When having many children pays: a case study from Taiwan

The objective of this paper is to investigate the direct financial cost and benefit of raising children during a demographic transition in Taiwan, and to examine whether fertility decline is consistent with Caldwell’s wealth flow theory, which states that fertility decline is caused by reduced benefits of children. The paper describes a method of estimating the average economic returns of children over the entire parental lifecycle, using a 42-year span of Taiwanese household and individual economic pseudo-panel data. Results show that returns to children may turn positive and are not highly negative all the time, as found in the previous literature.     

Cross-Cultural Adaptation,Validity and Reliability of the Escala Pessoal de Resultados

The present article aims to examine the validity and reliability of the Portuguese version of Personal Outcomes Scale the Escala Pessoal de Resultados (EPR). This scale represents an instrument to measure the quality of life (QOL) in people with intellectual disabilities (ID). The study was initiated with the application of international guidelines in cross-cultural adaptation, culminating with an evaluation of 10 experts for the quantitative evidence of the content validity. All EPR’s items were considered relevant and there was a moderated agreement (k > .40) among the experts in the calculation of Cohen’s kappa, finding some coefficients’ that are considered as an excellent agreement (k > .75). In test field, our sample comprised 335 adults with ID on level of intermittent and limited support needs, even as the respective proxies. The scale showed an excellent internal consistency (α = .94). EPR’s construct validity indexes are also reported and discussed. The study provides EPR as a valid instrument for assess the QOL in ID field, and the scale seems to be useful for improvement of Portuguese rehabilitation practices and services.     

Home From Home? A Mixed-Methods Study of Relocation Within a Purpose-Built Retirement Community

Moving from a location where one has intimate knowledge of the physical and social aspects of space, with established daily routines, social networks, and attachment to place, can present challenges in later life. The literature supports the optimality of aging in place, and several studies point to the potentially detrimental effects of disruption, particularly in cases of involuntary relocation. Using both qualitative and quantitative data, this exploratory study aimed to examine the experiences and effects of relocation as part of a redevelopment of a community housing older people. Thirty-five interviews were completed with 17 participants across stages of the relocation process. Quantitative indicators of well-being were also compared between residents who had moved and those who had not over this period. No significant differences were found between movers and non-movers in the quantitative data. However, the qualitative data suggested that the relationship with the environment is more nuanced than the duality of optimal and detrimental. Individuals’ agency in relation to their environment was found to be mediated by such factors as lifestyle and daily routine, bereavement, sociospatial factors, and access to nature. The effects of relocation appear to be complex and mediated by a variety of individual and social factors.     

Piecing Together Family Social Work in Mainland China

As rapid economic and sociopolitical development brings about drastic changes in family structure and processes in China, many social concerns arise. Through a review of journal articles published over a period of 28 years (1979–2006) in social work and related disciplines in China, this article presents a glimpse of family social work using the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) database. The result is despairing, in that only a small number of articles on family social work were found. Given social work's traditionally strong belief in the family, as well as the strong emphasis on the family in China, the social work profession can contribute to China's social development through strengthening family social work and family policy. Nevertheless, this article argues for family social work to be sensitive to the cultural needs and characteristics of families in China, instead of imposing Western theories and interventions as if families come in just one size and shape.     

Psychosocial correlates of recreational ecstasy use among college students

College students' ecstasy (MDMA) use increased significantly in recent years, yet little is known about these students. In this study, the authors used the Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Studies (CORE) survey to compare 29 college students who had used ecstasy and other illicit drugs with 90 students who had used marijuana and no other illicit drugs. They noted differences in age, frequency of alcohol and marijuana use, average age of onset of marijuana use, frequency of negative consequences associated with substance use, perceptions of peer norms' drug use, perceived peer acceptance of substance use, and risk perception of substance use. When they entered polysubstance use as a covariate, many of these correlates became nonsignificant. The authors suggest that college ecstasy initiators may be a cohort of marijuana users who tend to engage in multiple risk-taking behaviors. This study serves as a preliminary effort to better understand college students who use ecstasy recreationally.     

Enhancing the intercultural effectiveness of exchange programmes: formal and non-formal educational interventions

This paper examines how the addition of intercultural interventions carried out throughout European credit-bearing exchange programmes can enhance sojourners’ development of intercultural competencies, and it explores how both formal and non-formal pedagogical interventions may be designed and implemented. Such interventions were conducted at a Portuguese university with 31 sojourners throughout one academic year, and their impact was assessed using a mixed methods research design. Sojourners included incoming students of the exchange programmes Campus Europae and Erasmus, as well as highly skilled immigrants. Findings confirm the positive impact of interventions on the development of intercultural competencies and, in turn, their contribution to internationalisation efforts. Implications for further research suggest a need to increase interventions and to develop a systematic approach for fostering intercultural competencies throughout the study abroad cycle.     

A New Multidimensional Approach to Measuring Precarious Employment

This article proposes a new methodology to measure precarious employment with a multidimensional approach. The adjusted multidimensional precariousness rate employed to measure job precariousness is calculated on a counting approach and exhibit several advantages, including its decomposability according to the relative contribution to total precariousness of different dimensions and sub-populations. For illustrative purposes, the methodology is applied to the Spanish case using microdata from the Encuesta de Estructura Salarial (Wage Structure Survey) and considering three precariousness dimensions of jobs (low wages, fixed-term contracts and part-time work). The evidence obtained shows that at the beginning of the economic crisis there was an increase in the incidence and intensity of precariousness for new jobs created in the Spanish economy. Moreover, obtained evidence shows that the incidence of precarious employment is particularly high in certain economic sectors and for females.     

The ergonomic evaluation of a virtual learning environment usability

The article presents the processes and the results of the application of some ergonomic techniques, used to evaluate the usability of the virtual learning environment adopted by the Distance Education Center of the Federal Institute of Espírito Santo - Brazil.