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Are black women shrinking?
parently: Height trends since World War II are analyzed using the most recent NHANES survey released in 2006. After declining for about a generation, the height of adult white men and women began to increase among the birth cohorts of c. 1975-1986, i.e., those who reached adulthood within the past decade (1995-2006). The increase in their height overcame the prior downturn that lasted between ca. 1965 and 1974. The height gap between white and black men has increased by only…
2 minutes
Are women held to higher standards than men at work?
re seems like it: Using archival organizational data, the authors examined relationships of gender and type of position (i.e., line or staff) to performance evaluations of 448 upper-level managers, and relationships of performance evaluations to promotions during the subsequent 2 years. Consistent with the idea that there is a greater perceived lack of fit between stereotypical attributes of women and requirements of line jobs than staff jobs, women in line jobs received lower performance ratings than women in staff jobs…
1 min read
Who becomes a smoker?
llo? HELLO?! Are you paying attention? If not, you might be more likely to smoke: The authors examined the prediction from inattention to tobacco use among 2 cohorts (ages 7 and 13) of a community sample followed to young adulthood. Changes in self-reported tobacco use were tested with marginal transitional regression models, using parent and teacher ratings of inattention, hyperactivity-impulsivity, and other psychopathology, along with other factors, as predictors. Inattention, but not hyperactivity-impulsivity, significantly predicted adolescent tobacco use and young…
1 min read
Does how you move affect whether people like you?
s. It's well established that mimicking others improves affiliation. This study takes it further, timing affects connectedness as well: The tendency to mimic and synchronize with others is well established. Although mimicry has been shown to lead to affiliation between co-actors, the effect of interpersonal synchrony on affiliation remains an open question. The authors investigated the relationship by having participants match finger movements with a visual moving metronome. In Experiment 1, affiliation ratings were examined based on the extent to…
1 min read
Do blondes have more fun?
can't be sure about fun, but female blondes do make more money: This study contributes to the economics literature that links physical characteristics to labour market outcomes, by investigating the influence of hair colour on women's own wages and also their spouse's wages. Using U.S. panel data, we find that blonde women receive large wage premiums. Source: "Physical appearance and wages: Do blondes have more fun" from Economics Letters Join over 320,000 readers. Get a free weekly update via email here.…
1 min read
What does “had sex” mean?
thought that was a pretty simple question. I was wrong: The study involved responses from 486 Indiana residents who took part in a telephone survey conducted by the Center for Survey Research at IU. Participants, mostly heterosexual, were asked, "Would you say you 'had sex' with someone if the most intimate behavior you engaged in was ...," followed by 14 behaviorally specific items. Here are some of the results: * Responses did not differ significantly overall for men and…
2 minutes
Everybody hates commuting. Why do we do it?
nny, I'd been planning to do a bit on commuting for a while. Yesterday I saw Jonah Lehrer's excellent post on the subject and figured now might be a good time. As he and David Brooks both note, commuting dramatically and negatively affects happiness. I agree. Everyone hates commuting. Even sex offenders hate commuting. Married women have a pretty dramatic relationship with commuting -- it stops them from working: These points were confirmed when Black and his coauthors examined Census data…
3 minutes
You know what stops slavery? Terrible geography.
ere is controversy about whether geography matters mainly because of its contemporaneous impact on economic outcomes or because of its interaction with historical events. Looking at terrain ruggedness, we are able to estimate the importance of these two channels. Because rugged terrain hinders trade and most productive activities, it has a negative direct effect on income. However, in Africa rugged terrain afforded protection to those being raided during the slave trades. Since the slave trades retarded subsequent economic development, in…
1 min read
