Young Adult Unemployment and Later Depression and Anxiety: Does Childhood Neighborhood Matter?

Young adulthood represents a developmental period with disproportionately heightened risk of losing a job. Young adult unemployment has been linked to increased mental health problems, at least in the short term. However, their possible long-term impacts, often referred as “scarring effects,” have been understudied, possibly underestimating the magnitude of mental health burden that young adult unemployment generates. This longitudinal study examined whether duration of unemployment during young adulthood is associated with later mental health disorders, after accounting for mental and behavioral health problems in childhood. Furthermore, the current study investigated whether childhood neighborhood characteristics affect this association and if so, in what specific functional ways. Data were drawn from a longitudinal study of developmental outcomes in a community sample in Seattle. Data collection began in 1985 when study participants were elementary students and involved yearly assessments in childhood and adolescence (ages 10–16) and then biennial or triennial assessments (ages 18–39; N?=?677 at age 39; 47% European American, 26% African American, 22% Asian American, and 5% Native American; 49% female). The current study findings suggest that duration of unemployment across young adulthood increased mental health problems at age 39, regardless of gender. Childhood neighborhood characteristics, particularly their positive aspect, exerted independent impacts on adult mental health problems beyond unemployment experiences across young adulthood. The current findings indicate a needed shift in service profiles for unemployed young adults—a comprehensive approach that not only facilitates reemployment but also addresses mental health needs to help them to cope with job loss. Further, the present study findings suggest that childhood neighborhoods, particularly positive features such as positive neighborhood involvement, may represent concrete and malleable prevention targets that can curb mental health problems early in life.

     

The Syrian conflict and public opinion among Syrians in Lebanon

Whom do ordinary Syrians support in their civil war? After decades of repression, the Syrian uprising unleashed an outpouring of political expression. Yet the study of Syrian public opinion is in its infancy. This article presents survey evidence from a large, diverse sample of Syrian refugees in neighbouring Lebanon, one of the first of its kind, and examines their support for the different factions fighting in the civil war. In so doing, it demonstrates that many conventional narratives of the conflict are oversimplifications of a more complex reality. The survey shows that the majority of Syrian refugees support one faction or another of the opposition, but a large minority sympathizes with the government. In line with existing accounts of the war, the government draws its popular support base from wealthier and less religious Syrians, as well as minorities. Nonetheless, large numbers of Sunni Arabs also side with the government, belying sectarian narratives of the war. The survey also finds that supporters of the opposition Islamists and non-Islamists are similar in many regards, including religiosity. The main distinction is that the non-Islamist support base is far more politically attentive than are Islamist sympathizers, in contrast to existing narratives of the war.     

Life Extension: Rolling the Technological Dice

The idea of radically extending average human life expectancy is an ancient one, but for most of human history exceedingly utopian. There is now, however, a revival of that idea, with some scientists and others arguing that it is possible and desirable. But the main problem with most of the life extension enthusiasm is that it is based almost entirely on the desire of some individuals to make it happen. The social consequences of success of such a venture are, however, either ignored altogether or dismissed on the grounds that any problems can be dealt with. In the end, none of our present human and social problems would be helped by radically longer lives and no obvious social benefits have been advanced to support it.

Five Challenges to Legalizing Economic and Social Rights

In recent years, dozens of human rights non-governmental organizations (NGOs) across the globe have begun to advocate for economic and social rights, which represents a significant expansion of the human rights movement. This article investigates a central strategy that NGOs have pursued to realize these rights: legalization. Legalization involves specifying rights as valid legal rules and enforcing them through judicial or quasi-judicial processes. After documenting some of the progress made toward legalization, the article analyzes five unique challenges involved in legalizing economic and social rights. It is important to identify these challenges because they must be overcome if the human rights movement wishes to refute the notion that economic and social rights are inherently non-justiciable (and therefore, to some, invalid as rights). These challenges also point to the possibility that legalization is not the only, or even the best, strategic pathway to realize economic and social rights effectively.

Collective Bargaining during Times of Crisis: Recommendations from the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically changed employment across sectors in 2020. This Viewpoint essay examines public sector labor relations during the pandemic and describes the impact bargaining process that is used to protect public employees. The authors draw on their own experience with impact bargaining negotiations and the public labor relations, conflict management, and civil service reform literatures to develop recommendations for public union labor leaders during times of crisis. They suggest that public unions have an important role in crisis management but must act strategically to develop good working relationships with leadership and successfully negotiate employee protections in uncertain times.     

Weniger Koordination,mehr Markt? Kollektive Arbeitsbeziehungen und Neokorporatismus in der Schweiz seit 1990

Dieser Beitrag diskutiert die These, wonach sich die industriellen Beziehungen in der Schweiz weg vom koordinierten rheinischen hin zum marktorientierten angelsächsischen Modell bewegten. Die Koordination zwischen Arbeitgeberverbänden und Gewerkschaften wird erstens im Bereich der kollektiven Arbeitsbeziehungen sowie zweitens in der Politikgestaltung untersucht. In einem dritten Schritt wird die Entwicklung der Repräsentationsmacht der Verbände seit Anfang der 1990er Jahre diskutiert. Nur wenig spricht dafür, dass sich die Schweiz vom Koordinationsmodell bewegt: Dezentralisierung und Individualisierung der Lohnpolitik haben zwar zu weniger Koordination geführt. Im Rahmen der Personenfreizügigkeit haben Gesamtarbeitsverträge jedoch stark an Bedeutung gewonnen. Die Verbände sind zudem weiterhin in den meisten ausserparlamentarischen Regulierungsinstanzen vertreten und spielen in der Wirtschaftspolitik die Rolle des Vetoplayer.     

Perception of epistemic authorities by children and adolescents

The study investigated children's and adolescents' perceptions of epistemic authorities in various knowledge domains. Children and adolescents from 4th, 8th, and 12th grades were asked to evaluate their father, mother, teacher, and friends as epistemic authorities in nine areas of knowledge content. In general, the results indicated that the perception of parents as epistemic authorities decreases with age. Nevertheless, children and adolescents continue to consider one or both parents to be the most important epistemic authorities. The perception of friends as epistemic authority increased relative to other sources in the social domains of knowledge. The perception of teachers as epistemic authority decreases with age, but in the formal knowledge domain it remains relatively stable.Received Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Research interests concern media psychology, knowledge formation, and school psychology. Requests for reprints should be sent to Amiram Raviv at Department of Psychology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel 69978.Received Ph.D. in psychology from University of Pittsburgh. Research interests concern political psychology, social psychology of knowledge, and stereotyping.Received Ph.D. in statistics from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Research interests concern nonparametric statistics and applied statistics.Received M.A. degree in clinical child psychology from Tel Aviv University.