Does the “Marriage Benefit” Extend to Same-Sex Union?: Evidence From a Sample of Married Lesbian Couples in Massachusetts

This study investigated the relationship between wellbeing and marital quality in a married lesbian sample from Massachusetts. Two hundred twenty five (225) participants responded to this mailed survey study. Participants completed a demographic questionnaire, the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS), and the World Health Organization Quality of Life-Brief Instrument (WHOQOL-Bref). DAS scores were a strong predictor of reported wellbeing in all quality of life domains including physical, psychological, and financial wellbeing. Results support the finding in the heterosexual marriage literature that healthy marriage is associated with distinct wellbeing benefits for lesbian couples. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

Quasi-complete separation in random effects of binary response mixed models

ABSTRACT

Clustered observations such as longitudinal data are often analysed with generalized linear mixed models (GLMM). Approximate Bayesian inference for GLMMs with normally distributed random effects can be done using integrated nested Laplace approximations (INLA), which is in general known to yield accurate results. However, INLA is known to be less accurate for GLMMs with binary response. For longitudinal binary response data it is common that patients do not change their health state during the study period. In this case the grouping covariate perfectly predicts a subset of the response, which implies a monotone likelihood with diverging maximum likelihood (ML) estimates for cluster-specific parameters. This is known as quasi-complete separation. In this paper we demonstrate, based on longitudinal data from a randomized clinical trial and two simulations, that the accuracy of INLA decreases with increasing degree of cluster-specific quasi-complete separation. Comparing parameter estimates by INLA, Markov chain Monte Carlo sampling and ML shows that INLA increasingly deviates from the other methods in such a scenario.     

中国政治体制改革的路径探析

中国政治体制改革的根本目标是发展社会主义民主政治。文章主要从完善人民代表大会制度、发展党内民主、基层民主自治和实行党政分开等四条基本路径入手,对中国政治体制改革路径进行探析,以不断深化发展。     

柏拉图理想同的理念论解读

柏拉图的理想国及其“哲学王”思想是其政治哲学的核心,是以理念论作为哲学基础的。柏拉图认为,世界分离为两个不同的领域,即可感世界和可知世界。真实的世界是在具体事物之外的存在,是人类理性才能把握的抽象的理念的世界。知识的获取过程是对理念世界的认知和接近,是灵魂对迷失的理念的“回忆”。最高的理念是“善”,它是宇宙万物的最高原理,只有在“善”的理念引导下的城邦才会具有正义的品质,而拥有这种最高智慧是哲学家的天性。“哲学王”是在政治生活领域中的理性治国的体现,是柏拉图政治思想中最核心和最有独创性的地方,是一种知识与权力相结合的政治制度,是建立在作为本体论的理念世界中的理性国度。     

市场化进程、二权分离程度与会计稳健性研究——来自中国资本市场的证据

本文以我国2004--2006年间金融类A股上市公司为样本,采取Ball和Shivakumar的权责发生制模型检验市场化进程、二权分离程度和会计稳健性之间的关系。研究结果表明,控股股东的二权分离程度对公司会计稳健性产生了影响,而且这一影响程度视控股股东的控制权程度而不同,进一步研究发现外部治理环境会对会计盈余的稳健性程度也产生了明显影响。     

从夫妻财产制度的沿革论男女平等原则的逐步实现

世界上存在资本主义和社会主义两种性别法律制度演进模式,社会性别分析是研究男女平等问题的新方法。在我国,男女平等原则的宣示性规定具有社会主义性别法律制度演进模式的鲜明特征。随着夫妻财产制度的逐步完善,男女平等原则由形式平等向实质平等转变。物权法第99条关于共有财产分割的＂重大理由＂的规定,为夫妻财产规定的完善和男女平等原则的进一步实现提供了依据,婚姻法应予以细化。     

重读《傲慢与偏见》

《傲慢与偏见》是英国19世纪小说家简·奥斯丁的代表作。她用精湛的语言、变化多姿的描写以及对人性的透彻理解和理性的嘲讽,生动细腻地描写了彭伯里庄园和尼日斐庄园里的各种人物的婚姻关系。奥斯丁用戏剧化的手法和反讽的语调向人们揭示了资产阶级婚姻的＂经济学＂原理—金钱交易和利益的结合。     

荀子荣辱观念之再考察

荀子作为先秦诸子百家思想的集大成者,在批判和吸收各家各派的同时,继承了孔孟关于荣辱观念的根本理路,对当时的社会治乱、人心世风进行了深入的洞察,对当时的天人关系、天人之分进行了细致的探究。他从人性的先天不足入手,于先王之道的根本精神处找出路,从而构建出了自己的荣辱观念。     

基于服务蓝图理论的客运站车方服务质量评价研究

为提升客运站自身市场竞争力,改善其对车方的服务质量管理,以车方客户作为提升服务质量管理对象,在服务蓝图理论的基础上,针对性地建立起具有18项评价指标的车方服务质量评价体系,并应用改进的IPA分析法进行服务质量评价与改进研究,指出客运站应在车方行包服务、司乘人员信息服务以及停车位数量与管理等方面进行重点改进。     

“My Two Homes”Children’s Picture Books and Non/Normative Imaginaries of Home in Post-Divorce/Separation Families

Abstract

In spite of a burgeoning interest in children’s home lives, we know little about the meaning and experience of home for children living in post-divorce/separation families who often spend time in more than one parental home. As a starting point, in this article I analyze the way in which thirteen “therapeutic” pictures books for younger children aged 3–8 represent home for such children (and their parents) through their text and images. I argue that the books contain four dominant tropes of domestic transition through their representation of the disruption, journeys, thresholds, and materialities of home. However, at the same time, the books also present the ordinariness of domestic home life in post-divorce/separation family life with a counter-narrative of the mundane time spent being together and gender-neutral parental care practices at home.