Migration Planning Among Female Prospective Labour Migrants from Nepal: A Comparison of First‐Time and Repeat‐Migrants

As international female labour migration has increased, so too have efforts to prevent the exploitation of labour migrants. However, evidence to underpin prevention efforts remains limited, with little known about labour migrants’ migration planning processes. Using data from a survey of female prospective labour migrants from Nepal, this article compares socio‐demographics and migration‐planning processes between first‐time and repeat‐migrants. We identified several factors which might increase repeat‐migrants’ vulnerability to exploitation during the migration process, or obstruct their engagement in pre‐migration interventions: more rapid migration planning than first‐time migrants; lower involvement in community groups; and a perception that they already have the knowledge they need. Only one‐third of repeat‐migrants planned to go to the same destination and 42 per cent to work in the same sector as previously. With repeat‐migration a common livelihoods strategy, it is crucial that interventions are guided by evidence on the needs of both first‐time‐ and repeat‐migrants.     

Turning back the ticking clock: the effect of increased affordability of assisted reproductive technology on women’s marriage timing

This paper exploits variation in the mandated insurance coverage of assisted reproductive technology (ART) across US states and over time to examine the connection between increased access to ART and female marriage timing. Since ART increases the probability of pregnancy for older women of reproductive age, greater access to ART will make marriage delay less costly for younger single women of reproductive age. Linear probability models are estimated to investigate the effects of ART state insurance mandates on changes in marital status of women in different age groups using the 1977–2010 Current Population Survey. Results show that greater access to ART is associated with marital delay for white (but not for black) women: white women in states with an ART insurance mandate are significantly less likely to marry between the 20–24, 25–29, and 30–34 age ranges, but significantly more likely to marry between the 30–34 and 35–39 age ranges.     

Prevalence of Sexual Abuse in Childhood: Some Critical Methodological Reflections

This article attempts to analyze the prevalence rates of sexual abuse in childhood reported in comparative empirical studies, giving an overview of a selection of representative studies reporting high rates of abuse and comparing it to an overview of studies reporting lower rates. Extremely discrepant rates of childhood sexual abuse are reported in a number of empirical studies conducted in this field over the past 26 years, particularly those looking beyond prevalence to study the links between this type of trauma and future motherhood. To shed light on the disparities in the reported prevalence rates, the article reviews the principal methodological biases that have contaminated the findings. The authors then offer several suggestions for improvement that might be implemented in future studies.     

A Novel Approach to Chemical Mixture Risk Assessment—Linking Data from Population‐Based Epidemiology and Experimental Animal Tests

Humans are continuously exposed to chemicals with suspected or proven endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). Risk management of EDCs presents a major unmet challenge because the available data for adverse health effects are generated by examining one compound at a time, whereas real‐life exposures are to mixtures of chemicals. In this work, we integrate epidemiological and experimental evidence toward a whole mixture strategy for risk assessment. To illustrate, we conduct the following four steps in a case study: (1) identification of single EDCs (“bad actors”)—measured in prenatal blood/urine in the SELMA study—that are associated with a shorter anogenital distance (AGD) in baby boys; (2) definition and construction of a “typical” mixture consisting of the “bad actors” identified in Step 1; (3) experimentally testing this mixture in an in vivo animal model to estimate a dose–response relationship and determine a point of departure (i.e., reference dose [RfD]) associated with an adverse health outcome; and (4) use a statistical measure of “sufficient similarity” to compare the experimental RfD (from Step 3) to the exposure measured in the human population and generate a “similar mixture risk indicator” (SMRI). The objective of this exercise is to generate a proof of concept for the systematic integration of epidemiological and experimental evidence with mixture risk assessment strategies. Using a whole mixture approach, we could find a higher rate of pregnant women under risk (13%) when comparing with the data from more traditional models of additivity (3%), or a compound‐by‐compound strategy (1.6%).     

Challenges of Using Secondary Data to Study Rural Caregiving within the United States

When health fails, rural residents often turn to informal caregivers for assistance and are more likely to do so than those living in urban areas. Scholarship is clear in demonstrating the many burdens that accrue to those providing informal care. Furthermore, caregivers in rural areas face amplified health disparities and stressors, and limited access to resources and formalized supports. Yet, the study of informal caregiving within geographic context is made difficult by the limitations inherent in existing secondary data sources. In this report, we discuss three available data sources that provide information about US caregivers: the National Family Alliance Caregiving in the US Survey; Health and Retirement Survey; and National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States. These datasets illustrate common challenges of studying rural caregiving, including how to define rural residence, issues with data access, and difficulties attaining an adequate sample size. After reviewing these methodological issues, we identify two additional data sources that while promising, suffer from challenges of their own. We conclude by offering suggestions about how to capture the unique experiences of rural caregivers beyond the use of secondary data.     

Performance Concern,Contingent Self‐worth,and Responses to Repeated Achievement Failure in Second Graders

Individual differences in emotion, cognitions, and task choice following achievement failure are found among four‐ to seven‐year‐olds. However, neither performance deterioration during failure nor generalization after failure—aspects of the helpless pattern in 10‐year‐olds—have been reliably demonstrated in this age group. In the present study, 78 second graders worked on a series of unsolvable and solvable puzzles and then on a figure‐matching task. We assessed levels of performance concern and performance‐contingent self‐worth, and their relations to performance during and after failure. As predicted, performance concern and performance‐contingent self‐worth were independent self‐regulatory processes. Performance concern was related to strategy use during and after failure and performance‐contingent self‐worth was related to postfailure performance. These results provide empirical support for Burhans and Dweck's model of the origins of individual differences in motivation. Similarities in behaviors and mechanisms of effect for children's and adults' responses to failure are discussed.     

Empirically Supported Mental Health Interventions with Groups: Using Research to Support Vulnerable Students in Schools

This paper discusses the use of empirically-supported mental health interventions to support vulnerable students in schools. It gives an overview of the empirically-supported intervention (ESI) approach and its goodness of fit with schools. Factors that influence whether schools adopt an ESI approach, such as national education reform policies and the availability of resources are explored. Two ESI’s that have been shown to improve the lives of vulnerable youth are presented within a school social work case example. The paper concludes with implications and suggestions for future research, including efforts to educate school staff on the importance of adopting an ESI approach, where to locate ESI’s, and further research on the cost-effectiveness of ESI’s.     

The impact of collectivism on savings behavior: a case study of Mexican-Americans and non-Mexican Latinos

This interdisciplinary study combines anthropological and economic theories and methods to understand how Mexican-Americans’ collectivist cultural values affect their savings behavior and their preparation for retirement. Mexican-Americans are the fastest growing immigrant group in the United States and they are both younger and expected to live longer than other groups. Yet they are the most insecure in relation to funding retirement. Even when Mexican-American workers are eligible to participate in retirement savings plans at work, they have low participation rates. We analyze data from a Chicago area survey in light of broader anthropological and economic scholarship to argue that Mexican-Americans’ collectivist values influence the choices they make about how to build assets and resources differently from other Latino groups. Latinos are a diverse group by national origin, citizenship and immigration status, characteristics that strongly influence their employment prospects, asset building and retirement savings and security. Financial policy makers need to understand the heterogeneity of financial behavior within the Hispanic community. The collectivist informal economy of Mexican immigrants and their children is at odds with the formal defined contribution retirement savings system, which is geared toward both autonomous individuals and higher-income workers who benefit from the program’s tax deductions. Since these plans penalize participants who withdraw funds before retirement age, they can be deleterious to those who expect both to loan funds to and to borrow money from members of their collectivist social networks.