The spread of anti-natal knowledge and practice in Nigeria

Abstract In March/April 1969 the Demographic Training and Research Unit, University of Ife, surveyed 8,400 respondents of both sexes to investigate their knowledge and use of anti-natal practices and the sources of that knowledge. The area sampled was a stratified cross-section of Nigeria extending inland 500 miles from Lagos. Data are analysed by age cohorts of respondents and by the date of change in knowledge or practice. It is shown that anti-natal knowledge and practice decline with distance from Lagos, that contraception is widely practised amongst the richer towns and those with a higher proportion of educated people, and to a smaller extent among farmers than restricted knowledge or means would alone indicate. Recently the spread of both knowledge and practice has been faster than could be explained by socio-economic change and has largely resulted from changing attitudes to anti-natal practice and increased discussion of the subject in the world as a whole. Within Nigeria this has been helped by rising levels of urbanization and education, which are the two major determinants of anti-natal knowledge and practice in the country. The spread of such practice has led to an increased employment of traditional anti-natal methods, but this increase is small compared with the much greater resort now being made to modern contraception and induced abortion. The mass media have been of particular importance in introducing new knowledge, while the spread of such knowledge has owed most to discussions between friends of the same sex.     

Economic Independence and Union Formation in Sweden

Although sociologists, demographers, and economists are generally agreed that economic independence enhances the likelihood that men will marry, there is disagreement concerning its effect on women. The view that economic independence weakens women's incentive to marry has probably been the most influential, although it has been subjected to few rigorous empirical tests with individual-level data. In the present paper we examine the predictors of forming a first cohabiting union, of progressing from this union to marriage, and of marrying without previously cohabiting by applying hazard regression to event-history data from the 1992 Swedish Family Survey, supplemented by earnings data extracted from the national taxation register. We test a battery of measures that reflect people's past, current, and potential attachment to the labour market. We find that the correlates of union formation for women are largely indistinguishable from the correlates of union formation for men, and that far from being less likely than other women to cohabit or to marry, women with a greater degree of economic self-sufficiency are more likely to do so.     

The impact of water supply and sanitation on infant mortality: Individual-level evidence from Tartu,Estonia, 1897–1900

Evidence from a number of historical studies has demonstrated a strong impact of the provision of clean water on mortality risks, while no clear effect has been reported in others. We investigated the relationship between water supply, sanitation, and infant survival in Tartu, a university town in Estonia, 1897–1900. Based on data from parish registers, which were linked to the first census of the Russian Empire, the analysis reveals a clear disadvantage for infants in households using surface water, compared with families that acquired water from groundwater or artesian wells. The impact is stronger in the later stages of infancy. Competing-risk analysis shows that the effect is more pronounced for deaths caused by diseases of the digestive system. Our findings suggest that it may have been possible to improve the water supply, and consequently reduce infant mortality, before the introduction of piped water and sewage systems.     

Size and structure of the household in England over three centuries

Abstract Data giving sizes and structures of households have been rare for any country before the institution of the official census, and have to be gleaned from surviving documents containing listings of inhabitants. This article, the first of two, describes the collection of listings of inhabitants of English communities which is being assembled by the Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social Structure and the methods by which the hundred most informative of them have been submitted to analysis. When ranged alongside the information on mean household size derived from the official British census since its inception in 1801, the results of this analysis suggest the following. 1. Mean household size in England and Wales as a whole was relatively constant at 4·75 or a little below for the whole period from the sixteenth century until 19II, and has only fallen since that date. The reduction of about one-third starting in 1921 may therefore be the first of considerable magnitude ever to occur: it seems to have been particularly rapid between 1911 and 1931. 2. Mean household size in England and Wales has been surprisingly resistant to demographic fluctuation on the one hand and to the structural influences of industrialization on the other, until the last fifty or sixty years. 3. The traditional household in England has never been extended on any definition, at least since the sixteenth century. Mean household size varied with social status, and a majority lived in households of six or more members. But this distribution was due to the very large numbers of servants living in and not to the presence of resident kin, who seem to have been rare. 4. The relationship between fertility, mortality and mean household size is different from what has been supposed. This article ends by registering the paradox that proportion of children in a pre-industrial English community apparently seems to be negatively, not positively, related to its mean household size, and this theme will be taken up in the second article. These four points are illustrated by a series of tables drawn from the analysis of the one hundred communities.     

中国农民工最新生存状况研究——基于765名农民工调查数据的分析

调查表明,当前农民工的状况得到有效的改善,特别是工资收入有了明显的提高,拖欠问题有所缓解,政府给农民工提供的服务有所加强,但是农民工收入低、处境困难等基本问题还没有得到根本改变,尤其是农民工比较强烈的市民化愿望也远远没有实现,所以必须在进一步落实各项解决农民工问题的政策的同时,还需要进行制度创新,加大相关投入,逐步消除农民工市民化的制度障碍和资金困难,从根本上解决农民工问题。     

Public health policy and gay bathhouses

Public health policy on bathhouses has been limited and poorly documented. This volume is intended to expand policy-makers' and prevention-professionals' knowledge and awareness about gay bathhouses. The present paper provides a context and an overview for the volume by describing the bathhouse environment and how it differs from other public sex environments, and by describing public policies that have been implemented.     

Measurement errors in survey questions: Explaining response variability

In this paper, the response variability in questions from the Swedish Survey of Living Conditions, is studied. A multivariate study of the variation over questions has been done. This study uses questions as statistical units. The questions have been classified in a number of respects, dealing with question character and structure, what the questions ask about and what they require from the interviewee. The study shows that a substantial part of the response variability, i.e., the variation in reliability, can be explained by a few characteristics of the questions.     

A reconstruction of the size and composition of Jewish Holocaust survivors in the Netherlands, 1945

Compared to other countries that have suffered from the Nazioccupation, the destructive impact of the Holocaust on theJewish population has been particularly strong in the Netherlands. This paper gives a demographicreconstruction of the Jewish population in the Netherlands by the end of the war (1945),disaggregated by age and sex. The reconstruction is based on two approaches: a forwardprojection 1941–1945, starting from registration data supplemented by information onHolocaust losses; and a backward projection 1966–1945, starting from an enumerationof Halachic Jews carried out in 1966. The two approaches yieldtwo estimates that are comfortingly similar.     

Women's Responsibilities,Freedoms, and Pleasures

In the building of the Swedish welfare state, men and women have been seen as equal in their roles as parents, breadwinners, and citizens. This conception is not confirmed by the images produced by advertising. The article presents an analysis of alcohol-related advertisements published in Swedish women's magazines from the 1960s to the 2000s. The advertisements are approached as representations of gendered performances in which gender is made visible “here and now” by placing women in particular subject positions that are related to private or public spheres and associated with specific kinds of gender norms reflecting women's shifting responsibilities, freedoms, and pleasures. The article asks what kind of drinking-related subject positions have been portrayed as desirable in women's magazine advertisements over the past few decades and how those positions have changed as we move closer to the present day. The analysis reveals both continuity and variability in alcohol-related subject positions in Swedish women's magazine advertisements. It shows how women's responsibilities, freedoms, and pleasures have expanded from the traditional domain of the private sphere to multiple new areas as Sweden has developed from a modern welfare state to a late-modern competition state. However, this does not mean that the traditional gender norms have disintegrated and been replaced by equal gender norms. Rather, it seems that traditional gender norms continue to be reproduced in alcohol-related advertising.     

Soziologie der Gleichgewichtsökonomie

In particular industries, primarily Information- and Communications Technology and theCreative Industries, there has been a development away from the standard working model towards atypical work and increased self-employed work. The new work arrangements are characterized by more freedom, flexibility and autonomy, but also by new problems, different from the ones of standard work. As a reaction to the new work order new forms of shared offices have been emerging in different countries all around the world during the past years. For my diploma thesis I conducted an empirical study about this phenomena. My essential hypothesis is, that Coworking Spaces can be seen as a spatial manifestation of new work arrangements and the ways people approach them. This article is about requirements and demands that are fundamental for the emergence of Coworking Spaces, as well as the possibilities to support users in their individual work lives.     

The mortality impact of the August 2003 heat wave in France: investigating the 'harvesting' effect and other long-term consequences

In August 2003, Western Europe experienced a deadly heat wave. It is estimated that 15,000 people died in France from its direct effects. Applying an indirect estimation technique to the monthly number of deaths by sex, age, and place of residence for the period 1996-2003, we estimate the number of years that would have remained to those who died from the heat wave had they been spared. The paper also evaluates the role of the 'harvesting' effect of the 2003 heat wave in explaining the deficit of deaths recorded in 2004--estimated at 23,000 out of an expected total of 535,000 deaths. The harvesting effect was modest and accounted for fewer than 5,000 of the 'missing' deaths in 2004. The mortality decline in 2004 is thus due mainly to other factors. One hypothesis is that special efforts have been directed towards isolated older people as a consequence of the heat wave.     

“Population Invasion” versus Urban Exclusion in the Tibetan Areas of Western China

This article examines the confluence of local population transitions (demographic transition and urbanization) with non‐local in‐migration in the Tibetan areas of western China. The objective is to assess the validity of Tibetan perceptions of “population invasion” by Han Chinese and Chinese Muslims. The article argues that migration to Tibet from other regions in China has been concentrated in urban areas and has been counterbalanced by more rapid rates of natural increase in the Tibetan rural areas—among the highest rates in China. Overall, it is not clear whether there is any risk of population invasion in the Tibetan areas. However, given that non‐Tibetan migration to Tibet has been concentrated in urban areas, Tibetans have probably become a minority in many of their strategic cities and towns, and non‐Tibetan migrants definitely dominate urban employment. Therefore, while the Tibetan notion of population invasion may be a misperception, it reflects a legitimate concern that in‐migration may be exacerbating the economic exclusion of Tibetan locals in the context of rapid urban‐centered development.     

Far eastern patterns of Mortality

Summary In this paper a mortality pattern is identified which has not previously been described by model mortality schedules and seems to have occurred only in populations in the Far East. Mortality schedules in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Korea during the past several decades have been characterized by excessively high death rates of men at the older ages. This excess mortality has progressively diminished and most recent death rates for men show only slight deviations from West model life tables. An examination of statistics on causes of death suggests that tuberculosis is at least partly responsible for the excess mortality of men.     

The (Non-) Effect of Unemployment Benefits: Variations in the Effect of Unemployment on Life-Satisfaction Between EU Countries

A negative effect of unemployment on subjective well-being has been demonstrated in many studies casting substantial doubt about assumptions of decisions of individuals to choose unemployment voluntarily as the utility-maximising option. These studies have been extended to take into account national-level context factors which have been shown to moderate the relationship between unemployment and life-satisfaction. So far most studies focussed mainly on economic indicators, although demographic and cultural differences between countries also affect how unemployment is perceived. An important variable that is not included in the majority of proper multilevel studies is the extent of unemployment benefits. Traditional micro-economic approaches argue that more extensive provisions should reduce the cost of unemployment and therefore reduce the motivation to regain employment—reflected in a reduction of the negative impact of unemployment. This study investigates this claim by using European Values Study data from all European Union countries and Norway as well as harmonised macroeconomic statistics from Eurostat. It finds that the effect of unemployment on life-satisfaction is indeed moderated by economic and demographic national-level factors, but not by unemployment benefits. To what extent unemployment reduces life-satisfaction varies greatly between countries, but appears to not be influenced by the extent of state unemployment provisions.     

Mortality and fertility in Arctic Communities Greenland - A case study

Summary The purpose of this paper is to estimate the present level of mortality and fertility as well as its history amongst the indigenous population of Greenland during the period 1834-1953 on the basis of a series of censuses taken during that time. Mortality and fertility parameters have been estimated by techniques particularly suited for the analysis of incomplete demographic data - e.g. stable population analysis. During the period studied Greenland was a Danish colony. It did not become constitutionally part of Denmark until 1953. The paper shows that even though the importance of Danish - and other European - influence should not be underestimated, the socio-economic structure of Greenland was relatively stable until 1953. The results show an extremely high mortality and a correspondingly high fertility. There is also evidence that mortality fluctuated considerably during the period. This might also be true of fertility, but it is impossible to establish this by means of the techniques used. These results are supported by an analysis of registrations of births and deaths for part of the period. The paper concludes with an evaluation of the validity of the techniques of estimation, having regard to the nature of the Greenland censuses. It is pointed out that the empirical material from which model stable populations must have been constructed varies somewhat from that applicable to an Arctic population.     

The Bangladesh fertility decline: an interpretation

The claim has been made, notably in a 1994 World Bank report, that the Bangladesh fertility decline shows that efficient national family planning programs can achieve major fertility declines even in countries that are very poor, and even if females have a low status and significant socioeconomic change has not occurred. This article challenges this claim on the grounds that Bangladesh did experience major social and economic change, real and perceived, over the last two decades. This proposition is supported by official data and by findings of the authors' 1997 field study in rural southeast Bangladesh. That study demonstrates that most Bangladeshis believe that conditions are very different from the situation a generation ago and that on balance there has been improvement. Most also believe that more decisions must now be made by individuals, and these include decisions to have fewer children. In helping to achieve these new fertility aims, however, the services provided by the family planning program constituted an important input.     

Smallpox and Epidemiological-Demographic Change in Europe: The Role of Vaccination

The relationship between smallpox epidemics, overall mortality and population growth, as reflected in an excess of births over deaths, has been examined with regard to the main sources of evidence from different parts of Europe. Epidemiological-demographic changes concomitant with different phases in the introduction of immunisation against the disease have been assessed in the light of evidence from records showing some causes of death as well as numbers of burials. By the eighteenth century; smallpox epidemics appear to have become predominant as an influence on fluctuations in overall mortality in much of Europe. Evidence is reviewed which suggests that although inoculation had probably protected many from smallpox after the mid-eighteenth century, to an extent that could have reduced overall mortality, vaccination enthusiastically promoted after 1800 had a dramatic epidemiological-demographic impact. Data from many sources have been summarised and indicate that the disease was virtually brought under control in North Western Europe during the course of the nineteenth century. Smallpox had probably caused between 8 and 20 per cent of all deaths directly in eighteenth-century Europe as well as unquantifiable secondary and associated morbidity and mortality. The removal of such a deleterious disease from a chain of infections affecting the population at this time, accounted for much of the increasingly more important role of mortality decline as the significant factor in demographic change. The evidence is circumstantial, but suggests that the unprecedented population growth of the early decades of the nineteenth century could in large part have been due to the control of smallpox through vaccination measures. The virtual elimination of the disease as a killer in Europe by the end of the century, following legislation and revaccination programmes was a unique achievement with further consequences for sustained population growth and improvements in health which for many were the only source of improvements in the standard of life.     

Explaining fertility transitions

In this essay. I suggest that the crisis in our understanding of fertility transitions is more apparent than real. Although most existing theories of fertility transition have been partially or wholly discredited, this reflects a tendency to assume that all fertility transitions share one or two causes, to ignore mortality decline as a precondition for fertility decline, to assume that pretransitional fertility is wholly governed by social constraints rather than by individual decision-making. and to test ideas on a decadal time scale. I end the essay by suggesting a perceptual. interactive approach to explaining fertility transitions that is closely allied to existing theories but focuses on conditions that lead couples to switch from postnatal to prenatal controls on family size.     

A Complexity Approach to Psychological Well-Being in Adolescence: Major Strengths and Methodological Issues

Psychological well-being in adolescence is an increasing field of study. Deepening in its knowledge during this period of life can be of a lot of help to the designing of more adjusted prevention programs aimed to avoid or reduce the problems adolescents might be experiencing. Complexity theories can be a productive alternative to the important limitations explanations about psychological well-being in adolescence have nowadays. Answers to a questionnaire have been obtained from a sample of 968 Catalan adolescents from 12 to 16 years old including 29 psychological well-being indicators measuring 8 dimensions related to satisfaction with specific life domains, self-esteem, perceived social support, perception of control and values.A structural equation modelling approach to complexity that focuses on the non-linearity property has been followed. Given the large number of dimensions, the model has been estimated in two steps. First, a confirmatory factor analysis model has been fitted to the 29 indicators and appropriate factor scores have been saved. Then all possible products and squared terms of the factor scores have been computed and have been used as predictors of the dependent variable using an ordered logit model.The results show that a non-linear model including interaction effects among the 8 dimensions, age and gender, has a higher explanatory power to predict satisfaction with life as a whole, compared to a linear model estimated from those same indicators.This work must be understood as a first step, basically a methodological one, to the future elaboration of new models of psychological well-being in adolescence to be based on the principles defended by complexity theories.     

A Comparison of Alternative Models of Individual Quality of Life for Social Service Recipients

There is considerable debate in the area of individual quality of life research regarding the factor structure of the QOL construct that is focused on the number and composition of QOL factors and domains, and its hierarchical nature. The main goal of this study involve testing by means of confirmatory factor analyses five models that have been pointed out by recent scientific literature: firstly, an unidimensional model; secondly, a QOL model that consisted of eight inter-correlated domains proposed by Schalock and Verdugo (2002); thirdly, a model composed of these eight 1st-order factors and one 2nd- order factor; the forth and five are model with the eight 1st-order factors and three 2nd-order factor that has been denominated in other studies ‘Salamanca model’ and ‘Schalock model’. Data were collected from 3.029 social service recipients from Catalonia (Spain) who completed the GENCAT Scale, an objective QOL questionnaire. The best fit of the eight inter-correlated and 1st order domains was empirically demonstrated. Implications for future research are also discussed.