The effect of genetic vs nongenetic parental care on adult children's income and wealth in later life: An evolutionary analysis.

OBJECTIVE: Using Wave IV of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health data set, this preregistered study set out to investigate the effect of parental care arrangements (eg, genetically related parents, adoptive, step/ foster, genetic nonparental relative, and no parental figure) on adult children's income and wealth in later life. METHODS: Consistent with the preregistration plan, multivariate analyses of covariance were first used to examine, separately, the effects of paternal and maternal care arrangements on children's income and wealth in later life. Further post hoc exploratory analyses were carried out to evaluate the robustness of the findings. RESULTS: The results indicate that individual earnings in later life are unrelated to paternal care arrangements, thus questioning a key tenet of kin selection theory. However, children raised by biological fathers and adoptive fathers still enjoy significant economic advantages over nongenetic father figures and homes without fathers in relation to household income and wealth. CONCLUSIONS: Prevailing theories suggest that children raised by relatives, nongenetically related parents, and no father or mother suffer from a lack of parental investment that should manifest itself in reduced earnings and assets in adulthood. These theories are only partially correct, with evidence pointing to no deleterious effect of variable parental arrangements on individual earnings.

Psychological Distress and Coronavirus Fears During the Initial Phase of the COVID-19 Pandemic in the United States.

INTRODUCTION: The COVID-19 pandemic is a significant health and economic crisis around the world. The U.S. saw a rapid escalation in laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 and related deaths in March, 2020. The financial consequences of a virtual economic shutdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus are widespread and debilitating, with over 30 million Americans (about 20% of the labor force) filing for unemployment benefits since mid-March. During these unprecedented times, it is important to understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on psychological distress and overall fear associated with the virus. DATA: To gain an understanding of the overall levels and predictors of psychological distress experienced in the first month of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S., a survey was administered online to over 2,000 individuals residing in the country. The survey instrument was administered between March 22-26, 2020, during which time the country was suffering through a period of exponential growth in COVID-19 cases and fatalities. It was administered via MTurk, a popular crowdsourcing platform increasingly used by social scientists to procure large samples over a brief period of time. A short, valid screening instrument to measure psychological distress in individuals, the Kessler 10 scale was developed in the U.S. in the 1990s as an easy-to-administer symptom assessment. The first dependent variable is the respondents' summated Kessler 10 score. The second dependent variable is a 7-category measure of how afraid the subject is about the novel coronavirus. The final dependent variable is also a 7-category scale, this time measuring self-reported likelihood of contracting the coronavirus. A variety of socio-demographic variables and health status were collected to analyze factors associated with psychological distress and mental health. METHODS: Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) multiple regression was employed to analyze these data. RESULTS: We find that protective factors against psychological distress include age, gender (male), and physical health. Factors exacerbating psychological distress include Hispanic ethnicity and a previous mental illness diagnosis. Similar factors are significantly related to fear of the virus and self-assessed likelihood of contracting it. DISCUSSION: The COVID-19 pandemic is associated with high levels of psychological distress in the U.S. The Kessler 10 mean value in our sample is 21.12, which falls in the likely to experience mild mental illness category, yet is considerably higher compared to one of the largest and earliest benchmark studies validating the scale. Psychological distress is one element of overall mental health status that could be influenced by the COVID-10 pandemic. Other mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety, and substance use disorders could also be affected by the pandemic. We encourage researchers to examine these and other mental health disorders in future research on the COVID-19 pandemic. CONCLUSION: The relatively high mean score (21.12) for psychological distress during early stages of the pandemic suggests government officials, policy-makers, and public health advocates should act quickly to address emerging mental health problems.

Hormone Therapy and Discrimination in the Labor Market: Emerging Experimental Evidence on the Economics of Endocrinology.

BACKGROUND: Gender transitioning is increasingly common, but little is known about the extent to which individuals in transition and fully transitioned suffer from wage discrimination. Methods: Managers in the United States (n=204) were shown photos of white and Asian male and female "employees" at different stages of simulated hormone therapy and were asked to estimate their actual hourly wages based on appearance. RESULTS: The results suggest that Asian men and women "in transition" and fully transitioned do not suffer from significant wage discrimination. However, among the white stimuli, gender atypical ("in transition" and fully transitioned) men and women are estimated to earn significantly less than their gender typical (sexually dimorphic) counterparts, with some gender-specific nuances. CONCLUSIONS: The effects of hormone therapy may have a deleterious impact on the wages of white transgender individuals.

Are tattoos associated with negative health-related outcomes and risky behaviors?

BACKGROUND: Tattoos have reached broadening mainstream acceptance. Medical professional societies have noted that tattoos may co-occur with high risk behaviors. METHODS: Using a variety of statistical models applied to a sample of 2,008 adults residing in the United States via Amazon's Mechanical Turk, we estimate the associations between tattoo characteristics, three health-related outcomes (overall health status, ever diagnosed with a mental health issue, sleep problems), and three risky behaviors (current smoking, ever spent time in jail or prison, and number of sex partners). RESULTS: We find that the presence, number, and specific features of tattoos are positively correlated with two of the health-related outcomes (ever diagnosed with a mental health issue and trouble sleeping) and all three of the risky behaviors (P < .05). Magnitudes are larger for those with multiple, visible, and offensive tattoos. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that individuals with tattoos are more likely to engage in risky behaviors relative to their non-tattooed counterparts, which may lead to health consequences. Dermatologists, healthcare providers, and public health advocates should recognize that having a tattoo(s) is a potential marker for mental health issues and risky behaviors.

Subtle Increases in BMI within a Healthy Weight Range Still Reduce Womens Employment Chances in the Service Sector.

Using mixed design analysis of variance (ANOVA), this paper investigates the effects of a subtle simulated increase in adiposity on women's employment chances in the service sector. Employing a unique simulation of altering individuals' BMIs and the literature on "aesthetic labour", the study suggests that, especially for women, being heavier, but still within a healthy BMI, deleteriously impacts on hireability ratings. The paper explores the gendered dimension of this prejudice by asking whether female employees at the upper end of a healthy BMI range are likely to be viewed more negatively than their overtly overweight male counterparts. The paper concludes by considering the implications of these findings.