Migration Processes,Familial Characteristics,and Schooling Dropout Among Black Youths

This study uses data from the 2000 U.S. census to examine whether the schooling advantage of black immigrants’ children found in previous studies is robust. According to the results, the advantage associated with having migrant parents is not restricted to the children of immigrants. Black migrant parents, regardless of foreign-born status, have children with favorable schooling outcomes. Such parental-level influences, however, seem stronger among some immigrant groups than among native internal migrants. The study also suggests that the collective advantage of the children of immigrants is driven by positive migrant selectivity. Accordingly, comparisons between the children of native migrants and children in various immigrant groups reveal that the immigrant advantage is not robust. In fact, the results suggest that when immigrant ethnicity is considered, some children of immigrants may be disadvantaged relative to the children of native migrants. Among recent migrants, the children of native internal migrants also have more favorable outcomes than the children of immigrants, although these differences disappear after background factors are controlled. Further, internal-migrant and immigrant households are less likely to have characteristics that adversely affect schooling than nonmigrant households. Unsurprisingly, the children of nonmigrants have the worst outcomes among black youths.     

Birth and death in cities in the developing world

City dwellers in Sub-Saharan Africa have increased roughly 600% in the last 35 years. Throughout the developing world, cities have expanded at a rate that has far outpaced rural population growth. Extensive data document lower fertility and mortality rates in cities than in rural regions. But slums, shantytowns, and squatters' settlements proliferate in many large cities. Martin Brockerhoff studies the reproductive and health consequences of urban growth, with an emphasis on maternal and child health. Brockerhoff reports that child mortality rates in large cities are highest among children born to mothers who recently migrated from rural areas or who live in low-quality housing. Children born in large cities have about a 30% higher risk of dying before they reach the age of 5 than those born in smaller cities. Despite this, children born to migrant mothers who have lived in a city for about a year have much better survival chances than children born in rural areas to nonmigrant mothers and children born to migrant mothers before or shortly after migration. Migration in developing countries as a whole has saved millions of children's lives. The apparent benefits experienced in the 1980s may not occur in the future, as cities continue to grow and municipal governments confront an overwhelming need for housing, jobs, and services. Another benefit is that fertility rates in African cities fell by about 1 birth per woman as a result of female migration from villages to towns in the 1980s and early 1990s. There will be an increasing need for donors and governments to concentrate family planning, reproductive health, child survival, and social services in cities, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, because there child mortality decline has been unexpectedly slow, overall fertility decline is not yet apparent in most countries, and levels of migration to cities are anticipated to remain high.     

农民工“进城落户”意愿与中国近期城镇化道路的选择

文章通过对2010年全国性调查数据的统计分析发现:(1)绝大多数农民工不愿意转变为非农户口;如果要求其交回承包地,则只有10%左右愿意转为非农户口。(2)为了孩子的教育与升学是少数农民工愿意转户的主要原因。(3)想保留承包地是大多数农民工不愿转户的主要原因。(4)在转为非农户口这一问题上,80前与80后农民工不存在显著区别。由此作者认为,推进城镇化的优选之路是常住化城镇化而非户籍化城镇化;要在不强迫改变农民土地权属的前提下将农民工转变为城市新市民;应给予进城的80前与80后同等重要的政策关注。深层城镇化的政策配置重点,应是基本公共服务与福利配置的均等化,而不是强化户籍的制度区隔功能。     

A decomaosition of trends in poverty among children of immigrants

Poverty levels among all children in the United States have tended to fluctuate in the past 30 years. However, among the children of immigrants, child poverty increased steadily and rapidly from about 12% in 1970 to 33% in the late 1990s before declining to about 21% in 2000. Using 1970, 1980, 1990, and 2000 Public Use Microdata Samples data, we identified key factors that underlie the fluctuations in immigrant child poverty from 1969 to 1999 and the divergence from children of natives. We found that roughly half the absolute increase in immigrant child poverty can be linked to changing conditions in the U.S. economy that make it more difficult to lift a family out of poverty than 30 years ago. These changes occurred disproportionately among children of parents with lower levels of education, employment, and U.S. experience but not among racial/ethnic minorities. Poverty risks among various racial and ethnic groups converged over time. The relative increase in poverty for immigrant versus native children owes largely to the divergence between immigrant and native families in racial/ethnic composition, parental education, and employment.     

A survey of cause of death (1973-1979) in Bao Jing County]

Findings from 1976 and 1980 surveys conducted by the Provincial Tumor Prevention Bureau and the County Department of Health concerning causes of death in Baojing, China, from 1973 to 1979 are reported. The data show that mortality rates for women and children were relatively high. The leading cause of death was contagious disease, particularly dysentery, followed by respiratory diseases. No relationship between cause of death and ethnic origin was established.     

The Effects of Children’s Migration on Elderly Kin’s Health: A Counterfactual Approach

Recent studies of migration and the left-behind have found that elders with migrant children actually experience better health outcomes than those with no migrant children, yet these studies raise many concerns about self-selection. Using three rounds of panel survey data from the Indonesian Family Life Survey, we employ the counterfactual framework developed by Rosenbaum and Rubin to examine the relationship between having a migrant child and the health of elders aged 50 and older, as measured by activities of daily living (ADL), self-rated health (SRH), and mortality. As in earlier studies, we find a positive association between old-age health and children’s migration, an effect that is partly explained by an individual’s propensity to have migrant children. Positive impacts of migration are much greater among elders with a high propensity to have migrant children than among those with low propensity. We note that migration is one of the single greatest sources of health disparity among the elders in our study population, and point to the need for research and policy aimed at broadening the benefits of migration to better improve health systems rather than individual health.     

On the Far Eastern pattern of mortality

Since the early 1980s, it has been accepted widely that there is a Far Eastern pattern of mortality, a pattern characterized by excessively high death rates among older men relative to death rates among younger men and among women. It has been regarded as a unique regional mortality pattern, applying primarily to Far Eastern populations. A re-examination of the mortality data of some Far Eastern populations reveals that changes in both age patterns of and sex differentials in mortality have been widely observed. Further, mortality patterns similar to the so-called Far Eastern mortality model have been found in many other populations.     

On the Far Eastern pattern of mortality

Since the early 1980s, it has been accepted widely that there is a Far Eastern pattern of mortality, a pattern characterized by excessively high death rates among older men relative to death rates among younger men and among women. It has been regarded as a unique regional mortality pattern, applying primarily to Far Eastern populations. A re-examination of the mortality data of some Far Eastern populations reveals that changes in both age patterns of and sex differentials in mortality have been widely observed. Further, mortality patterns similar to the so-called Far Eastern mortality model have been found in many other populations.     

流动妇女孕期保健状况及其影响因素

本文利用“厦门市开元区流动儿童健康与教育状况调研课题”的抽查结果 ,描述流动妇女的孕期保健状况 ,并对流入厦门的流动妇女以及常住妇女的孕期保健水平进行比较 ,在此基础上提出影响流动妇女孕期保健水平的理论假设。logistic回归分析结果表明 ,流动妇女或配偶的文化程度、流出地的城乡类型、家庭收入水平以及已生育的孩子数量是决定流动妇女孕期保健水平的最重要因素。文章还结合分析结果提出改善流动妇女孕期保健状况的几点建议     

Survey on sex ratio of the children from one-child families in Shihezi in the Xinjiang Uigur autonomous region]

A survey of 1 child families in the Shihezi area showed a higher ratio of boys, 920 boys vs. 822 girls (1.12:1.00). There was also a higher ratio of boys among children born between 1975-1980, but the proportion of girls was higher among children born before 1974. The ratio of boys was higher among firstborn children born between 1976-1980 (1.086:1.00), while the sex ratio was 1.00 among 2nd born children born between 1976-1980. School children between age 6-18 showed 6266 boys and 6218 girls (1.01:1.00). The sex ratio of the total population in the Shihezi area was 1.05:1:00; this coincides with our national ratio of 1.08:1.00 (1953 census) and the world sex ratio of 1.0035:1.00 in 1975. The universal occurrence of more males than females is probably a result of physiological factors. It is actually beneficial to the country to have a slightly higher ratio of males because many jobs are more suitable for men because of their physical condition and the accidental death rate is also higher for men. The slightly higher percentage of boys among single child families was not statistically significant (P0.05).     

流动妇女心理健康状况分析

通过对江苏省张家港市和江阴市流动人口基本情况和症状自评量表(SCL-90)的实地调查,从流动妇女的人口社会学因素和流动经历特征分层分析流动妇女的心理健康状况。流动妇女心理健康水平低于成年正常女性;从人口社会学因素来看,未婚、无小孩、年轻的流动妇女心理健康水平较低;从流动经历来看,常回老家者、和家人同在一个城市者、对生活状况满意者的心理健康状况相对较好。     

The environment as a determinant of child mortality among migrants in frontier areas of Pará and RondÔnia, Brazil, 1980

This article examines child mortality as an indicator of the quality of life among migrants living in Brazilian Amazonia in 1980. I focus on migrants in the frontier states of Pará and RondÔnia, which experienced rapid settlement during the 1970s. The key question here is the effect of settlement location on child mortality rates. While RondÔnia had lower ratios of population per public health establishments and personnel than Pará, RondÔnia nonetheless exhibited a higher malaria prevalence in 1980. I therefore attribute locational differences in child mortality to environmental factors important to malaria transmission rather than to health care infrastructure. The findings from multivariate regression analysis show that net of the effects of human capital, migration history and migrant living standards, settling in Pará rather than RondÔnia resulted in significantly lower rates of child mortality. These findings suggest that environmental factors coinciding with location of frontier settlement had important consequences for the living standards of migrants in the Brazilian Amazon.     

Change of marital fertility in China from 1964 to 1981]

In 1982 the Chinese National Family Planning Commission conducted a nationwide (excepting Taiwan and Tibet) .001 random sampling of the total population to gather data on the fertility and age structures of married women. In comparing general marital fertility and standardized fertility, findings show that from 1964 to 1970 both rates averaged 225.1/1000. When family planning work began on a wide scale in 1971, the rates steadily declined, reaching 116.7/1000 in 1980. However, in 1967-68 the standard fertility rate rose by 21.34% due to the chaos of the Cultural Revolution, and in 1980-81 the rate increased by 13.2%, indicating that problems still remain in family planning. The total marital fertility rate dropped 2.84/1000 from 1964 to 1981. The rate of decline in rural areas was greater than in the cities, but the cities had a larger percentage decline than the countryside. In the 5-year periods of 1965, 1970, 1975, and 1980, marital fertility rates tended to decline in 1970 and 1975 among women aged 30-40 years because during those periods greater control was placed on women having multiple children. For 1980 and 1975, combined total rates for 15-19 year olds dropped 17.1%, but the combined total rates of 30-49 year olds dropped by 61.2%, indicating that in recent years the drop in marital fertility is mostly among those over 30 years of age.     

Mortality by nativity

This note reports the reversal of the mortality-nativity relationship in the United States. In the first half of the twentieth century, mortality among foreign-born Americans was greater than among (white) native Americans. Data for 1980 show that now mortality among the foreign-born is markedly lower than among native Americans.     

Sri Lankan female domestic workers overseas: mothering their children from a distance

Sri Lanka is one of three countries in Asia, along with the Philippines and Indonesia, where women migrants constitute between 60 and 70% of legal migrants; these female migrants are mainly employed overseas as domestic workers. Since the 1980s, the out-migration of Sri Lankan females for employment abroad surpassed that of males and the major destination has been countries in the Middle East. The majority of these women are married and have at least one child; they leave their children in the care of other family members in their absence. While they usually make arrangements to accommodate the spatial separation forced by migration, their migration poses many challenges to themselves and their children left behind. Recently, the issue of children left behind by migrant mothers has attracted growing attention from policy makers in Sri Lanka. Since the social and emotional ramifications of mothering from a distance and how these mothers cope with them are inadequately investigated, this article uses data collected from a 2008 survey of 400 Sri Lankan female migrant families to examine the effects of mothers’ migration on how they are mothering their children from a distance, and how they perceive the effects on their children. The article concludes with some suggested policy recommendations.     

Sustainability Ranking for Cuban Tourist Destinations Based on Composite Indexes

This investigation approaches the levels and the predictors of loneliness among migrant youths from returned migrant families from France to Portugal. Three research questions guided the study: (1) Does loneliness of migrant youths differ from those who have never migrated? (2) Are migrant youths’ re-acculturation factors related to their loneliness? (3) Is the adaptation of migrant youths linked to their loneliness? The answer to these questions is important to improve migrant youths’ re-acculturation experiences and their adaptation. The sample included 222 youths from returned migrant families from France. Participants completed the brief Portuguese version of the Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale (ULS-6), in addition to measures of re-acculturation and adaptation. A control group comprised of 211 Portuguese adolescents who have never migrated was also involved in the investigation. Youths from returned migrant families showed lower levels of loneliness than their native Portuguese counterparts who have never migrated. Demographic, re-acculturation, and adaptation factors were significantly related to adolescents’ loneliness. Major predictors of loneliness were age at return, contacts with peers without migratory experience, perceived discrimination, stressful adaptation experience, and satisfaction with life.     

Sex preference versus number preference: the case of Korea

The author argues that the effect of sex preference must be disentangled from the effect of number preference in Korea. This study tests--with hazard models--the effect of the number of previous children on the next birth according to the sex composition of previous children. Data were obtained from the 1974 Korean Fertility Survey. This paper also analyzes the timing of childbearing in recent periods in order to determine whether replacement-level fertility is temporary or permanent. The ideal number of children declined from 3.9 children in 1965 to 2.1 in 1991. The age-specific fertility rates for ages 20-24 years declined rapidly during the late 1980s. The fertility rates among women aged 25-29 years and 30-34 years increased during 1985-90. The proportion of fertility among women aged 20-29 years increased from 67.9% in 1975 to 86.6% in 1984. Women born in the late baby boom period of the late 1950s to mid-1960s reached prime reproductive age during the late 1980s and 1990s, but the crude birth rate remained about the same during 1985-92. A higher percentage of women (22.4%) born during 1955-59 remained single in 1990. During 1960-90, the percentage of women aged 20-24 years who were married declined. These trends indicate later age at childbearing and an explanation for the temporary nature of below-replacement fertility in the late 1980s. Korean women did not want to have more than 2 children, and the interval between first and second births increased since 1985. Among pregnancies of parity 2 conceived since 1985, over 90% of women with at least one son ended subsequent pregnancies by abortion compared to only 59% without sons. Hazard models of 1974 data reveal that son preference had an important effect on fertility. Fertility was higher among women with only daughters. Findings suggest that the value of sons must be measured at the societal and not at the individual level.     

流动儿童心理状况及讨论

本文运用在北京市某区进行的小样本抽样调查数据,比较分析了分别就读于流动儿童学校和公立学校的流动儿童的心理状况,并从流动儿童的个人特征和家庭特征两个方面讨论了影响流动儿童心理状况的原因。结果表明,流动儿童学校中的流动儿童的心理状况相对较好,因此,从儿童发展的角度来看,流动儿童学校的存在不仅是合理的,而且有关部门应该对当前处于自由发展、自由竞争中的流动儿童学校给予某种指导与帮助,以期能够为流动儿童的健康成长、更好地学习与发展提供某种政策支持。同时,更应该注意到本地常住儿童的心理状况相对较差的事实,这可以被视为当前鼓励流动儿童以公立学校就读为主的受教育政策的负面效应之一。公立学校应该从三个方面采取措施防止这种状况的扩大。当然,流动儿童的心理评价及各种影响后果的研究仍然有待于深入的讨论。     

Why the rise in adolescent fertility rates in the Dominican Republic in the 1990s?

Despite concern over high pregnancy rates and levels of risk for sexually transmittedinfections, adolescent fertility rates in the Dominican Republic have not changed substantially since the early 1980's, and actually increased during the early to mid 1990s. The present study was undertaken to assess the factors contributing to the recent rise in fertility among Dominican adolescents. The findings suggest that although contraceptive use among adolescents and young adults has increased, this has been more than offset by ominous trends on other determinants of fertility. Among these are declines in mean age at first sex and first marriage/union without a commensurate decline in mean age at first contraceptive use, and stubbornly high discontinuation rates for oral contraceptives andcondoms. There is also some evidence that rates of induced abortion among adolescents may have increased, without which adolescent fertility rates would have been even higher. Demand for children among Dominican adolescents remains strong, suggesting that efforts to reduce the current high prevalence of risky sexual behaviors need to influence social norms in order to be successful.