Adolescent sexual activity and pregnancy: Socioenvironmental problems,physical health,and mental health

This paper examines the association between adolescent pregnancy and socioenvironmental, physical, and mental health problems in 1590 inner-city females aged 13–18 who use health clinics. Adolescents who have become pregnant, those who are sexually active but never have been pregnant, and those who are sexually inactive are compared. The sexually active youngsters come from more psychosocially disadvantaged backgrounds than their sexually inactive peers; the sexually active girls who become pregnant come from more psychosocially disadvantaged backgrounds than those who have never been pregnant. Despite this, the youths who have become pregnant do not have more current relationship problems, more stressful life events, or worse physical health than the never-pregnant sexually active youths. Although sexually inactive youths have the lowest rates of mental health problems, adolescents who have been pregnant have lower rates of anxiety and conduct disorder symptoms than those who are sexually active but never pregnant.Supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Fieldwork conducted by Survey Research Associates.Research interests include adolescents and children, parenting, and families.Research interests include epidemiology of child and adolescent psychiatric disorder.Research interests include psychiatric epidemiology/deviant behavior.Research interests include mental health and statistical issues.Research interests include health behavior and mental health issues.     

Barriers to technology transfer and their elimination

An analogy between the flow of technology and the flow of electricity is used as a method to analyze technology transfer. This effort is expanded by an analogy to the Lewin's field theory in Social Science. An effort is then made to understand better the types of barriers to technology transfer. Several classes of barriers are identified and are then discussed in detail.     

Predicting Organizational Actual Turnover Rates in the U.S. Federal Government

ABSTRACT

This study expands the level of analysis on turnover in public administration, especially in the U.S. federal government, from the individual level to the organizational level by using organizational actual turnover rates. Some scholars argue that public employees' turnover intention generally reflects actual turnover. However, very little empirical evidence supporting this argument has been provided in public administration, especially in a broad array of public agencies. This study has rejected this argument by showing insignificant or weakly significant correlations between organizational actual turnover and weighted turnover intention rates. In addition, overall, the two regression results for organizational actual turnover and turnover intention also show different results from those in the existing literature on individual-level turnover intention. The significant predictors of organizational actual turnover rates are goal ambiguity, pay satisfaction, and diversity policy satisfaction. The correlation and regression results imply that research on predictors of turnover may need to consider the differences that may result from using different units of analysis and to make a distinction between turnover intention and actual turnover.     

Effects of Service Characteristics on Interlocal Cooperation in U.S. Cities: A Pooled Regression Analysis

Drawing on the theoretical framework of transaction cost theory and social exchange theory, this study empirically examines factors affecting the likelihood and the level of interlocal expenditure for 11 service types in a panel of 695 American cities, with populations over 20,000, during the time period of 1990–2000. The findings indicate that elements of transaction costs risks (asset specificity and measurement difficulty) affect both the likelihood and the level of interlocal cooperation. It also shows that the level of trust does the same. However, it suggests that the perceived transaction risks may vary depending on factors affecting local managers' perception of transaction risks. This will further affect the likelihood and the level of interlocal cooperation.     

Nonviolent revolutions: civil resistance in the late 20th century

Why do young Africans participate less in elections than their older counterparts? Given Africa's growing youth bulge, this constituency represents a numerically important voting bloc, and their lower participation in elections could undermine the legitimacy of the region's democratic trajectory. We address this question through a multi-level model that relies on individual-level data from the Afrobarometer surveys and country-level data for 19 of the region's more democratic countries. We classify Africa's youth as belonging to two categories, those aged 18–24 and those aged 25–35. We find that key determinants of the youth's voting behaviour include their access to political knowledge and information as well as their perceptions of the electoral context and party system. In the latter regard, the efficacy and fairness of elections and the degree of partisanship increase the youth's decision to vote, while the length of party incumbency is a deterrent to turnout. These findings hold important implications by highlighting that Africa's youth not only need to be exposed to greater fora for learning about the political process and party options but also that political parties in the region need to become more relevant to this constituency.     

WHAT WORKS BEST AND WHEN: ACCOUNTING FOR MULTIPLE SOURCES OF PURESELECTION BIAS IN PROGRAM EVALUATIONS

Most evaluations are still quasi‐experimental and most recent quasi‐experimental methodological research has focused on various types of propensity score matching to minimize conventional selection bias on observables. Although these methods create better‐matched treatment and comparison groups on observables, the issue of selection on unobservables still looms large. Thus, in the absence of being able to run randomized controlled trials (RCTs) or natural experiments, it is important to understand how well different regression‐based estimators perform in terms of minimizing pure selection bias, that is, selection on unobservables. We examine the relative magnitudes of three sources of pure selection bias: heterogeneous response bias, time‐invariant individual heterogeneity (fixed effects [FEs]), and intertemporal dependence (autoregressive process of order one [AR(1)]). Because the relative magnitude of each source of pure selection bias may vary in different policy contexts, it is important to understand how well different regression‐based estimators handle each source of selection bias. Expanding simulations that have their origins in the work of Heckman, LaLonde, and Smith ( 1999 ), we find that difference‐in‐differences (DID) using equidistant pre‐ and postperiods and FEs estimators are less biased and have smaller standard errors in estimating the Treatment on the Treated (TT) than other regression‐based estimators. Our data analysis using the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) program replicates our simulation findings in estimating the TT.     

Exploiting expressed sequence tag databases for the development and characterization of gene-derived simple sequence repeat markers in the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum L.) for forensic applications

Simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers in the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum L.) were identified from an expressed sequence tag (EST) database comprised of 20,340 sequences. In total, 2780 SSR-containing sequences were identified. The most frequent microsatellite had an AT/TA motif (37%). Twenty-two opium poppy EST-SSR markers were presently developed and polymorphisms of six markers (psom 2, 4, 12, 13, 17, and 22) were utilized in 135 individuals under narcotic control investigation. An average of three alleles per locus (range: 2-5 alleles) with a mean heterozygosity of 0.167 was detected. Six loci identified 29 unique profiles in 135 individuals. The EST-SSR markers exhibited small degrees of genetic differentiation (fixation index = 0.727, p < 0.001). Other variable markers will be needed to facilitate the forensic identification of the opium poppy for future cases. To determine the potential for cross-species amplification, six markers were tested in five Papaver genera species and two Eschscholzia genera. The psom 4 and psom 17 primer pair was transferable. This is the first study to report SSR markers of the opium poppy.