Does one Size Fit All?—Linking Parenting With Adolescent Substance Use and Adolescent Temperament

Using longitudinal Swedish data from 1,373 early‐adolescent youths, this study aims to answer the question of whether the previously established protective function of parental knowledge and its sources—adolescent disclosure, parental solicitation, and parental control—on substance use among early‐adolescents is moderated by the adolescent's temperament. Adolescent temperament moderated several links between parental knowledge and its sources and adolescent substance use. The most pronounced moderating results were found for those adolescents with fearless, socially detached and thrill‐seeking tendencies. For these “detached thrill‐seekers”, bidirectional links between adolescent disclosure and substance use, and negative links between parental solicitation and substance use were found. We recommend, therefore, that adolescent temperament is considered when designing parenting programs.     

Resistance training is linked to heightened positive motivational state and lower negative affect among healthy women aged 65–70

Resistance training (RT) improves overall health, but the psychological effects of RT in healthy old adults have not been tested. The aim of this study was to investigate a sample of 65–70-year-old healthy and physically active women to assess their sense of coherence, health-related quality of life, hope, and affect, before and after taking part in a 24-week RT intervention (N = 14), compared to controls (N = 18). Findings showed a significant increase in hope (p = 0.013) and a significant decrease in negative affect (p = 0.002). Starting RT after age 65 does not appear to negatively impact on women’s psychological health but seems to be associated with important psychological health benefits.     

A General Statistical Framework for Multistage Designs

Abstract. The efficiency of observational studies may be increased by applying multistage sampling designs. It is, however, not always transparent how to construct such a design to obtain increased efficiency. We here present a general statistical framework for describing and constructing multistage designs. We also provide tools for efficiency and cost‐efficiency comparisons, to facilitate the choice of sampling scheme. The comparisons are based on Fisher information matrices and the results are presented in graphs, where either efficiency or cost‐adjusted efficiency is plotted against a normalized measure of cost. The former curve resides in the unit square and is analogous to the receiver operating characteristic curve used for testing.     

The planning of a department store

A town or village attracts people from its hinterland to purchase goods by virtue of the amount and variety of goods on offer. Similarly, a department store attracts customers away from cempetitors by means of displays, staff expertise, stock holdings and numerous other parameters. The store is generally free to manipulate these parameters subject to certain restrictions; the manipulation will have a direct affect on the ultimate profitability of the store. This paper describes some current research that is being carried out in conjunction with a department store group. The ultimate aim is to link the corporate planning of the group and each store to detailed socioeconomic data describing the population. Some aspects of the problem have been investigated in depth, some are currently being discussed and some have not been considered at all as yet. The latest position will be reported and hopefully some feedback will be engendered.     

Fear of childbirth and depressive symptoms among postnatal women: A cross-sectional survey from Chhattisgarh,India

Background

Prevalence rates of Fear of Birth and postnatal depressive symptoms have not been explored in Chhattisgarh, India.

The Role of Pubertal Timing in What Adolescent Boys Do Online

The aim of this study was to investigate associations between pubertal timing and boys' Internet use, particularly their viewing of pornography. We used a sample comprising of 97 boys in grade 8 (M age, 14.22 years) from two schools in a medium‐sized Swedish town. This age should be optimal for differentiating early, on‐time, and later‐maturing boys. Boys responded to self‐report questionnaires on their Internet use and pubertal timing. Early, on‐time, and late‐maturing boys did not differ in terms of most Internet activities. However, early maturers reported downloading and viewing pornography more often than the other boys did (p<.001). The findings build on previous research on the link between pubertal timing and sexual behavior in adolescence. Moreover, they help further understanding of the behavioral implications of boys' pubertal timing.     

WITHIN U.S. TRADE AND THE LONG SHADOW OF THE AMERICAN SECESSION

Using data from U.S. commodity flow survey, we show that the historical Union–Confederacy border lowers contemporaneous trade between U.S. states by about 13%. The finding is robust over econometric models, survey waves, or aggregation levels. Including contemporaneous controls, such as network or institutional variables, lowers the estimate only slightly. Historical variables, such as slavery, do not explain the effect. Adding U.S. states unaffected by the Civil War, we argue that the friction is not merely reflecting unmeasured North–South differences. Finally, the border effect is larger for differentiated than for homogeneous goods, stressing the potential role for cultural factors and trust. (JEL F15, N72, N92, Z10)     

Measuring years of inactivity,years in retirement,time to retirement,and age at retirement within the Markov model

Retirement-related concepts are treated as random variables within Markov process models that capture multiple labor force entries and exits. The expected number of years spent outside of the labor force, expected years in retirement, and expected age at retirement are computed—all of which are of immense policy interest but have been heretofore reported with less precisely measured proxies. Expected age at retirement varies directly with a person’s age; but even younger people can expect to retire at ages substantially older than those commonly associated with retirement, such as age 60, 62, or 65. Between 1970 and 2003, men allocated most of their increase in life expectancy to increased time in retirement, but women allocated most of their increased life expectancy to labor force activity. Although people can exit and reenter the labor force at older ages, most 65-year-old men who are active in the labor force will not reenter after they eventually exit. At age 65, the probability that those who are inactive will reenter the labor force at some future time is .38 for men and .27 for women. Life expectancy at exact ages is decomposed into the sum of the expected time spent active and inactive in the labor force, and also as the sum of the expected time to labor force separation and time in retirement.