This chapter gives an overview of recent advances in latent variable analysis. Emphasis is placed on the strength of modeling obtained by using a flexible combination of continuous and categorical latent variables. To focus the discussion and make it manageable in scope, analysis of longitudinal data using growth models will be considered. Continuous latent variables are common in growth modeli...

There are several measures that summarize the mortality experience of a population. Of these measures, life expectancies are generally preferred based on their simpler interpretation and direct age standardization, which makes them directly comparable between different populations. However, traditional life expectancy estimations are highly inaccurate for smaller populations and consequently ar...

BACKGROUND One of the biggest problem today that most developing countries are faced with is the uncontrolled population growth; a serious threat to the international community. One of the most accessible contraceptive methods is the hormonal methods in which low-dose estrogen (LD) combined pills are considered as the most common among them. The most important reason for discontinuation of the ...

The Impact of Adult Child Emigration on the Mental Health of Older Parents A growing literature within economics has sought to examine the impacts of emigration on sending countries. Some of the studies have looked within families and have investigated how emigration affects those family members who are left behind. In this paper, we explore whether older parents of adult children who emigrate ...

Although each statistical unit on which measurements are taken is unique typically there is not enough information available to account totally for its uniqueness. Therefore heterogeneity among units has to be limited by structural assumptions. One classical approach is to use random effects models, which assume that heterogeneity can be described by distributional assumptions. However, inferen...

Meta-analysis is a standard statistical method used to combine the conclusions of individual studies that are related and the results of single study alone can not answered to deal with issues. The data are summarized by one or more outcome measure estimates along with their standard errors. The multivariate model and the variations between studies are not considered in most articles. Here we d...

This paper sheds some light on the problems associated with random effects gravity approaches. Arguments for the superiority of a fixed effects model are given both along intuitive and econometric lines based on a Hausman test.  2000 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.

This paper uses data drawn from the English Football League to model separate hazard rates for club managers for the 2001/2, 2002/3 and 2003/4 seasons. On average over the three seasons, approximately one-third of managers involuntarily exited employment status with their club. We model the hazard using a standard logistic model exploiting information on the spell at risk rather than the indivi...