Can personal budgets really deliver better outcome for all at no cost? Reviewing the evidence,costs and quality

Political recognition of the parlous state of English social care and the urgent need for radical reform led to calls for new policy approaches that address the two key problems it faced: inadequate funding and poor quality and inappropriate provision. The New Labour government was convinced that it had found a way of dealing with these two competing problems and it embarked on a policy, which has subsequently gained cross-party support. The centre-piece was the concept of a personal budget, and was introduced with a belief that there would be major cost savings while improving service user satisfaction. This article will critically explore the evidence for whether the strategy is fulfilling that promise.     

Testing for violations of the homogeneity needed for conditional logistic regression

In epidemiologic studies where the outcome is binary, the data often arise as clusters, as when siblings, friends or neighbors are used as matched controls in a case-control study. Conditional logistic regression (CLR) is typically used for such studies to estimate the odds ratio for an exposure of interest. However, CLR assumes the exposure coefficient is the same in every cluster, and CLR-based inference can be badly biased when homogeneity is violated. Existing methods for testing goodness-of-fit for CLR are not designed to detect such violations. Good alternative methods of analysis exist if one suspects there is heterogeneity across clusters. However, routine use of alternative robust approaches when there is no appreciable heterogeneity could cause loss of precision and be computationally difficult, particularly if the clusters are small. We propose a simple non-parametric test, the test of heterogeneous susceptibility (THS), to assess the assumption of homogeneity of a coefficient across clusters. The test is easy to apply and provides guidance as to the appropriate method of analysis. Simulations demonstrate that the THS has reasonable power to reveal violations of homogeneity. We illustrate by applying the THS to a study of periodontal disease.     

Proceed With Caution? Parents' Union Dissolution and Children's Educational Achievement

Using high‐quality Norwegian register data on 49,879 children from 23,655 families, the authors estimated sibling fixed‐effects models to explore whether children who are younger at the time of a parental union dissolution perform less well academically, as measured by their grades at age 16, than their older siblings who have spent more time living with both biological parents. Results from a baseline model suggest a positive age gradient that is consistent with findings in some of the extant family structure literature. Once birth order is taken into account, the gradient reverses. When analyses also control for grade inflation by adding year of birth to the model, only those children who experience a dissolution just prior to receiving their grades appear relatively disadvantaged. The results illustrate the need to specify and interpret sibling fixed‐effects model with great care.     

Paternal Hostility and Maternal Hostility in European American and African American Families

The authors examined the hypothesized influence of maternal and paternal hostility on youth delinquency over time. The investigation addressed significant gaps in earlier research on parental hostility, including the neglect of father effects, especially in African American families. Using prospective, longitudinal data from community samples of European American (n = 422) and African American (n = 272) 2‐parent families, the authors examined the independent effects of paternal and maternal hostility on youth delinquency. The results indicated that paternal hostility significantly predicted relative increases in youth delinquent behaviors above and beyond the effects of maternal hostility; conversely, maternal hostility did not predict youth delinquency after controlling for paternal hostility. Multiple‐group analyses yielded similar results for both ethnic groups and for boys and girls. These results underscore the importance of including both parents in research on diverse families. Neglecting fathers provides an incomplete account of parenting in relation to youth development.     

Does single parenthood increase the probability of teenage promiscuity,substance use,and crime?

There is longstanding evidence that youths raised by single parents are more likely to perform poorly in school and partake in “deviant” behaviors such as smoking, sex, substance use, and crime. However, there is not widespread agreement as to whether the timing of the marital disruption differentially impacts youth outcomes. Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and its Young Adult Supplement, we find that an additional 5 years with the biological father decreases the probability of smoking, drinking, engaging in sexual activity, marijuana use, and conviction by approximately 5.3, 1.2, 3.4, 2.2 and 0.3 percentage points, respectively.

Positive Marital Quality,Acculturative Stress,and Child Outcomes Among Mexican Americans

Previous research suggests that the quality of parents' relationships can influence their children's adjustment, but most studies have focused on the negative effects of marital conflict for children in White middle‐class families. The current study focuses on the potential benefits of positive marital quality for children in working‐class first generation Mexican American families using observational and self‐report data. This study examined the links between positive marital quality and child internalizing and externalizing behaviors 1 year later when the child was in sixth grade (N = 134 families). Positive marital quality was negatively correlated with child internalizing behaviors. Parent acculturative stress was found to mediate the relationship between positive marital quality and child internalizing behaviors in sixth grade.     

Intergenerational Experiences of Discrimination in Chinese American Families: Influences of Socialization and Stress

In this longitudinal study, we investigated the mechanisms by which Chinese American parents' experiences of discrimination influenced their adolescents' ethnicity‐related stressors (i.e., cultural misfit, discrimination, attitudes toward education). We focused on whether parents' ethnic‐racial socialization practices and perpetual foreigner stress moderated or mediated this relationship. Participants were 444 Chinese American families. Results indicated no evidence of moderation, but we observed support for mediation. Parental experiences of discrimination were associated with more ethnic‐racial socialization practices and greater parental perpetual foreigner stress. More ethnic‐racial socialization was related to greater cultural misfit in adolescents, whereas more perpetual foreigner stress was related to adolescents' poorer attitudes toward education and more reported discrimination. Relationships between mediators and outcomes were stronger for fathers than for mothers.     

How Are Parental Psychological Control and Autonomy‐Support Related? A Cluster‐Analytic Approach

This study addresses the hypothesis that the relationship between parental psychological control and autonomy‐support depends on how autonomy‐support is conceptualized, that is, in terms of promotion of independence or in terms of promotion of volitional functioning. Questionnaires tapping into psychological control and these two types of autonomy‐support were administered to a sample of 495 emerging adults. Cluster analysis revealed that, whereas parental promotion of independence may or may not co‐occur with psychological control, high parental promotion of volitional functioning systematically goes together with low psychological control and vice versa. Differences between clusters in terms of adjustment were mainly driven by differences in psychological control and promotion of volitional functioning and to a lesser extent by differences in promotion of independence.     

The Impact of Parental Divorce: The Relationship Between Social Support and Confidence Levels in Young Adults

Parental divorce is a life transition that affects a substantial number of children each year. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between social support and confidence levels (defined as career expectations and confidence in romantic relationships) for those impacted by parental divorce. Three hundred and twelve young adults participated in the study. The results indicate that the quality of social support had a significantly positive relationship with career expectations and romantic relationship confidence. The findings suggest quality relationships regarding social support are more significant than quantity or amount of social support given by parents, family members, or friends.     

“一带一路”倡议背景下中国高新技术产品对阿拉伯国家出口流量及潜力分析

"一带一路"倡议规划了中国向西开放的格局,地处"一带一路"西端交汇地带的阿拉伯国家成为中国天然和重要的合作伙伴。通过分析中国高新技术产品对阿拉伯国家的出口现状,发现出口结构不合理;采用引力模型,通过面板数据实证检验了影响中国高新技术产品对阿拉伯国家出口的不同因素,并从高新技术产品总量层面和大类层面上分别测算了中国对部分阿拉伯国家的出口潜力;根据实证检验结果提出了政策建议。