INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE RISK AMONG VICTIMS OF YOUTH VIOLENCE: ARE EARLY UNIONS BAD, BENEFICIAL, OR BENIGN?*

Youth violent victimization (YVV) is a risk factor for precocious exits from adolescence via early coresidential union formation. It remains unclear, however, whether these early unions 1) are associated with intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization, 2) interrupt victim continuity or victim–offender overlap through protective and prosocial bonds, or 3) are inconsequential. By using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (N = 11,928; 18–34 years of age), we examine competing hypotheses for the effect of early union timing among victims of youth violence (n = 2,479)—differentiating across victimization only, perpetration only, and mutually combative relationships and considering variation by gender. The results from multinomial logistic regression models indicate that YVV increases the risk of IPV victimization in first unions, regardless of union timing; the null effect of timing indicates that delaying union formation would not reduce youth victims’ increased risk of continued victimization. Gender-stratified analyses reveal that earlier unions can protect women against IPV perpetration, but this is partly the result of an increased risk of IPV victimization. The findings suggest that YVV has significant transformative consequences, leading to subsequent victimization by coresidential partners, and this association might be exacerbated among female victims who form early unions. We conclude by discussing directions for future research

Evaluating relative performances in disabled sports competitions

Handicapping systems play important roles in many sports. This paper focuses on disabled sports competitions, which primarily aim to encourage participation. Nevertheless, prizes are awarded for relative performances and should be allocated fairly. We review handicapping procedures specifically for disabled Alpine skiing and identify imperfections with this system, particularly how historical and new results are combined to determine scaling factors. Significant problems also arise due to different class sizes and variations in courses and conditions. We investigate the difficulties in establishing a suitable handicapping system and propose modifications to the existing procedures that improve their fairness. We develop simple mathematical models and statistical analyses that might be suitable, based on results data relating to several years of competition, and we evaluate the performance of our proposed method in comparison with that of the existing approac

Physical Disability and Increased Loneliness among Married Older Adults: The Role of Changing Social Relations

Examining the social context of disablement, we investigated how changes in social relations affect loneliness among married older men and women. With longitudinal data on 914 married persons from the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (NSHAP), we found that changes in the quality of marital and nonmarital relations moderate the effect of disability on loneliness in unexpected ways. Increases in negative marital quality buffer the effect of physical disability, while increases in nonmarital support exacerbate it. Although not predicted by existing theory, these findings are consistent with some prior work suggesting that health-related stressors, like physical disability, condition the meaning of changes in social relations. We find, however, that negative social relations ameliorate loneliness only among disabled married men; disabled married women experience increased loneliness under similar circumstances. These differences have not been previously identified. We conclude by discussing the gendered nature of the social context of disablement

The Good, the Bad, and the Indifferent: Physical Disability, Social Role Configurations, and Changes in Loneliness Among Married and Unmarried Older Adults

Objectives: To examine how social role configurations (SRCs)—combinations of the quality of spousal, family, and friend relationships—moderate the association between functional limitations (FLs) and loneliness among married and unmarried older adults and whether this differs by gender. Method:Longitudinal data from the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project on married (n = 945) and unmarried (n = 443) older adults (aged 57-85 years). Latent class analysis was used to identify SRCs. Tobit regression models examined the associations between FLs, SRCs, and loneliness. Results: Nine SRCs were identified. The effectiveness of SRCs for coping with FLs did not differ by marital status despite higher loneliness among the unmarried. Only for women with FLs did SRCs characterized by negativity/strain exacerbate loneliness. For men with FLs, SRCs characterized by excess positivity/support were problematic. Discussion: These findings underscore the importance of considering how SRCs provide resources for coping with FLs that have gendered implications

Yang-Mills theory for bundle gerbes

Given a bundle gerbe with connection on an oriented Riemannian manifold of dimension at least equal to 3, we formulate and study the associated Yang-Mills equations. When the Riemannian manifold is compact and oriented, we prove the existence of instanton solutions to the equations and also determine the moduli space of instantons, thus giving a complete analysis in this case. We also discuss duality in this context.Comment: Latex2e, 7 pages, some typos corrected, to appear in J. Phys. A: Math. and Ge

Early-Life Origins of the Race Gap in Men's Mortality

Using a life course framework, we examine the early life origins of the race gap in men’s all-cause mortality. Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Older Men (1966–1990), we evaluate major social pathways by which early life conditions differentiate the mortality experiences of blacks and whites. Our findings indicate that early life socioeconomic conditions, particularly parental occupation and family structure, explain part of the race gap in mortality. Black men’s higher rates of death are associated with lower socioeconomic standing in early life and living in homes lacking both biological parents. However, these effects operate indirectly through adult socioeconomic achievement processes, as education, family income, wealth, and occupational complexity statistically account for the race gap in men’s mortality. Our findings suggest that policy interventions to eliminate race disparities in mortality and health should address both childhood and adult socioeconomic conditions

Variations in Duschinsky rotations in m-fluorotoluene and m-chlorotoluene during excitation and ionization

We investigate Duschinsky rotation/mixing between three vibrations for both m-fluorotoluene (mFT) and m-chlorotoluene (mClT), during electronic excitation and ionization. In the case of mFT, we investigate both the S1 → S0 electronic transition and the D0+ ← S1 ionization, by two-dimensional laser-induced fluorescence (2D-LIF) and zero-electron-kinetic energy (ZEKE) spectroscopy, respectively; for mClT, only the D0+ ← S1 ionization was investigated, by ZEKE spectroscopy. The Duschinsky mixings are different in the two molecules, owing to shifts in vibrational wavenumber and variations in the form of the fundamental vibrations between the different electronic states. There is a very unusual behavior for two of the mFT vibrations, where apparently different conclusions for the identity of two S1 vibrations arise from the 2D-LIF and ZEKE spectra. We compare the experimental observations to the calculated Duschinsky matrices, finding that these successfully pick up the key geometric changes associated with each electronic transition and so are successful in qualitatively explaining the vibrational activity in the spectra. Experimental values for a number of vibrations across the S0, S1, and D0+ states are reported and found to compare well to those calculated. Assignments are made for the observed vibration-torsion (“vibtor”) bands, and the effect of vibrational motion on the torsional potential is briefly discussed