Migrant networks and the immigrant professional: An analysis of the role of weak ties

Weak ties, particularly those to potential employers, play a more important role than strong ties in the immigration of professionals to the United States. I operationalize network strength through the class of admission variable in the Immigration and Naturalization Service's public use data files,Immigrants Admitted to the United States, 1972–1992. I also examine the differential impact of legislative measures on the availability of strong versus weak ties for four groups of professionals: physicians, nurses, engineers and scientists. Not only do weak ties figure heavily on the immigration experiences of professionals, but those impacts affect women differently than men. Professional women rely more heavily on strong ties than on weak ties when compared with males in their respective professions, with the exception of nursing. These findings suggests a need for further study into the migration experiences of professionals as well as more research into how gendered networks develop among immigrant professionals and how those networks influence (either positively or negatively) immigrant adaptation to United States' society.     

Beliefs About Diet and Health:

Low income older women (N = 20) in South Carolina were recruited from congregate meal sites for qualitative interviews to assess beliefs about general health, physical functioning, and preventive health behaviors. A loosely structured interview guide of topics was used to encourage free expression of informants' ideas. The Ethnograph analysis package was used for data analysis. In response to open-ended questions, the women spontaneously shared their beliefs about diet and health. Implications for health promotion in rural areas are discussed.     

从再婚人口的性别差异看城市女性的再婚困境——以北京为例

随着我国婚姻解体数量的增多,再婚也日益普遍。基于北京市人日抽样调查数据和婚姻登记数据的计算结果表明,北京近年来失婚女性的再婚率只有男性的40％左右。通过对再婚人口的婚次、年龄、教育程度和户籍等方面的特征及其匹配特点的分析,可以看到女性在再婚过程中相对男性处于明显的弱势地位,而“男高女低”的婚配模式则是造成城市女性再婚困境的主要原因。     

Girl adoption in China—A less-known side of son preference

In 1987, 4 per cent of girls were adopted within China. Why? Unlike infanticide, abandonment rids parents of daughters while preserving the supply of potential brides. In fact, an erstwhile tradition common in Fujian and Jiangxi provinces had parents of sons adopting an infant girl to serve as a future daughter-in-law and household help. Analysing a nationally representative 1992 survey of children, we found that: (1) girl adoptions were concentrated in the above-mentioned provinces; (2) girls were predominantly adopted by families with sons; (3) adopted girls faced substantial disadvantage as measured by school attendance at ages 8–13. In the 1990s, as the sex ratio at birth climbed, were girls aborted rather than abandoned? Observing that in the 2000 census too many girls appear in families with older sons, we estimated that at least 1/25 girls were abandoned in the 1990s, a proportion that in Fujian and Jiangxi may have peaked at 1/10 in 1994.     

现代夫妻关系对妇女男孩偏好的影响

在影响妇女男孩偏好的因素中,夫妻关系是非常重要的一个方面。文章利用中国人民大学人口与发展研究中心2010年在浙江、湖北和河北3个省份开展的“农村妇女家庭及生育状况”专题调查数据,运用回归模型分析了现代夫妻关系对妇女男孩偏好的影响。研究发现,目前我国的夫妻关系表现出明显的现代特征,而且现代夫妻关系对妇女的男孩偏好起着弱化的作用。家庭地位高、权力资源丰富、对丈夫家依赖程度较低的妇女,她们的男孩偏好比较弱。     

性别工资差异与工资歧视--基于RIF回归的分解方法

文章采用2012年中国劳动力动态调查数据,利用基于 RIF 回归的分解方法分析性别工资差异,并对各收入分位数上的性别歧视程度进行估量和分解。研究发现：随着收入分位数的提高,特征效应对性别收入差距解释的比重逐渐提高;系数效应带来的性别歧视对性别收入差距解释的比重不断下降,但系数效应依然是造成劳动力性别收入差距的主要原因。教育在消减性别收入差距上的作用减弱,而职业资格、掌握技能耗时、职业性别隔离和签订劳动合同等变量则有助于缩小性别收入差距。     

The missing women in STEM? Assessing gender differentials in the factors associated with transition to first jobs

Women remain underrepresented in the STEM workforce. We assess explanations for women's underrepresentation in STEM jobs, focusing on a cohort that came of age in the 1980s and 1990s, when women dramatically increased their representation in the scientific labor force. Data are from the NLSY79, and our analysis focuses on members of this cohort who received a college degree, with an emphasis on those who completed a degree in a STEM field. Our analyses test the extent to which college major, expectations to work in STEM, and family expectations shaped transitions into STEM occupations within two years of degree completion. Among those majoring in STEM fields there were no gender differences in transitioning into STEM jobs, though there were sizable differences in transitions to STEM employment by field of study. Of note are gender differences in associations between family expectations and transitions into STEM employment. The most career oriented women, who expected to marry late and limit fertility, were no more likely to enter STEM jobs than were women who anticipated marrying young and having two or more children. The men most likely to enter STEM occupations, in contrast, adhered to significantly more conventional gender ideologies than their female counterparts, expecting to marry at younger ages but also to remain childless. Results of our regression decomposition indicated that marriage and family expectations and gender ideology worked in opposite directions for men and women. Nonetheless, the majority of the gender disparity in transitions into STEM jobs was related to women's underrepresentation in engineering and computer science fields of study.     

Gender,status, and psychiatric labels

We examine a key modified labeling theory proposition—that a psychiatric label increases vulnerability to competence-based criticism and rejection—within task- and collectively oriented dyads comprised of same-sex individuals with equivalent education. Drawing on empirical work that approximates these conditions, we expect the proposition to hold only among men. We also expect education, operationalized with college class standing, to moderate the effects of gender by reducing men’s and increasing women’s criticism and rejection. But, we also expect the effect of education to weaken when men work with a psychiatric patient. As predicted, men reject suggestions from teammates with a psychiatric history more frequently than they reject suggestions from other teammates, while women’s resistance to influence is unaffected by their teammate’s psychiatric status. Men also rate psychiatric patient teammates as less powerful but no lower in status than other teammates, while women’s teammate assessments are unaffected by their teammate’s psychiatric status. Also as predicted, education reduces men’s resistance to influence when their teammate has no psychiatric history. Education also increases men’s ratings of their teammate’s power, as predicted, but has no effect on women’s resistance to influence or teammate ratings. We discuss the implications of these findings for the modified labeling theory of mental illness and status characteristics theory.     

Sex hormones and choice under risk

We study the correlation of choice under risk in Holt–Laury lotteries for gains and losses with gender, the use of hormonal contraceptives, menstrual cycle information, salivary testosterone, estradiol, progesterone, and cortisol as well as the digit ratio (2D:4D; length of the index finger to the ring finger of the right hand) in more than 200 subjects (45% females). In males, salivary testosterone is negatively correlated with risk aversion for gains only. In females, salivary cortisol is positively correlated with risk aversion for gains only. No other significant correlations between risk preferences and salivary hormones are observed. No significant correlations between risk preferences and the menstrual cycle are observed in naturally cycling females. No significant correlations between risk preferences and the digit ratio are observed in either gender and/or race.