Beliefs and practices resulting in female deaths and fewer females than males in India

A preference for sons and the low status of females are implicated in the preponderance of males over females as reported in each census of India from the first one taken in the 19th century. A number of cultural practices, some of which are quite ancient, are involved in this sexual imbalance, namely, maternal mortality due to unhygienic lying-in and postpartum conditions and practices, female infanticide, female feticide, Sati, murder, dowry murder, and suicide. This discussion is based both on 19th and 20th century sources and on fieldwork conducted in the North Indian village of Shanti Nagar in 1958–59 and 1977–78. These practices are most prominent in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, and the Union Territory of Delhi. Initially the British tended to overlook some of them, but in the early 19th century and thereafter the British Raj passed laws to curb, especially, female infanticide and Sati. The modern Government of India has also sought to abolish dowry which would, presumably, put an end to dowry murder. Moreover, the Government has issued three circulars directing that action be taken under the penal code against anyone using a prenatal sex-determination test with the object of abortion—a directive aimed at stopping female feticide. Again with the intent of curbing female feticide, a bill providing for punishment and heavy fines for doctors violating the ban on sex-determination tests has recently been introduced in the state legislature of Maharashtra. Despite these efforts, most of the beliefs and practices here described have proved to be tenacious.     

Welfare benefits,economic opportunities,and out-of-wedlock births among black teenage girls

This article presents a model of teenage out-of-wedlock births that incorporates the effects of both welfare and nonwelfare economic opportunities. We construct measures of the likely "medium-run" income available to a teenage girl in the event of an out-of-wedlock birth and in the absence of a birth and then estimate a logit model to determine their importance in influencing fertility behavior. The model is estimated with data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics on nearly 900 black teenagers. We find weak and statistically insignificant positive effects of Aid to Families With Dependent Children (AFDC) benefit levels and stronger and significant negative effects of economic opportunities on the probability of AFDC-related out-of-wedlock teen births.     

Use of home and community-based services by elderly black and white females

The study purpose was to determine the impact of demographic, social, environmental, and health indicators on utilization of community-based services among black and white female elders. Existing data from a regional Area Agency on Aging was used and the sample (N = 1816) included low income and rural females. Races differed in use and services most frequently used were case management, outreach, congregate meal, and home delivered meals. Multiple linear and logistic regression indicated that age, payment source, income adequacy, residence, health conditions, sensory impairment, and function were associated with the number and types of services used, but these differed by race. Study findings have implications for health care providers, educators, policy makers, and planners.     

Sexual violence at first intercourse against women in Moshi, northern Tanzania: prevalence, risk factors, and consequences

To explore the relationship between sexual violence at first intercourse and later sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in Moshi, Tanzania, we analysed data from a representative household survey that comprised face-to-face interviews with 1,835 women and tests for six STIs on biological samples from 1,235 of these women. Overall, 10.9 per cent report forced first intercourse and 15.3 per cent report unwanted first intercourse. Unadjusted analysis shows a relationship between forced first intercourse and STIs (OR: 1.72, 95 per cent CI: 1.19-2.51). Life-course variables mediate this relationship. Significant predictors of having an STI include older age, more sexual partners, and a partner who has children with other women. Coerced first intercourse appears to be associated with changes in the life course of women and with a heightened risk of contracting an STI.     

Age at first sexual intercourse, genes, and social context: Evidence from twins and the dopamine D4 receptor gene

We carried out two distinct types of genetic analysis with data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. The first was a non-DNA twin analysis using monozygotic (identical) and same-sex dizygotic (fraternal) twins. The second analysis investigates the association between age at first sexual intercourse and the 48-bp repeat polymorphism in the dopamine receptor D4 gene (DRD4). The twin analysis shows that MZ twins correlate their timing of first sex to a much greater extent than do the same-sex DZ twins. Our analysis of the polymorphisms in DRD4 indicates that those with an any-3R genotype experienced a risk of first sexual intercourse 23% (p = .016), 233% (p = .0001), 28% (p = .012), and 69% (p = .006) higher than those with an other/other (or any-4R) genotype in the all-ethnicities (n = 2,552), Asian, white, and Hispanic samples, respectively. The risk of first sex does not differ between the two genotypes in the African American sample. These results were obtained after adjusting the standard socioeconomic covariates, including gender, parental education, family structure, and community poverty in the regression model. Evidence from both twin and genetic-variant analyses points to a role of genes in the timing of first sexual intercourse.     

A first glance into the black box of life satisfaction surrounding childbearing

The vast majority of studies looking into the relationship between childbearing and subjective well-being use overall measures where respondents either report their general level of happiness or their life satisfaction, leaving substantial doubt about the underlying mechanisms. However, life satisfaction and happiness are intuitively multidimensional concepts, simply because there cannot be only one aspect that affects individuals' well-being. In this study, by considering seventeen specific life satisfaction domains, these features come out very clearly. Whereas all the domains considered matter for the overall life satisfaction, only three of them, namely satisfaction with leisure, health and satisfaction with the partnership, change dramatically surrounding childbearing events. Even though we cannot generalise (since these results stem from one particular panel survey, i.e., Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia data), it appears that the typical anticipation and post-child decrease of life satisfaction, so often found in existing studies, stems from changes in these three domains.

     

Genetic correlation of wing polymorphism between females and males in the oriental chinch bug,Cavelerius saccharivorus Okajima (Heteroptera: Lygaeidae)

Summary Genetic correlations of the wing form and the relative wing length between females and males were estimated in the oriental chinch bug,Cavelerius saccharivorus, by calculating the correlation between the sexes of the proportion macropterous or the mean relative wing length in full-sib families obtained from different wing forms of parents emerged in a high density population. There was a significantly positive genetic correlation between the sexes in both the proportion macropterous and the mean relative wing length. However, the appearance rate of macropters tended to be much lower in males than in females under the rearing conditions which promote the appearance of macropters. This was evident especially in the offspring of brachypterous parents. These indicated that inC. saccharivorus the wing polymorphism of males is not a simple result of the genetic correlation of wing morphology between the two sexes. It was considered that both of the female and male fitness advantages to wing reduction, as well as the genetic correlation between the sexes, would influence the evolution of wing polymorphism in this species.     

The long-run labour market consequences of teenage motherhood in Britain

Common wisdom states that teenage childbearing reduces schooling, labour market experience and adult wages. However, the decisions to be a teenage mother, to quit school, and be less attached to the labour market might all stem from some personal or family characteristics.  Using the National Child Development Study (NCDS), we find that in Britain teenage childbearing decreases the probability of post-16 schooling by 12–24%. Employment experience is reduced by up to three years, and the adult pay differential ranges from 5% to 22%. The negative impact of teen motherhood on various adult outcomes is not only due to some pre-motherhood characteristics; hence policies aiming to encourage return to school and participation in the labour market may be an efficient way to reduce the long-term consequences of teenage pregnancy. Received: 10 October 2000/Accepted: 3 April 2002 All correspondence to Arnaud Chevalier. We are indebted to Martyn Andrews, Colm Harmon, Gauthier Lanot, Ian Walker and to the participants at the EEEG annual meeting (Southampton, 2000) and seminars at Keele University, LSE and Warwick University for their comments that greatly improved earlier versions of this paper. We also thank two anonymous referees and Christoph Schmidt for their insightful comments. All remaining errors are ours. The data was supplied by the Economic and Research Council's Data Archive at the University of Essex and are used with permission of the Controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office. Responsible editor: Christoph M. Schmidt.     

中国退休年龄改革的时机和方案选择

笔者认为确定退休年龄主要应该考虑养老保障和就业两个因素,其中前者是第一位的.从养老保障的角度看,中国退休年龄应该提高,但考虑到就业状况,目前并不是提高退休年龄的合适时机.通过对中国未来人口年龄结构的分析,笔者发现在21世纪10年代是提高中国退休年龄的合适时机,并以此为基础,提出了三个方案,通过比较笔者认为方案二是一个比较理想的方案.     

Frequency and timing of intercourse: Its relation to the probability of conception

Abstract This paper describes a simple study of the chance of conception assuming a fixed-length menstrual cycle, a specific probability distribution for the day of ovulation, and a broad and a narrow fertile period. Eight different patterns of intercourse throughout the cycle are considered with frequency of intercourse ranging between 5 and 12 times per cycle. Results are given in terms of chance of conception and in terms of waiting times until conception.     

Treatment of identity and intimacy issues in gay males

A psychodynamic analysis of the presenting problems of many gay male clients reveals the frequent presence of issues related to identity and intimacy. This paper explores these concepts from the viewpoint of observed clinical phenomena, their likely antecedents, and treatment strategies based on a model of psychological health which balances identity and intimacy.     

Five decades of missing females in China

This paper seeks to explain the dearth of females in the population of China in cohorts born from the late 1930s to the present. We demonstrate that in virtually all cohorts. the shortage of females in comparison with males is revealed when the cohort is first enumerated in a census. Subsequently it barely changes, an indication that female losses occur very early in life. Using the high-quality data from the censuses and fertility surveys in China, we show that many of the births of the girls missing in the censuses were not reported in the surveys because they died very young. The incidence of excess early female mortality (probably infanticide) declined precipitously in the Communist period, but not to zero. The recent escalation in the proportion of young females missing in China has been caused largely by rapidly escalating sex-selective abortion.     

The impact of school entry laws on female education and teenage fertility

The literature on school entry laws in the USA suggests that school entry laws affect educational success in offsetting ways, where students born after the entry cutoff date tend to achieve higher test scores yet complete fewer years of schooling. However, the laws have little impact on a number of other outcomes, including fertility, wages, and employment. This paper has two goals. First, using a North Carolina dataset which individually links birth certificate data to school administrative records, it more fully explores the opposite impacts on educational success than previous papers and investigates why students born after the cutoff date have lower educational attainment despite doing better in school. Second, it investigates the impact of school entry laws on teenage fertility and provides some evidence that test scores and years of education have negative impacts, but that these impacts offset each other in the case of school entry laws.     

Effects of child support and welfare policies on nonmarital teenage childbearing and motherhood

This paper is an assessment of the impact of child support enforcement and welfare policies on nonmarital teenage childbearing and motherhood. We derive four hypotheses about the effects of policies on nonmarital teenage childbearing and motherhood. We propose that teenage motherhood and school enrollment are joint decisions for teenage girls. Based on individual trajectories during ages 12–19, our analysis uses an event history model for nonmarital teenage childbearing and a dynamic model of motherhood that is jointly determined with school enrollment. We find some evidence that child support policies indirectly reduce teen motherhood by increasing the probability of school enrollment, which, in turn, reduces the probability of teen motherhood. This finding suggests that welfare offices may wish to place greater weight on outreach programs that inform more teenagers of the existence of strong child support enforcement measures. Such programs might reduce nonmarital teen motherhood further and thus reduce the need for welfare support and child support enforcement in the long run.

Self-employment disadvantage in the working lives of blacks and females

Self-employment, regardless of its quality, offers the advantage of keeping individuals employed, thereby contributing to a continuous work history and earnings over the lifetime. But in the individual life cycle, how important is self-employment, particularly given evidence that self-employment spells tend to be of short duration? Also, to what extent does self-employment contribute to race and gender differences in lifetime employment? We use an increment-decrement life table to analyze the role of self-employment in differentiating the working lifetimes of blacks and women from those of white men. White men's average lifetime years spent in self-employment exceed black men's by as many as six years, thus accounting for nearly the entire difference between whiteand black men's lifetime years employed. White women's self-employment episodes,while almost as numerous as white men's, are shorter and less connected towage-employment episodes. Black women's self-employment episodes are bothinfrequent and of short duration.

     

Persistence of abnormal females that produce only female progeny with occasional recovery to normal females in Lepidoptera

In Lepidoptera, females that produce only female progeny have been found in wild populations of at least 12 species. In some species, recoveries, where abnormal females return to normal females, have been observed. A mathematical model of the population dynamics with recovery was developed to identify the conditions for realizing the persistence of abnormal females. Analysis indicated normal and abnormal females coexist and reach an equilibrium state at certain recovery rate values. The equilibrium values of normal and abnormal females were determined. When a population was in equilibrium it was shown that the ratio of normal to abnormal females and the sex ratio after reproduction are always functions of the recovery rate and the proportion of female offspring from an abnormal female to that from a normal female. Using the simulation it was found that, even when a population fluctuates under variable environmental conditions, the two ratios mentioned above reach equilibrium. Equilibrium relationships were applied to published data, and it was concluded that recovery from abnormal to normal females explains the persistence of abnormal females in some species of Lepidoptera. The model developed in this paper can also be used for analysing the persistence of abnormal females of other insect species.     

Trends in Numbers and Mortality at High Ages in England and Wales

In the paper new estimates of the numbers of deaths and death rates at ages 80 and over in England and Wales are derived for the period 1911–90. These estimates were made by applying the methods of extinct generations and reverse survival to data on deaths in 1911–90, and pensioners in 1990. Estimates are given for individual years of age. It is found that death rates at these high ages have been falling, slowly, for the last 50 years. The paper also gives information on the highest ages at death which have been recorded and verified.