Differences In Transition Patterns Research Articles

Evaluating dynamics in affect structure with latent Markov factor analysis.

In intensive longitudinal research, researchers typically consider the structure of affect to be stable across individuals and contexts. Based on an assumed theoretical structure (e.g., one bipolar or two separate positive and negative affect constructs), researchers create affect scores from items (e.g., sum or factor scores) and use them to examine the dynamics therein. However, researchers usually ignore that the affect structure itself is dynamic and varies across individuals and contexts. Understanding these dynamics provides valuable insights into individuals' affective experiences. This study uses latent Markov factor analysis (LMFA) to study what affect structures underlie individuals' responses, how individuals transition between structures, and whether their individual transition patterns differ. Moreover, we explore whether the intensity of negative events and the personality trait neuroticism relate to momentary transitions and individual differences in transition patterns, respectively. Applying LMFA to experience sampling data (N = 153; age: mean = 22; SD = 7.1; range = 17-66), we identified two affect structures-one with three and one with four dimensions. The main difference was the presence of negative emotionality, and the affect dimensions became more inversely related when the affect structure included negative emotionality. Moreover, we identified three latent subgroups that differed in their transition patterns. Higher negative event intensity increased the probability of adopting an affect structure with negative emotionality. However, neuroticism was unrelated to subgroup-membership. Summarized, we propose a way to incorporate contextual and individual differences in affect structure, contributing to advancing the theoretical basis of affect dynamics research. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

The economics of transition pathways: A proposed taxonomy and a policy experiment

Pathways of transition differ across countries, industrial sectors, firms and technologies, but little is known about the reasons for these differences and macroeconomic consequences. I show theoretically how differences in transition patterns and macroeconomic side effects can be explained by the characteristics of competing technologies. Competing technologies are characterized by their relative superiority in an exogenous socio-technical landscape, their relative maturity and cross-technology interactions in the process of specialization. These characteristics are linked to the multi-layer perspective of transition theory and build the conceptual basis of technology in the macroeconomic agent-based model Eurace@unibi-eco. It is shown that the characteristics can be an explanation for heterogeneous transition pathways. Policy may alter the exogenous landscape conditions that surround technological competition. It is shown how different market-based instruments can be used to accelerate and stabilize a transition process. Taxes and subsidies perform differently conditional on the characteristics of competing technologies.

Job Mobility as a New Explanation for the Immigrant-Native Wage Gap: A Longitudinal Analysis of the German Labor Market1

In industrialized countries, wages between migrants and natives usually differ. Previous studies that mostly focused on human capital theory and cross-sectional wage differences failed to fully explain the wage gap. We offer a new explanation and assume that differences in the employment trajectories of migrants and natives contribute to diverging wages after labor market entrance. Utilizing longitudinal data for Germany, we analyze the job mobility of migrants and natives and distinguish among voluntary, involuntary, and internal job changes. Indeed, we find evidence for differences in transition patterns and — using several fixed-effects regressions — are able to explain a substantial part of the gap in hourly wages. The results suggest that the higher number of involuntary changes among migrants increases the wage gap. In contrast, support for more voluntary and internal job changes among migrants should help to counteract diverging earnings trajectories.

Desistance and Severity of Alcohol Use Disorder: A Lifespan-Developmental Investigation.

Key to an understanding of alcohol use disorder (AUD) are the drinking-related reductions that begin in young adulthood and continue throughout the adult lifespan. Research is needed to precisely characterize the form of these reductions, including possible developmental differences across the lifespan. Using U.S.-representative data, we estimated multiple-group Markov models characterizing longitudinal transitions among five drinking statuses and differences in transition patterns across six adult age periods. While past research indicates relative developmental stability in overall AUD-desistance rates, we found far higher rates of Severe-AUD desistance in young adulthood relative to later ages. Especially considering the dramatic change reflected by Severe-AUD desistance (from 6+ symptoms to 0-1 symptoms), this result indicates a substantial developmental shift, with Severe-AUD-desistance rates peaking at 43-50% across ages 25-34 and then dropping to 22-24% across ages 35-55. We discuss implications regarding practical significance of young-adult "maturing out" and predictions regarding lifespan variability in desistance mechanisms.

UNEMPLOYMENT AND EDUCATION: ESTONIAN LABOUR MARKET ENTRY PATTERN COMPARED TO THE EU COUNTRIES

1. Introduction The rise of youth unemployment regarded as the failure of transition from school to work gave good grounds for examining this transition. Estonia is not an exception. In the early 1990s young people were considered as the most privileged age group, whereas in the late 1990s it became evident that a lot of problems were connected with the entry into adult life, more specifically, into the labour market. Although unemployment in general, as well as the youth unemployment, are relatively novel phenomena in Estonia, the gap between the unemployment rates among the younger and the older age groups is continually widening (Helemae and Voormann 2003). Our intention is not to concentrate on the analysis of the young as a specific age group. Instead, we prefer to compare labour entrants with experienced workers (1) because previous studies have demonstrated that the national organisation of the educational system as well as the labour regulation influence the biographical timing of the transition (Couppie and Mansuy 2003). The category of new labour entrants is useful because it combines the characteristics of the youth's position ...towards the education and training system with the experience accumulated on the labour market (Couppie and Mansuy 2001a:24). Compared to the rest of the labour force, new entrants are defined by their lack of labour experience. According to the insider-outsider theory, they are considered as outsiders. There is a great number of empirical studies on school-to-work transitions carried out in the European Union countries (see for example Hannan et al. 1997, Shavit and Muller 1998, Kerckhoff 2000, Smyth et al. 2001, Kogan and Muller 2003, Muller and Gangl 2003) while the studies conducted in the Central and Eastern European countries are quite rare (see for example Cedefop 2001, Robert and Bukodi 2002, Toomse 2003, Kogan and Unt 2004). The present paper will analyse the differences in the unemployment rates between labour entrants and experienced workers, the incidence of unemployment among labour entrants from the perspective of individual educational achievement, and explore how the educational stratification of unemployment varies across different countries. Previous studies have shown that European countries differ markedly with respect to some core aspects of youth transition experiences (see Gangl et al. 2003). The countries to be compared are Estonia and the EU countries. The core of our interest concentrates on the aggregate effectiveness of youth labour integration in Estonian institutional context. The study will be guided by the following main questions: Are there any differences in unemployment risks between labour entrants and experienced workers? If so, in what way does the institutional set-up in different countries shape these differences? Which role does education play with regard to labour entrants' risk of unemployment? To what extent does the importance of education depend on the career stage on which individuals are at the risk of unemployment? Is there evidence to be found about distinct national linkages between education and unemployment risks? As European educational systems and labour institutions differ considerably in their structures, these structures have considerable theoretical potential for explaining cross-national differences in transition patterns (Shavit and Muller 1998, Muller and Gangl 2003). The starting point for the formulation of the hypotheses is the assumption that labour institutions and educational systems have an impact on the labour entry process. Comparing the educational systems as well as labour institutions in Estonia and in the EU countries, we could formulate the hypotheses about labour entry process in Estonia using the classification results from previous studies. The paper draws upon data from the Estonian Labour Force Survey 2002 and also data from the ELFS 1997 about European Union countries published in Cedefop report (2001). …

The German socio‐economic panel: A database for longitudinal international comparisons

Abstract This paper will focus on the use of longitudinal micro data and the potential of household panel studies. Beginning with a brief discussion of methodological issues of the German Socio‐Economic Panel (GSOEP) results of cross‐national comparisons are presented. Research findings from a comparative analysis of the process and outcomes of the school‐to‐work transition are presented, showing that substantial differences in transition patterns persist between Germany and the United States. A typology of labour mobility is presented to discuss the differences of the overall active labour force participation in West and East Germany and the UK. The findings indicate that West Germany shows a significant higher job stability for men and women. The paper closes with some recommendations for feasible further comparative analysis with an integrated longitudinal data archive of household panels.

Radiologic study of the influence of zygapophyseal joint orientation on spinal injuries at the thoracolumbar junction.

The change from coronal to sagittal plane orientation of the zygapophyseal (facet) joints at the thoracolumbar junction, coupled with differences in lumbar and thoracic spine mobility, may predispose the T10 to L2 segments to injury. To test for an association between the level of injury and variations in orientation of the zygapophyseal joints, CT investigations of 44 spinal injured patients were studied. Of these, 28 sustained burst/compression fractures and 16 demonstrated a rotation injury with disruption to one or both zygapophyseal joints. Injuries were examined to determine whether more congruent "mortice" joints localised the segmental level of trauma. The Chi-square statistic was used: to compare the transitional characteristics of 44 clinical cases with a "normal" patient database (n = 630); to examine differences in transition patterns between the "compression" and "rotation" injury groups; and to compare the incidence of mortice joints between the clinical and normal series. A significant difference between the transition patterns of the clinical and normal series (p less than 0.001) appeared to account for the higher frequency of abrupt transitions in the 44 injury cases. No significant differences distinguished the transition patterns of the two injury groups. A higher incidence of mortice joints was demonstrated in the injury group compared with the normal population (p less than 0.02). These findings suggest that individuals with an abrupt transition have a greater predisposition to injuries at the thoracolumbar junction.