The social and genetic inheritance of educational attainment: Genes,parental education,and educational expansion

Recently, several genome-wide association studies of educational attainment have found education-related genetic variants and enabled the integration of human inheritance into social research. This study incorporates the newest education polygenic score (Lee et al., 2018) into sociological research, and tests three gene-environment interaction hypotheses on status attainment. Using the Health and Retirement Study (N = 7599), I report three findings. First, a standard deviation increase in the education polygenic score is associated with a 58% increase in the likelihood of advancing to the next level of education, while a standard deviation increase in parental education results in a 53% increase. Second, supporting the Saunders hypothesis, the genetic effect becomes 11% smaller when parental education is one standard deviation higher, indicating that highly educated parents are more able to preserve their family's elite status in the next generation. Finally, the genetic effect is slightly greater for the younger cohort (1942–59) than the older cohort (1920–41). The findings strengthen the existing literature on the social influences in helping children achieve their innate talents.     

王维早期行事探究

文章主要对王维开元年间的行事进行了新的探索。认为 :(一 )王维与祖讠永曾在开元五年、十五年、十九年、二十二年过从四次 ;(二 )王维被贬济州后 ,曾任职曲阜一带 ,于开元十三年春正月获赦还长安 ;(三)开元十四年夏 ,铨选后的王维被调任“淇上”,其于赴任途中曾还家一次 ,被后人定为伪作的《休假还旧业便使》一诗 ,即为王维写于是时。     

无薪休假法律问题探讨——基于台湾地区劳动立法与学说的考察

无薪休假是对传统休假制度之反动,是雇主应对普遍性景气危机所采取的暂时措施。无薪休假应透过集体谈判达成劳资合意实施。无薪休假期间雇主缩短工时同时比例减少工资,不受基本工资的限制,但是政府基于社会安全政策的考虑,有必要对企业和劳工给予适当的经济帮助。无薪休假期间雇主不得以急单为由要求劳工上班,事后以补休方式抵充工资,也不得禁止劳工在外兼职,劳资双方均不得随意终止劳动契约。     

Emerging inequality in effort: A longitudinal investigation of parental involvement and early elementary school-aged children’s learning time in Japan

While studies on effort (e.g., Carbonaro, 2005; Kariya, 2000, 2013) have revealed relationships among students’ effort (e.g., self-reported learning time), socioeconomic status, and school-related factors (e.g., tracking) through secondary education data, whether and how the effort gap emerges and widens in the early years of compulsory education have not been researched. This study investigates the beginning of inequality in effort by using four waves (from first- to fourth-grade students) of the Longitudinal Survey of Babies in the 21st Century, collected in Japan. The results indicate that college-educated parents tend to employ parenting practices that directly and indirectly shape children’s learning time; inequality in effort exists, and it becomes exacerbated partly because of parenting differences in a society with a relatively equal elementary education system.     

Family Policy and After-Birth Employment Among New Mothers – A Comparison of Finland, Norway and Sweden

This article compares the employmentpatterns of women after first and second birthin Finland, Norway and Sweden during 1972–1992,focusing on the impact of parental leave andchildcare programs on the transitions tofull-time and part-time work. The resultsunanimously point to the great importance ofthe programs. Women who are entitled to a paidleave have a much higher overall employmententry rate during the first three yearsfollowing birth than non-eligible women.But since mothers tend to use their fullentitlement, the higher entry rates are largelyconcentrated to the period after leave expiry,except in Sweden where entitled mothers havehigher entry rates also during the leaveperiod. This is probably a result of thegreater flexibility of the Swedish program. Inall countries, leave extensions delay thereturn to work among entitled mothers andreduce their excess entry rate. Moreover, theFinnish home-care allowance system is found toreduce employment entry. On the whole, thissuggests that very long leave entitlements andchild-minding benefit programs could havenegative consequences for women's career andearnings potentials and may preserve an unequaldivision of labour in the family.     

中国上市公司资金闲置问题的理论与实证研究

基于信息经济学理论研究中国上市公司资金闲置问题,发现上市公司很可能出现投资不足、过度投资与资金闲置的现象。实证研究结果证实了这一推论。研究还发现:(1)闲置资金对生产性投资和金融性投资似乎存在一定的作用,但这种作用的大小和作用的方向并不明朗;(2)投资机会对我国上市公司投资有一定影响;(3)我国上市公司存在着微弱的融资约束;(4)相对于金融性投资领域,过度投资和投资不足现象在生产性投资领域更为严重。     

The Liberalization of Maternity Leave Policy and the Return to Work after Childbirth in Germany

German federal law has increased the potential duration of maternity leave five times since 1985. A theoretical model demonstrates that the cumulative return probability at potential duration cannot decline unless the mother's employment conditions or career expectations change. We estimate return to work hazards from the German Socio-Economic Panel for women bearing children in the period 1984–1991 and predict cumulative return probabilities for first-time mothers and mothers with a previous birth. The pattern of cumulative return probabilities as potential duration increases is consistent with the hypothesis that employment conditions or career expectations frequently change for mothers taking longer leaves.     

Family conditions, parental acceptance, and social competence and aggression in Chinese children

The purpose of the present study was to examine the relations among family ecological factors including parental educational and occupational status, family income and housing conditions, the quality of the marital relationship and social support, parental acceptance and rejection, and social competence in a sample of Chinese children. Four hundred and seventy-six primary school children in Shanghai, P.R. China, and their parents participated in the study. Children were administered a peer assessment measure of social behavior and a measure of their perceptions of parental behavior. Parents completed questionnaires concerning family background, parental acceptance and rejection, perceived social support, and marital conflict and satisfaction. Teachers completed a rating scale concerning children's behaviors in school. Information on children's leadership was collected from the school administrative records. Results indicated that parental educational and occupational status was associated with family psychological conditions which, in turn, were predictive of parental acceptance. Family capital resources were negatively related to parental acceptance. Results also indicated that parental acceptance was associated positively with prosocial-competent behavior in children and negatively with aggressive behavior in children. Parental educational and occupational status was directly associated with children's competent behavior. Finally, it was found that family psychological resources were positively related to competent behavior and negatively related to aggression in children, through the mediation of parental acceptance and rejection. Family capital resources were indirectly and positively associated with child aggression through the mediation of parental acceptance and rejection.     

Linkages between parent—child interaction and conversations of friends

In this study we examined how mothers' and fathers' parenting behavior during parent—child interaction related to children's ability to successfully interact with peers. Children's ability to engage in coordinated interaction, and their negativity and positivity towards peers were examined. Observational data were collected on 56 families in both parent—child and peer interaction settings. Results suggested that father's emotional volatility was related to children's tendency to play at a low level of engagement with their best friends (e.g. engage in parallel play or monologue). Both mother's and father's affective communication were related to children's tendency to play at a higher level of engagement, such as through establishing common ground activities, exchanging information, and self-disclosing personal information or feelings. Parental intrusiveness, low engagement and use of derisive humor was also related to children's negativity during peer interaction. Results support the hypothesis that both fathers and mothers provide a context for children's development of the ability to engage in and maintain interpersonal interaction, and mothers' parenting may influence the amount of positive affect children express during dyadic play.     

Academic parenthood: Navigating structure and culture in an elite occupation

Many contemporary workers struggle to manage paid work and family responsibilities, leading scholars to explore mechanisms contributing to conflict between these two domains. Such examinations often center on pinpointing specific factors that explain variation in work-family conflict, but these studies have less to say about how some occupational contexts create overwhelming demands for workers. In this article, I advocate for an approach that details the cultural and structural components of specific occupations. Building on scholarship about demanding jobs, I use academic parenthood as an illustrative case to demonstrate how certain occupational contexts are organized in ways that introduce challenges for caregiving. I then analyze how culture and structure jointly influence family-friendly policies in the university setting, along with comparative experiences across discipline, gender, and race/ethnicity. Next, I describe how academic parents in the face of constraints, make choices, show agency, and demonstrate resistance. I conclude by identifying promising areas for future research.