Long maternal working hours were linked to obesity,underweight and stunting in children under age 5 in China

This study assessed the relationship between maternal working hours and stunting, underweight and obesity in children under age 5 in China, using data from the China Nutrition and Health Survey (CNHS) conducted in 2002 and multivariable logistic regression. We found that maternal work hours 25–40 or >40 h per week were associated with a higher risk for underweight and stunting (under growth) in children under age 5. The association between working 25–40 h per week and stunting was somewhat stronger for children from low-income families and the effect of working >40 h per week on underweight was larger among children from mothers with lower education, although with marginal significance (90% confidence). In contrast, we found that long maternal work hours (>40 h per week) were associated with a lower risk for overweight and obesity in children under age 5. This association was stronger among children from mothers with lower education.     

Impact of enforcing a statutory minimum wage on work and quality of life of vulnerable groups in Hong Kong

The statutory minimum wage (SMW) law was enforced in Hong Kong on 1 May 2011. To examine its impact, this longitudinal study measured the quality of life, job and pay satisfaction, monthly income, hourly rate and working hours of vulnerable groups (n = 253) before and after the legislation. The findings confirmed that the enforcement of the SMW induced a positive impact as intended. The introduction of the SMW induced a positive wage and employment effect on the vulnerable groups in Hong Kong without harming their employment rate. Job and pay satisfaction, as well as most domains of the quality of life (i.e., physical and psychological health, and environment), increased significantly. In general, the positive impact of the SMW was more prominent for employees who previously worked less than 18 hours a week and who had hourly rates less than 28 HKD. The implications of the findings are discussed in the social context of Hong Kong. Key Practitioner Message: ● Enforcing minimum wage induced a positive impact on quality of life, job and pay satisfaction, and a monthly income of vulnerable groups. ● The social relations (quality of life) decreased after implementing minimum wage for workers working longer than 18 hours a week. ● Longer working hours is a key factor for the increase of a monthly income among the vulnerable groups.     

Changing Family Policy in Sweden and Finland during the 1990s

The aim of the article is to analyse changes in family policy programmes in Sweden and Finland during the turbulent years of the 1990s. The results suggest that in spite of cutbacks some features of the ideal‐typical model of Nordic family policy became more prominent towards the end of the 1990s. For example, the importance of universalism was strengthened by such measures as the discontinuation of several forms of tax benefits for families with children in Sweden, and especially in Finland. The subjective right to day care was extended in both countries to cover all children of preschool age. Because of cutbacks, however, policies aimed at promoting horizontal and vertical distribution suffered. There was hardly any change in pronatalism. Compared with the 1970s and 1980s, the 1990s were indeed a period of retrenchment. However, this did not mean profound structural change. In the case of family policy, the early fears concerning the demise of the Nordic model proved false.     

Coexisting disadvantages across the adult age span: A comparison of older and younger age groups in the Swedish welfare state

Heap J, Lennartsson C, Thorslund M. Coexisting disadvantages across the adult age span: a comparison of older and younger age groups in the Swedish welfare state To experience coexisting disadvantages – the simultaneous lack of several different welfare resources – implies a hampered ability to manage one's living conditions. Here, we study coexisting disadvantages in the oldest population compared with younger age groups in Sweden, by drawing on two linked, nationally representative surveys (n = 5,392). The measurement of coexisting disadvantages included physical health, psychological health, frequency of social contact, cash margin and political resources. The highest odds of coexisting disadvantages were found after age 75 – age groups that are frequently excluded from studies of coexisting disadvantages. This pattern persisted when controlling for socio‐demographic and socio‐economic characteristics. The age pattern was partly driven by the high prevalence of physical health problems in the older population. However, even when excluding physical health problems, the odds of coexisting disadvantages were highest among people older than 85 – the fastest‐growing segment of the population in many Western countries.     

颠覆与建构1990年代以来英文学界中国女性群体形象研究

在当今中国女性研究领域,女性群体形象一直是东西方学界共同关注的主题之一,特别是20 世纪90年代以来西方出现了一批较有分量的研究专著和期刊论文。本文试图对20 世纪90年代以来有关中国女性群体形象的英文研究成果加以评介,并与大陆女性研究进行比较,以期从女性群体形象的角度探讨西方中国女性研究的特点及其与大陆女性研究在理论立足点、学者性别构成、选题等方面的异同。这些女性群体包括：新女性传统女性、才女、家庭妇女职业妇女、贞妇烈女、妓女、农村妇女、女勇士、女尼等。     

France: working longer takes time,in spite of reforms to raise the retirement age

Examination of the French situation from a comparative European perspective exposes the country's poor performance with regard to the employment of seniors and the prolongation of working life. Despite a recent rise in the employment rate of 55–59 year‐olds, worrisome signs have appeared, such as the steep rise in unemployment for this age category; this is indicative of the increasing vulnerability of ageing workers in the labour market. This critical analysis of twenty years of French public policies related to older workers seeks to identify the reasons for France's lag in making working life longer. The principal reason seems to be that public policies have nearly exclusively focused on increasing the supply of senior labour without adequately taking into account incentives for stimulating corporate demand for it. The many pension reforms undertaken from 2003 to 2014 have sought to lift the institutional obstacles to working longer. Accordingly, they have raised both the legal retirement age and the requisite number of quarters of contributions for entitlement to a full pension under Social Security. But effective, active labour market policies for stimulating the demand for senior labour have been lacking.     

Relationships between traumatic life events, symptoms and Sense of Coherence subscale meaningfulness in a group of refugee and immigrant patients referred to a psychiatric outpatient clinic in Stockholm

This pilot study had the aim to test the long version of the Sense of Coherence (SOC) questionnaire and its relationship to mental symptoms using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R (SCID) and a battery of traumatic life event questionnaires, in a multicultural immigrant and refugee sample of 33 volunteer patients at a psychiatric outpatient clinic. The total mean value of SOC was very low: 104.6 (SD=13.7), which is over 30 points lower than most published normative data. Since the Cronbach alpha coefficient was very low in this sample for SOC, totally 0.17, we analyzed the subscale with the highest alpha, i.e., meaningfulness 0.62. The SOC subscale meaningfulness scores were significantly correlated with three of the four dimensions of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R used as well as with traumatic life events and mental symptoms. No gender differences were found. The results of this study are consistent with previously reported cross-sectional data, i.e., that low SOC subscale meaningfulness is associated with mental distress and impaired functioning. However, these findings must be considered in light of methodological issues and the limitations of research in this area. Implications of these findings are presented, as are methodological issues that concern Antonovsky's measure.     

QWL and Related Factors for Migrant Workers Survey in Guangdong Province,China

Abstract

The quality of work and life (abbreviated as QWL) of migrant workers in China is related to urbanization and social development and reflects subjective well-being. This study examined migrant workers’ quality of work and life and constructed an index system to evaluate overall quality. Survey data from 3,375 participants in Guangdong, China, were analyzed using ordinary least square regression. The results showed that migrant workers’ quality of work and life is low. Quality of life is lower than quality of work, indicating that social services provision was rated lower than employment situation. Quality of work and life is influenced both by objective institutional factors and subjective human capital factors, particularly training, social security, public services, and social institutional factors. Subjective quality of work and life is based on evaluation of objective situations. This study proposes several reforms in training, employment, the household registration system, enterprise management, rights protection, social inclusion, and the rural land transfer system. Future research should address the relationship between quality of work and life and related factors using longitudinal survey data, interaction of indexes and individual factors, and differences in quality of work and life of migrant workers under different institutional systems. International comparative research should also be conducted.     

Social Policy in Harsh Times. Social Security Development in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden during the 1980s and 1990s

For the past two decades, Nordic social policy has been subject to a range of serious challenges, among which economic problems and critiques by neo-classical economists have been most prominent. This article raises the question whether Nordic social policy has significantly changed during this period of challenges. Based on an empirical analysis of social expenditure data and three central social security programs, this article provides evidence that changes in Nordic social policy over this period have, in fact, been relatively minor. Indeed, the four welfare states of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden have shown remarkable resilience considering the harsh challenges that they have been exposed to since the early 1980s.     

Poverty and quality of life of Chinese children: From the perspective of deprivation

Using data from the Family and Children Survey of Beijing 2011, the authors constructed a child poverty measure – Child Deprivation Indicators (CDIs) – and explored the relationship between poverty and children's quality of life. The CDIs were found to be a more valid child poverty measure than the conventional measure which is based mainly on individuals' social assistance status. The findings show that deprived children are worse off in terms of living conditions. Furthermore, deprived boys and girls are disadvantaged differently; boys in self‐efficacy and girls in physical development. The findings have four important implications: (i) policy makers should look beyond those on social assistance; (ii) more public funding should be invested in deprived children's informal education and social interaction; (iii) dealing with structural problems relating to parents' socioeconomic status (SES) would be helpful to alleviate child deprivation; (iv) different types of support should be provided to deprived boys and girls for their disadvantages are not identical.     

Gender differences in the behaviour and life circumstances of alcoholics' spouses

Ten spouses of female alcoholics and nineteen spouses of male alcoholics were studied concerning coping behaviour, hardship and psychiatric symptoms. In many respects, male and female spouses had similar characteristics of hardship and coping behaviour. Female spouses, however, compared with male spouses, had a tendency (p<0.1) towards more avoidant coping behaviour and more reported symptoms of depression (p<0.05), obsession/compulsion (p<0.05) and hostility (p<0.1). Forty per cent of the male spouses reported a current or previous drinking problem compared with 16% of the female spouses. In the female group the avoidant coping style was related to depressive, obsessive/compulsive and hostility symptom scores. Hardship symptoms were not related to coping style or mental symptoms.     

The Transferability of Welfare Models: A Comparison of the Scandinavian and State Socialist Models in Relation to Finland and Estonia

In this paper, two examples of the close relationship between a national social welfare system, and explicit transnational influences are discussed. Both the state socialist and Scandinavian models have a recognized structure independent of the particular countries in which they have been implemented, although they are both associated with a home base, Russia and Sweden respectively. Our examples, Estonia and Finland, faced both common and specific national problems following 1991, which led to rapid change in each country's economic situation and pressure on their respective welfare systems. There were elements of continuity and discontinuity with the main tenets of their respective welfare models, and both structural factors and cultural diffusion will be explored to understand the origin of these changes. The paper could be seen as a case study of welfare changes in the "borderlands" where "old empires meet". The countries were chosen because they are peripheral to what were rival spheres of influence and because they see themselves as having much in common. We also expect changes to occur more rapidly in peripheral areas.     

Couple Meaning-Making and Dementia: Challenges to the Deficit Model

By combining a relationship- and strengths-based approach, the article suggests that, with the onset of progressive cognitive impairment, verbal, nonverbal, and embodied exchanges can function as meaning-making processes for life-partner co-carers. These exchanges can sustain a sense of relatedness, which has been shown to increase wellbeing. The article identifies gaps in knowledge and practice limitations that result from the deficit approach to dementia research and care that currently dominates the field. Suggestions for future research and the development of interventions are included. In addition, the article challenges theoretical assumptions about meaning-making, arguing for a reexamination of dementia-affected couplehood processes.     

To be,or not to be,that is the question: An empirical study of the WTP for an increased life expectancy at an advanced age

This study reports an attempt to measure the value of an increased survival probability at advanced ages. It turns out that the average willingness to pay for a program which would increase the expected length of life by one year, conditional on having survived to the age of 75 years, is lower than $1,500. The willingness to pay increases with a person's age, but at a low and seemingly constant rate (1–4 percent per year).     

An alternative measure of social wellbeing: analysing the key conceptual and statistical components of quality of life

Statisticians, policy makers and social researchers widely accept that there is a need to consider a more nuanced range of measures of quality of life that move beyond the economic domain and that take into account key aspects of an individual's life circumstances. Using data from an Australian household survey, a composite Wellbeing Index was created that covered objective circumstances, with known associations to wellbeing, evaluated from the individual's subjective viewpoint. The robustness of the measure comes from the fact that while covering a broad range of key dimensions, the index only includes the items deemed important components of wellbeing by a majority of respondents. The index was then used to explore the extent to which wellbeing is associated with other dimensions of quality of life that have currency in the contemporary literature. The study contributes to the contemporary debate on social wellbeing and adds new Australian evidence to a body of research that has been mainly based on European and American data.     

The relationships between organisational networking,quality of life,and community integration among people with mental illnesses in South Korea: a multi-level analysis

This study investigated the relationships between organisational networking and the outcomes of people with mental illnesses (MI) and the extent to which the relationships are mediated by availability of services. Two levels of data were collected: organisational-level data from 22 community-based mental health service agencies and consumer-level data from 431 consumers. A multi-level analysis found that organisational networking increased the availability of services. However, service availability was not found to have a mediating effect on the relationship between organisational networking and client outcomes. Service coordination in the same mental health sector should be addressed.     

市场经济与现代社会的公共生活伦理——对SARS事件所做的一些反思

现代市场经济社会讲求互信伦理、互助伦理、法治伦理。客观地审视和反思SARS事件 ,可以发现我们民族、社会在有关公共制度安排与治理等方面存在的一些深层次问题。对此 ,我们应创造和提供公共伦理形成所需要具备的基本条件———现代公共生活领域 ;建构现代公共伦理赖以生成和发挥作用的现实载体———现代开放的公民社会的“社群”组织 ;面向生活世界 ,探寻、甄别、确立并认同作为公共伦理核心的社会“公共价值” ;公共价值的确立需要以政府和个人共同承诺的公共责任为保障。     

Employment status, psychiatric disability and quality of life: comparison of men and women with schizophrenia in Malaysia

This study explores the association between employment opportunities, psychiatric disability and quality of life of male and female patients with schizophrenia. The data were collected from 100 male and 100 female patients and their primary caregivers through personal interviews. The Disability Assessment Schedule and the Quality of Life Interview were used to collect the data. The results of the present study indicate that a large number of both the men and women were unemployed, although they suffered from only mild psychotic symptoms and had no or only minimum psychiatric disability. However, in almost all areas and levels of psychiatric disability, a significantly higher number of men than women were employed. However, the subjective Quality of Life of the employed men was significantly lower than that of the unemployed. Keeping in mind these two results, the present study argues that there is minimal community recognition in Malaysia for the employment potential of people with schizophrenia. The study also argues that policy makers must legislate to create more appropriate workplaces for the mentally ill. People with schizophrenia are entitled to just and fair treatment, and workplaces should be made attractive to them.     

清朝前中期苏州地区踹匠的存在形态

关于明清时代的劳动者的形态和评价已经有过很多研究。其中重点研究中一个是江苏省苏州地区踹匠层的研究。本论文中首先要探讨2万名踹布业劳动者踹匠从原居住地江宁、太平、宁国府为什么移民苏州。调查他们出身、性格,另外调查原居住地和苏州的经济条件,从而可以研究他们移民苏州的原因。本文认为他们在苏州地区变成踹匠之前可能与手工业毫无关系。在过去学者们研究中大部分都指出包头层是剥削者。本文认为这一点忽略了当时踹匠们从来没有从事手工业,因此对他们进行一定统治管理是必要的手段。关于包头层的研究也有类似村松佑次指出的包头层是为了建立劳动组织关系而形成的一层的研究。因此文章认为踹布业的包头层性格要重新研究。本文以清代苏州地区劳动者形成过程由居民定居过程来全面反映,刻画劳动者定居前和定居后的变化过程。