A Woman Who Serves People Whole-heartedly

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Advanced-Age People the Fastest Growing Group

During the decade from 1990 to 2000, the number of Chinese people aged 80 and over increased from 7.68 million to 11.99 million, with an annual increase of 4.56%, much higher than the rates for all elderlypeople or for the total population. It is so far thefastest-growing group in China. Estimates show that by 2050, China will have more than 100 million people aged 80 and over, accountingfor 25% of the elderly, compared to todays 9%. By that time, there will be one advanced-age person for e…     

Ageing, Leisure, and Social Connectedness: How could Leisure Help Reduce Social Isolation of Older People?

This study investigates the relation between leisure activities and the social status of the elderly based on a heterogeneous sample of the Dutch population. Close relationships are also analyzed to identify which people could serve as successful stimulators of leisure participation. The social profile confirms that older people have fewer social contacts and often feel lonely. This study shows that leisure activities explain a significant part of older people’s social connectedness. Voluntary work, cultural activities, holiday, sports, reading books, hobbies and shopping are found to be successful predictors for social connectedness of older people. Watching TV, listening to the radio, and spending time behind the computer (passive activities) were not associated with social connectedness. Friends correlate positively to participation in leisure activities. Partners play a role in participation in cultural activities and sports; parents play a role in participation in voluntary work and holidays; siblings play a role in voluntary work and sports; and children play a role in cultural activities, reading books, and shopping. Local communities can use these close relationships and develop special programs to increase social connectedness and hence improve quality of life for older adults.     

How Many People Can China Support?

MuchhasbeensaidofChina'spopulationproblem.Currelltly,thenationhas1.25billiollpeople,themostpopulouscountryintheworld.Mostexpertsagreethatintileyearstocome,itspopulationwillcontinuetogrowuntil2050,whenazerogrowthrateispredicted.Bythen,thenation'spopulationwillreachanunprecedelltedlevelfI.6billion.Tilequestionarisesllaturallyfhow1llanypeoplecanChinareallysustain?WillChinabeoverwhelmedsomedaybyover-population?Awidelyheldviewarguesthatatmaximum,ChinacansustainI.6billionpeople.Thisviewwasfirstp…     

Addictive Substances,Users’ Health,and the Government’s Perceived Responsibility: French People’s Perspective

This paper uses a semiparametric latent variable transformation model for multiple outcomes to examine the effect of education and maternal education on female multidimensional well-being and proposes a procedure to build a well-being index that is less susceptible to functional form misspecification. We model multidimensional well-being as an unobserved common factor underlying the observed well-being outcomes. The semiparametric methodology allows us to alleviate misspecification bias by combining multiple indicators into a latent construct in an unspecified, data-driven way. Using data from female participants of the 1974–2010 waves of the US General Social Survey, we find that education, intelligence, and maternal education contribute positively to multidimensional well-being. However, the effects of education and maternal education on female multidimensional well-being declined steadily between the mid-1970s and the 1990s, and have not rebounded since.     

What China Has Done for Its Handicapped People

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Health Attainment of Chinese People Has Been Steadily Improved

正To fully understand the levels and changing trends of health attainment of China’s urban and rural residents,comprehend health-related policies and effects of health education programmes and provid escientific basis for governments and health and family planning administrative departments at various levels to formulate health     

Education of Children Among Migrant People A Major Concern

Receiving education is one of the fundamental rights that all children are entitled to. China抯 law grants nine-year compulsory education to all children. In practice, however, many children of migrant people have been deprived of this right. For those who did attend school, the situation is also worrisome. Major problems include a low attendance rate and high dropout rate. A recent survey conducted in Beijing indicates that over 100,000 out of the 3 million migrant population in Beiji…     

Realizing Racial and Ethnic Neighborhood Preferences? Exploring the Mismatches Between What People Want,Where They Search,and Where They Live

The housing search process is an overlooked mechanism in the scholarly research that seeks to understand the causes of persistent racial residential segregation in the United States. Past research has explored in detail the preferences people hold in terms of the racial and ethnic composition of their neighborhoods, and more recently some have also examined the correspondence between racial and ethnic neighborhood preferences and current neighborhood racial/ethnic composition. But an intermediate stage—the racial/ethnic composition of where people search—has not been investigated. We analyze a subsample (n = 382) from the 2004–2005 Chicago Area Study to demonstrate the value of systematically studying the matches—or mismatches—between preferences, search locations, and neighborhood outcomes. We find that for whites, not only their current neighborhoods but also the neighborhoods in which they search for housing have larger percentages of whites than they say they prefer. In contrast, blacks—and to a lesser extent Latinos—search in neighborhoods that correspond to their preferences, but reside in neighborhoods with a larger percentage own group. Logistic regression analyses reveal that mismatches are associated with both a lack of information and inadequate finances, but also may be due to socially desirable responding for whites in particular. Our results provide suggestive evidence of the importance of unpacking the search process more generally and draw attention to what are likely to be productive new future data collection efforts as well as an area potentially ripe for policy interventions.     

Prohibition,Regulation or Free Market: A Mapping of Colombian People’s Perspectives Regarding National Drug Policies

Colombian laypersons’ perspectives regarding actual and potential drug policies were examined. Adults (N = 395) aged 18–68 and living in Bogota were presented with 24 vignettes that were composed according to two within-subject orthogonal factor designs: (a) Demand for drugs in the country × Current government policy regarding soft and hard drugs (from “laissez faire” policy for all drugs to complete prohibition of all drugs) and (b) Information campaigns regarding the dangerousness of drugs × Current policy. Participants rated the level of acceptability of each policy. Seven different perspectives were identified that can be grouped into five broad views. The first one (50 % of participants) was called “radical constructionists” because participants considered that all policies were unacceptable. The second one (19 %) was called “cultural conservatives” because only one drug policy was considered fully acceptable: complete prohibition (although half of the members of this group were willing to allow soft drugs to be sold freely). The third one (14 %) was called “progressive prohibitionists” because the preferred policies in this group were either complete prohibition or complete regulation by the government. The fourth one (8 %) was called “free trade libertarians” because the dominant opinion was that the drug market should be free. The last one (5 %) was called “progressive advocates of legalization” because the preferred policy in this group was complete regulation of all substances. In most cases, the presence of information campaigns was highly valued. Methodological implications and implications for decision-makers are discussed.     

How Much Will Feeding More and Wealthier People Encroach on Forests?

Forests have recently expanded in many countries. The success of the world, including both rich and poor, in following this trend depends on future changes in population, income per capita, appetite, and crop yields. Extended to the year 2050, the strengths of these forces, estimated from experience, project cropland shrinking by nearly 200 million hectares, more than three times the land area of France. Changes in some of the forces, with crop yield the most manageable, could double the shrinkage. Reasonable assumptions about the forces can also make the distribution of spared land between rich and poor countries roughly equal. Although the encroachment factor translating cropland change into forest land change varies greatly, one‐third or more of the cropland spared could become forest.     

Influences and Consequences of Well-being Among Australian Young People: 1980–1995

This paper investigates the determinants and consequences of subjective well-being. Although there is an extensive literature on well-being there are few panel studies which measure well-being frequently and over a long time period. The Australian Youth in Transition panel data is used to examine several aspects of well-being: the influence of sociodemographic and labour market characteristics, the dynamics of well-being and its determinants; the isolation of aging, cohort and contextual effects, and the effects of well-being on marital status and labour market outcomes. Women and those married or in de facto relationships show higher levels of well-being. The effect of being in a de facto relationship is sensitive to age. The presence of children decreases subjective-well-being and again this effect is age-specific. Income and occupational statusalso influence well-being with income having consistent effects and status effects declining. The unemployed consistently show substantially lower levels of well-being. Contextual effects were identified, increases in the national level of unemployment decrease average well-being levels in all but the youngest cohort. Controlling for lagged effects, subjective well- being has substantial effects on the odds of being married and unemployed, smaller effects on income and age specific effects on being in a de facto relationship.     

Commentary on: Why Do Pacific People with Multiple Ethnic Affiliations Have Poorer Subjective Wellbeing? Negative Ingroup Affect Mediates the Identity Tension Effect,Manuela & Sibley, 2012

This commentary is a response to the article described above. While applauding the attention given to the multi-ethnic population, it queries some aspects of the study design and findings. Specifically, I examine the assumptions underpinning the use of a Pacific measure of family wellbeing to evaluate families that are not only Pacific origin, ask some questions regarding the sampling methods and content, and question the inference that because people with Pacific/non-Pacific multi-ethnic affiliations have lower self-esteem, mediated by less warmth towards Pacific peoples, that this necessarily reflects the internalisation of negative beliefs espoused by the dominant Pakeha (white) ethnic group. Alternative possible explanations for this are explored.     

Do People Move When They Say They Will? Inconsistencies in Individual Migration Behavior

Conventional theories of migration decision–making posit that there exists a simple, sequential link between residential satisfaction, mobility intentions and actual moving behavior. Past empirical work, however, has indicated substantial discrepancies between mobility intentions and behavior. This study investigates behavioral inconsistencies in migration using data drawn from the 1985, 1987 and 1989 rounds of the American Housing Survey (AHS). Mobility is inferred by comparing occupants of the same housing units in two consecutive surveys. The results show that a substantial number of people do not realize their intention to move and many move unexpectedly; with or without prior intentions to move, movers and stayers appear to differ significantly in terms of their sociodemographic characteristics. The extent to which individuals act consistently with their intentions also differs along with their attributes (e.g., tenure, age, education and gender). The paper discusses possible reasons for behavioral inconsistencies in migration based on recent developments in social psychological theories of human behavior.     

Changes in the Living Arrangements of Elderly People in Greece: 1974–1999

During the period 1974–1999 two contrasting trends were observed with respect to the living arrangements of older people in Greece. On the one hand the proportion of older people living with their unmarried children had been slightly rising while on the other hand the proportion of older people living with their married children declined substantially. As a result of the declining trend in the incidence of co-residence with married children the percentage of older people living with their children or other members of their extended family fell by 25% points (from a 58% in 1974 to about 33% in 1999). Our analysis suggests that the main driving force behind the decrease in co-residence between older people and their married children was the rise in the incomes of older people (which resulted from some important exogenous policy changes which increased substantially pension incomes). On the other hand, the main driving force behind the slight increase in the co-residence with unmarried children was the increase in the percentage of unmarried younger people (which is associated with the postponement in the age of marriage) and the high and in some cases increasing needs of children’s generation.     

Are Happier People More Willing to Make Income Sacrifices to Protect the Environment?

There is considerable amount of debate about the effect of affluence on environmental concern. The empirical literature is inconclusive on this debate. Increasingly, more studies are examining individual level correlates of environmental concern. On the other hand, a large number of studies examine the correlates of happiness. An important aspect of the economics of happiness literature emphasizes the relationship between environmental quality or concern and happiness. A few scholars suggest that happiness may influence environmental concern. Yet studies on whether happiness affects environmental concern are lacking. This paper empirically investigates the effect of happiness on environmental concern in a cross-national sample. Using data for 18 countries, I find that happier people are more willing to make income sacrifices to protect the environment. This finding holds for residents of both African and developed countries.     

French People’s Positions Regarding National Policies About Illicit Drugs: A Preliminary Study

French people’s positions regarding actual and potential drug policies were examined. Adults (N = 225) aged 18–81 were presented with 28 vignettes that were composed according to a three within-subject orthogonal factor design: (a) demand for drugs in the country, (b) information campaigns regarding their dangerousness, and (c) current state policy regarding soft and hard drugs, from “laissez faire” policy for all drugs to complete prohibition of all drugs. Participants rated the level of acceptability of each policy. Three clusters were identified. The first one (32 % of participants) was called “Radical Constructionists” because participants considered that all policies were unacceptable. The second one (26 %) was called “Prohibitionists” because only one drug policy was considered fully acceptable: Complete prohibition with the condition that information campaigns are conducted. The third cluster (42 %) was called “Regulationists” because only one drug policy was considered as fully acceptable: Complete state regulation (with the same condition). In all clusters, the “laissez-faire” policy was always judged as the least acceptable one, even when it was just about soft drugs. The strongest opposition observed was not between prohibition and regulation but between “laissez-faire” on the one hand and regulation and prohibition on the other hand. Methodological implications and implications for decision-makers are discussed.