Reliability of reasons for early termination of breastfeeding: application of a bivariate probability model with sample selection to data from surveys in Malaysia in 1976-77 and 1988-89

Although extensively collected, data on people's reasons for their behaviour provided retrospectively have been met with some scepticism on the grounds that they may be subject to biases and errors that jeopardize their usefulness. This study investigates, for a sample of 1,327 births, the reliability with which women in Peninsular Malaysia recalled, at intervals 12 years apart, reasons for not initiating or for stopping breastfeeding less than 3 months after a birth. Overall, we find low to moderate reliability of recall. Levels of reliability are relatively high for some reasons (the child died and no or insufficient milk) but low for some others (child ill, breastfeeding inconvenient). Results from selection models show that reliability does not vary with the length of time since the child's birth but is inversely related to socio-economic status (proxied by education and employment). Social status, social norms, and health-related factors appear to be significant influences on women's consistency of reporting.     

The intersection of social protection and mobilities: a move towards a ‘Practical Utopia’ research agenda

Currently, a number of contributions in mobility studies are looking for fruitful intersections with other ‘adjacent’ approaches . In this spirit, our theoretical paper argues to study one particular aspect: the intersection of social protection and mobilities. Currently, the provision of social services in the ‘West’ is strongly entrenched within nation-state logics, which assume that clients’ immobility is a precondition of service delivery and that national citizenship is the desirable conditionality of gaining social rights. To overcome such a wide-spread conflation of social security with state security, we introduce the heuristic concept ‘social protection’. It allows social security to be imagined beyond a state-centric perspective and avoids the pitfalls of either a citizenship or a migration approach by taking on a mobility perspective. Thus, for scholars anchored in mobility studies we propose how to develop a social security perspective in a progressive way. For readers from other areas, e.g. citizenship, migration or social policy, we will show how a mobility perspective enriched by a No Border approach can overcome a narrow Western, statist and static perspective on social security. Our goal is to conceptually open up what we call a ‘practical utopia’ research agenda, one that expands our political horizons for future and present socialities.     

Forms of Capital and Habitus in the Decision to Go on Academic Exchange

Although Canadian universities have made internationalization a strategic priority, only few Canadian students currently participate in any international study opportunities. Drawing on interviews with Canadian students who were about to spend some of their undergraduate education abroad as exchange students, or had recently returned from a study exchange, we argue that despite the importance of relatively high costs associated with international study experiences, cultural factors play a more important role in enabling the decision to study abroad. Being habitually exposed to travel in one's family, and having been encouraged to travel independently as a teenager or young adult emerge as important precursors to our participants’ decision to take part in study exchanges. Although one needs to engage critically with university administrators’ current preoccupation with internationalization, being exposed to an extended time abroad has shown to have positive effects, especially for otherwise underprivileged students. Given the exploratory nature of this study, we conclude with suggestions for further research aimed at confirming our findings and developing policy.     

Was ist hier los?

In our prior article in this issue, we establish that although they are related, organizational and group dynamics are in fact very different. In this second article, we go on to discuss some of the challenges that this poses for consultants. We describe the interplay of factors affecting the development of the dynamics within an organization and explore approaches to acquiring practical knowledge about an organization’s dynamics. Finally, we ask how useful group dynamics skills are for providing consultancy services within and to organizations and consider where and how specific organizational dynamics skills can be acquired.     

中国人口的不确定性研究

文章对2000年人口普查所反映的生育水平、出生性别比和人口年龄结构等主要人口指标存在的不确定性进行了梳理,并运用概率人口预测方法系统讨论了中国未来人口变动趋势过程中相关人口变量的不确定性问题。结果显示,当前对中国生育率水平、出生性别比和低龄儿童人口数量的估计都存在很大的差异。这些差异直接影响中国人口目前和未来的不确定性。     

Placement stability for children in out-of-home care: a longitudinal analysis

This study examines the number of placement moves experienced over an eight-year period by 5,557 children in one state who first entered out-of-home care between birth and age six. This group comprised 28% of all young children who entered care during this period. Nearly 30% of children in kinship care and 52% of children in nonrelative care experienced placement instability (defined as three or more moves after the first year in care). Children in kinship care, regardless of age, had fewer placement moves than those in nonkinship care. A multivariate analysis found that children who had more than one placement move during their first year of care were more likely to experience placement instability in long-term out-of-home care than if they did not move or were moved only once during their first year in care.     

Setting Priorities in the National Campaign Against Drug Abuse

In its ‘National Campaign Against Drug Abuse’, the Federal Government has decided to give top priority in the 1987 financial year to preventing the use of heroin and cocaine, particularly among the young. After reviewing the drug consumption habits of North Queenslanders, we conclude that this decision does not address the most immediate drug-related health problems of the region. Our data suggest not only that legal drugs pose a far greater threat to the health and welfare of Australian society but also that drug abuse is primarily concentrated within the adult population.