Social Science Quarterly 

About: Social Science Quarterly is an academic journal published by Wiley-Blackwell. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Population & Voting. It has an ISSN identifier of 0038-4941. Over the lifetime, 2969 publications have been published receiving 95313 citations. The journal is also known as: SSQ.

Social Vulnerability to Environmental Hazards

Abstract: Objective. County-level socioeconomic and demographic data were used to construct an index of social vulnerability to environmental hazards, called the Social Vulnerability Index (SoVI) for the United States based on 1990 data. Methods. Using a factor analytic approach, 42 variables were reduced to 11 independent factors that accounted for about 76 percent of the variance. These factors were placed in an additive model to compute a summary score—the Social Vulnerability Index. Results. There are some distinct spatial patterns in the SoVI, with the most vulnerable counties clustered in metropolitan counties in the east, south Texas, and the Mississippi Delta region. Conclusion. Those factors that contribute to the overall score often are different for each county, underscoring the interactive nature of social vulnerability—some components increase vulnerability; others moderate the effects.

Optimism and achievement: the educational performance of immigrant youth

Abstract: Objective The rise in the volume and diversity of immigrants to the US since 1960 has increased concerns about whether assimilation benefits educational achievement To address this issue we evaluate the relative merits of three hypotheses regarding generational status and scholastic performance: (1) straight-line assimilation; (2) accommodation without assimilation; and (3) immigrant optimism Methods Specifically we use the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88) to examine the impact of generational status on three indicators of educational achievement: grades achievement test scores and college aspirations of 8th graders Results Overall our results are consistent with hypotheses (2) and (3) and suggest that behavioral differences between immigrant and native parents are essential ingredients in explaining the differential performance of immigrant and native youth We also find however that the effects of generational status on scholastic outcomes differ by race and ethnic group such that parental nativity is most crucial for Asians and less so for Hispanics while childs birthplace is more decisive for educational achievement among blacks Conclusions Because foreign-born youth are at a slight disadvantage due to their limited English skills and because immigrant parents promote academic achievement second generation youth (ie native-born children of foreign- born parents) are best positioned to achieve scholastically (authors)

Standardizing the World Income Inequality Database

Abstract: Objective. Cross-national research on the causes and consequences of income inequality has been hindered by the limitations of existing inequality data sets: greater coverage across countries and over time is available from these sources only at the cost of significantly reduced comparability across observations. The goal of the Standardized World Income Inequality Database (SWIID) is to overcome these limitations. Methods. A custom missing-data algorithm was used to standardize the U.N. University's World Income Inequality Database; data collected by the Luxembourg Income Study served as the standard. Results. The SWIID provides comparable Gini indices of gross and net income inequality for 153 countries for as many years as possible from 1960 to the present, along with estimates of uncertainty in these statistics. Conclusions. By maximizing comparability for the largest possible sample of countries and years, the SWIID is better suited to broad cross-national research on income inequality than previously available sources.

The Standardized World Income Inequality Database

Abstract: Cross-national research on the causes and consequences of income inequality has been hindered by the limitations of existing inequality datasets: greater coverage across countries and over time is available from these sources only at the cost of significantly reduced comparability across observations. The goal of the Standardized World Income Inequality Database (SWIID) is to overcome these limitations. A custom missing-data algorithm was used to standardize the United Nations University's World Income Inequality Database and data from other sources; data collected by the Luxembourg Income Study served as the standard. The SWIID provides comparable Gini indices of gross and net income inequality for 173 countries for as many years as possible from 1960 to the present along with estimates of uncertainty in these statistics. By maximizing comparability for the largest possible sample of countries and years, the SWIID is better suited to broadly cross-national research on income inequality than previously available sources. In any papers or publications that use the SWIID, authors are asked to cite the article of record for the data set and give the version number as follows: Solt, Frederick. 2009. "Standardizing the World Income Inequality Database." Social Science Quarterly 90(2):231-242. SWIID Version 3.1, December 2011.

Differences in Actual and Perceived Online Skills: The Role of Gender*

Abstract: Objective. The literature on gender and technology use finds that women and men differ significantly in their attitudes toward their technological abilities. Concurrently, existing work on science and math abilities of students suggests that such perceived differences do not always translate into actual disparities. We examine the yet-neglected area concerning gender differences with respect to Internet-use ability. In particular, we test how self-perceived abilities are related to actual abilities and how these may differ by gender. Methods. We use new data on web-use skill to test empirically whether there are differences in men’s and women’s abilities to navigate online content. We draw on a diverse sample of adult Internet users to investigate the questions raised. Results. Findings suggest that men and women do not differ greatly in their online abilities. However, we find that women’s self-assessed skill is significantly lower than that of men. Conclusions. Women’s lower self-assessment regarding their web-use skills may affect significantly the extent of their online behavior and the types of uses to which they put the medium. We discuss the implications of these findings for social inequality.