Retrospective Paternal and Maternal Parenting Styles,Regulatory Self-Efficacy and Adolescent Risk Taking

This study aims to calculate a scaled risk-taking behavior index and to test a model in which maternal and paternal parenting styles affect risk-taking behavior with a mediation of adolescents’ regulatory self-efficacy. Participants were 816 adolescents (44% males) responding to a self-report questionnaire about their risk-taking behavior, regulatory self-efficacy, and retrospective memories of paternal and maternal parenting styles. Results suggested an item rating in the index showing that behaviors considered less risky referred to alcohol use and the unplanned first sexual intercourse, whereas behaviors considered more risky referred to the lack of use of contraceptives and the age of the first sexual intercourse. Results revealed a significant indirect effect of authoritative and authoritarian styles on risk-taking behavior. These styles shaped the adolescents’ regulatory self-efficacy, which in turn predicted adolescent risk-taking behavior. Results underline the complex interplay of relationships between parents and their children.     

Small area estimation of mean price of habitation transaction using time-series and cross-sectional area-level models

In this paper, a new small domain estimator for area-level data is proposed. The proposed estimator is driven by a real problem of estimating the mean price of habitation transaction at a regional level in a European country, using data collected from a longitudinal survey conducted by a national statistical office. At the desired level of inference, it is not possible to provide accurate direct estimates because the sample sizes in these domains are very small. An area-level model with a heterogeneous covariance structure of random effects assists the proposed combined estimator. This model is an extension of a model due to Fay and Herriot [5], but it integrates information across domains and over several periods of time. In addition, a modified method of estimation of variance components for time-series and cross-sectional area-level models is proposed by including the design weights. A Monte Carlo simulation, based on real data, is conducted to investigate the performance of the proposed estimators in comparison with other estimators frequently used in small area estimation problems. In particular, we compare the performance of these estimators with the estimator based on the Rao–Yu model [23]. The simulation study also accesses the performance of the modified variance component estimators in comparison with the traditional ANOVA method. Simulation results show that the estimators proposed perform better than the other estimators in terms of both precision and bias.     

Family ties: Labor supply responses to cope with a household employment shock

We use data from the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) to explore labor responses of individuals (not only the spouse) to a negative employment shock suffered by another household member. We focus on Italy where family ties other than spousal ones are particularly strong and grown up children live in their parents’ household till late, especially when they are students. Two main results emerge. First, we find strong and robust evidence that households hit by an employment shock do respond by increasing labor supply. Second, we document an added worker effect that is affecting not only wives, but also teenage children and students independently of their age, with important policy implications in terms of human capital formation. Results are robust across gender, household financial conditions and the crisis, yet they do not point to differential reactions along these dimensions.     

Generalized cross entropy method for analysing the SERVQUAL model

The aim of this paper is to define a new approach for the analysis of data collected by means of SERVQUAL questionnaires which is based on the generalized cross entropy (GCE) approach. In this respect, we firstly give a short review about the important role that SERVQUAL plays in the analysis of service quality as well as in the assessment of the competitiveness of public and private organizations. Secondly, we provide a formal definition of GCE approach together with a brief discussion about its features and usefulness. Finally, we show the application of GCE for a SERVQUAL model, based on a patients’ satisfaction case study and we discuss the results obtained by using the proposed GCE-SERVQUAL methodology.     

Effects of tadalafil treatment combined with physical activity in patients with low onset hypogonadism: results from a not-randomized single arm phase 2 study

Purpose: To investigate a possible relation between penile Doppler ultrasound examination (PDUE) parameters and efficacy of chronic therapy with tadalafil (TAD) combined with a protocol of aerobic physical activity (PA) in patients with late onset hypogonadism (LOH). Methods: The study evaluated 30 patients consecutively enrolled with LOH and erectile dysfunction which present contraindication to hormonal replacement therapy for concomitant prostate disease. These patients were subjected to a combined protocol with phosphodiesterase V selective inhibitors (TAD 5?mg daily) and aerobic PA.

Results: After three months, we observed significant improvements in erectile function [IIEF-5, median (IQR)?=?13.0 (7.0–18.0) versus 6.0 (5.0–6.75); p?p?Conclusion: PA in association with phosphodiesterase V inhibitors could compensate the effects of hypogonadism on erectile function and facilitate the clinical response to these drugs even in the absence of adequate serum concentrations of total testosterone.     

A Comparative Study on Representational Gestures in Italian and Japanese Children

This study compares words and gestures produced in a controlled experimental setting by children raised in different linguistic/cultural environments to examine the robustness of gesture use at an early stage of lexical development. Twenty-two Italian and twenty-two Japanese toddlers (age range 25?C37?months) performed the same picture-naming task. Italians produced more spoken correct labels than Japanese but a similar amount of representational gestures temporally matched with words. However, Japanese gestures reproduced more closely the action represented in the picture. Results confirm that gestures are linked to motor actions similarly for all children, suggesting a common developmental stage, only minimally influenced by culture.     

Distortion representations of multivariate distributions

Statistical Methods & Applications - The univariate distorted distributions were introduced in risk theory to represent changes (distortions) in the expected distributions of some risks. Later,...     

The Impact of Temporary Migration on Source Countries

We quantify the home country effects of different types of temporary and permanent migration patterns using a global integrated model for three developing countries. Our results suggest that migration (whether permanent or temporary) is beneficial for income as well as for poverty reduction in the home countries as it raises remittances, labor productivity, trade, and foreign direct investment and it provides incentives for human capital accumulation. These channels offset the negative impact of “brain drain.” In the simulations, temporary migration programs yield better outcomes than permanent migration due to the productivity gains induced in the home countries by returning migrants.     

A control chart for variance based on squared ranks

A nonparametric control chart for variance is proposed. The chart is constructed following the change-point approach through the recursive use of the squared ranks test for variance. It is capable of detecting changes in the behaviour of individual observations with performance similar to a self-starting CUSUM chart for scale when normality is assumed, and a relatively better power when assessing nonnormal observations. A comparison is also made with two equivalent nonparametric charts based on Mood and Ansari-Bradley statistics. When dealing with symmetrical distributions, the proposed chart shows smaller (better) out-of-control average run length (ARL), and a competing performance otherwise. In addition, sensitivity to changes in mean and variance at the same time was tested. Extensive Monte Carlo simulation was used to measure performance, and a practical example is provided to illustrate how the proposed control chart can be implemented in practice.