Offering a unifying theoretical perspective not readily available in any other text, this innovative guide to econometrics uses simple geometrical arguments to develop students' intuitive understanding of basic and advanced topics, emphasizing throughout the practical applications of modern theory and nonlinear techniques of estimation. One theme of the text is the use of artificial regressions for estimation, reference, and specification testing of nonlinear models, including diagnostic tests for parameter constancy, serial correlation, heteroscedasticity, and other types of mis-specification. Explaining how estimates can be obtained and tests can be carried out, the authors go beyond a mere algebraic description to one that can be easily translated into the commands of a standard econometric software package. Covering an unprecedented range of problems with a consistent emphasis on those that arise in applied work, this accessible and coherent guide to the most vital topics in econometrics today is indispensable for advanced students of econometrics and students of statistics interested in regression and related topics. It will also suit practising econometricians who want to update their skills. Flexibly designed to accommodate a variety of course levels, it offers both complete coverage of the basic material and separate chapters on areas of specialized interest.

Estimation and Inference in Econometrics

I use a divorce-stress-adjustment perspective to summarize and organize the empirical literature on the consequences of divorce for adults and children. My review draws on research in the 1990s to answer five questions: How do individuals from married and divorced families differ in well-being? Are these differences due to divorce or to selection? Do these differences reflect a temporary crisis to which most people gradually adapt or stable life strains that persist more or less indefinitely? What factors mediate the effects of divorce on individual adjustment? And finally, what are the moderators (protective factors) that account for individual variability in adjustment to divorce? In general, the accumulated research suggests that marital dissolution has the potential to create considerable turmoil in people's lives. But people vary greatly in their reactions. Divorce benefits some individuals, leads others to experience temporary decrements in well-being, and forces others on a downward trajectory from which they might never recover fully. Understanding the contingencies under which divorce leads to these diverse outcomes is a priority for future research.

The Consequences of Divorce for Adults and Children

“WHAT can men do, what do they do, and what do they want to do ?”—these are the uestions that Prof. Thorndike seeks to answer in a very comprehensive and elaborate treatise. His undertaking is inspired by the belief that man has the possibility of almost complete control of his fate if only he will be guided by science, and that his failures are attributable to ignorance or folly. The main approach is through biological psychology, but all the social sciences are appealed to and utilized in an effort to deal with the human problem as a whole. The relative immaturity of the sciences dealing with man is continually stressed, but it is claimed that they provide a body of facts and principles which are “far above zero knowledge”, and that even now they are capable of affording valuable guidance in the shaping of public policy. Human Nature and the Social Order By E. L. Thorndike. Pp. xx + 1020. (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1940.) 18s. net.

Human Nature and the Social Order

https://www.healio.com/psychiatry/journals/psycann/1976-12-6-12/{806b8887-c02e-40c8-a228-57f1cdb2bdba}/the-stress-of-life.pdf

The stress of life

This article proposes several conceptual perspectives designed to advance our understanding of the material and experiential conditions contributing to persistent disparities in rates of morbidity and mortality among groups unequal in their social and economic statuses. An underlying assumption is that these disparities, which are in clear evidence at mid- and late life, may be anchored to earlier circumstances of the life course. Of particular interest are those circumstances resulting in people with the least privileged statuses having the greatest chances of exposure to health-related stressors. Among the stressors closely linked to status and status attainment are those that continue or are repeated across the life course, such as enduring economic strain and discriminatory experiences. Also taking a long-range toll on health are circumstances of stress proliferation, a process that places people exposed to a serious adversity at risk for later exposure to additional adversities. We suggest that this process can be observed in instances of trauma, in early out-of-sequence transitions, and in the case of undesired changes that disrupt behaviors and relationships in established roles. Effective effort to close the systemic health gaps must recognize their structural underpinnings.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/info/4150398

Stress, Health, and the Life Course: Some Conceptual Perspectives.

In this paper, we examine whether people's beliefs about the permanence, desirability, and importance of marriage moderate the impact of marital transitions--including marital losses and gains--on depression, a disorder associated with both marital status and role transitions. Using two waves of panel data from the National Survey of Families and Households (N = 10,005), we find that a marital loss results in increased symptoms, whereas a marital gain results in decreased symptoms. We also find, however, that the negative effects of a marital loss are greater for people who believe in the permanence of marriage than they are for those who do not. Conversely, the positive effects of a marital gain are greater for people who believe in the desirability and importance of marriage than they are for those who do not. Our results highlight the potential utility of more systematically incorporating people's beliefs--and sociocultural factors more generally--into theory and research on the impact of stressors on mental health.

Marital transitions, marital beliefs, and mental health.

Research on the relationship between cohabitation and mental health tends to ignore social psychological factors that help explain mental health differences between the married and the unmarried, including coping resources and perceived relationship quality. In this paper I draw on social psychological theory and research to clarify differences in depression and alcohol use between married and cohabiting individuals. Using data from the National Survey of Families and Households, I examine the independent and combined influences of socioeconomic status, coping resources, and relationship quality to account for marital status differences in distress. I find that marital status differences in coping resources and relationship quality help explain the gap in depression, but not in alcohol use, between married and cohabiting individuals. I also find that social selection is not responsible for marital status differences in distress. The implications of these findings for future research on cohabitors' mental ...

Explaining Differences in Mental Health Between Married and Cohabiting Individuals

Social psychological approaches to mental health often emphasize the link between social roles and psychological distress. Idenity theorists, in particular, explain distress in terms of the meaning...

https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/sop.2006.49.1.1

Identities, Self-Esteem, and Psychological Distress: An Application of Identity-Discrepancy Theory:

We propose an explanation of how identities influence the way people experience distress. The formulation we offer draws on the strengths of sociological and psychological theories of stress, combining the advantages of Burke's identity theory (1991, 1996) and Higgins'self-discrepancy theory (1987, 1989). The incorporation of self-discrepancy theory into identity theory provides specification of important dimensions of meaning (obligations and aspirations). Disruption of an identity process is predicted to result in anxiety to the extent that the identity it is oriented toward fulfilling obligations, and is expected to result in depression to the extent that it is aspiration oriented. The degree of distress associated with an identity is a function of the size of the disruption and the salience and organization of the identity. This reformulation allows a better understanding of how changes or disruptions associated with identities will impact emotional well-being.

Extending identity theory to predict differential forms and degrees of psychological distress

The relationship between identity and stress has been the focus of numerous studies. An assumption of much of this research is that the impact of stress on psychological distress is exacerbated when it threatens identities that are important to an individual's self-definition. In this study we investigate the moderating effect of identity in the stress process. Specifically, we examine whether identity salience and commitment influence the relationship between role-strain and depression, as well as between strain and self-evaluation (i.e., self-esteem and mastery). Using longitudinal data, we find some support that commitment moderates the relationship between strain in the student identity and both mastery and depression. Our findings indicate that the extent to which identity meaning exacerbates the effect of strain on self-evaluation and well-being depends on the type of strain, the particular identity characteristic, and the outcome variable examined.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/sop.2004.47.3.289

Kristen Marcussen

Papers

Marital transitions, marital beliefs, and mental health.

Explaining Differences in Mental Health Between Married and Cohabiting Individuals

Identities, Self-Esteem, and Psychological Distress: An Application of Identity-Discrepancy Theory:

Extending identity theory to predict differential forms and degrees of psychological distress

The Role of Identity Salience and Commitment in the Stress Process.