Mental health among Israeli homosexual adolescents and young adults

This study examines the mental health status of Israeli homosexuals in adolescence and early adulthood in comparison to heterosexual controls. We compared 219 homosexuals (136 gay men and 83 lesbian women) with 219 individually matched heterosexuals on indices of depression and subjective well being. In line with the study hypothesis, the results indicated that the homosexual participants reported more depressive symptoms and more negative affect than matched heterosexuals. However, the homosexuals were also found to report a higher level of positive affect. This study suggests that co-activated systems of negative and positive emotions facilitate adaptation among young homosexuals.     

Suicide among homosexual adolescents

Little attention has been given in the professional literature to suicide among homosexual adolescents. Sixty-six adolescent psychiatrists responded to a questionnaire on the subject. Results from this survey suggest that many experts are not working with homosexual adolescents. On the other hand, the majority of those treating them considered them to be at higher risk for suicide and agreed that their suicidal gestures were more severe than those of other adolescents.     

Measuring subjective well-being: Unfolding the Bradburn Affect Balance Scale

Factor analysis of the items in the Bradburn Affect Balance Scale has repeatedly shown that the positive and negative affect items are unrelated. Despite this, negative affect scores are routinely subtracted from positive affect scores to derive Affect Balance Scale Scores that apparently provide a valid measure of a sense of well-being. In this paper we offer a resolution to this paradox — and so justify the use of Affect Balance Scale Scores — by showing that the positive and negative affect items each form a single cumulative scale, and that the two cumulative scales taken together form one unidimensional unfolding scale. This explanation is based on a hypothesis by Coombs and Kao (1960) — later proved mathematically by Ross and Cliff (1964) — that when data that are unfoldable in r dimensions are factor-analyzed, r+1 significant factors will be found. In an empirical test, Bradburn Affect Balance Scale data collected from ten countries in the 1981 and 1990 European Values Study surveys were analyzed. The results clearly support the hypothesis that the data form a single unidimensional unfolding scale, although two of the ten Affect Balance Scale items are not homogenous with the rest.     

Political tolerance among adolescents towards homosexuals in Spain

This paper studies the willingness that an adolescent has to extend human rights to homosexuals. This willingness defines the concept of political tolerance towards homosexuals. Results of this study show that the rights that adolescents are less willing to extend to homosexuals are those more related to the activities that homosexuals do to recover their rights, as the right of demonstrating on the street. This study also pretends to find those variables more related to political tolerance towards homosexuals. Self-esteem, political experience, support for democratic norms and identification with a group of friends are positively related to political tolerance towards homosexuals, whereas support for violent groups or the identification with a religious group are negatively related.     

Emerging population issues among adolescents and youth

The authors "examine the emerging population issues of adolescents and youth [in Sri Lanka]. The demographic pressures have resulted in the expansion of the numbers in this age category which in turn has caused problems of employment creation. The educational expansion has brought about changes in the age at marriage and life styles, which in turn has created the need for greater attention on reproductive health issues among adolescents and youth."     

Substance use among gay and lesbian adolescents

Surveys at a Massachusetts high school used multiple items to identify gay, lesbian, and bisexual teenagers. Students with consistent homosexual preferences had greatly elevated rates of substance use. Those who displayed a homosexual preference but answered less consistently also had somewhat higher rates of substance use but were closer to heterosexual youths than to more consistent homosexual youths. The differences in substance use were least for alcohol use and greater for "hard" drugs.     

Intergenerational persistence of family formation trajectories among teenage-mothers and -fathers in Sweden

Journal of Population Research - In this paper, we address the questions of whether early family trajectories of parents are reflected in childbearing teenagers, and how socio-economic and family...     

Life satisfaction and family structure among adolescents in Hong Kong

Relationships between family structure and perceived life satisfaction in overall life and five domains of the Brief Multidimensional Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale, family life, friendships, school experience, myself, and where I live were examined among 4,502 Chinese adolescent secondary school students in Hong Kong. Bivariate analyses showed that economic status was not a significant risk factor, but gender, level of study, and migrant status had to be controlled to examine the life satisfaction-family structure relations. Logistic regression analyses found that in overall life, with adolescents living with two parents as standard for comparisons, adolescents living with mother had similar life satisfaction, but those living with father only, and those with no parents, or single parent with other adults had very much higher risk of life dissatisfaction. Specifically, the risks associated with the adverse family structures were most excessive in the domain of ‘family life’.     

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.     

Continued childbearing among women who were pregnant as adolescents

Conclusions The data presented in this paper and the earlier one in this series suggest that the effects of special comprehensive programs for school age mothers are seen most clearly in delay of the first pregnancy subsequent to the programs, as originally indicated by Klerman and Jekel (1973). Rather than terminating childbearing after the second pregnancy, those young mothers who had one subsequent pregnancy usually went on to become pregnant again rather quickly.A question can be raised about the generalizability of the finding from this study which is based on a rather small, black, poverty-lever sample. Although Furstenberg's (1976) results support those of this report in a population with similar characteristics, additional studies of white and non-poverty populations receiving a variety of services are critically needed if the country is to understand the phenomenon of adolescent pregnancy and find effective ways of minimizing its consequences.This study was supported by Grant #MC-R-090357 from the Maternal and Child Health Service, Public Health Service, Dept. of Health, Education and Welfare.     

Childbearing among Polish migrant women and their descendants in Sweden: an origin-destination country approach

Journal of Population Research - This paper examines the childbearing behaviour of Polish migrant women and their descendants in Sweden. Also considering stayers in the country of origin, we rely...     

Measuring labour market segmentation for a comparative analysis among countries

This article raises one main question in a comparative analytical exercise between two countries in different continents, Spain and Argentina. To what extent does labour market segmentation generate similar dynamics of structuring of labour inequalities in two countries with different socio-economic contexts and social models, and which aspects are specific to each country? The article is the first an analytical work aimed at comparing European and Latin American countries from the theoretical perspective of labour market segmentation. We set two main objectives. The first was to construct an analysis model to study inequalities in the labour market in comparative terms between Europe and Latin America, taking as a reference Spain and Argentina. To this end, demand and supply variables were combined from an employment perspective. We sought to corroborate the general hypothesis that there is no single labour market that adjusts supply and demand, but that several segments can be expected to structure hierarchical positions in the labour market in line with specific labour supply profiles. We expected to obtain a high correspondence between the employment segments of the two countries, despite the contextual and socio-historical differences. The second objective was to propose a methodology to obtain two synthetic measures of labour market segmentation: first, a categorical measurement through a typology constructed from hierarchical positions and profiles using multivariate techniques (combining multiple correspondence factor analysis [MCA] and cluster analysis [CLA]); and second, a continuous measurement based on the results of factor analysis, resulting in a composite indicator of labour inequality.

     

The development of male prostitution activity among gay and bisexual adolescents

The current research literature regarding male-juvenile prostitution activity is reviewed. An attempt is made to develop some theoretical understanding of the development of this activity among gay and bisexual adolescents. A predisposition, resulting from faulty psychosexual and psychosocial development, appears to make these boys vulnerable to the situational variables that they encounter. More severe disruptions in psychosexual and psychosocial development seem to result in more destructive and non-ego-enhancing prostitution activities. A clinical case study is presented which illustrates the development of this activity. Recommendations are made to help reduce the amount of self-destructive prostitution activity among male adolescents.     

Acculturation inclinations and subjective health status of internal migrants in James Town,an urban slum settlement in Accra

The impact of acculturation on health status has been a subject of debate for over three decades. In this exploratory study, we use cross-sectional data to examine the relative effects of acculturation inclinations on self-rated health statuses among migrants in a poor, urban neighborhood in Accra. Much emphasis is placed on the role of the urban environment in disease outbreaks within the city, the patterns of communicable and non-communicable diseases, spatial health inequalities, and the distribution of sexual and reproductive illness risks in Accra. However, the ways by which acculturation inclinations and dimensions may exert positive or negative influence on health outcomes in such contexts have not been examined. We developed proxies for four main acculturation elements: assimilation, separation, integration, and marginalization. We used results from a semi-structured survey questionnaire with 296 migrants. After controlling for socio-demographic characteristics and social capital, findings from Ordinal Logistic Regression models indicate that the acculturation predictors of subjective health status are assimilation and marginalization. This study is the first step in understanding the possible trajectories by which acculturation affects health in the internal migration context in Ghana.     

Immigrant School Segregation in Sweden

Recent research has shown that there is a substantial skill difference in Sweden between natives and second-generation immigrants. The objective of this study is to find out whether there exists a relationship between immigrant school segregation and the individual’s human capital. The variation in immigrant concentration rate between cohorts within a school generally does not affect the individual’s human capital outcome. However when estimating specific peer influences between different immigrant groups (first-generation immigrants, second-generation immigrants with two foreign-born parent and second-generation immigrants with one foreign-born parent) the study shows three major findings. First, for men (both natives and second-generation immigrants) there is a general negative effect of having a large share of first-generation immigrant schoolmates. Second, for both men and women a large share of schoolmates with a completely foreign background (non-native parents) has a negative influence on the Swedish grades of second-generation immigrants with two foreign-born parents. Third, for men there seem to exist specific and positive peer influences within the groups of second-generation immigrants with either one or two foreign-born parents.     

The third birth in Sweden

This paper considers the formulation, estimation and interpretation of microdynamic models of fertility. Our model explains parity choices, sterility, childlessness, interbirth intervals and initiation of pregnancy within a unified framework. We develop a general methodology for estimating the determinants of transition times to births of different orders. Our procedure incorporates time-varying explanatory variables and unobservables. We present conditions that justify conventional formulae relating hazards to survivor functions when time-varying variables enter hazards. We also consider the validity of widely-used piecemeal estimation strategies that focus on one birth at a time. We consider methods for selecting a best model among a class of non-nested models. Two criteria are set forth and used to evaluate the detminants of third births in Sweden.We find that two models fit Swedish microdata equally well. One model is consistent with neoclassical economic theory. It assigns a central role to the wages of men and women in explaining the timing and spacing of births. The other model is purely demographic and excludes wages. Purely statistical criteria cannot distinguish these models although in other work we show that the economic models are more parsimonious in terms of the number of parameters that must be estimated and are better able to forecast aggregate time series.We demonstrate how to interpret the output of multistate fertility models. Wage effects on third births are decomposed into two components: (a) an in direct effect that determines whether a woman is at risk to have a third birth, and (b) a direct effect on the transition rate to the third birth given that a woman has had two births. We find that female wages play an important role in postponing first births but play only a minor role in explaining childlessness. Female wages substantially affect third births. Male wage effects are weaker. We find that female wage effects weaken for more recent cohorts of women. This evidence is consistent with the introduction of progressively more pronatal Swedish policies.This research was supported by NIH Grant No. HD-19226 to NORC. We have benefited from the comments of Elja Arjas and Ricardo Barros. This paper was presented at an IUSSP Conference in Paris, France, in March 1988, and as an invited lecture at the Fourth ESPE Meetings in Istanbul, Turkey, June, 1990. This paper is one part of a trilogy. Heckman and Walker (1990a) presents a succinct summary of the main economic results. Heckman and Walker (1990b) presents a more complete discussion of the empirical results. This paper presents a more purely demographic discussion.     

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.     

Measuring the value of statistical life: estimating compensating wage differentials among workers in India

Policy makers confronted with the need to introduce health and safety regulations often wonder how to value the benefits of these regulations. One way that a monetary value could be placed on reductions in health risks, including risk of death, is through understanding how people are compensated for the different risks they take. While there is an extensive literature on VSL and compensating wage differentials for the developed countries, few such studies exist when it comes to developing countries. Our study is an attempt at obtaining estimates of VSL that reflects Indian risk preferences. Based on a survey of 550 workers in Chennai and 535 workers in Mumbai, we find the value of a statistical life in India to be approximately Rs. 15 million. The value of statistical injury ranges from Rs. 6,000 to Rs. 9,000. Policy makers interested in programs to decrease environmental and health risks could use these numbers as one bench-mark against which costs can be assessed.