The impact of child care on fertility in urban Thailand

Women’s labor force participation in Thailand, particularly in the modem sector, recently has increased in conjunction with rapid declines in fertility. This paper examines whether a relationship exists between child care considerations and fertility decision making among Bangkok women. Although the two-child family has become the norm in recent years, and although most respondents said that ideally they would like to have two children, a high proportion of women surveyed said they planned to only have one child. Women’s work status and type of employment is found to strongly affect the likelihood of having a second birth: those who work at jobs that not only are low-paying but are located in a formal setting are least likely to have a second child. The type of child care for the first child also has an impact: those whose first child is in a less preferred situation are less likely to have a second. Variables measuring the need for and type of child care are found to have greater consequences for fertility than do usual measures of socioeconomic status.     

Co-variation in time between near-far accommodation of the lens and trapezius muscle activity

Visual strain and discomfort may contribute to the generation of work-related musculoskeletal disorders among e.g. computer workers. A positive correlation on a group level between eye-lens accommodation and trapezius muscle activity has been reported. In this study we investigated the possibility of a direct, fast, connection between lens accommodation and trapezius muscles activity. The subjects focused alternately on Near and Far targets, with a mean switch time of 5 s, through four different lenses. The cross-correlation, R(tau) was computed, between the time signals of accommodation and electromyography (EMG) from 23 subjects. In the overall mean R(tau) of 736 curves, a small but significant correlation peak (0.019) with a delay (of the EMG signal) of about 0.3 s, revealed a small common component in the two signals. Among the lenses, the positive lens (3.5 D), showed the highest correlation peak (0.040). The correlation may be caused by a direct "hard-wired" connection between the ciliary and trapezius muscles. But it could also be caused indirectly by the subject's need for a more stable head in a more demanding visual task. The latter is supported by the result that the correlation was the highest in the positive lens condition. The present correlation is however weak and it has probably a low practical importance.     

Eye- and neck/shoulder-discomfort during visually demanding experimental near work

Frequent use of digital information technology has an impact on eye- and neck/shoulder-discomfort. Studies with cross sectional and intervention design indicate an association between the two symptom categories. Still, whether visually demanding near work, per se, contributes to increased neck/shoulder discomfort remains a question of debate. The aim of this laboratory study was to assess if visually demanding experimental near work affects eye- and neck/shoulder-discomfort when the posture was adjusted for comfort and no movements were allowed. Thirty-three healthy subjects performed a visually demanding computer screen task (viewing task) under four different optical lens conditions: binocular -3.5 D and monocular -3.5 D, +3.5 D and ± 0 D. During the experiment subjects were seated in an office chair (with neck support) that was individually adjusted for comfort. At baseline and after each viewing task, subjects reported their perceived eye- and neck/shoulder discomfort on Borg's CR-10 scale. Results show a significant increase of eye discomfort between baseline and the first viewing task, and a significant increase in neck/shoulder discomfort from baseline throughout the first three viewing tasks. Further analysis is required to determent whether the neck/shoulder discomfort was induced by the demanding near work or the static posture, or a combination.     

Permutation tests of scale using deviances

Robust tests for comparing scale parameters, based on deviances—absolute deviations from the median—are examined. Higgins (2004) proposed a permutation test for comparing two treatments based on the ratio of deviances, but the performance of this procedure has not been investigated. A simulation study examines the performance of Higgins’ test relative to other tests of scale utilizing deviances that have been shown in the literature to have good properties. An extension of Higgins’ procedure to three or more treatments is proposed, and a second simulation study compares its performance to other omnibus tests for comparing scale. While no procedure emerged as a preferred choice in every scenario, Higgins’ tests are found to perform well overall with respect to Type I error rate and power.     

Fathers’ Financial Support of Children in a Low Income Community in South Africa

We used data from the Birth to Twenty Cohort study to understand children’s receipt of financial support from their fathers in a low income, Black community in urban South Africa. Specifically, we (1) described fathers’ financial support over the life course of children; (2) estimated survival probabilities of receiving support for all children and not receiving support for children who experienced a parental union dissolution; and (3) identified factors that explained variation in the receipt of support after a union dissolution. Results suggest that most children received full or partial support throughout the life course. Furthermore, a high proportion of children received support after a union dissolution with much of the variation driven by pre-dissolution support, father’s education and the presence of extended kin.     

Fourteen‐Month‐Olds Know What “We” Have Shared in a Special Way

People often express excitement to each other when encountering an object that they have shared together previously in some special way. This study investigated whether 14‐month‐old infants know precisely what they have and have not shared in a special way (and with whom). In the experimental condition an adult and infant shared an object (the target) excitedly because it unexpectedly reappeared in several places. They then shared 2 other objects (the distractors) in a more normal fashion. Later, the adult reacted excitedly to a tray containing all 3 objects and then made an ambiguous request for the infant to hand “it” to her. There were 2 control conditions. In 1 of them, a different adult, who knew none of the 3 objects, made the ambiguous request. In the other control condition, the adult who made the request had previously experienced the objects only alone, while the infant looked on unengaged. Infants in the experimental condition chose the target object more often than the distractors and more often than they chose it in either control condition. These results demonstrate that 14‐month‐old infants can identify which one of a set of objects “we”—and not just I or you alone—have had a special experience with in the past.     

Parental constructions of masculinity at the transition to parenthood: the division of parental leave among Austrian couples

Men and masculinity are considered a key factor in changing gender inequality at the transition to parenthood. Prior research on gendered division of parental leave concentrated on fathers’ perspectives. This paper includes perspectives of fathers and mothers who make use of parental leave in different ways and asks how masculinity is jointly constructed, how these constructions are linked to the use of parental leave, and if and how they are oriented towards hegemonic masculinity. The analysis is based on 44 qualitative interviews with 11 Austrian couples before and after birth when decisions concerning parental leave were made. Our case reconstructions reveal that parents considered parental leave a central element of masculinity as long as it suited fathers’ needs and circumstances permitted. The decisions for sharing parental leave were father-centred as both partners valued father’s leave higher than mother’s.     

Contextualizing Gender and Migration: Galician Immigration to Switzerland

Focusing on two main aspects of the Spanish‐Galician migration experience, this article attempts to analyze how migrants' actions and discourses are shaped by notions of gender. First, the discourse of returning will question notions of family and how differently men and women define their positions as members of a family. While men seem to link their social identity to immovable goods of prestige back in Galicia, women are able to redefine their social identity as they base it on social relations. The second aspect deals with the fact that cleaning is defined as women's work, but at the same time it is — under certain conditions — performed by men.