Construction of the Earnings and Benefits File (EBF) for Use With the Health and Retirement Survey

Analysts using the Health and Retirement Survey (HRS) often require information on earnings, labor market attachment, and social security benefits in order to better understand the factors affecting retirement and well-being at older ages. To this end, several derived variables were constructed and documented in the Earnings and Benefits File (EBF) described here. The EBF provides a set of summary earnings, employment, and social security wealth measures for a subset of HRS respondents in Wave 1 of the survey, for whom administrative records are available. The EBF, a restricted data file, is available from the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research for matching only with versions of the HRS containing geographic detail no finer than the Census Division level. Interested users should contact [email protected] by email for further information on access to the data.

Sarah Olivia Thomas

The present study aimed to evaluate the relationship between psilocybin use and mental health outcomes within the general population. During the last several decades, psychedelic use was banned in the United States due to various reasons. In more recent years, psychedelic therapy is making a comeback in the healthcare community and renewed interest in the field is creating demand for greater research in psychedelic therapy in order to evaluate the safety, efficacy, and its possible ability to treat various mental health conditions using psychedelic therapy. One of the psychedelics, known as “magic mushrooms” is of particular interest to researchers. The active compound in magic mushrooms, psilocybin, is a well-known psychedelic hailed for its mind-altering mechanisms. It is of interest in the mental health field in regards to the treatment of various disorders and symptoms: notably depression, anxiety, and PTSD. The present study evaluated the possibility of a correlation between psilocybin use and depression symptoms. The results indicated no significant difference between participants who used psilocybin and those who do not use psilocybin use when it comes to depressive symptoms. An analysis of the data and possible reasons for the results and future implications are then discussed

Unwanted pursuit behavior after breakup: occurrence, risk factors, and gender differences

This study investigated unwanted pursuit behavior (UPB) perpetration in 631 adult ex-partners. UPB involves the unwanted pursuit of intimacy, a widespread and usually less severe form of stalking. The occurrence and various risk factors of UPB perpetration were examined, accounting for differences between male and female ex-partners and same- and opposite-gender ex-partners. Ex-partners showed on average five to six UPBs after their separation. Male and female and same- and opposite-gender ex-partners displayed an equal number of UPBs. The number of perpetrated UPBs was explained by breakup characteristics (ex-partner initiation of the breakup and rumination or cognitive preoccupation with the ex-partner), relationship characteristics (anxious attachment in the former relationship), and individual perpetrator characteristics (borderline traits and past delinquent behaviors). Rumination was a stronger predictor in female than male ex-partners. Borderline traits and anxious attachment positively predicted UPB perpetration in opposite-gender but not in same-gender ex-partners. Implications of these findings are discussed

Retirement Research Using the Health and Retirement Survey

This paper highlights unanswered research questions in the economics of retirement, and shows how these issues can be addressed using the new Health and Retirement Survey (HRS). Unique features of the survey are described including administrative records on earnings and social security benefits, and employer provided data on pensions and health insurance. Also collected are indicators of retirement plans, health status, family structure, income, wealth and employer policies affecting job opportunities and constraints. Data from the first wave of the HRS are used to analyze retirement outcomes and constraints shaping retirement behavior.

Film Review: Judith Butler: Philosophical Encounters of the Third Kind

Review of Judith Butler: Philosophical Encounters of the Third Kind by Paule Zadjermann (filmmaker

Intercultural Competencies among Undergraduates in the College of Arts & Humanities at Minnesota State University, Mankato

This study examined the impact of an intercultural communication course in arts and humanities on the intercultural competency (ICC) among a group of university students. ICC was defined as “the capability to accurately understand and adapt behavior to cultural difference and commonality.” Globalization has led to increased contact between different cultures, so individuals must know how to communicate between one another and to understand the culture behind the communication (Melles & Frey, 2017). Students must strive for acceptance and understanding of religion, language, communication style, music, or any other aspect of culture. The research questions were: (1) What is the starting level of ICC among students in the intercultural communication course? (2) How does the ICC of students change after their experiences in an intercultural communications course? Data was collected using the computer-based, online Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI), developed by Hammer and Bennett (1998, 2001), which identifies five orientations toward cultural differences: denial, polarization, minimization, acceptance, and adaptation. For compari-son data, investigators used previously collected data from more than 700 undergraduate students enrolled in a human relations course between 2010 and 2018. Additional data was collected at the beginning and at the conclusion of the communications 16-week course, in order to measure changes that possibly occurred as a result of the course experiences. This provided baseline and comparison data. Additional data will be reviewed after collection in an intercultural communications course. Investigators expect that the study may show that the instructional methods of the professors and the course work in the College of Arts and Humanities will lead to a positive growth in ICC among undergraduate students. The study offers insight to help determine the efficacy of teaching methods to develop ICC. Results were shared among faculty members seeking to infuse instruction with strategies to foster ICC

Persistence and Memory in Patchwork Dynamics for Glassy Models

Slow dynamics in disordered materials prohibits direct simulation of their rich nonequilibrium behavior at large scales. "Patchwork dynamics" is introduced to mimic relaxation over a very broad range of time scales by equilibrating or optimizing directly on successive length scales. This dynamics is used to study coarsening and to replicate memory effects for spin glasses and random ferromagnets. It is also used to find, with high confidence, exact ground states in large or toroidal samples.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures; reference correctio

Construction of the Earnings and Benefits File (EBF) for Use With the Health and Retirement Survey

This paper documents the Earnings and Benefits File (EBF). The EBF is a restricted dataset created for researchers working with the Health and Retirement Survey (HRS) under a set of limited access conditions. The EBF and all derived variables contained therein are intended for research purposes only, by registered users of the public use file of the Health and Retirement Survey, and may be linked only with HRS files containing no geographic detail below the Census Division level. Details on the rationale for, and definitions of, constructed employment, earnings, and social security wealth variables in the EBF are provided, as well as a bibliography for those wishing additional information on the rules by which social security earnings data are used in calculating benefits. The EBF contains information derived for respondents of the 1992 Health and Retirement Survey who authorized the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research to obtain administrative records from the Social Security Administration. The EBF is described below, first in conceptual terms in Part I, and then in more technical detail in Part II. Appendices contain a detailed layout of variables and codebook for the data file along with additional descriptive statistics