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Publication Food Coma is Real: The Effect of Digestive Fatigue on Adolescents' Cognitive Performance(2024-04-12) herve; Hervé, JustineFood coma, also known as postprandial somnolence, is a commonly cited reason for experiencing reduced alertness during mid-afternoon worldwide. By using exogenous variation in the timing of tests and, hence, by extension, plausibly exogenous variation in the temporal distance between an individual’s last meal and the time of test, we examine the causal impact of postprandial somnolence on cognitive capacities. Analyzing novel time use data on ∼ 4,600 Indian adolescents and young adults, we find that testing within an hour after a meal reduces test-takers’ scores on English, native language, math, and Raven’s tests by 8, 8, 8, and 16 percent, respectively, compared to test-takers who took the tests more than an hour after their meal. We further find that the negative effect of postprandial somnolence on cognition operates through increased feelings of fatigue and depletion of cognitive resources that become more pronounced while dealing with more challenging test questions.Publication Evaluating the Effects of a Low-Cost, Online Financial Education Program(2024-02-29) Clark, Robert LThis paper provides evidence on how a low-cost, online, and scalable financial education program influences older participants’ financial knowledge. We tested the program using a field experiment that included short stories covering three fundamental financial education topics: compound interest, risk diversification, and inflation. Two surveys were administered eight months apart to measure the effects of those stories on participants' short-term and longer-term knowledge and financial distress indicators. We show that the risk diversification story was the most effective at improving participants' knowledge, in both the short and longer term. The compound interest and inflation stories significantly increased participants' knowledge in the short term, but the gain in financial literacy declined over time.Publication Mobile GIS-Assisted Surface Survey on the Lagash Archaeological Project, Iraq: An Efficient and Reproducible Methodology(unpublished, 2023-03-09) Paul C. ZimmermanThis article discusses the method by which the author designed a survey to characterize the differential distribution of artifact types across the entire 450 hectare surface of Tell al-Hiba (ancient Lagash) in southern Iraq. As a guide to the ongoing excavations of the Lagash Archaeological Project (LAP), geographic information systems (GIS) and mobile GIS were employed in a manner that maximized the speed, reliability, and consistency of the survey. An extensive survey, with complete collection of artifacts and ecofacts at preset nodes on a site grid, a small group of surveyors completed the data collection and the processing of those collections within two field seasons. Reliance on GNSS-enabled tablets on which were installed a minimalist and bilingual data collection form, reduced in-field recording errors and the variability between surveyors to the greatest extent possible. Importantly, the tools and process proved simple enough that new surveyors were quickly trained and integrated into the team. And though the LAP surface survey used QGIS, ArcGIS Field Maps, and Apple iPads, the process could be replicated with other software and/or hardware, or adapted to meet different goals.Publication Privileged Dependence, Precarious Autonomy: Parental Support Through the Lens of COVID-19(2022-11-16) van Stee, Elena G.Objective: This article identifies how undergraduates’ responses to educational disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic were shaped by social class differences in their relationships with parents. Background: The mechanisms through which parents transmit class advantages to children are often hidden from view and therefore remain imperfectly understood. This study leverages the unique context of the COVID-19 pandemic to examine how young adults from different social class backgrounds expect, negotiate, and attach meaning to parental support in a time of crisis. Method: This study draws from in-depth interviews with a convenience sample of 48 Black and White upper-middle and working-class undergraduates from a single elite university, along with 10 of their mothers. Results: Facing pandemic-related disruptions, upper-middle-class students typically sought substantial direction and material assistance from parents. In contrast, working-class students typically assumed more responsibility for their own—and sometimes other family members’—well-being. These classed patterns of “privileged dependence” and “precarious autonomy” were shaped by students’ understandings of family members’ authority, needs, and responsibilities. Conclusion: Upper-middle-class students’ expectations for extended dependence on parents functioned as a protective force, enabling them to benefit financially and academically from parents’ material and cultural resources. These protections—which were not available to their working-class peers—may yield cumulative advantages as students progress through higher education and enter the labor market.Publication Communication with Kin in the Wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic(2023-09-06) Reed, Megan N.; Li, Linda; Pesando, Luca Maria; Harris, Lauren E.; Furstenberg, Frank F.; Teitler, Julien O.This study investigates patterns of communication among non-coresident kin in the aftermath of a crisis – the COVID-19 pandemic – focusing on a representative sample of New York City residents from the Poverty Tracker survey. Over half of New Yorkers spoke to their non-coresident family members several times a week during the pandemic and nearly half reported that their communication with non-coresident kin increased since March 2020. Extended kin proved to be important with 27.57% of respondents reporting that they increased communication with at least one extended family member. However, the kin type that New Yorkers were most likely to report increased communication with were siblings, revealing the importance of these ties during times of crisis. Communication with kin varied by sociodemographic characteristics. Women spoke with family members outside of their household more frequently and had higher odds of reporting that their communication increased. There was little support for the oft-stated premise that disadvantaged families by race or social class display greater patterns of kin engagement. In fact, the findings point to the opposite conclusion that families with greater economic resources generally engage with both their nuclear and extended kin more frequently, illuminating patterns of inequality in access to kin resources that may extend well beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, this study sheds light on an important yet oft-neglected driver of intra- and inter-generational inequalities, namely access to kin ties as a form of social capital to be activated and leveraged when need arises.