Race Differences in Sexual Behavior and Their Demographic Implications

Differences between blacks and whites in sexual behavior posited in Rushton's theory of r-K race differences were examined in the United States in an analysis of the annual surveys of the National Opinion Research Center for 1990–1996. This data set was analysed for black-white differences in numbers of sexual partners during the last 5 years and for frequency of sexual intercourse. The general pattern of the results was for blacks to report more sexual partners than whites and for black males to report greater frequency of sexual intercourse, consistent with Rushton's theory. This result has implications for the control of the AIDS epidemic and for the demographic transition among blacks.     

The Relationship Between Social Leisure and Life Satisfaction: Causality and Policy Implications

Social leisure is generally found to be positively correlated with life satisfaction in the empirical literature. We ask if this association captures a genuine causal effect by using panel data from the GSOEP. Our identification strategy exploits the change in social leisure brought about by retirement, since the latter is an event after which the time investable in (the outside job) relational life increases. We instrument social leisure with various measures of the age cohort specific probability of retirement. With such approach we document that social leisure has a positive and significant effect on life satisfaction. Our findings shed some light on the age-happiness pattern. Policy implications are also discussed.     

国内人口迁移流动的演变趋势:国际经验及其对中国的启示

文章从人口迁移流动的不同形式及其演变趋势、中国国内人口迁移整体强度的国际对比、人口迁移流动的微观生命过程、以及人口循环流动的发生发展机制和近期演变等4个方面回顾了国际上对人口迁移流动演变趋势及其机制的相关研究,并根据从中获得的借鉴和启示对中国人口迁移流动的未来走势做出判断,认为目前我国人口在区域和乡城间迁移流动的减缓更多预示的是人口迁移流动形式的改变,而不是其整体规模和强度的下降,后者还有着相当大的上升空间;今后仍不可忽视针对迁移流动人口的各种公共服务的转移、接续问题,并要根据人口迁移流动形式的变化,尤其是人口在城市间和城市内部迁移流动上升的新形势,与时俱进地改进流动人口的管理和服务工作.     

The State and Fate of Nations: Implications of Subjective Measures of Personal and Social Quality of Life

The equation of `more with `better – ofstandard of living with quality of life – is at theheart of a growing international debate aboutindicators of progress. At one level, the debate isabout the adequacy of GDP (Gross Domestic Product) asthe dominant indicator of national performance. However, the debate also reaches far beyond thisquestion to challenge conventional thinking aboutprogress. Quality of life includes both objective andsubjective elements, so indicators of progress shouldinclude measures of how people feel about their lives.Drawing mainly on Australian data – but also on USand international studies – this analysis examines anddifferentiates between subjective measures of personal and social quality of life, anddiscusses their use in evaluating whether life isgetting better – or worse.     

Demographic Trends in Ukraine: Past,Present, and Future

Ukraine, during the first half of the twentieth century, underwent a series of man‐made demographic catastrophes—World War I, the Bolshevik Revolution, the 1932/33 famine linked to land collectivization, the massive deportations and executions of Stalin's Great Terror, and World War II. This article assembles estimates of the demographic impact of these deadly events. In their absence, it is estimated that Ukraine's hypothetical population would have been 87 million on the eve of independence in 1991, instead of its actual 52 million. Pre‐independence demographic losses were episodic and driven by external forces. By contrast, since independence in 1991, Ukraine has experienced a sustained demographic crisis of its own making. Ukraine's population declined from 52 million in 1990 to 45 million by 2013. Fertility, while it has recovered from its lowest point, remains at a TFR of about 1.5—far below replacement. Emigration, although the greatest hemorrhage of young people in the 1990s is over, is still of concern. The loss of Crimea and the unsettled state of affairs in Southeastern Ukraine give further cause for concern.     

人口红利的经济社会代价与可持续发展

本文分析了人口红利背后的经济社会代价,意在提请人们注意,人口红利是一把双刃剑,在看到人口红利好处的同时,也要洞察其背后的隐患,不能盲目乐观。我们的真正目的不是要事受人口红利,而是要摆脱对它的依赖。只有利用好人口红利期,在人口机会窗关闭前积极求变,才能实现可持续发展。     

The Demographic Implications of Economic Growth in the Isle of Man

Population and Environment -     

Impacts of Demographic Trends on US Household Size and Structure

We use a household projection model to construct future scenarios for the United States designed to reflect a wide but plausible range of outcomes, including a new set of scenarios for union formation and dissolution rates based on past trends, experience in other countries, and current theory. The period covered is from 2000 to 2100. We find that the percentage of people living in households headed by the elderly may climb from 11 percent in 2000 to 20–31 percent in 2050 and 20–39 percent in 2100, while the average size of households could plausibly be as low as 2.0 or as high as 3.1 by the second half of the century. We assess the sensitivity of household size and structure to various demographic events, and show that outcomes are most sensitive to changes in fertility rates and rates of union formation and dissolution. They are less sensitive to the timing of marriage and childbearing and to changes in life expectancy.     

Leisure: Definitions,Trends, and Policy Implications

Economic theories predict that with modernity and with the increase in standards of living, individuals will aspire for more leisure. However, the results of empirical studies which examined period trends in leisure time across developed countries do not confirm this presumption. The current study asks: If changes in leisure stem from ideational changes among different generations, will trends in leisure look different if examined across cohorts, or if measured differently? By integrating theoretical definitions of leisure based on literatures in economics, sociology, and psychology, this research derives three main macro-level empirical measures of leisure from various sources. These measures are used to analyze the contribution of population turnover to changes in the quantity of leisure, in developed countries, using linear regression decomposition method. Our results show an almost unequivocal increase in leisure across cohorts, across 159 country-periods, suggesting that new policies supporting domestic consumption are warranted.

     

The Quality of Korean Life in Camparative Perspective: Objective Quality of Life in Korea and the OECD Countries

Social Indicators Research - This study attempts to compare the current state of Korea's quality of life with that of more developed countries in their past, and seeks to derive suggestions for...     

Religious Commitment and Social Relationships: Their Relative Contributions to Self-Esteem of Catholic Sisters in Later Life

SUMMARY

In this paper we examine religious commitment and social relationships of Catholic sisters and the relative contributions of these and other variables to their self-esteem in later life. Using a sample of 377 Catholic sisters with an average age of 63.5, we conducted a series of a hierarchical recession analyses to examine the relative contributions of blocks of socio-demographic variables, religious commitment variables, personal relationship variables, and psychological variables to self-esteem. In the overall model, the extent to which relationships were rewarding, perceptions of themselves as women, coping strategies, and perceived self-control were significant and thus predictive of the self-esteem of Catholic sisters.     

The French Regions and Their Social Health

In this article, a new indicator designed to capture the multidimensionality of the social health of the French regions is put to the test. Drawing on regional data for 2004, this indicator of social health (ISH) sheds new light on the social performance of the French regions. The worst performers are the highly urbanised regions, whereas others, such as Limousin, turn out to perform well in social terms. Two or three regions remain stuck at the bottom of the table regardless of the indicator used. Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Languedoc-Roussillon, which bring up the rear in terms of gross disposable income (GDI) and gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, also record very mediocre scores for social health as measured by our ISH.

The Demographic Promise of Expanded Female Education: Trends in the Age at First Birth in Malawi

The expansion of female education has been promoted as a way to postpone the age at first birth. In sub‐Saharan Africa, the first cohorts to benefit from policies that expanded access to education are now reaching adulthood and beginning childbearing. I investigate whether the expansion of education in Malawi, which implemented a free primary education policy in 1994 and subsequently expanded secondary schooling, has led to a later age at first birth and whether the education gradient in fertility timing has remained stable over time. Despite increases in female grade attainment over the past twenty years, the age at first birth has not changed. Using instrumental variables analysis, I find a significant negative association between grade attainment and age at first birth, suggesting that the deterioration of school quality and the shift in the age pattern of enrollment that accompanied educational expansion may have compromised the transformative potential of education.     

Quality of Life in South Africa: Post-Apartheid Trends

During the apartheid era black South Africans indicated markedly lower levels of happiness and satisfaction in all spheres of life than their white counterparts. The gap between black and white subjective well-being closed temporarily after the first universal franchise elections held on April 27, 1994 only to widen again eighteen months later. The paper presents data on subjective well-being collected during the 1980s and 1990s in four nationwide cross-sectional attitude surveys and a multipurpose household survey. Possible explanations for the shifting levels of happiness are explored. These include levels of living, income inequality, rising expectations and new anxieties experienced in the post-apartheid era.     

Demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of Korean Americans in the United States in 1980

"Based on the analysis of 1980 [U.S. Census] Public-Use Microdata Samples, this article demonstrates that the Korean immigrant stream, particularly men, has been very selective even before the 1965 reform.... Despite the educational superiority and somewhat positive occupational position, Korean men in the U.S. are seriously disadvantaged in income regardless of nativity status. Korean Americans are not as successful as whites in translating their education into occupation and income; they are better educated for the same job, but experience a lower income return to the same education and the same occupation."