U.S. Food Insecurity Status: Toward a Refined Definition

United States Department of Agriculture defines food insecure as answering affirmatively to three or more food insecurity questions describing a household’s ability to acquire enough food. Households indicating low levels of food insecurity (one or two affirmative responses) are considered food secure. This paper compares the characteristics of households with one or two positive survey responses (termed marginally secure in this paper) to those with zero positive responses (food secure) and those with three or more positive responses (food insecure). The analysis utilizes Current Population Survey Food Security Supplement data to compare the characteristics and food purchasing of food secure, marginally secure and food insecure households using binomial and multinomial logistic regression and t-tests. Binomial logistic regression models indicate that grouping insecure and marginally secure households together does not change predictors of food insecurity. Multinomial logistic regression models suggest a three category definition of food insecurity is appropriate because there are distinctions among the three categories. There are significant differences in food spending across the groups. Prevalence of U.S. food insecurity and need for food assistance may be underestimated because marginally food secure households are considered food secure. The current measure fails to recognize that marginally secure households may experience poorer quality of life as do food insecure households.     

人口逆淘汰:一个没有事实根据的假说

自20世纪80年代开始,众多学者对中国实行的计划生育政策所带来的种种负面影响展开讨论,其中最令学者担忧的是人口逆淘汰现象的出现。“逆淘汰”的赞成者认为中国计划生育政策导致的城镇少生、农村多生的格局会造成中国人口素质下降,产生“逆淘汰”现象。然而20多年过去了,中国人口的素质非但没有出现下降,反而日益得以改善和提高。文章从事实出发,将20多年来城乡教育素质、健康素质加以比较,辅之城市化进程加快和总和生育率下降的数据,论证中国人口素质没有降低的原因,最终证实“人口逆淘汰”并不存在。     

Understanding Persistent Food Insecurity: A Paradox of Place and Circumstance

Survey data from a U.S. Department of Agriculture funded multi-state longitudinal project revealed a paradox where rural low-income families from states considered prosperous were persistently more food insecure than similar families from less prosperous states. An examination of quantitative and qualitative data found that families in the food insecure states were more likely to experience greater material hardship and incur greater housing costs than families in the food secure states. Families in the food insecure states, however, did not have lower per capita median incomes or lower life satisfaction than those in the food secure states. A wide range of strategies to cope with food insecurity reported by families in both food insecure and food secure states was examined using the Family Ecological Systems Theory. Families in the food insecure states used several risky consumption reduction strategies such as curbing their appetite and using triage. Families in the food secure states, on the other hand, employed positive techniques involving their human capital.

Women's Transitions in Retirement:

To facilitate insight into the choices and options each woman has for her retirement. the retirement olanner should guide each woman through a self ass~ssmenptr ocess. 'he first step invilves an examination of how she has cooed and made decisions during the other of life's transitions. This is 'followed by an assessment 07 the meaning work has for each individual: its social aspects, the slructure, and the issues of identity, prestige, and power. Continuing the process, the retirement planner helps women evaluate the changing relationships with friends and family. The married woman will assess her marriage in the framework of her need for privacy, independence and autonomy. Sample questions from self assessment scales are included.     

Women's Collective Meanings of Menopause:

No abstract available for this article.     

Breast vs. bottle: a new controversy

The infant feeding controversy had its roots in the early 1960s, when the declining birth rate in industrialized countries led the multinational baby food manufacturers to look to the fast growing populations of the 3rd World to bolster their sales. The connection between infant formula, malnutrition, and infant mortality has been increasingly recognized by the World Health Organization and other groups and individuals. The expense of infant formula, overdilution by impoverished parents attempting to stretch the food budget, and poor sanitary conditions made millions of 3rd World babies victims of malnutrition, infectious diseases, and premature death. In 1974, the British public interest group called War on Want launched an international campaign against the aggressive promotional practices of the infant formula manufacturers. A nonbinding agreement between the International Council of Infant Food Industries and their critics in Geneva in 1979 was regarded as a truce rather than a solution to the controversy, but worldwide attention was attracted to the infant feeding issue. Scientific research has confirmed the advantages of breast feeding in providing immunity as well as optimal nutrition and contraceptive protection. Although greater convenience, necessity of working outside the home, or insufficient milk lead some mothers to bottle feed, misleading and aggressive promotional campaigns of the infant feeding companies have been very effective in persuading mothers of all income levels to choose bottle feeding. With increasing realization of the benefits of breast feeding, efforts are now underway to reverse the trends.     

A Multidimensional Approach to Measuring Economic Insecurity: The Case of Chile

Social Indicators Research - This paper proposes a strategy to measure economic insecurity in countries in the Global South. It builds a 'Multidimensional Economic Insecurity Index' (MEII)...     

Sleep Time: Media Hype vs. Diary Data

Sleep duration has figured into claims of two trends promoted recently as dysfunctional in the mass media. One is the observation that the population at large is sleeping less than before. The second is that the annual change from Standard Time to Daylight Savings (or summer) Time causes adverse effects, largely through the loss of an hour’s sleep. This paper relies on recent Canadian and U.S. time-use data to empirically test both of these value-laden allegations. Analysis of Statistics Canada’s general social surveys containing time-use information in 1986, 1992, 1998, and 2005 shows that the mean duration of sleep was unchanged between 1986 and 1998 and actually declined by about 15 min a night in 2005, reflecting an earlier bedtime and unchanged arising time. Sleep duration is not constant in the population, though, and the media view might reflect the habits of population sectors such as the intelligence with great access to the media. The American Time Use Study sample of 20,720 respondents in 2003 enabled the analysis of time-use before, on, and after the dates of semi-annual time changes that year. These data showed that any sleep time “lost” in the spring-forward time change was insignificant and short-lived due to the fact that it occurred on the night between Saturday and Sunday, when people typically sleep much longer than on weekdays. While there are other time trade-offs observed after time changes, their explanation lies in other directions.     

Impact of Hysterectomies on Women's Lives:

One of the most common surgical procedures in the United States today is the hysterectomy. Although many women have experienced symptoms that can interfere significantly with day-today functioning, they may hesitate to have surgery because of concerns about trading one set of problems for another. The purpose of this prospective study was to investigate the difference in a woman's quality of life after having a hysterectomy, including the incidence of depression and the effect of social support.     

An Analysis of Student Satisfaction: Full-Time vs. Part-Time Students

This paper examines how full-time or part-time status affects students’ level of satisfaction with their degree programs. For our analysis, we obtained data from a survey of graduate students. The survey was conducted at a public university in Spain from 2001 to 2004. The decision to undertake paid employment while studying emerges as one of the key determinants of student satisfaction. In particular, our findings indicate that students who hold a part-time job while studying are more likely to express less satisfaction with their college experience.     

Determinants of family migration: short moves vs. long moves

This paper examines factors underlying family migration. Based on a sample of stable Finnish families, both short- and long-distance migration is investigated. The empirical analysis carried out using multinomial logit modelling shows a strong negative association between the family life-cycle and migration. The findings indicate that migration takes place mainly due to the demands of the husbands career, resulting in the wives being tied migrants. Two-earner families are less migratory, and in that sense the husbands are tied stayers. Distance matters; several differences are noticed between short- and long-distance migrants.Financial support from the Yrjö Jahnsson Foundation (project no. 4271) is gratefully acknowledged. I would like to thank two anonymous referees for their helpful comments on this paper. I also wish to thank Kari Hälänen, Sari Pekkala and Hannu Tervo for their comments on an earlier version of this paper. Responsible editor: John F. Ermisch.     

The Time-Pressure Illusion: Discretionary Time vs. Free Time

People’s welfare is a function of both time and money. People can – and, it is said, increasingly do – suffer time-poverty as well as money-poverty. It is undeniably true that people feel increasingly time pressured, particularly in dual-earner households. But much of the time devoted to paid and unpaid tasks is over and above that which is strictly necessary. In that sense, much of the time pressure that people feel is discretionary and of their own making. Using data from the 1992 Australian Time Use Survey, this paper demonstrates that the magnitude of this ‘time-pressure illusion’ varies across population groups, being least among lone parents and greatest among the childless and two-earner couples.     

Temporary vs. permanent migration: a decision theoretical approach

"The decision problem of the guest worker as a target saver is considered. He plans to accumulate capital in the host country for investment in the home country after return migration. As the worker is supposed to be incompletely informed about the economic variables in the host country he might prolong his stay unexpectedly provided the economic conditions in the host country are unfavourable. Explicit conditions for the economic variables are given such that temporary migration turns into permanent migration."     

The Psychosocial Meaning of Menopause: Women's Experiences

ABSTRACT

This paper reports on a qualitative study of womens' experiences with menopause from a psychosocial perspective. Women give voice to the impact of menopause upon their sense of self and significant relationships in their lives. This study raises questions about the meaning of the reluctance of women and others to discuss menopause in a helpful, meaningful way.     

Effect of COVID-19 on Household Food Insecurity and Poverty: Evidence from Ghana

Social Indicators Research - Following the outbreak of COVID-19 and its heavy toll on the global community and humanity, a fierce debate on the pandemic and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)...     

Mental Well-being Among Workers: A Cross-national Analysis of Job Insecurity Impact on the Workforce

Social Indicators Research - Drawing on 2011 and 2016 European Quality of Life Survey data from eight European countries, this paper considers the importance of subjective indicators of employment...     

Thriving Under Uncertainty: The Effect of Achievement Goal Orientation on Job Insecurity and Flourishing

Social Indicators Research - Flourishing, a construct encompassing optimal human functioning, is an indicator of well-being. The purpose of this study was to examine the direct and indirect effects...     

Significant Relationships Among Older Women: Cultural and Personal Constructions of Lesbianism

SUMMARY

This paper focuses on the interactive nature of the relationship between personal and public constructions of lesbianism in the lives of older women. The cultural construction of lesbianism involves the historical and environmental context of the meaning of lesbianism framed within a societal level. Our discussion evolves around a case study of a lesbian in her eighties, living with a partner in rural Minnesota, We show that when public definitions are unavailable, older lesbians may not define certain aspects of their experience.