74 research outputs found

    Teen fertility and siblings’ outcomes: Evidence of family spillovers using matched samples

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    17 USC 105 interim-entered record; under review.The article of record as published may be found at https://doi.org/10.3368/jhr.56.1.0218-9341R2The Online Appendix includes Stata code for replication purposes. The Online Appendix can be found at http://jhr.uwpress.org/.U.S. teen birth rates remain high relative to other industrialized countries. Despite extensive literature on teen mothers and their children, almost no research examines the effects of teen fertility on the rest of the mother's family. I address this gap, finding that teen birth negatively affects mothers' younger siblings. Using several matched control methods, I find that sisters of new teenage mothers experience a 3.8 percentage point decrease in test scores, a 7.6 percentage point increase in grade repetition, and a 9.3 percentage point increase high school dropout, while brothers experience a 9.2 percentage point increase in juvenile justice system exposure.U.S. Government affiliation is unstated in article text

    Gender Disparities in Career Advancement across the Transition to Parenthood: Evidence from the Marine Corps

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    An online Appendix and Author disclosure statements may be found at https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/pandp.20221121.The article of record as published may be found at https://doi.org/10.1257/pandp.20221121We isolate the effect of childbirth on mothers' and fathers' job-relevant physical performance using data from the US Marines. We estimate event study models around the first birth. We assign "placebo births" to non-parents using LASSO-selected predictors of parenthood to estimate counterfactual trends. We find large and persistent effects of motherhood on performance. Two years postbirth, mothers' physical performance remains 0.2 standard deviations lower than non-mothers'. For fathers, the birth also initially lowers performance, but fathers are able to recover. This research demonstrates a potential mechanism behind the child penalty to mothers' earnings.We are grateful for funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Evidence for Action grant program (#77124), the Institute of Education Sciences’ Multidisciplinary Program in Education Sciences (Award #R305B140042), and Northwestern University’s Graduate Research GrantRobert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Evidence for Action grant program (#77124), the Institute of Education Sciences’ Multidisciplinary Program in Education Sciences (Award #R305B140042), and Northwestern University’s Graduate Research Gran

    Basic psychological need satisfaction and frustration in major depressive disorder

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    Basic psychological needs theory postulates that a social environment that satisfies individuals’ three basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness leads to optimal growth and well-being. On the other hand, the frustration of these needs is associated with ill-being and depressive symptoms foremost investigated in non-clinical samples; yet, there is a paucity of research on need frustration in clinical samples. Survey data were compared between adult individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD; n = 115; 48.69% female; 38.46 years, SD = 10.46) with those of a non-depressed comparison sample (n = 201; 53.23% female; 30.16 years, SD = 12.81). Need profiles were examined with a linear mixed model (LMM). Individuals with depression reported higher levels of frustration and lower levels of satisfaction in relation to the three basic psychological needs when compared to non-depressed adults. The difference between depressed and non-depressed groups was significantly larger for frustration than satisfaction regarding the needs for relatedness and competence. LMM correlation parameters confirmed the expected positive correlation between the three needs. This is the first study showing substantial differences in need-based experiences between depressed and non-depressed adults. The results confirm basic assumptions of the self-determination theory and have preliminary implications in tailoring therapy for depression

    Physical fitness is associated with neural activity during working memory performance in major depressive disorder

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    Background: Deficits in cognition like working memory (WM) are highly prevalent symptoms related to major depressive disorder (MDD). Neuroimaging studies have described frontoparietal abnormalities in patients with MDD as a basis for these deficits. Based on research in healthy adults, it is hypothesized that increased physical fitness might be a protective factor for these deficits in MDD. However, the relationship between physical fitness and WM-related neural activity and performance has not been tested in MDD, to date. Understanding these associations could inform the development of physical exercise interventions in MDD. Methods: Within a larger project, 111 (53female) MDD outpatients and 56 (34female) healthy controls performed an n-back task (0-, 1-, 2-, 3-back) during functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging. Physical fitness from a graded exercise test on a cycle ergometer was performed by 106 MDD patients. Results: Patients showed reduced performance particularly at high loads of the n-back WM task and prolonged reaction times at all n-back loads. A whole-brain interaction analysis of group by WM load revealed reduced neural activity in six frontoparietal clusters at medium and high WM loads in MDD patients compared to healthy controls. Analysis of covariance within the MDD sample showed that physical fitness was associated with neural activity in right and left superior parietal lobules. Externally defined Regions of Interest confirmed this analysis. Conclusions: Results indicate frontoparietal hypoactivity in MDD at high demands, arguing for decreased WM capacity. We demonstrate a parietal fitness correlate which could be used to guide future research on effects of exercise on cognitive functioning in MDD

    Mothers in the Military: Effect of Maternity Leave Policy on Take-Up

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    DRAFT VersionThe article of record as published may be found at https://doi.org/10.1215/00703370-9816044The United States remains the only OECD nation without national paid maternity leave. This paper exploits changes in paid maternity leave offered by one of its largest employers, the U.S. Department of Defense. Since 2015, the U.S. Marine Corps has shifted their maternity leave policy from six to 18 to 12 weeks. Leave expansions increased leave duration while contractions decreased leave taken by active-duty service members. However, the policy changes crowded out other forms of leave: with an increase in maternity leave available, mothers increased use of maternity leave and stopped supplementing with additional annual leave. Though all mothers used the full six weeks of leave in the early period, it is the less advantaged mothers—in the enlisted ranks, first-time, and single mothers—who disproportionately used more of the additional leave than officers, experienced mothers, and married mothers. Pregnant officers, experienced mothers, and single women use less leave than non-pregnant women in the months leading up to birth, but expecting additional post-birth leave did not change average pre-birth leave-taking. Our results highlight the importance of optimally sizing family leave policies and provide evidence that the true cost of such programs may be lower than the raw count of weeks provided by additional maternity leave allowances

    Testing, Stress, and Performance: How Students Respond Physiologically to High-Stakes Testing

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    17 USC 105 interim-entered record; under review.The article of record as published may be found at https://doi.org/10.1162/edfp_a_00306We examine how students’ physiological stress differs between a regular school week and a high-stakes testing week, and we raise questions about how to interpret high-stakes test scores. A potential contributor to socioeconomic disparities in academic performance is the difference in the level of stress experienced by students outside of school. Chronic stress—due to neighborhood violence, poverty, or family instability—can affect how individuals’ bodies respond to stressors in general, including the stress of standardized testing. This, in turn, can affect whether performance on standardized tests is a valid measure of students’ actual ability. We collect data on students’ stress responses using cortisol samples provided by low-income students in New Orleans. We measure how their cortisol patterns change during high-stakes testing weeks relative to baseline weeks. We find that high-stakes testing is related to cortisol responses, and those responses are related to test performance. Those who responded most strongly, with either increases or decreases in cortisol, scored 0.40 standard deviations lower than expected on the high-stakes exam.Spencer Foundation (Grant No. 2015000117) and the Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern UniversityGrant No. 201500011

    Physiological and Cognitive Performance in F-22 Pilots During Day and Night Flying

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    The article of record as published may be found at https://doi.org/10.3357/AMHP.5508.2021Many workers routinely transition between day and night shifts—including pilots, where night flights are commonly considered more stressful. The physiological toll from this transition is not fully understood, though fatigue is a factor in many aviation accidents. This research investigated the changes in physiological markers of stress and cognitive performance as F-22 pilots transitioned from day flying to night flying

    Human OTULIN haploinsufficiency impairs cell-intrinsic immunity to staphylococcal alpha-toxin

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    The molecular basis of interindividual clinical variability upon infection with Staphylococcus aureus is unclear. We describe patients with haploinsufficiency for the linear deubiquitinase OTULIN, encoded by a gene on chromosome 5p. Patients suffer from episodes of life-threatening necrosis, typically triggered by S. aureus infection. The disorder is phenocopied in patients with the 5p- (Cri-du-Chat) chromosomal deletion syndrome. OTULIN haploinsufficiency causes an accumulation of linear ubiquitin in dermal fibroblasts, but tumor necrosis factor receptor-mediated nuclear factor kappa B signaling remains intact. Blood leukocyte subsets are unaffected. The OTULIN-dependent accumulation of caveolin-1 in dermal fibroblasts, but not leukocytes, facilitates the cytotoxic damage inflicted by the staphylococcal virulence factor alpha-toxin. Naturally elicited antibodies against alpha-toxin contribute to incomplete clinical penetrance. Human OTULIN haploinsufficiency underlies life-threatening staphylococcal disease by disrupting cell-intrinsic immunity to alpha-toxin in nonleukocytic cells.Peer reviewe
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