaction avoidance and covert aggression in followers. We hypothesized that contempt also has an indirect effect that is contingent on levels of epistemic motivation of followers. By adopting a multi-wave research design, we gathered data from 277 employees of the service sector of Pakistan. The results signified that followers of pseudo-transformational leaders feel contemptuous of them and respond with interaction avoidance and indirect aggression. Further, we found that the impact of pseudo-transformational leadership on contempt was more pronounced in individuals with higher levels of epistemic motivation. We believe that this study opens up a new avenue in the pseudo-transformational leadership literature by highlighting the mechanism and conditions under which such leaders are deleterious for organizations.     

Finding Your Niche: Identity and Emotional Support in Emerging Adults' Adjustment to the Transition to College

This mixed‐method longitudinal study investigated the role of identity synthesis and emotional support from family, friends, and professors in emerging adults' mental health during the transition to college. A total of 167 ethnically and socioeconomically diverse emerging adults were surveyed and interviewed during the fall and the spring quarters of their first year in college. Cluster analysis revealed four mental health clusters: greatly improving mental health; maintaining positive mental health; poor mental health declining; and good mental health declining. Clusters that maintained or improved mental health over the first year of college had higher identity synthesis and emotional support from friends and family than clusters where mental health declined. Emotional support from friends was especially important for adjustment.