Size of place and community attachment: A reconsideration

The literature on community attachment is briefly reviewed, and the dichotomization of theoretical perspectives into ‘linear development’ and ‘systemic’ approaches is brought into question. It is argued that recent evidence on the deterioration of U.S. metropolitan areas and the emergence of net urban-to-rural migration casts doubt on the exhaustiveness of the ‘linear development’ and ‘systemic’ perspectives and warrants an empirical reconsideration of the relationship between size of place and community attachment. Rural residence proves to be positively related to dependent measures of community attachment in a 1974 statewide Wisconsin survey. Measures of ‘participatory’ attachment to the community, however, are not strongly correlated with community attachment.     

Another look at fertility and social mobility

This is a response to Basil Zimmer's contention that the classical hypothesis connecting social mobility with fertility was rejected in the Princeton Fertility Study because of a faulty mode of analysis. Arguing from the findings of a strong association in a sample of Aberdeen women, Zimmer asserts that if social origin and destination were taken into account, the same relationship would have emerged in the U.S. data. The evidence from the Princeton Study is reviewed and new evidence presented which confirms the original findings of no relationship.     

On the Sunny Side of Life: Sunshine Effects on Life Satisfaction

This paper seeks to analyze the influence of the weather on a person’s self-reported life satisfaction. On a theoretical level, it is claimed that ‘nice’ weather can improve the affective well-being of a person. Given this, it is argued that affects can, in turn, have an impact on that person’s general assessment of his or her life. In particular, it is expected that people would report a higher life satisfaction on days with unambiguously ‘nice’ weather. Data from three German large-scale surveys are used to test empirically to what extent self-reported life satisfaction is determined by the weather. All in all, the results are mostly consistent with the initial hypothesis. In all three samples those respondents surveyed on days with exceptionally sunny weather reported a higher life satisfaction compared to respondents interviewed on days with ‘ordinary’ weather. In two out of three samples, this difference was statistically significant. Hence, the supposed sunshine effect on peoples’ life satisfaction does indeed exist. Implications of these findings are discussed in a conclusion.     

‘How can we go on caring when nobody here cares about us?’ Australian public maternity units as contested care sites

BackgroundProvision of personalised, continuous care focused on ‘well women’ is now central to midwifery identity and work ideals, but it remains difficult in hospital contexts shaped by increased demand and by neoliberal policies. Previous accounts of occupational and work-family conflicts in midwifery and nursing have pointed to the ‘moral distress’ associated with managing conflicting expectations in health workplaces.QuestionThis paper examines these issues in the Australian context and considers further the ethical implications of midwives not feeling ‘cared for’ themselves in health care organisations.MethodsQualitative research in several Victorian maternity units included use of interviews and observational methods to explore staff experiences of organisational and professional change. Data were coded and analysed using NVivo.FindingsMidwives reported frequent contestation as they sought to practice their ideal of themselves as caregivers in what they reported as often ‘uncaring’ workplaces. To interpret this data, we argue for seeing midwifery caring as embodied social practice taking place within ‘organisation carescapes’.ConclusionTheoretical analysis of the moral and ethical dimensions of the contemporary organisational structure of maternity care suggests that a practice-based and dialogical ethic should form the core principle of care both for women in childbirth and for their carers.     

‘The Right to Enter Every Other State’ – The Supreme Court and African American Mobility in the United States

Abstract

In 1857, U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger B. Taney stated in the Dred Scott case that if one African American was free to move unhindered throughout the United States, then all African Americans, enslaved or otherwise, would have ‘the right to enter every other State’. Such a situation, he argued, was untenable. The Supreme Court thus suggested that if U.S. citizenship included a de facto right to mobility, then African Americans could not be considered citizens. Although not formally written into the U.S. Constitution, numerous Supreme Court rulings since 1857 have underpinned the right to mobility in the United States. Yet the ability to be mobile in the United States has been fundamentally intertwined with the construction of racial identities. It was the white settlers that were free to move westward, the mobile nomadic lifestyles of the peoples they encountered being understood as primitive and inferior. Native peoples subsequently became immobilized on reservations. Similarly, African Americans in the era of slavery were immobilized on plantations and movement away from plantation space was illicit, codified as illegal, and required the hidden networks of the Underground Railroad. An African American moving through white American spaces faced often deadly consequences. African Americans should, in the parlance of the times, ‘know their place’ and not have the ambition, or the right, to move freely around the USA. To explore these contentions, I draw on four landmark U.S. Supreme Court decisions that elaborate on the mobility, or curtailment thereof, of African Americans in the United States.     

Tropophilia: A Study of People,Place and Lifestyle Travel

This paper explores the changing relations between people and place that are set in motion through mobility. Examining the mobilities of lifestyle travellers, it argues that new relations are sought by this group that undermines traditional assumptions of stability and preservation in the person–place relation. In their stead, lifestyle travellers seek dynamism, change and instability in their engagements with place. This situation suggests that the traditional recognition of the need for a rooted, static and stable set of relations with place – i.e. topophilia – can be supplemented by the love of mobility, change and transformation in the person–place relation – coined tropophilia. The paper raises the important point that a desired connection between ‘people’on one hand and ‘place’ on the other may only occur when their respective paces and trajectories positively coincide.     

U.S. births and limit cycle Models

Lee's (1974) formal demographic feedback models summarize the implications for births and age-structure of neo-Malthusian theories of baby booms such as those of Easterlin. For some parameter values, such models imply sustained cycles, so-called "limit cycles", in births. Frauenthal and Swick recently reestimated a continuous-age version of Lee's basic cohort model with U.S. series and, contrary to Lee's original findings, concluded that "limit cycles oscillations have been occurring in U.S. births." This article disputes their conclusion, ascribing it to an inconsistency in detrending procedures. Furthermore, it corrects Lee's original conclusion by showing that his alternative period labor-force feedback model, estimated from U.S. series, leads to cycles of implausibly long period. This article thus reopens the question of whether any feedback model could account for the observed cycles in U.S. births.     

Between a rock and a hard place: The evaluation of demographic forecasts

Forecasting, in general, has been described as an unavoidable yet impossible task. This irony, which comprises the ‘rock’ and the ‘hard place’ in the title, creates a high level of cognitive dissonance, which, in turn, generates stress for those both making and using forecasts that have non-trivial impacts. Why? Because the forecasted numbers that are invariably accorded a high degree of precision inexorably reveal their inevitable imprecision when the numbers forming the actuality finally take place and the numbers comprising the forecast's errors are precisely measured. The current state of the art in demography for dealing with the ‘rock’ and the ‘hard place’ is a less-than-successful strategy because it is based on an acceptance of accuracy as the primary evaluation criterion, which is the source of cognitive dissonance. One way to reduce cognitive dissonance is to change the relationship of the very cognitive elements creating it. We argue that forecast evaluations currently focused on accuracy and based on measures like RMSE and MAPE be refocused to include utility and propose for this purpose the ‘Proportionate Reduction in Error’ (PRE) measure. We illustrate our proposal with examples and discuss its advantages. We conclude that including PRE as an evaluation criterion can reduce stress by reducing cognitive dissonance without, at the same time, either trivializing the evaluation process or substantively altering how forecasts are done and presented.     

A qualitative study of the impact of adverse birth experiences on fathers

BackgroundBeing present during labour and birth can, for some fathers, result in feelings of fear, uncertainty, anxiety, and helplessness. Witnessing birth complications or adverse events may cause immediate and long-term anxiety and stress. In turn, this experience can impact on men’s sense of self and identity as a man and father and can affect his relationship with his infant and partner. The aim of this study was to explore the immediate and longer-term impact of witnessing a complicated or adverse birth experiences on men in heterosexual relationships and their role as a father.MethodsAn interpretive qualitative approach informed the design of this study. A total of 17 fathers, one from New Zealand and sixteen from Australia participated through face to face, telephone and email interviews. The ages of the men were between 24 to 48 years, and the time since the adverse birth experience ranged from 4.5 months to 20.5 years.FindingsThematic analysis revealed three major themes representing men’s experiences of witnessing a complicated birth or adverse event; ‘Worst experience of my life’, ‘Negotiating my place: communicating with health professionals’ and ‘Growing stronger or falling apart’. Men were unprepared and feared for the lives of their infants and partners, they expected and wanted to be involved in the birth and the maternity care journey, instead they were pushed to the side and excluded from the labour and birth during times of emergency. Being excluded from part or all of the birth perpetuated worry and vulnerability as, at times, men were left not knowing anything about what was happening to their partners. Midwives and other health professionals’ support was important to the way fathers adjusted and processed the complications of the labour and birth event. This experience impacted on their own mental health and their relationship with their baby and partner.ConclusionFindings demonstrate that following a complicated or adverse birth experience, men questioned their role as a father, their place in the family and their role at the birth. There is a need to include and inform the expectant father that help is available if they experience negative feelings of hopelessness or despair. Maternity services and care providers need to involve fathers so that they feel part of the maternity care system and journey which may mitigate feelings of helplessness.     

Environmentally Responsible Happy Nation Index: Refinements and 2015 Rankings

Fifty years have elapsed since Cantril (1965) published his work on The Pattern of Human Concerns. His line of inquiry has stood the test of time. In late 2012, the nationally representative South African Social Attitudes Survey replicated Cantril’s 1960s questions and methodology to elicit South Africans’ hopes and aspirations and worries and fears for self and country and their ratings of where self and country stood—past, present and will stand in future. Although Cantril’s ‘ladder-of life’ scale is still regularly used as a measure of subjective well-being, to our knowledge his full line of preliminary questioning has not been fielded again to date. Our study found that South African aspirations for self were mainly material ones for a decent standard of living and the means to achieve this goal. Hopes for the nation concentrated on economic and political progress to consolidate South Africa’s democracy. A large number of personal and national hopes were mirrored in fears that these aspirations might not be met. Cantril’s method also allowed us to review the main concerns and ratings across the diverse groups of citizens that make up the ‘rainbow nation’. There was a substantial degree of consensus on top hopes and fears but levels of standing on the Cantril ladder of life were still graded according to apartheidera inequalities with black South Africans scoring lower than other race groups. Nonetheless, the majority of South Africans rated their present life better than 5 years ago and projected life to get better in future. Such optimism may place considerable pressure on the state to deliver on personal and societal hopes as the country enters its third decade of democracy.     

Women’s experiences of having depression during pregnancy and receiving acupuncture treatment—A qualitative study

Background

Research indicates some women experiencing depression during pregnancy are dissatisfied with conventional depression treatments due to incomplete effectiveness, dislike of side effects, unsatisfactory experiences with providers and concerns regarding in-utero and breastfeeding safety. Consequently, many explore alternative options including acupuncture. To further understand women’s views, preferences and motivations in this regard, as well as their experiences of receiving acupuncture as part of a three-armed pragmatic randomised controlled trial evaluating acupuncture for antenatal depression in Sydney, Australia, in-depth interviews were conducted with a group of acupuncture recipients.

Do Preferences for Job Attributes Provide Evidence of ‘Hierarchy of Needs’?

We examine whether employees’ preferences for various job attributes are associated with their individual characteristics in ways that are in line with ‘hierarchy of needs’ theories. Using data from the fifth round of the European Social Survey, we observe the influence of socio-demographic and dispositional characteristics as well as socialization experiences on opinions regarding the importance of five different desirable job attributes. An item-by-item examination of the attributes (including ‘security’ and ‘offering a high income’) reveals that dispositional factors (measured using the battery of items in Schwartz’s theory of basic personal values) influence job attitudes in expected ways, but employees also tend to place more importance on attributes that concern them more directly. For example, while female employees care more about being able to combine work and family responsibilities, younger workers value training opportunities more highly than older ones. Regarding socialization experiences, we find that job security is more important for those who have been unemployed in the past. We interpret our findings to mean that ‘hierarchy of needs’ theories are valid in the context of job attitudes in the sense that the ranking of preferred job attributes is quite predictable once individual characteristics are accounted for.     

Further consideration of indicators of community attachment

Two studies of contradictory results concerning models of community attachment are briefly reviewed, one of which reported strong support for a ‘systemic’ model while the other placed greater emphasis on the relationship of size of place with attachment. Using data from 27 communities located in Iowa, measures used in both studies are replicated to the extent possible. Length of residence, age, and local social ties, important elements in the ‘systemic’ model of community attachment, are more strongly related to attachment than is size of place in this restudy.     

Taming the road,tamed by the road: sense of road as place among Indigenous Bedouin in an ethnic frontier in Israel

ABSTRACT

We propose the concept ‘sense of road as place’ for an Indigenous group within an ethnic frontier, specifically in the case of the Israeli Bedouin. A road in this spatial context carries far greater meanings than elsewhere, particularly when also impacted by power relationships with the state. We reveal how Road 31 was/is subjectified by the Bedouin as a place prior to and after an upgrade. Initially they were able, through their Indigenous spatiality, to tame the road into their informal mobility and make it a place, but following the upgrade their informal mobility has been tamed into formal state-regulated mobility, making the road a non-place.     

Cohort Parity Analysis and Fertility Transition Dynamics: Reconstructing Historical Trends in Fertility Control from a Single Census

The Cohort Parity Analysis (CPA) method for the indirect measurement of the extent of marital fertility control makes use of parity distribution data of the kind reported, for specified marriage duration and marriage-age (or current age) groups of women, by a fertility census. Corresponding to every such distribution, CPA yields efficient upper and lower bounds on the proportion of controllers in the specified cohort, as well as bounds for the parity distribution of the controllers. As the women who belong to different marriage cohorts are observed at different durations of marriage in a census, it is possible to infer inter-cohort trends in the extent of fertility control (at some specified marriage duration(s)) if one knows the time pattern of the adoption of control among the members of each cohort. It is shown in this paper that robust estimates of the intracohort diffusion pattern can be obtained from the census cross-section itself, by supplementing the basic assumptions of the CPA framework with a plausible assumption about the behaviour of the ‘representative’ controller in a given cohort. The estimation technique is illustrated by applications to data for married women in urban Eire from the Census of Ireland in 1911, and to native white married women in the U.S. South from the U.S. Census of 1910.     

Selection,Language Heritage,and the Earnings Trajectories of Black Immigrants in the United States

Research suggests that immigrants from the English-speaking Caribbean surpass the earnings of U.S.-born blacks approximately one decade after arriving in the United States. Using data from the 1980–2000 U.S. censuses and the 2005–2007 American Community Surveys on U.S.-born black and non-Hispanic white men as well as black immigrant men from all the major sending regions of the world, I evaluate whether selective migration and language heritage of immigrants’ birth countries account for the documented earnings crossover. I validate the earnings pattern of black immigrants documented in previous studies, but I also find that the earnings of most arrival cohorts of immigrants from the English-speaking Caribbean, after residing in the United States for more than 20 years, are projected to converge with or slightly overtake those of U.S.-born black internal migrants. The findings also show three arrival cohorts of black immigrants from English-speaking African countries are projected to surpass the earnings of U.S.-born black internal migrants. No arrival cohort of black immigrants is projected to surpass the earnings of U.S.-born non-Hispanic whites. Birth-region analysis shows that black immigrants from English-speaking countries experience more rapid earnings growth than immigrants from non-English-speaking countries. The arrival-cohort and birth-region variation in earnings documented in this study suggest that selective migration and language heritage of black immigrants’ birth countries are important determinants of their initial earnings and earnings trajectories in the United States.     

On Our Memory of Gay Sullivan: A Hidden Trajectory

ABSTRACT

This article examines psychiatrist Harry Stack Sullivan's approach to the issue of homosexuality. Sullivan (1892–1949), well-known for his interpersonal theory of mental illness, is believed to have accomplished a high recovery rate in his treatment of schizophrenia during the 1920s. Most of his patients, as well as Sullivan himself, were concerned about their “homosexual” orientations. He encouraged physical affection between male patients and male attendants, believing that it would free patients from their guilt for their “unconventional” sexuality. But he kept his compelling practice hidden, not bringing it into open discussion to confront the definition of homosexuality as “sickness.” This article traces the process in which the omission of the important aspect of Sullivan's practice began during his lifetime and continued in the scholarship since. In so doing, the article suggests a nuanced understanding of this important figure in the U.S. intellectual and cultural history of homosexuality.     

Midwifery continuity of care for women with complex pregnancies in Australia: An integrative review

BackgroundAll women require access to quality maternity care. Continuity of midwifery care can enhance women’s experiences of childbearing and is associated with positive outcomes for women and infants. Much research on these models has been conducted with women with uncomplicated pregnancies; less is known about outcomes for women with complexities.AimTo explore the outcomes and experiences for women with complex pregnancies receiving midwifery continuity of care in Australia.MethodsThis integrative review used Whittemore and Knafl’s approach. Authors searched five electronic databases (PubMed/MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, Scopus, and MAG Online) and assessed the quality of relevant studies using the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) appraisal tools.FindingsFourteen studies including women with different levels of obstetric risk were identified. However, only three reported outcomes separately for women categorised as either moderate or high risk. Perinatal outcomes reported included mode of birth, intervention rates, blood loss, perineal trauma, preterm birth, admission to special care and breastfeeding rates. Findings were synthesised into three themes: ‘Contributing to safe processes and outcomes’, ‘Building relational trust’, and ‘Collaborating and communicating’. This review demonstrated that women with complexities in midwifery continuity of care models had positive experiences and outcomes, consistent with findings about low risk women.DiscussionThe nascency of the research on midwifery continuity of care for women with complex pregnancies in Australia is limited, reflecting the relative dearth of these models in practice.ConclusionDespite favourable findings, further research on outcomes for women of all risk is needed to support the expansion of midwifery continuity of care.     

Producing Thailand as a transit country: borders,advocacy, and destitution

ABSTRACT

The space of the ‘transit country’ is increasingly depicted in policy and NGO rhetoric as a taken-for-granted space where migrants pass through on their way to seek protection in the Global North. Yet I argue that the ‘transit country’ is a contested space, a space where ‘temporariness’ may be produced purposefully in order to limit opportunities for protection. In this paper, I argue that Thailand produces itself as a transit country in order to manage and control refugee and asylum seeker populations. Through several discursive and material tactics, including security spectacles, legal maneuvering, and migrant destitution, Thailand maintains and exploits the status of a ‘transit country.’ The purposeful construction of a place where ‘no one will stay’ challenges depictions of migration as linear movements defined by sources and destinations, where transit spaces become only more distance to traverse. While the production of transit countries has always been political, the case of Thailand suggests that the politics involved need not center the migration deterrence efforts of traditional destination countries of the Global North, but have implications within states and regions of the Global South as well.