Measuring Knowledge,Attitudes and Behaviours Concerning Sustainable Development among Tenth Grade Students in Manitoba

In this paper we present standardized measures of tenth grade students’ knowledge, attitudes and behaviours concerning sustainable development as those concepts are understood in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, and we test the hypothesis that knowledge and favourable attitudes toward SD lead to favourable behaviours. Using a fairly representative random sample of 1,551 tenth grade students from the province of Manitoba, Canada, we crafted 3 indexes. There is a 20-item Index of Knowledge of SD with a good Cronbach alpha = 0.89, a 15-item Index of Attitudes Favourable Toward SD with alpha = 0.84 and a 15-item Index of Behaviours Favourable Toward SD with an alpha = 0.83. About 21% of the variation in our Behaviours Index scores could be accounted for by our Knowledge Index and Attitudes Index scores.     

The Measurement and Evaluation of Social Attitudes in Two British Cohort Studies

This paper presents an empirical evaluation of the internal consistency and validity of six attitudes scales assessing left–right beliefs, political cynicism, antiracism, libertarian-authoritarian views, and gender equality (two versions) in two large nationally representative samples of the British population born in 1958 and 1970. In the 1958 National Child Development Study (NCDS) 10,827 participants completed a series of social attitudes items in 1991 at age 33 and again in 2000 at age 42. In 2000 at age 30, 11,114 participants of the 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70) completed a broadly similar set of items of which 8,906 participants had also completed a shorter version of the same social attitudes questionnaires 4 years earlier in 1996, at age 26. Based on the data from the two cohorts we conducted confirmatory analyses to evaluate the factor structure of the six social attitudes scales using Structural Equation Modelling. In addition we tested the predictive as well as concurrent validity of the scales by establishing associations within the scales across time and their associations with indicators of voting behaviour and political interest. All six attitudes scales have good internal reliability and factorial stability, and external validity, they are robust and consistent over time. The measures also have wide applicability for researchers interested in social attitudes and behaviour in times of social change.     

Overpopulation, Sustainable Development, and Security: Developing an Integrated Strategy

This paper proposes a symposium on overpopulation, sustainable development, and security. These issues are usually treated separately by politicians and the public, but addressing them intelligently requires seeing the interconnections. Many scientists warn that growing human numbers and consumption are undermining the carrying capacity of the Earth. Unfortunately, their advice has not been heeded as it is perceived as being contrary to some prevailing economic and social interests. This symposium would draw together some of the leading minds on the population/resource issue for the purpose of initiating a process to bridge the gap between scientific concerns and public policy.     

顺德市人口、资源、环境与可持续发展

本文模拟了顺德市在不实行计划生育政策的条件下的人口增长情况 ,结果发现由于计划生育 ,在 1971- 1998年间 ,顺德市少生了 5 0多万人口 ,从而使顺德市的人口、资源、环境在经济高速发展的情况下仍能基本协调。文章也分析了顺德市目前的人口、资源与环境可持续发展的状况和问题 ,并提出了一些建议     

Fertility,Education, and Development: Evidence from India

Fertility has declined significantly in many parts of India since the early 1980s. This article examines the determinants of fertility levels and fertility decline, using data on Indian districts for 1981 and 1991. The authors find that women's education and child mortality are the most important factors explaining fertility differences across the country and over time. Low levels of son preference also contribute to lower fertility. By contrast, general indicators of modernization and development such as urbanization, poverty reduction, and male literacy exhibit no significant association with fertility. En passant, the authors probe a subject of much confusion— the relation between fertility decline and gender bias.     

西藏人口、资源、环境与可持续发展

根据对西藏人口、资源与环境现状的分析 ,找出存在的问题 ,揭示人口与资源 ,人口与环境之间的相互关系及发展趋势 ;从而使人们对西藏目前的人口与资源 ,人口与环境及三者与可持续发展有一个较客观、理性的认识 ;并提出相应的对策和具体措施 ,以求人口、资源、环境之间的协调与可持续发展。     

试论消费压力人口与可持续发展--人口学研究新概念与方法的尝试

本文认为在可持续发展的框架内传统的人口研究方法和概念存在局限性,应树立综合考虑人口的社会属性和自然属性的广义人口观.本文尝试构建对环境的消费压力人口模型,对人口的消费活动及其环境压力之间的联系进行定量分析,并比较了中国各省区消费压力人口的现状和变动.我们认为在研究人口与环境关系时要充分考虑消费的影响,并有必要界定"适度"的消费,在人口学研究中引进新概念与新方法.     

Book Review: Sustainable Development and Decision Making. Craig Dilworth. Uppsala,Sweden: Uppsala University, 1996. 165 pp. (paper)

Population and Environment -     

Sustainable Development and Capabilities for the Polar Region

The paper develops a sustainable development framework for individual and collective capabilities in mixed subsistence and wage-based economies. We apply this framework to such regions of the Arctic and evaluate interactions and conflicts between two sectors of the mixed economy and between current and future generations of Arctic inhabitants. A recent Arctic Social Indicators Report published by the Arctic Human Development Report (AHDR) Task Force recognizes the importance of the mixed economy in the Arctic and aims to integrate collective assets, as well as individual assets in order to understand the human development in the Arctic. Yet due to its concerns of comparability of social development and data availability across the whole Arctic region (of which some parts do not have the similar population structure), its proposed indicators are not capable of covering the social development of predominantly indigenous regions of the North. We emphasize the importance of tracking collective capabilities, as well as individual capabilities to sustain community development. In addition we suggest that environmental sustainability, which is ignored by the AHDR Task Force, has to be integrated with social development as environmental deterioration significantly influences the social well-being and cultural stability of traditional inhabitants of the Arctic. We critically review the proposed indicators of the AHDR Task Force and make supplementary and alternative suggestions.     

The Influence of Education and Training on Work Attitudes and the Moderating Effect of Supervisor Attitudes: Examining Chinese Employees

Human capital is a source of competitive advantage for organizations, in which education and training play important roles in the process of increasing the quality and quantity of human capital. Specifically, large-scale multinationals use systemized, structured methods to establish education and training systems. By studying the employees in a major food company in China, this paper is to investigate the influence of education and training on employees’ work attitudes and the moderating effect of supervisors’ attitudes. It is found that education and training have a positive influence on employees’ work attitudes. Among the training courses, the training of managerial ability has the most significant influence, followed by self-development courses. In addition, supervisors’ attitudes toward employees receiving managerial ability training, during and after the training, clearly have a positive moderating effect on employees’ overall work attitudes.     

Sustainable Housing in the Urban Context: International Sustainable Development Indicator Sets and Housing

Housing, an essential aspect of quality of life, is also significant for sustainable development (SD). All of the major international statements on SD refer to housing or settlement strategies. However, indicator sets derived from these statements often fail to include good indicators of sustainable housing. This article outlines the conceptualisation of SD and housing from the international statements. It proceeds by describing the international indicator sets which have been constructed based on these policy statements. International organisations such as the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (UNCSD), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the European Union (EU) have all produced indicator sets. However, this article contends that housing is an underdeveloped indicator and calls for more attention to be paid to the importance of aspects of housing for SD and the measurement of progress towards it via social indicators.

吉林省计划生育工作中存在的问题及对策

吉林省的低生育水平很不稳定,计划生育工作中还存在许多问题,需要综合解决人口问题的对策。做好新时期的人口与计划生育工作是全党、全民、全社会的大事,要依靠党委政府的领导,依靠全社会的力量。     

Education,Human Development and Quality of Life: Measurement Issues and Implications for India

This paper analyses and compares the measurement of indicators and variables in the construction of education index in Human Development Index (HDI) at the global, national and 18 sub-national human development reports in India since 1990. The results show non-comparability of measurement of the education indicators and variables. This implies that vertical and horizontal comparability of HDI may not be plausible for India. Implications of these analyses are highlighted for measurement of quality of life indices with special reference to physical quality of life index. Policy lessons are derived for future measurement of education index for India in particular, and other developing countries in general.

Ecological Economic Policy for Sustainable Development: Potentials and Domains of Intervention for Delinking Approaches

Due to the increasing environmental problems, conventional environmental policy will not suffice to secure a development path that can be sustainable on a global scale. This article establishes a conceptual framework for general strategies to reach the goals of ecological sustainability and individual well-being. Environmental impact, material input, income/production, the amount of services utilised, and well-being are the fundamental elements of this framework and their linkages are highlighted as possible targets of ecological economic policy. It is clear that current environmental policies, based on a rather narrow, reductionist view of the man-nature relationship, will not suffice. We investigate under which conditions a de-linking of individual well-being from environmental impacts can be achieved; a dramatic dematerialisation of the industrialised economies turns out to be a crucial element. This dematerialisation, we argue, can be achieved only putting a limit to quantitative economic growth, but nevertheless without decreasing the individual well-being, by concentrating the attention on highly valuable eco-efficient services rather than on the production/acquisition of material goods.     

Getting Active in the Gulf: Environmental Attitudes and Action Following Two Mississippi Coastal Disasters

The current study examined the impact of the Gulf Oil Spill and Hurricane Katrina, environmental attitudes, and environmental action among residents of the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The authors sought to determine if disaster impact, worry about the environment, or connection to nature was associated with environmental action following the oil spill and in general. We hypothesized that disaster impact and environmental attitudes would be significantly associated with environmental action. Surveys were administered to 1,108 individuals receiving mental health services in connection with the Gulf Oil Spill. Results indicated that disaster impact was correlated with environmental worry, connection to nature, and action. Additionally, environmental worry and connection to nature were significantly associated with action, as were the effects of Hurricane Katrina to a lesser degree. This study supplements the existing literature by examining environmental attitudes, disaster impact, and their association with environmental action following two disasters.     

Knowledge and Attitudes About HIV/AIDS Among Community-Living Older Women: Reexamining Issues of Age and Gender

ABSTRACT

Although older women face unique risks related to HIV/AIDS, little empirical data is available regarding HIV/AIDS among women over the age of 65. In the present study, 160 community-living older women and men completed questionnaires regarding knowledge and attitudes about HIV/AIDS. Findings showed that although older women were less likely to talk to their physician about HIV than men, they maintained greater knowledge and generally dispelled myths about viral transmission. However, most older women believed that HIV/AIDS had limited personal relevance, possessed virtually no knowledge of age and gender specific risk factors, and professed HIV-associated stigma. These findings highlight the need for gender and age specific prevention programs.     

居家养老可持续发展研究——以江苏为例

居家养老是为我国绝大多数老年人所选择和政府积极倡导的养老方式。本文在分析居家养老社会认同的经济社会背景和江苏居家养老有利条件和制约因素的基础上,着重就江苏居家养老可持续发展的思路与对策提出了以下建议：着力加强队伍、组织、制度、体制、机制等建设,加快基本养老公共服务均等化步伐,加大农村推进力度,正确处理好政府推动与社会兴办等五个关系。