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The stable marriage and stable roommates problems have been extensively studied due to their applicability in various real-world scenarios. However, it might happen that no stable solution exists, or stable solutions do not meet certain requirements. In such cases, one might be interested in modifying the instance so that the existence of a stable outcome with the desired properties is ensured. We focus on three different modifications. 1. In the stable roommates problem, we show that finding a smallest subset of agents whose removal results in an instance with a stable matching is NP-complete if the capacities are greater than one, or the deleted agents must belong to a fixed subset of vertices. We further show that analogous results hold for the stable marriage problem when one would like to achieve the existence of a stable and perfect matching through the deletion of vertices. 2. We investigate how to modify the preferences of the agents as little as possible so that a given matching becomes stable. The deviation of the new preferences from the original ones can be measured in various ways; here, we concentrate on the ℓ 1 -norm. We show that, assuming the Unique Games Conjecture, the problem cannot be approximated within a factor smaller than 2. By relying on bipartite-submodular functions, we give a polynomial-time algorithm for the bipartite case. We also show that a similar approach leads to a 2-approximation for general graphs. 3. Last, we consider problems where the preferences of agents are not fully prescribed, and the goal is to decide whether the preference lists can be completed so that a stable matching exists. We settle the complexity of several variants, including cases when some of the edges are required to be included or excluded from the solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a fresh perspective on the interplay among visual, verbal, and auditory modalities, positing that these modalities, as semogenic resources, compete to express dynamic meanings. The theoretical paradigm emphasizes that whether a modality or an element within a modality gets or loses semantic status, it will elicit an additional layer of social meaning to depict a comprehensive picture of a story together with an explicit semiotic meaning. The article adopts a qualitative method to analyze the data, which are drawn from The Good Wife and My Roommate is a Gumiho and annotated in ELAN 6.3. It was found that modal competition can shed light on the dynamic meaning-making processes in semiotic and societal orientations. Modal competition may distort space and time of different stories, and reconstruct a different discursive spatio-temporal dimension in the TV world. It can diversify the dynamic orientations from New to Given in visual, verbal, and auditory texts of multimodal discourses to tell stories. Modal competition provides a lens to understand the multidimensional reality and to appreciate the aesthetics of a modern TV series. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many colleges and universities seek to leverage the promise of intergroup contact theory by adopting housing policies that randomly assign first-year students to roommates, with the goal of increasing intergroup contact. Yet, it is unclear whether random roommate assignment policies increase cross-race contact, whether this (potentially involuntary, but sanctioned by authorities) contact improves racial attitudes or behaviors, or how these effects may differ for racial majority and minority students. The present studies used a natural experiment of random roommate assignment to directly test roommate relationship, attitudinal, and behavioral changes based on roommate race. Across three samples drawn from two student cohorts, the random assignment policy increased the likelihood that students had a cross-race roommate because without the policy, students tended to self-segregate by race. Moreover, selecting (Study 1) or being randomly assigned (Study 2) a cross-race roommate was associated with having more racial outgroup friends and demonstrating more positive verbal and nonverbal behavior during a novel cross-race interaction (Study 3). There were no roommate group (same vs. cross-race roommates) differences in relationship quality, and the results were largely independent of participant race. These findings suggest randomized roommate assignment is a promising avenue for universities to promote cross-race contact amid persistent racial segregation on college campuses with limited negative consequences for relationship quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Young adults with difficulties finding affordable housing have increasingly been choosing to rent in the private sector and share housing with unknown individuals. Shared living arrangements allow these young single tenants to reduce their housing expenses while enjoying a shared lifestyle that encourages social interaction with a diverse group of housemates. However, physical proximity does not guarantee social proximity, as people may encounter undesirable housemates. Using a rich dataset of shared housing tenancies in Shanghai, China, this study examines how the characteristics of housemates influences tenants’ decision to terminate their shared housing tenancy before its expiration. Our results show that the similarity of housemates in age, gender, occupation, and birthplace reduces the probability of an early termination of the shared tenancy. The impact of housemate similarity measured in the four dimensions is further augmented by tenants’ bargaining power and individual characteristics. Since early tenancy termination increases the vacancy rate in shared housing, sharing with undesirable housemates incurs significant social costs. This study sheds light on how residents living in proximity can share urban space effectively to facilitate sustained shared housing tenancies and suggests the need for policy solutions that are tailored to the needs of shared housing renters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A chameleon algorithm based on optimized partitioning was studied to solve the intelligent matching problem of college dormitory roommates. Using quantitative research methods, data on personal preferences and lifestyle habits of college students were collected, and the K-center object chameleon algorithm was used for data analysis and roommate matching. Test the algorithm performance on the BBC dataset, compare clustering quality indicators such as entropy, purity, and RI value, and verify the effectiveness of the algorithm. This algorithm can accurately assign students to their respective dormitories, avoiding overlapping situations and achieving excellent matching results. In terms of matching accuracy and running time, the K-center object chameleon algorithm shows superior performance compared to other algorithms. In terms of clustering quality evaluation, comparisons were made from three dimensions: entropy value, purity, and RI value. The experimental results show that the closer the entropy value is to 0, the closer the purity and RI value are to 1, and the better the matching effect. This result further validates the effectiveness of the algorithm in the intelligent matching problem of college dormitory roommates. The matching accuracy of this algorithm on the BBC dataset reached 98.82%, showing better clustering quality than other algorithms in terms of entropy, purity, and RI values. The entropy value approached 0, while the purity and RI values approached 1, verifying the efficiency of matching quality. The chameleon algorithm based on optimized partitioning proposed in the study has shown excellent performance in intelligent matching of college dormitory roommates, with the characteristics of high-precision matching and fast running time. It has important practical significance for improving the quality of life and learning efficiency of college dormitory students, and provides new research methods and ideas for related fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We introduce a model of large many‐to‐one matching markets with occupational choice where each individual can choose which side of the market to belong to. We show that stable matchings exist under mild assumptions; in particular, both complementarities and externalities can be accommodated. Our model generalizes Greinecker and Kah (2021), which focuses on one‐to‐one matching and did not allow for occupational choice. Applications include the roommate problem with nonatomic participants, explaining the size and distribution of firms and wage inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding how student peers influence learning outcomes is crucial for effective education management in complex social systems. The complexities of peer selection and evolving peer relationships, however, pose challenges for identifying peer effects using static observational data. Here we use both null-model and regression approaches to examine peer effects using longitudinal data from 5,272 undergraduates, where roommate assignments are plausibly random upon enrollment and roommate relationships persist until graduation. Specifically, we construct a roommate null model by randomly shuffling students among dorm rooms and introduce an assimilation metric to quantify similarities in roommate academic performance. We find significantly larger assimilation in actual data than in the roommate null model, suggesting roommate peer effects, whereby roommates have more similar performance than expected by chance alone. Moreover, assimilation exhibits an overall increasing trend over time, suggesting that peer effects become stronger the longer roommates live together. Our regression analysis further reveals the moderating role of peer heterogeneity. In particular, when roommates perform similarly, the positive relationship between a student's future performance and their roommates' average prior performance is more pronounced, and their ordinal rank in the dorm room has an independent effect. Our findings contribute to understanding the role of college roommates in influencing student academic performance. Educational environment is known to influence learning efficiency of students, however qualitative analysis of this effect has open questions. The authors propose a model to quantify roommate peer effects based on student accommodation distribution and their academic performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We identify the causal effect of peers' prosocial behaviors on one's donations. • Use roommates' random assignment and peers' volunteering history for identification. • Exposure to peers with pre-college prosocial behaviors boosts one's donations. • Peer effects vary by donation levels, interaction preferences, and self-confidence. • Results suggest social pressure as a potential mechanism of peer influence. Understanding the determinants of philanthropic behaviors, which bring benefits to society but come with private costs, is crucial. In this study, we investigate the causal impact of exposure to peers with prosocial behaviors on an individual's donations. In contrast to previous research, we address the issue of self-selection by exploiting the random assignment of college roommates and tackle the challenges of reflection bias by examining peers' volunteering history in high school in relation to an individual's donations in college. Our results indicate a statistically significant and positive impact of peers' prosocial behaviors on an individual's own donations. Moreover, we find that the magnitude of peer effects varies based on individuals' donation levels, interaction preferences, and self-confidence levels, suggesting social pressure as a potential mechanism of peer influence. This study contributes to the existing literature by shedding light on the role of social influence in shaping philanthropic behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theory predicts that in resource‐limited environments, coexisting species may overlap their niche dimensions but must differ in at least one to avoid competitive exclusion. Specifically, it has been suggested that the coexistence of competing species within a guild, could be sustained with mechanisms of resource partitioning, such as segregation along a trophic dimension. Among the most gregarious mammals are bats, which present diversification in their diet based on habitat choice and body size. Despite differences that could explain specialization in prey selection, there are insufficient studies that explore food overlap in mixed bat colonies and the factors that determine the selection of prey, both at intra‐ and inter‐specific levels. To fill this gap, we analyzed the isotope signal (δ13C and δ15N) in feces collected in a mixed colony of Tadarida brasiliensis and Myotis chiloensis. To understand how several factors could influence these isotopic signals, intrinsic explanatory variables were analyzed, including body mass, body length, age, and sex. Also, extrinsic variables were analyzed, including monthly temporality and moonlight intensity. Our findings support age‐dependent specialization in M. chiloensis, with a significant role of moonlight intensity and sex on δ15N. In T. brasiliensis, we identified a significant effect of size, sex, and ear length on δ15N. Our analysis indicates that both species of bats experience diverse degrees of overlap through austral summer months, affected by several factors that explain the variability in their fecal isotopic signals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study extended previous research on interpersonal dynamics between instructors and students by applying relational framing theory to participants' (N = 544) reports on instructor-student relationships, compared to friends, family members, roommates, and significant others. The instructor-student relationship was similar to other relationships in dominance, similar to the roommate in involvement, and least like any relationship in affiliation. The affiliation frame was most salient in each relationship. In support of the intensifier hypothesis, affiliation was correlated with involvement in all relationships except the instructor-student relationship. Involvement was equally related to affiliation and dominance for students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Until now, it is not clear whether there are differences in patient perception between multi-bedded rooms with two and four beds. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of the physical (i.e. room type) and psychosocial (i.e. kindness of roommates and extraversion) aspects on the patients' experience (i.e. pleasantness of the room, anxiety, sleep quality) in multi-bedded rooms in an oncology ward. Design/methodology/approach: A group of 84 hospitalized oncology patients completed a questionnaire on the day of departure. Room types were categorized into two groups: two-person and four-person rooms. Findings: Multivariate logistic regression analyses with the minimum Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) showed no direct main effects of room type (two vs. four-person room), kindness of roommates and extraversion on pleasantness of the room, anxiety and sleep quality. However, the authors found an interaction effect between room type and extraversion on pleasantness of the room. Patients who score relatively high in extraversion rated the room as more pleasant when they stayed in a four-person rather than a two-person room. For patients relatively low in extraversion, room type was not related to pleasantness of the room. Practical implications: The findings allow hospitals to better understand individual differences in patient experiences. Hospitals should inform patients about the benefits of the different room types and potential influences of personality (extraversion) so patients are empowered and can benefit from autonomy and the most appropriate place. Originality/value: This study emphasizes the importance of including four-person rooms in an oncology ward, while new hospital facility layouts mainly include single-bed rooms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Context: Menstrual cycle synchronization is a phenomenon in which menstrual onset shifts progressively closer with time. It is an adoptive conditional phenomenon seen in the females who associate closely and share a common environment. Aims: To ascertain whether menstrual cycle synchrony exists in the roommates living in a closed space in a medical hostel. Settings and Design: This is a prospective observational study comprising 62 female medical students of a mean age of 22 years living in twin sharing accommodation with a history of regular menses (26–32 days). Methods and Material: These participants were followed on a monthly basis for 13 months. Menstrual cycle history was obtained using standardized Google forms. Menstrual cycle initial and final onset differences, expected cycle cut-off values, and absolute differences were calculated. The menstrual cycle synchrony score was obtained by subtracting the expected difference from the onset difference. Wilson's absolute difference method was used for determining menstrual synchrony between pairs. Statistical Analysis Used: The descriptive analysis was done using mean and standard deviation. One sample t-test was used to assess the synchrony between roommates. P value ≤0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Results: The initial onset difference of the menstrual cycle was 7.58 ± 4.25 days, whereas the final onset difference was 6.06 ± 3.92 days. The calculated synchrony score was -9.28 ± 5.05, which was statistically significant. Menstrual cycle synchrony was observed in 17 pairs (54.8%) and asynchrony in eight pairs (25.8%). Conclusions: Long-term association between roommates has potential to cause menstrual cycle synchrony. It has significant implications in reproductive medicine for reproductive scheduling and family planning.

Context: Menstrual cycle synchronization is a phenomenon in which menstrual onset shifts progressively closer with time. It is an adoptive conditional phenomenon seen in the females who associate closely and share a common environment. Aims: To ascertain whether menstrual cycle synchrony exists in the roommates living in a closed space in a medical hostel. Settings and Design: This is a prospective observational study comprising 62 female medical students of a mean age of 22 years living in twin sharing accommodation with a history of regular menses (26–32 days). Methods and Material: These participants were followed on a monthly basis for 13 months. Menstrual cycle history was obtained using standardized Google forms. Menstrual cycle initial and final onset differences, expected cycle cut-off values, and absolute differences were calculated. The menstrual cycle synchrony score was obtained by subtracting the expected difference from the onset difference. Wilson's absolute difference method was used for determining menstrual synchrony between pairs. Statistical Analysis Used: The descriptive analysis was done using mean and standard deviation. One sample t-test was used to assess the synchrony between roommates. P value ≤0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Results: The initial onset difference of the menstrual cycle was 7.58 ± 4.25 days, whereas the final onset difference was 6.06 ± 3.92 days. The calculated synchrony score was -9.28 ± 5.05, which was statistically significant. Menstrual cycle synchrony was observed in 17 pairs (54.8%) and asynchrony in eight pairs (25.8%). Conclusions: Long-term association between roommates has potential to cause menstrual cycle synchrony. It has significant implications in reproductive medicine for reproductive scheduling and family planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper has two objectives. One is to give a linear time algorithm that solves the stable roommates problem (i.e., obtains one stable matching) using the stable marriage problem. The idea is that a stable matching of a roommate instance I is a stable matching (that however must satisfy a certain condition) of some marriage instance I ′ . I ′ is obtained just by making two copies of I , one for the men's table and the other for the women's table. The second objective is to investigate the possibility of reducing the roommate problem to the marriage problem (with one-to-one correspondence between their stable matchings) in polynomial time. For a given I , we construct the rotation POSET P of I ′ and then we "halve" it to obtain P ′ , by which we can forget the above condition and can use all the closed subsets of P ′ for all the stable matchings of I. Unfortunately this approach works (runs in polynomial time) only for restricted instances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People often self-identify as allies to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. This research examined on what basis LGBT individuals perceive others to be allies and documents the consequences of perceived allyship. Studies 1a (n = 40) and 1b (n = 69) collected open-ended descriptions of allyship provided by LGBT participants. Coding of the responses suggested multiple components to being an ally: (a) being nonprejudiced toward the group, (b) taking action against discrimination and inequality, and (c) having humility about one's perspective in discussions about LGBT issues. In Studies 2a (n = 161) and 2b (n = 319, with nationally representative characteristics), an allyship scale was developed and validated for general and specific relational contexts, respectively. Study 2b also showed that LGBT individuals' perceptions of close others' allyship were positively associated with their own well-being and relationship quality with the close other. Study 3, an experiment, demonstrated that nonprejudice and action had an interactive effect on perceived allyship, such that action increased perceived allyship more when prejudice was low (vs. high). Study 4 was a weekly experience study of LGBT participants and an outgroup roommate. Perceiving one's roommate to be a good ally predicted higher self-esteem, greater subjective well-being, and better relationship quality with the roommate, both between and within participants. Furthermore, perceived allyship in 1 week was associated with increases in LGBT individuals' mental health and relationship quality with the roommate the following week. This research advances knowledge about what allyship means to LGBT individuals and identifies intra- and interpersonal benefits of allyship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trichomonas vaginalis is a pathogenic protozoan diffused worldwide capable of infecting the urogenital tract in humans, causing trichomoniasis. One of its most intriguing aspects is the ability to establish a close relationship with endosymbiotic microorganisms: the unique association of T. vaginalis with the bacterium Mycoplasma hominis represents, to date, the only example of an endosymbiosis involving two true human pathogens. Since its discovery, several aspects of the symbiosis between T. vaginalis and M. hominis have been characterized, demonstrating that the presence of the intracellular guest strongly influences the pathogenic characteristics of the protozoon, making it more aggressive towards host cells and capable of stimulating a stronger proinflammatory response. The recent description of a further symbiont of the protozoon, the newly discovered non-cultivable mycoplasma Candidatus Mycoplasma girerdii, makes the picture even more complex. This review provides an overview of the main aspects of this complex microbial consortium, with particular emphasis on its effect on protozoan pathobiology and on the interplays among the symbionts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ObjectiveTo examine if first-year roommates made similar meal plan decisions.MethodsResidence information for 1186 first-year students (N = 593 roommate pairs) and 559 floormates was obtained for the 2015-2016 academic year. Linear generalized estimating equations (GEEs) were used to examine if the number of meals students used over the semester was higher if their roommate used their meal plan more frequently. A logistic GEE examined joint meal plan usage between students and roommates for each month of the semester. To determine if residence, rather than roommate, explained the results, a simulation was conducted by randomly assigning the floormates to a same-sex roommate.ResultsThe number of meals students used in spring was higher if the students' roommate had used more meals in spring, even after controlling for the number of meals students used in fall (Female: β = 0.07, 99% CI = 0.00, 0.13; Male: β = 0.10, 99% CI = 0.02, 0.18). Students were more likely to use a meal with their roommate if they were on the same meal plan (Female: OR = 1.61, 99% CI = 1.27, 2.04; Male: OR = 1.57, 99% CI = 1.09, 2.25), and less likely after the first month of being roommates (Female: OR = 0.57-0.25; Male: OR = 0.50-0.22; p

Rising rates of depression among adolescents raise many questions about the role of depressive symptoms in academic outcomes for college students and their roommates. In the current longitudinal study, we follow previously unacquainted roommate dyads over their first year in college (N = 245 dyads). We examine the role of depressive symptoms of incoming students and their roommates on their GPAs and class withdrawals (provided by university registrars) at the end of the Fall and Spring semesters. We test contagion between the roommates on both academic outcomes and depressive symptoms over time. Finally, we examine the moderating role of relationship closeness. Whereas students' own initial levels of depressive symptoms predicted their own lower GPA and more course withdrawals, they did not directly predict the academic outcomes of their roommates. For roommates who form close relationships, there was evidence of contagion of both GPAs and depressive symptoms at the end of Fall and Spring semesters. Finally, a longitudinal path model showed that as depressive symptoms spread from the student to their roommate, the roommate's GPA decreased. The current work sheds light on a common college experience with implications for the role of interventions to increase the academic and mental health of college students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BackgroundThe microbiome of the built environment has important implications for human health and wellbeing; however, bidirectional exchange of microbes between occupants and surfaces can be confounded by lifestyle, architecture, and external environmental exposures. Here, we present a longitudinal study of United States Air Force Academy cadets (n = 34), which have substantial homogeneity in lifestyle, diet, and age, all factors that influence the human microbiome. We characterized bacterial communities associated with (1) skin and gut samples from roommate pairs, (2) four built environment sample locations inside the pairs' dormitory rooms, (3) four built environment sample locations within shared spaces in the dormitory, and (4) room-matched outdoor samples from the window ledge of their rooms.ResultsWe analyzed 2,170 samples, which generated 21,866 unique amplicon sequence variants. Linear convergence of microbial composition and structure was observed between an occupants' skin and the dormitory surfaces that were only used by that occupant (i.e., desk). Conversely, bacterial community beta diversity (weighted Unifrac) convergence between the skin of both roommates and the shared dormitory floor between the two cadet's beds was not seen across the entire study population. The sampling period included two semester breaks in which the occupants vacated their rooms; upon their return, the beta diversity similarity between their skin and the surfaces had significantly decreased compared to before the break (p

Stigma reduction research finds that brief interactions with a person with mental illness can reduce prejudiced attitudes. We examined whether this finding extends to real relationships over an extended period of time. First‐year college roommate dyads, one of whom reported a mental illness diagnosis participated in a longitudinal study (N = 166 dyads across three American universities). Based on contact theory, we tested whether mental illness prejudice declines when: (a) the student with mental illness disclosed that information to their roommate; (b) the roommate perceived the disclosure; and (c) the roommate relationship was close. Registered analyses showed that student disclosure predicted roommate perception (β =.52, p <.001), but roommate perception of the disclosure did not significantly predict reduced prejudice from the start to the end of the academic year (β = −.13, p =.172). Relationship closeness did not moderate how likely roommates were to perceive students' disclosures. Notably, overall levels of mental illness prejudice were very low in this American college sample, suggesting that the value of stigma interventions may depend on the context. Directions for future research and social policy implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The assignment of personnel to teams is a fundamental managerial function typically involving several objectives and a variety of idiosyncratic practical constraints. Despite the prevalence of this task in practice, the process is seldom approached as an optimization problem over the reported preferences of all agents. This is due in part to the underlying computational complexity that occurs when intra‐team interpersonal interactions are taken into consideration, and also due to game‐theoretic considerations, when those taking part in the process are self‐interested agents. Variants of this fundamental decision problem arise in a number of settings, including, for example, human resources and project management, military platooning, ride sharing, data clustering, and in assigning students to group projects. In this article, we study an analytical approach to "team formation" focused on the interplay between two of the most common objectives considered in the related literature: economic efficiency (i.e., the maximization of social welfare) and game‐theoretic stability (e.g., finding a core solution when one exists). With a weighted objective across these two goals, the problem is modeled as a bi‐level binary optimization problem, and transformed into a single‐level, exponentially sized binary integer program. We then devise a branch‐cut‐and‐price algorithm and demonstrate its efficacy through an extensive set of simulations, with favorable comparisons to other algorithms from the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We exploit a policy designed to randomly allocate roommates in a large South African university to investigate whether interracial interaction affects stereotypes, attitudes and performance. Using implicit association tests, we find that living with a roommate of a different race reduces White students' negative stereotypes towards Black students and increases interracial friendships. Interaction also affects academic outcomes: Black students improve their GPA, pass more exams and have lower dropout rates. This effect is not driven by roommate's ability. (JEL D91, I23, J15, O12) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Classical roommate problems define individual rationality by conceiving remaining single as the "outside option". This conception implicitly assumes that there are always some empty rooms to be shared. However, there are many instances when this is not the case. We introduce roommate problems with a limited number of rooms, where the "outside option" is "having no room". In this general framework, we show that the core equals the set of Pareto optimal and stable matchings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Roommate relationships are fundamental to the social environment of many emerging adults. However, no validated, widely used, measure of roommate relationship quality exists for examining the impact of these relationships on individual functioning and health. In this report, we present preliminary evidence of the factor structure, concurrent validity, and construct validity of the Roommate Relationship Scale (RRS) as a measure of roommate relationship quality using a sample of U.S. college students who participated in a multi-wave study. An exploratory factor analysis at the first wave, and confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) with independent samples of new participants at each of two subsequent waves showed stable factor loadings and adequate fit. Moreover, the scale demonstrated good fit and reliability in a longitudinal multilevel CFA framework. The RRS significantly positively correlated with relationship length, self-esteem, extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness, and negatively correlated with symptoms of anxiety and avoidant attachment style, indicating concurrent validity of the scale with respect to these constructs. Consistent with findings from other relationship types, self-reported RRS scores decrease longitudinally, both across and between semesters of academic life, indicating construct validity of the scale. We conclude that the RRS is useful for evaluating roommate relationship quality among U.S. college students, and hopefully beyond. Further research should validate the scale’s utility in other, more diverse, populations and refine its underlying generating psychological process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stability in one's home is essential to safety, security, and human dignity. T/ie right to court process prior to eviction should be unassailable. Yet, for some of the most marginalized residential occupants, that right does not exist. Nearly every state has codified laws that prohibit landlords from taking the law into their own hands to evict a tenant without a court order. In most states, however, the prohibition of so-called "self-help evictions" hinges on whether an occupant is considered a "tenant" or a licensee. The law shelters residential occupants who establish a formal landlord-tenant relationship in the premises where they reside. It guarantees a right to court process and legal recourse if that right is violated. The same is not true for countless others who rely on temporary or other informal housing arrangements, like roommates, transitional housing, and other shared living situations. Empowered by racialized economic structures that privilege wealth and capital, the law has divested such lesser-status residential occupants of any right to due process. That means eviction for any reason-or no reason-without notice or a court order. When one's home is stripped away, the consequences are dire. Housing insecurity can trigger instability in every aspect of a person's life-employment, physical and emotional health, family and personal relationships, and financial security, among a cascade of others. And because people who rely on informal housing are disproportionately low-wealth people of color, the lack of protection following an extrajudicial ouster can be particularly bleak. For some, that displacement is a pipeline to homelessness. Being relegated to the streets means disparate exposure to illness, substance use, and indiscriminate policing. Homeless shelters-notoriously crowded and unsafe-are a far cry from a baseline of secure, dignified housing that should be a fundamentalguarantee to every human being in a civilized society. The exclusion of such broad swaths of residential occupants ignores the realities Of housing in the modern urban economy. The law can and should prevent the needless human suffering that necessarily flows from a self-help eviction. To date, however, jurisdictions across the country continue to permit landlords to weaponize extrajudicial evictions as a tool to oust non-tenant residential occupants from their homes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies that distinguish between exogenous and endogenous peer effects are relatively rare. To separate these effects, De Giorgi, Pellizzari, and Redaelli exploited partially overlapping peer groups where attributes of a student's peers in one group provide instrumental variables (IV) for endogenous effects in another group. We apply this identification strategy to data from a period of transition at a Chinese university: dormitory roommate assignments were changed as students moved between campuses. This transition allows us to measure the endogenous effects between test scores of current roommates, but the traditional IV method suggests the potential for weak IV. We use weak-IV robust techniques to obtain properly sized tests. The S-test, K-test, and QCLR test all reject the null of zero endogenous effects with p-values between 0.01 and 0.05, as compared with 0.003 implied by the traditional IV estimator. The largest 95% confidence interval lower bound is 0.154 from the QCLR test, in contrast to 0.244 from traditional IV. Our findings offer unique evidence that endogenous peer effects influence academic outcomes at an empirically relevant magnitude, and an example where weak-IV robust tests are essential to quantify the relationship. Our results are robust to alternative model specifications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This article considers the ambivalence generated in familial cohabitation where adult offspring have never left or have returned to live with their parents. Background: Ambivalence is commonly used in psychology to describe contradictory emotions at the interpersonal level. Method: A thematically analyzed ethnographic study of eight cohabitating families living in North Wales, in the United Kingdom, explored both generations' perspectives on cohabitation. Results: Although our study found evidence of ambivalence at the interpersonal level, we suggest that this was drawn from a structural contradiction, namely, that although cohabitation was the result of structural issues, such as graduate underemployment and the affordable housing crisis, societal values labeled it the personal consequence of a failed adulthood. This caused these families feelings of shame and guilt that created a barrier blocking the interpersonal negotiations needed to develop more positive living arrangements and family roles. The generational contradictions in values of self, family, and society produced irreconcilable personal and political tensions. Conclusion: This study concludes that two changes are needed to better negotiate ambivalence in family cohabitation. First, the social narrative that responsibilizes young adults for their failure to attain financial and residential independence needs to be challenged. Second, to address current structural contradictions, the social contract on the provision for family social care needs political renegotiation. Implications: Building on the concept of sociological ambivalence, this article suggests that studies of ambivalence need to take a critical perspective that questions the structural forces that produce and constrain interpersonal familial relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We introduce the problem of adapting a stable matching to forced and forbidden pairs. Given a stable matching M 1 , a set Q of forced pairs, and a set P of forbidden pairs, we want to find a stable matching that includes all pairs from Q , no pair from P , and is as close as possible to M 1. We study this problem in four classic stable matching settings: Stable Roommates (with Ties) and Stable Marriage (with Ties). Our main contribution is a polynomial-time algorithm, based on the theory of rotations, for adapting Stable Roommates matchings to forced pairs. In contrast, we show that the same problem for forbidden pairs is NP-hard. However, our polynomial-time algorithm for forced pairs can be extended to a fixed-parameter tractable algorithm with respect to the number of forbidden pairs. Moreover, we study the setting where preferences contain ties: Some of our algorithmic results can be extended while other problems become intractable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Roommate relationships are fundamental to the social environment of many emerging adults. However, no validated, widely used, measure of roommate relationship quality exists for examining the impact of these relationships on individual functioning and health. In this report, we present preliminary evidence of the factor structure, concurrent validity, and construct validity of the Roommate Relationship Scale (RRS) as a measure of roommate relationship quality using a sample of U.S. college students who participated in a multi-wave study. An exploratory factor analysis at the first wave, and confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) with independent samples of new participants at each of two subsequent waves showed stable factor loadings and adequate fit. Moreover, the scale demonstrated good fit and reliability in a longitudinal multilevel CFA framework. The RRS significantly positively correlated with relationship length, self-esteem, extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness, and negatively correlated with symptoms of anxiety and avoidant attachment style, indicating concurrent validity of the scale with respect to these constructs. Consistent with findings from other relationship types, self-reported RRS scores decrease longitudinally, both across and between semesters of academic life, indicating construct validity of the scale. We conclude that the RRS is useful for evaluating roommate relationship quality among U.S. college students, and hopefully beyond. Further research should validate the scale’s utility in other, more diverse, populations and refine its underlying generating psychological process.