Children and well-being: A comparison of employed and non-employed women

While employment improves health, having children at home does not. Indeed, the most likely work-family conflict for women is having children at home. In this study the effect of children on well-being was predicted to differ for employed and non-employed women. In addition, only amongst the employed women was locus of control hypothcsized to moderate this relationship. In a sample of women with partners (n = 116), using multiple-regression analysis, the results indicated that the number of children living at home, rather than the presence of young children, was associated with increased happiness in women. Employment was not predictive of women's well-being. However, it moderated the effect of number of children on their levels of happiness. In addition, non-employed women showed a U-shaped relationship between number of children and psychological distress. Finally, contrary to prediction, locus of control did not moderate the relationship between number of children and women's well-being. The findings are discussed in terms of the role expansion hypothesis.     

Early stopping in seamless phase I/II clinical trials

In recent years, seamless phase I/II clinical trials have drawn much attention, as they consider both toxicity and efficacy endpoints in finding an optimal dose (OD). Engaging an appropriate number of patients in a trial is a challenging task. This paper attempts a dynamic stopping rule to save resources in phase I/II trials. That is, the stopping rule aims to save patients from unnecessary toxic or subtherapeutic doses. We allow a trial to stop early when widths of the confidence intervals for the dose-response parameters become narrower or when the sample size is equal to a predefined size, whichever comes first. The simulation study of dose-response scenarios in various settings demonstrates that the proposed stopping rule can engage an appropriate number of patients. Therefore, we suggest its use in clinical trials.     

Rare and clustered population estimation using the adaptive cluster sampling with some robust measures

The use of robust measures helps to increase the precision of the estimators, especially for the estimation of extremely skewed distributions. In this article, a generalized ratio estimator is proposed by using some robust measures with single auxiliary variable under the adaptive cluster sampling (ACS) design. We have incorporated tri-mean (TM), mid-range (MR) and Hodges-Lehman (HL) of the auxiliary variable as robust measures together with some conventional measures. The expressions of bias and mean square error (MSE) of the proposed generalized ratio estimator are derived. Two types of numerical study have been conducted using artificial clustered population and real data application to examine the performance of the proposed estimator over the usual mean per unit estimator under simple random sampling (SRS). Related results of the simulation study show that the proposed estimators provide better estimation results on both real and artificial population over the competing estimators.     

The Perceptions of Women’s Roles and Progress: A Study of Malay Women

This study examines the general perceptions of women towards their roles, their interpretation of progress, as well as the facilitating factors and barriers to their progress. Questionnaires were distributed to 1,000 Malay women in Malaysia from rural and urban areas, from various age and income groups. Interviews were also carried out on the selected sample. Using both quantitative and qualitative methods of analyses, the results showed that women were perceived to play a strong, influential, and supportive role in their families. The results also showed how women perceive progress. These findings are discussed in relation to culture, socialization, values and norms of the Malay society.     

A study of some ridge-type shrinkage estimators

In this paper,several ridge-type shrinkage estimators are studied with respect to their relative efficiency. Some interrelationships which exist among these estimators are pointed out. One of these estimators, T∞ based on the work of Mehta and Srinivasan (1971), is shown to be a flexible estimator, which has clear advantages over its competitors. A useful approximation for calculation of the relative efficiency of T∞ is also presented.     

Women on boards and bank efficiency in ASEAN-5: the moderating role of the independent directors

Corporate governance codes around the world promote women’s presence in corporate board. The extant literature suggests women directors contribute to improve monitoring and advisory role of the board. This study aims to examine the role of independent women directors in improving banks’ efficiency. Using 102 commercial banks from ASEAN-5 countries for a period of 1999–2012, we run generalized method of moments models to test the relationship between the variables. Our results show that banks with independent women directors on board contribute significantly to the bank’s efficiency level. Contrary to the literature, we found that the appointment of women directors or independent directors alone does not significantly enhance banks’ efficiency. The result suggests that women directors are more effective on boards if they are also appointed as independent directors. This finding implies that a combination of corporate governance mechanism is more powerful than relying on a single element of corporate governance.     

Body Image Disturbances and Predictors of Body Dissatisfaction Among Hispanic and White Preadolescents

This study assessed ethnic and gender differences in ideal body size, body dissatisfaction (BD), and the relationship between BD and various predictors (e.g., body composition indicators and cardiorespiratory fitness). The sample consisted of 190 White and Hispanic preadolescents aged 10–13 years. Demographic, percent body fat (%BF), body mass index (BMI), body image variables, and cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) were examined. A significant Gender × Ethnicity interaction was found for ideal body size (p < .05), with Hispanic girls preferring the thinnest figures and Hispanic boys the largest figures, compared to their counterparts. No significant gender or ethnic differences in BD were observed. After controlling for demographic and cultural variables, increased %BF and BMI scores predicted greater BD, whereas CRF did not.     

The Economic Effect of Refugee Crises on Neighbouring Host Countries: Empirical Evidence from Pakistan

There is a considerable debate in terms of opportunities and challenges about the presence of refugees in the neighbouring host countries. Most of the existing discourse has focused only on their humanitarian and security implications. This article, on the other hand, seeks to uncover this issue through a purely economic lens, focusing on the economic impact of more than three million Afghan refugees in Pakistan. Utilizing data for the period 1979–2014 and the ARDL bounds testing approach, we arrive at few important conclusions. The empirical results indicate that Afghan refugees have a strong negative impact on economic growth in Pakistan. The effect holds in both the short run and the long run, suggesting that the influx of refugees lowers real economic activity in the country. Ultimately, the study implies that hosting refugees can never be a boon to Pakistan's economy.     

Development of Indicators for Family Well-Being in Malaysia

This study was carried out to develop a set of indicators for measuring and reporting the state of family well-being in Malaysia, and subsequently, to produce an Index of Family Well-Being. To build the set of indicators, domains of family well-being and relevant indicators were identified from past studies. Focus group discussions with families, professional groups and NGOs helped to refine the indicators prior to the main study. Using a stratified random sampling design, 2,808 households were identified (a parent and a child aged at least 13 years), making a total sample of 5,616 respondents. Results indicated ten key indicators that can predict family well-being—resiliency, safety, savings, healthy lifestyle, time with family, work-family balance, importance of religion, number of bedrooms at home, debt and child care—supporting the notion of family well-being being multi-dimensional and interconnected. On the basis of the results, a model of family well-being was hypothesized. This model was used to guide the development of the Index of Family Well-being. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was carried out to determine the fit of the model to data. Five domains of family well-being were identified—family relationships, economic situation, health and safety, community relationship and religion/spirituality. The Index of Family Well-Being was calculated using the equal weighting strategy to each of these five domains. This index showed that the current family well-being of Malaysians is relatively high at 7.95 (SD = 1.38) on a 0–10 Likert response format. The findings suggest that family well-being is multifaceted, made up not only of the immediate family relationships and health and safety of its members, but include having adequate income to meet the demands of a minimum standard of living. Currently, the Index that is developed is only in the form of a numerical value reflecting the state of family well-being, but in future, it can be used to track changes in the family from time to time.