Variation in job opportunities for men and women in the Swiss labor market 1962–1989

For the period of the 1960s to the late 1980s, this paper examines variation in job opportunities for men and women in the occupationally segmented and highly gender-segregated Swiss labor market. Job opportunities are defined as the volume of job openings potentially accessible to individuals with given skills and other desired characteristics. They are conceptualized within the queuing approach, taking into account the structure and cyclical fluctuations of the Swiss labor market.     

Midlife and older women’s experiences and advice about sex with men,risk behaviors,and HIV prevention education

This article reports on older women’s experiences and advice on condom use, male-female relationships, HIV risk, and prevention education. It reports on findings from five written, open-ended questions with 110 ethnically and economically diverse women, 40–80 years old. Analysis revealed four themes: (a) Gap between condom use advice and condom use behavior; (b) invisibility with age; (c) negative expectations of men; and (d) desire for education that breaks the silence on sex. The article discusses the meaning of the findings as they relate to current knowledge about HIV prevention education and midlife and older women and offers recommendations for research and education.     

Has the reciprocal relationship between employment and marriage changed for men? An analysis of the life histories of men born in The Netherlands between 1930 and 1970

The study presented here analyses the reciprocal relationship for men between employment career and union formation and examines whether this relationship changed across twentieth-century birth cohorts. Competing hypotheses about trends are described, using notions of role-specialization, spouse support, and uncertainty. The study is based on an investigation of the life histories of 2,795 men in the Netherlands who were born between the 1930s and the 1960s, and confirms earlier findings by showing that employment fosters marriage while marriage protects men from becoming unemployed. There is also a relationship between employment and cohabitation but it is weaker in both directions. However, the relationship between marriage or cohabitation and occupational mobility is less clear, suggesting that the economic benefits of marriage cannot be generalized to the occupational domain. Although it is commonly believed that the link for men between career and marriage has weakened over time, our comparison of birth cohorts shows that in fact this is not the case.     

The influence of financial, human and social capital on Japanese men’s and women’s health in single- and two-parent family structures

Large-scale demographic changes have been occurring in Japan over the last few decades. During this time, the proportion of two-parent (nuclear) and single-parent families have doubled. Despite this rapid increase, the health of individuals in these family structures have received limited attention, as the focus has been directed towards the health of Japan’s aging society and the health implications related to the decline in multigenerational households. However, researchers and policy planners cannot afford to overlook issues that influence the health of men and women in single- and two-parent family structures, not only because these families have become increasingly common throughout the nation, but also because the western literature has indicated that the health of families are largely influenced by the gender-by-family structure divide. Through logistic regression models, using the 1999 Nationwide Family Survey, this paper examines how financial, human and social capital influences the likelihood of good health among men and women in single- and two-parent families. As was expected, key determinants in predicting good health amongst these four sub-groups of parents were found. While parents in two-parent families were the least influenced by various measures of capital, these same measures were found to be significant in predicting good health amongst fathers, and more so mothers, in single-parent families.

Reproductive health and domestic violence: Are the poorest women uniquely disadvantaged?

We use Demographic and Health Survey data from Cambodia, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti to compare women in different poverty and violence categories in terms of their experience of selected reproductive health outcomes. "Poor" women are those who belong to the bottom quintile of households arrayed according to a widely accepted asset-based wealth index. The results suggest that women who are both poor and have experienced violence are not unique in their reproductive health disadvantage. In particular, for all three reproductive health outcomes we consider the negative association with having experienced violence cuts across all women, poor and wealthy.     

Measuring older women’s resilience: Evaluating the suitability of the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale and the Resilience Scale

ABSTRACT

The author provides conceptual and operational definitions of the construct of resilience in the context of research with older adults (aged 60 years or older). Two psychometric instruments (the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale and the Resilience Scale) are described. The psychometric properties of each instrument are discussed in relation to the research of the original developers of the tools and research conducted by other investigators. Research on the resilience of older women has yet to be initiated. The author evaluated the psychometric properties of both instruments to determine their suitability for investigation of resilience in older women.     

Challenging the colonisation of birth: Koori women’s birthing knowledge and practice

Background

The 2007 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples states that Indigenous peoples have the right to self-determination for social and cultural development. This fundamental right has been impeded worldwide through colonisation where many Indigenous peoples have had to adapt to ensure continuation of cultural knowledge and practice. In South East Australia colonisation was particularly brutal interrupting a 65,000 year-old oral culture and archives have increasing importance for cultural revival.

Pregnant adolescent women’s perceptions of depression and psychiatric services in the United States

Problem

Adolescent mothers and their children are at high-risk for depression and the associated negative educational, social, health, and economic outcomes.

Incomplete reporting of men’s fertility in the united states and britain: A research note

We evaluate men's retrospective fertility histories from the British Household Panel Survey and the U.S. Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID). Further, we analyze the PSID men's panel-updated fertility histories for their possible superiority over retrospective collection. One third to one half of men's nonmarital births and births within previous marriages are missed in estimates from retrospective histories. Differential survey underrepresentation of previously married men compared with previously married women accounts for a substantial proportion of the deficits in previous-marriage fertility. More recent retrospective histories and panel-updated fertility histories improve reporting completeness, primarily by reducing the proportion of marital births from unions that are no longer intact at the survey date.     

Cohabiting and marriage during young men’s career-development process

Using recently released cohabitation data for the male sample of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, first interviewed in 1979, I conducted multinomial discrete-time event-history analyses of how young men's career-development process affects both the formation and the dissolution of cohabiting unions. For a substantial proportion of young men, cohabitation seemed to represent an adaptive strategy during a period of career immaturity, whereas marriage was a far more likely outcome for both stably employed cohabitors and noncohabitors alike. Earnings positively affected the entry into either a cohabiting or marital union but exhibited a strong threshold effect. Once the men were in cohabiting unions, however, earnings had little effect on the odds of marrying. Men with better long-run socioeconomic prospects were far more likely to marry from either the noncohabiting or cohabiting state, and this was particularly true for blacks.     

“Doing the month” and postpartum depression among Chinese women: A Shanghai prospective cohort study

BackgroundThe Chinese postpartum custom of “doing the month” characterized by generous social support available through the traditional cultural practices was considered to protect women from postpartum depression in early puerperium.MethodsThis study used data from the Shanghai Birth Cohort, a study of 2615 postpartum women from Shanghai, China, that was conducted between 2013 and 2016. Detailed information on the traditional “doing the month” practices and the on the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale scores was collected from questionnaires administered on the 42nd day after childbirth. Logistic regression models were used to examine the association between the adopting traditional puerperium practices and postpartum depression.ResultsThe estimated prevalence of postpartum depression in women from the Shanghai area in China was 11.8% (n = 308) at six weeks postpartum. Women who went outside their homes during the first month postpartum showed higher risks of postpartum depression compared with those who never left the house (1–2 times: OR = 1.9, 95% CI = 1.4–2.4; 3–5 times: OR = 2.3, 95% CI = 1.5–3.5; ≥6 times: OR = 2.5, 95% CI = 1.2–5.1). Women with average sleep of 6 h or less per night were more likely to suffer from postpartum depression compared with those who slept 8 h (6 h: OR = 1.7, 95% CI = 1.2–2.4; less than 6 h : OR = 3.3, 95% CI = 2.2–5.0). Women who opened the house windows most of the time exhibited decreased risks of postpartum depression compared to those who never or rarely opened the windows (often: OR = 0.6, 95% CI = 0.4–0.9; always: OR = 0.4, 95% CI = 0.3–0.7).ConclusionsOur results suggested that not all the activities of “doing the month” provided protection against developing PPD. This study emphasized the need for flexibility to fit and adjust the ritual into the modern life to enhance the positive effects of traditional practices on maternal health.     

Does the way maternity care is provided affect maternal and neonatal outcomes for young women? A review of the research literature

BackgroundYoung pregnant women who continue a pregnancy are primarily from a socioeconomically deprived background. The risk factors associated with low socio-economic status may independently affect perinatal and neonatal morbidity to a greater extent than the young age of the woman. Young pregnant women are frequently sceptical about health care providers who they can perceive to be judgemental. This may lead to late booking for pregnancy care, attending few appointments, or not attending the health service for any antenatal care.QuestionDoes the way maternity care is provided affect maternal and neonatal outcomes for young women?MethodA systematic search of the major health databases.ResultsNine research articles met the eligibility criteria: one randomised controlled trial, three prospective cohort studies, two comparative studies with concurrent controls, two comparative studies with historical controls, and one case series.DiscussionProviding young women with a non-standard model of maternity care has some beneficial and no known detrimental effects on childbirth outcomes. While there is a dearth of evidence on the effectiveness of a Midwifery Group Practice model of care for young women, there is strong evidence to suggest that a Group Antenatal Care model increases antenatal visit attendance and breastfeeding initiation, and decreases the risk of preterm birth. There is research to indicate that a Young Women's Clinic model may also increase antenatal visit attendance and decrease the incidence of preterm birth.ConclusionMore well-designed and resourced midwifery models of care for young women should be implemented and rigorously researched.     

Heteronegativism? The attitudes of gay men and lesbians toward heterosexuals

Although many studies have been conducted on homophobia, little information exists about the attitudes of homosexuals toward heterosexuals. In order to compare the attitudes of both groups, a well-known homophobia questionnaire (Hudson & Ricketts, 1980) was reworded to assess the attitudes of homosexuals toward heterosexuals, forming a "heterophobia" questionnaire. The less clinical term "heteronegativism" is introduced here to refer to the range of negative feelings that gay individuals could possess regarding heterosexuals. Sixty homosexual students were matched with 60 heterosexual psychology students on sex, age, race, and education. Each group was given its respective "phobia" questionnaire. Hypotheses that homosexual participants would report less phobia and more negative experience than heterosexuals and that gay women would report more phobia than gay men were supported. Hypotheses that level of abuse in closeted homosexuals would be positively correlated with phobia scores and that being "out of the closet" would be negatively correlated with phobia scores were not supported.     

Dimensions of women’s autonomy and the influence on maternal health care utilization in a north indian city

The dimensions of women's autonomy and their relationship to maternal health care utilization were investigated in a probability sample of 300 women in Varanasi, India. We examined the determinants of women's autonomy in three areas: control over finances, decision-making power, and freedom of movement. After we control for age, education, household structure, and other factors, women with closer ties to natal kin were more likely to have greater autonomy in each of these three areas. Further analyses demonstrated that women with greater freedom of movement obtained higher levels of antenatal care and were more likely to use safe delivery care. The influence of women's autonomy on the use of health care appears to be as important as other known determinants such as education.