bims-chumac 2020-06-07 papers

Issue of 2020–06–07
two papers selected by
Jay Dixit, Storytelling.NYC

Econ Hum Biol. 2020 May 17. pii: S1570-677X(19)30362-4. [Epub ahead of print]38 100889

Beauty perks: Physical appearance, earnings, and fringe benefits.

While the existence of a beauty premium is documented for many labour markets, there has been no study on the association of attractiveness with fringe benefits. This is a significant limitation of the extant literature, since fringe benefits are increasingly acknowledged as an integral part of the employees' compensation, and a main indicator of job quality. Using the Canadian General Social Survey of 2016, the present paper examines how a self-rated measure of attractiveness associates with both labour earnings and fringe benefits. Employing a rich set of controls, no evidence for a beauty premium is found for men, while there is some evidence for a beauty penalty for women. However, attractiveness is found to positively predict the number of fringe benefits of both men and women. Therefore, at equal level of earnings, more attractive individuals appear able to secure higher quality jobs, as measured by the number of fringe benefits. The results, hence, suggest that the effects of attractiveness on labour market outcomes cannot be fully captured by a separate examination of earnings and the hiring process.

Keywords: Beauty premium; Earnings; Fringe benefits; Physical appearance

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ehb.2020.100889

Curr Opin Psychol. 2020 May 04. pii: S2352-250X(20)30051-8. [Epub ahead of print]36 55-59

Sexting within young adults' dating and romantic relationships.

Joris Van Ouytsel, Narissra M Punyanunt-Carter, Michel Walrave, Koen Ponnet.

Sexting, herein defined as the sending of self-made sexually explicit images, is a modern-day form of sexual communication. This review discusses recent findings in sexting research among (young) adults. We find that despite its risks, sexting is increasingly used within dating and romantic relationships and can carry different meanings depending on the context in which the images are exchanged. Risks associated with sexting include pressure, experiences of unwanted sexting, unauthorized distribution, and coercion. Problematic forms of sexting can have significant consequences on the victims. We suggest the need for future research to make use of a uniform and nuanced measure of sexting and underscore the need to focus on adolescents as well as adults of all ages.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2020.04.007