Understanding the socio-economic distribution of multiple deprivation: An application of self-organising maps

In this paper we seek to contribute to recent efforts to develop and implement multi-dimensional approaches to social exclusion by applying self-organising maps (SOMs) to a set of material deprivation indicators from the Irish component of EU-SILC. The first stage of our analysis involves the identification of sixteen clusters that confirm the multi-dimensional nature of deprivation in contemporary Ireland and the limitations of focusing solely on income. In going beyond this mapping stage, we consider both patterns of socio-economic differentiation in relation to cluster membership and the extent to which such membership contributes to our understanding of economic stress. Our analysis makes clear the continuing importance of traditional forms of stratification relating to factors such as income, social class and housing tenure in accounting for patterns of multiple deprivation. However, it also confirms the role of acute life events and life cycle and location influences. Most importantly, it demonstrates that conclusions relating to the relative impact of different kinds of socio-economic influences are highly dependent on the form of deprivation being considered. Our analysis suggests that debates relating to the extent to which poverty and social exclusion have become individualized should take particular care to distinguish between different kinds of outcomes. Further analysis demonstrates that the SOM approach is considerably more successful than a comparable latent class analysis in identifying those exposed to subjective economic stress.     

Return migration and metropolitan-nonmetropolitan population composition

This paper examines the extent to which female "return migrants" to Puerto Rico return to their area of birth or to a different area, thereby contributing to a redistribution of the island's population, and the extent to which those who do return to their area of birth have different socioeconomic characteristics than those who return to a different area.     

养老资源探析

今日谈起养老事业的发展时,大家首先关注的是养老金从何来,如何对所筹措的各种养老金加强管理,以使其能发挥更大的功用。但这里则试图提出养老资源的概念,并对养老资源的含义、内容等组织较深入的探讨,以求得养老问题的更好解决。     

Migration and climate change: examining thresholds of change to guide effective adaptation decision-making

The implications of environmental change for migration are little understood. Migration as a response to climate change could be seen as a failure of in situ adaptation methods, or migration could be alternatively perceived as a rational component of creative adaptation to environmental risk. This paper frames migration as part of an adaptation response to climate change impacts to natural resource condition and environmental hazards. Thresholds will be reached by communities after which migration will become a vital component of an effective adaptation response. Such changes to migration patterns have the potential to undermine migration policy unless appropriate preparations are undertaken. This paper describes an approach to assist researchers to frame how climate change will influence migration by critically analysing how thresholds of fundamental change to migration patterns could be identified, primarily in relation to two case studies in Nepal and Thailand. Future policy for internal and international migration could be guided by the analysis of such thresholds of non-linear migration and resourced effectively to ensure that socio-economic and humanitarian outcomes are maximised.     

A research on the assurance of family planning and providing for the aged]

An important cause of resistance to China's family planning (FP) program in rural areas is the need to have children to support parents in their old age. Provision of insurance for old age support will facilitate the implementation of the FP program among the rural population. A trial project was initiated in five cities and counties in Fujian province i 1986. The program included schemes for both eligible couples and for single children. The township or the village pays a lump sum or monthly premium to the insurance company for each couple, which enables them to collect 30-35 Yuan/month after they reach 55 years of age. To further expand the insurance program, a survey was conducted in 1987 to determine whether rural farmers would be willing and able to pay the insurance premium themselves. 77% of the respondents reported that they could afford to pay 60% of the premium. Among them, 59% were willing to pay. It was suggested that besides individual purchase of the insurance plan, the rural communities could contribute to the payment of the premium from the fines for unplanned births, from the local tax, and from the country government budget. Preferential treatment should be given to the couples of two daughters who receives sterilization; the communities should pay for a larger share of their premium. The current insurance scheme needs to be reformed so that the plan can offer more than the individual's bank savings. To do so, the insurance company needs to be able to invest their premium income and obtain higher returns. The employees of the insurance company need to improve their work efficiency to win the trust of the people in the program.     

增强西部对人才吸引力的AHP分析

本文试图通过AHP层次分析法,分析影响对人才吸引力的主要因素及其重要性排序,并据此提出增强西部对人才吸引力的对策。     

Methodological Validation of Quality of Life Questionnaire for Coal Mining Groups-Indian Scenario

Maslow’s hierarchy-of-needs theory has been used to predict development of Quality of Life (QOL) in countries over time. In this paper an attempt has been taken to derive a methodological validation of quality of life questionnaire which have been prepared for the study area. The objective of the study is to standardize a questionnaire tool to assess the QoL of residents in a problem area in India. From a pre tested 16 parameter questionnaire tool factorial validity were established to extract three domains and were mapped in accordance to Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs theory. Out of these 16 parameters 13 were found relevant. Then a new tool was conceptualized with 13 pre selected parameters and other parameters were pooled from existing tool and reviews to form a 36 parameter tool. Factor analysis was done to extract the domains. Reliability of the tool was also tested to find the relation between the domains of QoL. Then the quality of life of the study area was interpreted to find the distribution of respondents among the categories of QoL. 70% of respondents reported to have average quality of life. The tool was found to be highly reliable and valid.     

全面建设小康社会中的人口问题(上)

全面建设小康社会,必须充分考虑人口因素,考虑未来人口的变动发展趋势及存在的主要问题。未来20年面临的主要人口问题可概括为八个方面:控制人口数量增长,稳定低生育水平;制定科学的就业战略,妥善解决就业问题;加快人口城市化进程;建立一个既能满足老年人口需要,又同全面建设小康社会能力相适应的养老保障体系;谋求人口性别平衡;提高人口质量,科教兴国;增加西部人力资本积累;实现人口、资源、环境、经济和社会的可持续发展。     

人口与计划生育法的现实意义探析

《人口法》体现了现代法制从强调公民义务本位转变到权利本位,强调重视人的独立人格和尊严。抽象行政行为和具体行政行为,都从维护公民实行计划生育的权利出发。人口和计划生育工作是系统工程,需要动员全社会力量,建立综合治理机制。在"制约权力、保障权利"方面,对政府及工作人员进行严格规范,增强执政为民意识,坚持依法行政,确保公民合法权益。     

A System of Sustainability Indicators for the Province of Thai Binh,Vietnam

Sustainable Development is a broad and universal concept. Indicators are a basis to measure sustainability and to direct policies that aim to achieve a better quality of life. Thai Binh, a coastal province in North Vietnam is strongly concerned about strategic sustainability development. To select a system of sustainability indicators, the Delphi method was applied in 2012. A two-round questionnaire was organized to use with 32 experts, who acted as participants. 69 indicators were selected from 98 listed indicators: 15 related to economic development, 5 to the sea and coastal zone, 1 to the global economic partnership, 4 to consumption and production patterns, 7 to poverty, 3 to governance, 9 to health, 4 to education, 3 to demographics, 2 to natural hazards, 5 to atmosphere, 7 to land, and 3 to freshwater. Conversely, 29 other indicators were rejected. The Delphi method allows indicator selection for identification of the process of sustainability. The system of indicators, as the first important step of the sustainable development process, provides useful information for decision makers and planners as well sustainability strategy. It is planned that the indicators selected should be applied in the province.     

Sense of belonging and depressive symptoms among GLB adolescents

Research has indicated that gay, lesbian, and bisexual (GLB) adolescents are at an increased risk of mental health problems. Research has also indicated that experiencing a sense of belonging is important for one's mental health. This study investigated sense of belonging to the general community and sense of belonging to a GLB specific youth group (Minus18) as predictors of depressive symptoms among self-identified GLB adolescents (N = 99). Participants completed the Sense of Belonging Instrument and Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. Results showed that although sense of belonging to the general community and sense of belonging to the Minus18 community were both directly related to depression, only sense of belonging to the general community contributed significantly to the prediction of depression when they were entered simultaneously in a regression analysis. Results also showed that sense of belonging to the general community mediated the relation between sense of belonging to the Minus18 community and depression. These findings suggest that interventions aimed at increasing sense of belonging to a GLB-specific community are likely to be of indirect benefit to the mental health of GLB adolescents, whereas interventions aimed at increasing sense of belonging to the general community are likely to be of direct benefit to the mental health of GLB adolescents.     

Orderly Departure from Vietnam: Cold War Anomaly or Humanitarian Innovation?

In May 1979, UNHCR and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam signeda Memorandum of Understanding establishing a program for legalemigration from Vietnam, known as the Orderly Departure Program,or ODP. The ODP was intended to make it possible for personswishing to leave Vietnam to do so in a safe and orderly manner,rather than having to join the ranks of the Vietnamese boatpeople. It is the only time UNHCR has extended its assistanceon a large scale to help persons to leave their country of origin.Well over half a million people emigrated from Vietnam underthe auspices of the program. The existence of the ODP made itpossible for the international community to reach consensuson how to tackle problems relating to Vietnamese refugees andasylum-seekers at two major conferences, once in 1979 and anotherin 1987. This article explores the origins of the program inthe context of the Cold War and the aftermath of the Americanwithdrawal from Vietnam, attitudes within UNHCR to the program,and the contribution the ODP made to resolving the Vietnameserefugee crisis.     

The encouragement of emigration by British trade unions, 1850–1900

During the nineteenth century periodic fluctuations in industrial activity, strikes and lock-outs which accompanied the struggle of unions for recognition, and the ever increasing consciousness of the industrial worker that one serious trade setback could wipe out the savings of his lifetime, were important ‘pushes’ to emigration from the United Kingdom. The British trade unions responded to this ‘push’ from their own members and from thousands of unorganized workers for relief through emigration.

Contrary to the statements of historians of the English trade-union movement, emigration was not a project of British trade unions in the 1850 decade only; in fact, most of the unions in England's basic industries, mining, iron, textiles and engineering, as well as in many other smaller industries such as glass, cutlery and the building trades, looked upon emigration as necessary to improve the standard of life of the English workers. This viewpoint was natural to the ‘New Unionists’ of the 1850's, who accepted the principle that supply and demand regulated wages and prices. The trade unions, however, disapproved of emigration to the United States where workers would go to a rival trade; such emigration could not diminish the absolute number of workers in the industry. Instead, they advocated emigration to farms in the British colonies; but, nevertheless, most of the persons aided by English trade unions to emigrate went to the United States. The hesitancy of skilled workers to leave a familiar occupation appeared to be the most important reason for this.

Desirable as emigration was to trade unionists in times of trade crises, the leaders met overwhelming difficulties when they tried to use it as a safety valve. In the cotton famine and the iron-trade lock-outs of the sixties, for example, unions had no money to aid emigration, and were forced to seek grants from United States manufacturers to help needy workers to go to America. Although they were relatively helpless in times of crisis, the trade unions assisted emigration during good years, believing that such a policy would ease the severity of the inevitable next crisis. Most of the established unions had regularly operating emigration grants by which members in good standing could receive a sum of money in aid of emigration, usually enough to pay at least one passage to America. This benefit helped some of the most skilled workers and loyal union members to leave England for America.

The trade unions, in making these grants, had to adjust the amount of money given to the ‘state of health’ of the union treasury; thus, during crises when the treasuries were low the emigration benefits were often discontinued. As the years passed and the number of British workers in America increased, the unions hesitated to send men abroad during depressions or strikes in the United States. Not only did American workmen complain of such competition, but also English workers disliked to see men whom they had previously assisted to ‘take their labour abroad’ return home.

From 1850 until well into the 1880's, when most of the English trade unions were encouraging and aiding emigration, their influence actually was most effective toward that end in times of prosperity in the United States. It was the depression of the eighties and the rise of unions of unskilled workers and leaders who looked for improvement through Socialism rather than through adjusting the supply of labour, which finally eclipsed emigration as a panacea for the English working class.     

Family planning operations research in the Philippines

This essay introduces an issue of the Philippine Population Journal dedicated to the presentation of the results of operations research (OR) studies undertaken for the Philippine Family Planning (FP) Program as part of a program coordinated by the Population Council which seeks to improve FP services. The concept of OR was introduced to program managers and researchers at two workshops held in 1992. Five of the seven diagnostic proposals developed during these workshops were funded and are covered in this Journal. The results of earlier OR studies conducted under the sponsorship of the UN Population Fund are also included. The concept of OR was developed to provide managers with timely answers to their everyday problems through appropriate research. OR forces social scientists to overcome prejudices against this kind of applied research and forces program managers to learn to rely on research findings instead of on hunches. OR also forces both parties to work as a team. An important intent of this Journal is to encourage the dialogue which must precede the institutionalization of OR and to indicate to social scientists and program managers that OR has a personal relevance to their work. The research reported in this Journal will contribute to the building of theories through the many convergences in the conclusions reached about such issues as home visits, suboptimal clinic conditions, inadequate provision of FP information, and the role of outreach workers.     

The fertility contribution of Mexican immigration to the United States

Crucial to the long-term contribution of immigration to a receiving country's population is the extent to which the immigrants reproduce themselves in subsequent, native-born generations. Using conventional projection methodologies, this fertility contribution may be poorly estimated primarily because of problems in projecting the number of immigrants who are at risk of childbearing. We propose an alternative method that obviates the need to project the number of immigrants by using the full sending-country birth cohort as the risk group to project their receiving-country childbearing. This "sending-country birth cohort" method is found to perform dramatically better than conventional methods when projecting to 1999 from base years both before and after the large increase in inflows of Mexican immigrants to the United States in the late 1980s. Projecting forward from 1999, we estimate a cumulative contribution of Mexican immigrant fertility from the 1980s to 2040 of 36 million births, including 25% to 50% more births after 1995 than are projected using conventional methods.     

HIV testing,perceptions of AIDS risk,and condom use motivation among US women

As STD infections including HIV increase in the United States, it has become increasingly important to policy makers to ascertain the extent to which knowledge and perceptions of AIDS risk affect an individual's probability of altering their sexual or contraceptive behavior to avoid infection. This paper examines the extent to which women's perceptions of their own and their partners' risk of HIV infection affects the probability of using a condom for protection against sexually transmitted diseases. This paper also examines the extent to which HIV testing may affect motivation for condom use. Crosstabulations reveal that prophylactic condom use is more prevalent among women who have been tested for HIV and increase as perceptions of their chance (and their partner's chance) of being positive increases. The multivariate results from this study indicate that having an HIV test significantly predicts the likelihood of using a condom for STD prevention for US women. Furthermore, women who perceive themselves to be at least somewhat likely to be HIV positive have a higher probability of using a condom to prevent sexually transmitted disease, and women who perceive their partners to be HIV positive are twice as likely as other women to use a condom for STD prevention. However, women who consider themselves likely to be HIV positive are no more likely to use a condom than those who consider themselves not at risk.     

A comparison of the probability of the dissolution of first and second marriages

This paper applies the techniques of multiple decrement life tables to marriage histories collected as part of the 1973 National Survey of Family Growth, in an attempt to examine differences in pattern and level of marriage dissolution by marriage order. The paper considers the process of marriage dissolution in two stages—marriage to separation and separation to divorce—in addition to considering the composite of these two, marriage to divorce. Second marriages are more likely to remain intact only for blacks. For all subgroups of whites, second marriages are either as likely or more likely to dissolve than first marriages. For both first and second marriages, blacks are considerably less likely to obtain a divorce after separation.     

Enabling new graduate midwives to work in midwifery continuity of care models: A conceptual model for implementation

Background

High-level evidence demonstrates midwifery continuity of care is beneficial for women and babies. Women have limited access to midwifery continuity of care models in Australia. One of the factors limiting women’s access is recruiting enough midwives to work in continuity. Our research found that newly graduated midwives felt well prepared to work in midwifery led continuity of care models, were well supported to work in the models and the main driver to employing them was a need to staff the models. However limited opportunities exist for new graduate midwives to work in midwifery continuity of care.

Transitions to supported environments in England and Wales among elderly widowed and divorced women: the changing balance between co-residence with family and institutional care

In this article we examine changes in the proportion of older widowed and divorced women in England and Wales moving from 'independent' to two kinds of 'supported' household--supported private households and institutions--during the decades 1971-81 and 1981-91. Our main aim was to see whether observed increases in institutionalisation over this period were the result of a decreased propensity to move to the households of relatives. We used the ONS Longitudinal Study, a record linkage study including individual level data from the 1971, 1981 and 1991 censuses of England and Wales. A multinomial logit model was used to investigate the correlates of transitions from independent to supported private households versus institutions among elderly widowed and divorced women. While the overall rate of transitions to join either supported private households or institutions was largely the same in the two decades, the balance between the two shifted markedly in favour of transitions to institutions. In terms of the limited range of covariates it was possible to consider, owner-occupiers were significantly more likely than tenants to move to supported private households than to institutions.     

Socially disadvantaged women's views of barriers to feeling safe to engage in decision-making in maternity care

BackgroundAlthough midwifery literature suggests that woman-centred care can improve the birthing experiences of women and birth outcomes for women and babies, recent research has identified challenges in supporting socially disadvantaged women to engage in decision-making regarding care options in order to attain a sense of control within their maternity care encounters.ObjectiveThe objective of this paper is to provide an understanding of the issues that affect the socially disadvantaged woman's ability to actively engage in decision-making processes relevant to her care.Research designThe qualitative approach known as Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was used to gain an understanding of maternity care encounters as experienced by each of the following cohorts: socially disadvantaged women, registered midwives and student midwives. This paper focuses specifically on data from participating socially disadvantaged women that relate to the elements of woman-centred care-choice and control and their understandings of capacity to engage in their maternity care encounters.FindingsSocially disadvantaged women participants did not feel safe to engage in discussions regarding choice or to seek control within their maternity care encounters. Situations such as inadequate contextualised information, perceived risks in not conforming to routine procedures, and the actions and reactions of midwives when these women did seek choice or control resulted in a silent compliance. This response was interpreted as a consequence of women's decisions to accept responsibility for their baby's wellbeing by delegating health care decision-making to the health care professional.ConclusionThis research found that socially disadvantaged women want to engage in their care. However without adequate information and facilitation of choice by midwives, they believe they are outsiders to the maternity care culture and decision-making processes. Consequently, they delegate responsibility for maternity care choices to those who do belong; midwives. These findings suggest that midwives need to better communicate a valuing of the woman's participation in decision-making processes and to work with women so they do have a sense of belonging within the maternity care environment. Midwives need to ensure that socially disadvantaged women do feel safe about having a voice regarding their choices and find ways to give them a sense of control within their maternity care encounters.