A Dissenting View from Julia Lane

Estimation of Job-to-Job Flow Rates Under Partially Missing Geography

Hires, Separations, and the Job Tenure Distribution in Administrative Earnings Records

*These authors contributed to the devlopment and review of this manuscript but are unable to endorse the request for NIH funding. On Sept. 20, 2011, the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) released its inaugural AACR Cancer Progress Report to commemorate the

The dynamics of gender earnings differentials: Evidence from establishment data

Casual observation suggests that in most U.S. urban labor markets, immigrants have more immigrant coworkers than native-born workers do. While seeming obvious, this excess tendency to work together has not been precisely measured, nor have its sources been quantified. Using matched employer-employee data from the U.S. Census Bureau Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics (LEHD) database on a set of metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) with substantial immigrant populations, we find that, on average, 37 % of an immigrant's coworkers are themselves immigrants; in contrast, only 14 % of a native-born worker's coworkers are immigrants. We decompose this difference into the probability of working with compatriots versus with immigrants from other source countries. Using human capital, employer, and location characteristics, we narrow the mechanisms that might explain immigrant concentration. We find that industry, language, and residential segregation collectively explain almost all the excess tendency to work with immigrants from other source countries, but they have limited power to explain work with compatriots. This large unexplained compatriot component suggests an important role for unmeasured country-specific factors, such as social networks.

The experience of growing up in the United States is different for youngsters today than it was for their parents. Family organization has changed and the proportion of single mothers has increased dramatically in recent decades. In 1990, only 59% of children were living in traditional families with both biological parents (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1992b). Between 1970 and 1991, the proportion of children maintained by a single parent, usually the mother only, jumped from 11% to 22% (U.S. Department of Commerce, 1992), and it is estimated that about half of all children will spend some time in a household headed by a female parent. For African Americans, single parenting is the modal family form; in 1992 only 38% of African American children lived with two parents (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1992a). The consensus from earlier research is that children in one-parent families do about as well as those in two-parent families on standardized tests, although on more subjective measures, like teachers' marks or deportment ratings, children in one-parent families do not fare as well (Garfinkel & McLanahan, 1986; Hetherington, Camara, & Featherman, 1983). These conclusions about how family type affects standardized test scores, however, are based mainly on data procured in the 1960s and 1970s when the major reason for single parenting was divorce. The nature of single parenting is now quite different. In 1970, 73% of children living with one parent were in a home where parents were divorced or the spouse was absent, and about 7% were in a home with a never-married parent (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1989). In 1992, of all children living with the mother only, about 60% were living with divorced or separated parents and 35% were living with a never-married parent (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1992a). These changes in circumstances of single parents have several implications. One is that studies of how residing with a divorced single parent affects children, which focus on the trauma of parental separation and household moves that go along with divorce, are not necessarily relevant for many of the youngsters who live with single parents in the 1990s. Another implication is that low economic status is probably more problematic for children who live with a single parent now than was true in earlier decades because children of never-married mothers are much poorer than children of divorced or separated mothers (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1992a). For example, of White children between 6 and 11 years of age living with only their mother, twice as many are below the poverty line (64% vs. 32%) if the mother is never married rather than divorced. Of African American children, 71% are below the poverty line if the mother is never married, compared with 52% in divorced-mother families. Children of never-married mothers also have less access to human capital than do other children. Of children ages 6 to 11, about 85% of the parents in two-parent or divorced-mother families are high school graduates, compared with 60% of never-married mothers (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1992a). Zill and Rogers (1989) noted a relative lack of social capital as well. Even though never-married mothers spend more hours at home with their children than divorced mothers do, children living with divorced mothers are more likely to participate in a variety of family activities, to have an intellectually stimulating home environment, and to do better in school than children living with never-married mothers. The changing demographics of single-parent families certainly invite a re-examination of the issue of how parent configuration affects children's school performance. Also, most of the information about single parenting and children's schooling pertains to secondary school youngsters (see, e.g., Garfinkel & McLanahan, 1986; Hetherington et al., 1983; Mulkey, Crain, & Harrington, 1992). The picture may be different for younger children because first-grade children's cognitive skills develop at a rate about 10 times the rate of high schoolers (Jencks, 1985). …

Assessing public transit service equity using route-level accessibility measures and public data

Trust is a key component of democratic decision‐making and becomes even more salient in highly technical policy areas, where the public relies heavily on experts for decision making and on the information provided by federal agencies. Research to date has not examined whether the members of the public place different levels of trust in the various agencies that operate within the same policy subsystem, especially in a highly technical subsystem such as that of nuclear energy and waste management. This paper explores public trust in multiple agencies operating within the same subsystem, trust in each agency relative to aggregate trust across agencies that operate within the nuclear waste subsystem, and trust in alternative agencies that have been suggested as possible players in the decision‐making process. We find that trust accorded to different federal agencies within the nuclear waste subsystem varies. The variation in trust is systematically associated with multiple factors, including basic trust in government, perceptions about the risks and benefits of nuclear energy/waste management, party identification, and education. These findings have significant implications for research on public trust in specific government agencies, alternative policy entities, and for policy makers who want to design robust and successful policies and programs in highly technical policy domains.

EVALUATING THE INCREMENTAL VALIDITY OF THE MMPI-2-RC SCALES FOR CUSTODY LITIGANTS By Elizabeth M. Archer Wheeler, M.S. A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University. Virginia Commonwealth University, 2012. Major Director: Bryce D. McLeod, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Psychology Department of Psychology The use of psychological testing in child custody assessments has become more common and important as psychologists are increasingly used as expert witnesses in contested child custody and visitation cases. Currently, the MMPI-2 is the most commonly used psychological test in child custody cases, but there is no research indicating which version of the measure (K-corrected, non-K-corrected, or the RC scales) provides the most accurate picture of the custody litigant in terms of substantial correlations with external variables. This study represents the first examination of the convergent, discriminant, and incremental validity of the MMPI-2 K-corrected Basic Clinical Scales, the MMPI-2 non-K-corrected Basic Clinical Scales, and the RC scales in a sample of (n = 196) custody litigants from the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Results indicated that all three sets of scales showed some evidence of convergent validity and discriminant validity with external criteria, with gender differences shown in correlate patterns. Additionally, results indicated that none of the three versions demonstrated incremental validity relative to the other versions. There were several limitations of the study including the use of dichotomous, self-report external correlate variables, the simultaneous collection of both predictor and outcome variables, and potentially limited generalizability of the data. Evaluation of the Incremental Validity of the MMPI-2-RC Scales for Custody Litigants A significant number of children will experience the divorce of their parents. Over half of marriages end in divorce (United States Census Bureau, 2009) and recent estimates suggest that roughly 11.5 million children have experienced the divorce of their parents (United States Census Bureau, 2003). With this large percentage of children in the United States who have or will experience the divorce of their parents, it is crucial to understand the potential mental health outcomes that divorce may have on children. Divorce is associated with a number of negative outcomes for children. The U.S. Census Bureau (2003) states that children of divorced families are more likely to have problematic academic achievement, drop out of school, have children at a young age, and have increased levels of depression, stress, anxiety and aggression. Approximately 20-25% of children who experience the divorce of their parents will have serious mental illness or life adjustment problems (Amato & Keith, 1991; Hetherington, Bridges, & Insabella, 1998) and these children are at an increased risk of mental health problems as adults (Chase-Lansdale, Cherlin, & Kiernan, 1995). It is clear that divorce is associated with significant negative outcomes for children; however, there are factors that appear to be associated with reduced severity of outcomes. Placement decisions regarding custody and visitation appear to play an important role in determining outcomes for children who experience the divorce of their parents (Ackerman, 2006). Placement and visitation schedules that provide the best psychological and developmental fit for the children are important both from a mental health and a public policy standpoint. Wallerstein (1991) noted many children experience the effects of divorce long into adulthood, while others may not experience the full effect of the divorce until they

Unless the prevalence of smoking falls substantially, 0.5 billion of the world's present population will die prematurely from disease caused by tobacco.1 Without considerable changes in the regulation of products that deliver nicotine it will be difficult to achieve substantial further falls in mortality in the United States or to reduce tobacco consumption worldwide. Under the direction of its commissioner, David Kessler, the United States Food and Drug Administration is taking on this challenge. The federal agency is considering taking over regulatory responsibility for tobacco products and developing new regulatory approaches for tobacco. What has brought about its involvement, and what can it do? We provide some insight into these issues from the perspective of public health scientists who do not represent the Food and Drug Administration or other federal agencies. Tobacco products are not regulated in a way that is consistent with their adverse effects on health and their addictiveness.2 Ironically, in the United States the present system of regulatory oversight of products that deliver nicotine makes it easier to get tobacco products, which cause dependence and disease, than to obtain potentially lifesaving drugs. Thus the most toxic and addictive formulations delivering nicotine—cigarettes and other tobacco products—are readily …

Honoring Asian diversity by collecting Asian subpopulation data in health research.

Publicly available statistics from government agencies that are credible, relevant, accurate, and timely are essential for policy makers, individuals, households, businesses, academic institutions, and other organizations to make informed decisions. Even more, the effective operation of a democratic system of government depends on the unhindered flow of statistical information to its citizens. In the United States, federal statistical agencies in cabinet departments and independent agencies are the governmental units whose principal function is to compile, analyze, and disseminate information for such statistical purposes as describing population characteristics and trends, planning and monitoring programs, and conducting research and evaluation. The work of these agencies is coordinated by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget. Statistical agencies may acquire information not only from surveys or censuses of people and organizations, but also from such sources as government administrative records, private-sector datasets, and Internet sources that are judged of suitable quality and relevance for statistical use. They may conduct analyses, but they do not advocate policies or take partisan positions. Statistical purposes for which they provide information relate to descriptions of groups and exclude any interest in or identification of an individual person, institution, or economic unit. Four principles are fundamental for a federal statistical agency: relevance to policy issues, credibility among data users, trust among data providers, and independence from political and other undue external influence. Principles and Practices for a Federal Statistical Agency: Fifth Edition explains these four principles in detail.

The scope and emphasis of a public health program are necessarily influenced by the changing characteristics of the population it serves. The rate of population growth affects long-range planning of community health and medical facilities. Alterations in age composition, internal migration of racial or industrial groups, changes in population density and urban-rural movement require current adaptation of the health program to solve the new problems thus created. Among the various characteristics of recent population trends, aging of the population is one of the most fundamental in its bearing on national health. The social and economic effects of an aging population have long been recognized. Dr. Louis I. Dublin appraised the problem of old age in some detail in 1926, when the provision of economic security for the aged was the dominant theme of contemporary discussion.1 The passage of the Social Security Act in 1935 represented the fruits of the efforts of this early period. Adjustment of national policy with respect to the health problems associated with aging of the population has been slower in development. Under the terms of the Social Security Act, a limited expansion of activities designed to promote the health of older adults—control of cancer and pneumonia, and industrial hygiene services—has been made possible in the cooperating States. However, the Act makes no provision for the solution of such fundamental problems as invalidity insurance and medical care of the aged. During the past five years, the health aspects of old age have received increasing attention in the discussions of public health administrators. It therefore seems appropriate to resurvey this general problem, and to consider, in particular, the nature of future trends in mortality, morbidity, and the receipt of medical care which may be expected solely as a result of changing age structure of the population.

Need and demand for orthodontic services: The final report

National estimates of gross employment and job flows from the Quarterly Workforce Indicators with demographic and industry detail