Indoors Pollution Increases Risk of Leukemia

With the advent of the World Childrens Day on November 20, the China Association of Interior Decoration and the Center for Child Health Care and Disease Prevention jointly conducted a survey and research project on the relationship between child leukaemia and indoors pollution. Currently, China has about 3,500 children who are hospitalized for leukaemia and the number has been increasing in recent years. Experts have become aware of the impact of interior decoration on the health of chi…     

Does Relative Risk Aversion explain educational inequality? A dynamic choice approach

The theory of Relative Risk Aversion (RRA) suggests that educational decision making is motivated by the individual's desire to avoid downward social class mobility and, furthermore, that this desire is stronger than the desire to pursue upward mobility. This paper develops a Dynamic Decision Process (DDP) model which tests the two central behavioral assumptions in the RRA theory that (1) individuals maximize utility when making educational decisions and (2) the RRA mechanism comprises an important component in the educational decision-making process. Furthermore, our DDP model allows for class-specific cultural values regarding education. We analyze data from the Danish Youth Longitudinal Study and find strong evidence that RRA affects educational decisions over and above traditional socioeconomic factors.     

Living as a Guest without Being a Guest

Wang Xiuhua is a married woman of childbearing age with a registered permanent residence in Hanchuan, but running a clothing business in the Luonan comprehensive market in     

Spectators’ Negotiations of Risk,Masculinity and Performative Mobilities at the TT Races

Abstract

This paper explores the particular assemblage of place, event and individual identity performances that occur each year in the Isle of Man in and through the TT (Tourist Trophy) motorcycle races. These road races are associated with a high degree of risk for the racers and the confluence of over 30,000 visitors and 10,000 motorcycles also presents potential risks for spectators and residents alike. Both motorcycling and risk-taking have been associated with particular forms of masculinity, notably hegemonic, working class and youthful masculinities. Using detailed surveys of spectators we argue that the TT races, while undoubtedly dominated by men and predicated on a cultural privileging of speed and skill, are grounded in varying combinations of determinate and reflexive attitudes to risk, reflecting the performance of a variety of gendered, ‘biker’ and wider identity-based positionalities. Findings also highlight a particular inter-relation of mobilities and place identities at the TT races and bring to light the highly significant and under-researched embodied, performative and emotional mobilities of spectators. The conceptual and methodological importance of (a) situated research of both mobilities and gender in specific place-temporalities and (b) wider surveys of motorcyclists to complement ethnographic studies of small cohorts are also stressed.     

India’s ‘Missing Women’ and Men’s Sexual Risk Behavior

Although scholars and policymakers have long been concerned with the ??missing women?? of India, little rigorous research has examined the consequences of India??s sex ratio imbalance for young men??s sexual risk behavior and reproductive health. We use data from the third wave of India??s 2005?C2006 National Family and Health Survey to examine the influence of the community female-to-male sex ratio at ages 10?C39 on men??s likelihood of marrying early in life, of engaging in premarital, multi-partnered, and commercial sex, and of contracting a sexually-transmitted disease. We estimate logistic regression models that control for respondents?? demographic and socioeconomic status and that adjust for the clustering of observations within communities. Net of the effects of other characteristics, the female-to-male sex ratio is positively and significantly associated with the likelihood that men marry prior to age 18 and inversely and significantly associated with the odds that men have had intercourse with a commercial sex worker. However, no significant net associations are observed between the sex ratio and the other outcomes. Education, wealth, religious affiliation, caste, and geographic region emerge as significant predictors of Indian men??s sexual risk behaviors.     

Wealth Accumulation Inequality: Does Investment Risk Tolerance and Equity Ownership Drive Wealth Accumulation?

This study examined the savings aspect of wealth accumulation by estimating differences in financial risk tolerance and equity ownership among individual investors. Data were obtained from a proprietary dataset that collected over 15,000 risk-tolerance attitude responses between late 2007 and early 2013. Two research methodologies were utilized: cluster analysis and ANCOVA. The cluster analysis identified four investor profiles: (a) young lower-income women, (b) young unmarried men, (c) young college-educated men, and (d) older men with high income and education. Results from the ANCOVA test indicated that each cluster had significantly different levels of equity ownership, controlling for financial risk tolerance. Results provide a framework and methodology for future research on issues related to wealth inequality, investment behavior, and risk attitudes. The ability to group individuals similarly can be an important tool for researchers, policy makers, social activists, financial advisers, financial counselors, and educators when analyzing the household and macroeconomic wealth profile of United States residents.     

Increasingly a Woman''''s Disease

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Rural China at a Crossroad

The plight of 900 million Chinese farmers has received renewed attention from the government and the public alike recently. Atthe 16~(th) Congress of the Chinese Communist Partylast November, improving the lot of Chinese farmersbecame the consensus of the new Central Committee,     

Is happiness a trait?

One of the ideological foundations of the modern welfare states is the belief that people can be made happier by providing them with better living conditions. This belief is challenged by the theory that happiness is a fixed trait, rather than a variable state. This theory figures both at the individual level and at the societal level. The individual level variant depicts happiness as an aspect of personal character; rooted in inborn temperament or acquired disposition. The societal variant sees happiness as a matter of national character; embedded in shared values and beliefs. Both variants imply that a better society makes no happier people.Happiness can be regarded as a trait if it meets three criteria: (1) temporal stability, (2) cross-situational consistency, and (3) inner causation. This paper checks whether that is, indeed, the case.     

Linking Food Security with Household’s Adaptive Capacity and Drought Risk: Implications for Sustainable Rural Development

In spite of green revolution and rapid economic growth, India’s vast population still suffers from hunger and poverty, especially in the rural areas. Moreover, drought adversely affects India’s economy by declining agricultural production and purchasing power. It also escalates rural unemployment which ultimately affects household food security. Our study investigated the food security of drought prone rural households in a broader context by linking the dimensions of food security with dimensions of climate change vulnerability. We used the primary data of 157 drought prone rural households of Odisha state in India for analysis. This study employed polychoric principal component analysis to construct an aggregate food security index. An ordered probit model was used to estimate the determinants of food security. The FSI showed that three-fourth of the respondents were facing food security issues with varying degrees. The estimates of ordered probit model indicated that joint family, education, migration and health insurance are key variables that determine food security, whereas drought adversely affected food security of rural households. Overarching strategies are required to effectively address food security issues in the wake of increased drought risk. This study provides an insight for policy makers in India and in similar south Asian countries who must consider food security in the light of drought.

     

Lighting the Pathway to Adulthood Experience of a teacher from a rural primary school

The Model Primary School is a rural school located in a region joining the town and country in Jiamusi City,Heilongjiang Province.Sex education is a new idea and has never been taught there before. Two years ago,I had my first experience teaching a sex education class.During the first class,I blushed with embarrassment and found it difficult to talk about     

From a Number-Centered Officer to a Quality of Care Advocator: A Personal Story

My colleagues have presented at the Conference the Chinese initiative to reorient its family planning program from a demographic driven to a quality of care approach since 1995. I was responsible on behalf of China's State Family planning Commission (SFPC) for the quality of care experiment among the 11 pilot counties/districts until my retirement in 1999. While I devoted myself in the late 1990s to advocate the concept of the quality of care in China, I was in fact the person very much e…     

“I am a fat baby,who moved to a fat child,who moved to a fat teenager,who moved to a fat adult”: Women’s reflections of a lifetime of body and weight concern

The present study explored how women aged 50–65 years reflect and make meaning of a lifetime of body and weight struggles. Seven purposefully selected women with longstanding body image challenges participated in interviews and reflected on their perceptions, thoughts, and emotions around their body and weight since childhood. Findings revealed consistent and consuming concerns about the body; prevalent body-related self-conscious emotions; influential social experiences that impact physical self-perceptions; and enduring impacts of weight bias, stigma, and discrimination. Collectively, these findings provide support for the stability of body disturbances and highlight the need to explore the unique body-related narratives of women in midlife.     

Ageing of a giant: a stochastic population forecast for China, 2006–2060

This paper presents a stochastic population forecast for China with a special emphasis on population ageing. The so-called scaled model for error was used to quantify the uncertainty attached to the population predictions. Data scarcity was a major problem in the specification of the expected error of the population forecast. Therefore, the error structures estimated for European countries were used with some modifications, taking into account the large size and heterogeneity of the Chinese population. The stochastic forecast confirms the expectation of extremely rapid population ageing during the first half of the twenty-first century in China. The old age dependency ratio (OADR) will certainly increase. Simply maintaining the current demographic rates (no international migration) would drive the OADR to 0.42 in 2060, four times the current level. Including expected declines in mortality and net outmigration in the projection would increase the median OADR in 2060 to 0.59, with a 80% prediction interval of [0.47, 0.75]. In particular, the oldest-old population will grow much faster than any other age group. This development has major implications for policy-making in China.

Chinese-Style Old-aged Nursing Seeks a Turnaround

正On September 13,the website of China Central Government released the Some Opinions of the State Council on Expediting the Development of Old-age Services(The Opinion).The Opinion states that,by2020,China will have established an oldage service system to cover both urban and rural areas based on home-nursing and supported by community-nursing,     

Reproductive Health Becomes a Promising Industry

In mid-July, China held its first family planning and reproductive health new technology and new product exposition in Beijing, on the occasion of the first World Population Day in the new millennium. Tens of thousands of visitors both industry people and ordinary citizens flocked to the exhibition hall, accompanied by a major media blitz proclaiming the coming of age of a new industry, reproductive health. China Transformed Just a few years ago, few people in China realized that sexual…     

Shanghai Expects a Baby Boom in 2006

A population forecast released by the Shanghai Population and Family Planning Commission showed that the number of newborns will rise considerably since 2006. By 2009, the number is expected to reach about 145,600, if calculated by household registration. If calculated by permanent residency, the number will rise to 165,600. The first baby boom in Shanghai came in the 1950s. By inertia, the second one came in the 1980s. By the end of 2003, Shanghai had a permanent population of about 17 m…     

China Witnesses a Changing Concept on Marriage

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What makes a stopping rule sexist?

"Parents' decisions to have children are modeled by a simple stopping rule that describes the probability of having another child as a function of the number of boys and girls already born to the parents. Because the stopping rule depends on the sex of the offspring, the rule may introduce a correlation between sex of offspring and the number of siblings the offspring has. When this is coupled with a correlation between number of siblings and well-being, a correlation between sex and well-being may emerge despite equal treatment of the two sexes within each family. The author provides sufficient conditions on a stopping rule for it to be sexist in the sense that the average well-being of one sex is higher than that of the other sex." (SUMMARY IN FRE)