Are Daughters Like Mothers: Evidence on Intergenerational Educational Mobility Among Young Females in India

Taking data from the ‘India Youth Survey: Situation and Needs’ the paper examines intergenerational educational mobility for young females (vis-à-vis their mothers) in India. The paper uses transition/mobility matrices and mobility measures widely used in the literature on intergenerational mobility for the examination. The overall intergenerational educational mobility among the young females in India is about 0.69 (the upper limit being 1). The upwards component of the overall intergenerational educational mobility is 0.55 (that is, nearly four-fifth of the overall). Also, the intergenerational educational mobility is slightly higher in the ‘Scheduled Castes and Tribes (SC/ST)’ compared to the ‘Other Backward Castes (OBC)’ as well as ‘Others’ castes. But the upward mobility is substantially higher in the ‘Others’ caste group compared to SC/STs. The upward mobility among the OBCs is higher than that of SC/STs but lower than that of the ‘Others’ category. Also, the overall mobility as well as upward mobility is higher in urban areas. Moreover, there are large inter-state variations with the economically and demographically poorer states having substantially lower overall as well as upward mobility than the economically and demographically advanced states.     

Inequality of Opportunity in Indian Women

Social Indicators Research - Inequality of opportunity (IOp) in any society is defined as that part of overall inequality which arises from factors beyond the control of an individual...     

A tolerance interval approach for assessment of agreement in method comparison studies with repeated measurements

This paper generalizes the tolerance interval approach for assessing agreement between two methods of continuous measurement for repeated measurement data—a common scenario in applications. The repeated measurements may be longitudinal or they may be replicates of the same underlying measurement. Our approach is to first model the data using a mixed model and then construct a relevant asymptotic tolerance interval (or band) for the distribution of appropriately defined differences. We present the methodology in the general context of a mixed model that can incorporate covariates, heteroscedasticity and serial correlation in the errors. Simulation for the no-covariate case shows good small-sample performance of the proposed methodology. For the longitudinal data, we also describe an extension for the case when the observed time profiles are modelled nonparametrically through penalized splines. Two real data applications are presented.     

Step by step: tenant accounts of securing and maintaining quality housing with a housing choice voucher

Previous research on renters’ experiences in the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program is robust, but much of it has been conducted in the context of mobility interventions providing added resources. In contrast, this study focuses on HCV renters’ experiences searching for housing without the support of a mobility intervention. In semistructured interviews, 34 HCV renters describe their housing search processes and outcomes. We find that renters struggle to secure housing in their preferred neighborhoods due to limited information and financial costs such as application fees and security deposits. Discussion focuses on practice and policy reforms that might support greater housing choice.     

Tests for assessment of agreement using probability criteria

For the assessment of agreement using probability criteria, we obtain an exact test, and for sample sizes exceeding 30, we give a bootstrap-t$t$ test that is remarkably accurate. We show that for assessing agreement, the total deviation index approach of Lin [2000. Total deviation index for measuring individual agreement with applications in laboratory performance and bioequivalence. Statist. Med. 19, 255–270] is not consistent and may not preserve its asymptotic nominal level, and that the coverage probability approach of Lin et al. [2002. Statistical methods in assessing agreement: models, issues and tools. J. Amer. Statist. Assoc. 97, 257–270] is overly conservative for moderate sample sizes. We also show that the nearly unbiased test of Wang and Hwang [2001. A nearly unbiased test for individual bioequivalence problems using probability criteria. J. Statist. Plann. Inference 99, 41–58] may be liberal for large sample sizes, and suggest a minor modification that gives numerically equivalent approximation to the exact test for sample sizes 30 or less. We present a simple and accurate sample size formula for planning studies on assessing agreement, and illustrate our methodology with a real data set from the literature.     

Equal Processing Time Bicriteria Scheduling on Parallel Machines

We consider the problem of scheduling jobs on parallel, identical machines so as to minimize a primary and a secondary criteria. All the jobs are assumed to have identical processing times. Polynomial time algorithms, that generate optimal solutions, are presented for various combinations of primary and secondary criteria.     

Working HIV care-givers in Botswana: Spill-over effects on work and family well-being

Families provide most of the care to the tens of millions of HIV-infected and -affected in Africa. Little research exists on how care-givers balance the demands of holding a job with providing care for those who have become ill or orphaned by HIV/AIDS. Using data from a large survey administered to 1,077 working care-givers in Botswana, we compared the experience of HIV care-givers with non-HIV care-givers. Compared to non-HIV care-givers, HIV care-givers were more likely to worry about routine childcare (44% vs. 31%) and sick childcare (64% vs. 49%). Amongst those working far from home, more HIV care-givers were concerned that their children were not receiving adequate academic support (39% vs. 20%) and emotional support (57% vs. 33%). Parents who were HIV care-givers were less able to spend time with their own children. Children of HIV care-givers were more likely to have physical, mental and academic problems. While HIV care-givers were more likely to take leave from work for care-giving (53% vs. 39%), and for longer periods of time (13 vs. 7.6 days), this leave is more likely to be unpaid. Strategies to support those directly and indirectly affected by HIV and to avoid economic responsibility are discussed.     

Still connecting the dots: An investigation into infants' attentional bias to threat using an eye-tracking task

An attentional bias toward threat has been theorized to be a normative aspect of infants' threat and safety learning, and an indicator of risk for internalizing psychopathology in older populations. To date, only four studies have examined this bias using the dot-probe task in infancy and the findings are mixed. We extended the literature by examining patterns of attention to threat in a culturally and linguistically diverse sample of infants aged 5–11 months old (N = 151) using all measures previously employed in the infant dot-probe literature. Given that an attentional bias toward threat is associated with higher risk of developing anxiety disorders later in life, we also examined how negative affect—an early correlate of later anxiety disorders—is related to attentional bias toward threat in infancy. This study was the first to use a consistent measure of negative affect across the whole sample. An eye-tracking dot-probe task was used to examine attentional bias toward threat (i.e., angry faces) relative to positive (i.e., happy faces) stimuli. Results showed that an attention bias to threat was not characteristic of infants at this age, and negative affect did not moderate the putative relationship between attention and emotional faces (angry, happy). These findings therefore suggest that attention biases to socio-emotional threat may not have emerged by 11 months old.     

Resource Access and Status Versus Values and Agency: Is There a Correspondence?

This paper attempts to explore the correspondence (or lack of it) between women’s access to resources and their social status on one hand and between women’s social status and their values and agency on the other. This would necessarily involve an assessment of the role of women’s access to resources towards their attitudinal transformation and ability to exercise agency. However, this also entails an understanding of the circumstances including norms and institutions amidst which women exercise choices. While gender research today boasts of rich empirical contributions, the implication of women’s improved resource access on intra-family-gendered relation as well as on women’s own preferences and agency roles still deserves a comprehensive inquiry. This paper attempts to conduct such an exercise in Indian context, by utilizing existing demographic health survey and other data. It observes that despite women’s control over resources and access to education, gendered role as well as attitudes and preferences of men and of women themselves, remain intact. While this observation underlines the impinging role of social context, alongside it also reflects the inefficacy of using conventional indicators to measure women’s autonomy and gender equality.