Predictors of stress and depressive mood in Portuguese middle-aged women

ABSTRACT

This cross-sectional study investigates the predictors of psychological symptoms—stress and depressive mood—in a sample of middle-aged women. A community sample of 1,003 women filled in the questionnaires and instruments, which included the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scales and the Life Events Survey; sociodemographic, health, and menopause-related and lifestyle information was also collected. Structural equation modeling was used to build the model that had stress and depressive mood as dependent variables. Health status (both physical and psychological), recent life events, income and menopausal phase were significantly associated with the frequency of stress and depressive symptoms. Additionally, educational level and parity were also significant predictors of depressive mood. This study emphasizes that psychological symptoms occurrence in midlife depends not only on personal variables (such as health and menopausal status) but also on contextual ones (including recent stressful events) that can be a strong influence on how middle-aged women feel.     

The best-laid schemes: An analysis of discrepancies between migration intentions and behavior

A longitudinal survey approach is used in a largely rural area in the Philippines to examine consistency between migration intentions and subsequent migration behavior. Inconsistencies in movement behavior, the timing of a move, and the destination are analyzed. Discrepancies between intentions and behavior are explained in terms of unanticipated constraints and facilitators as well as changes in the conditions that precipitated the migration intention in the first place. Intended international movers who did not actually move in a 2-1/2 year period were thwarted mainly by legal hurdles that could not be overcome. Intended internal migrants who did not actually move remained in their origin area primarily because of changes in job opportunities or family relationships. Methodological and theoretical implications of the findings are discussed.The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men Gang aft agley, An' la'e us nought but grief an' pain, For promis'd joy! we must bear in mind the distinction between direct and facilitating factors involved in migration processes . migration analysis should consider some factors that facilitate or impede migration rather than determine migration directly (Goldscheider, 1971:38).This article was originally presented at the annual meetings of the Population Association of American in Minneapolis, Minnesota, May 2–5, 1984. The authors wish to thank Lynna Sycip for her assistance in the preparation of the tabulations for this article. In addition to the authors, the co-investigators for this project are James T. Fawcett, East-West Population Institute and Ricardo G. Abad, Institute of Philippine Culture, Ateneo de Manila University. Research for this article has been supported by NIH Grant No. R01-HD13115, the Population Center Foundation, Manila, Philippines, and the East-West Population Institute.     

Intersectionality Is Not a Choice: Reflections of a Queer Scholar of Color on Teaching,Writing, and Belonging in LGBTQ Studies and Academia

ABSTRACT

Drawing on my experience as a queer, genderqueer, Puerto Rican counselor educator, this article considers how LGBTQAI+ studies and academia can expand to better include people with multiple marginalized identities. This article highlights some of the contradictions that educators face when engaging in the liberatory praxis that connects and creates a sense of belonging during these tumultuous times. This reflection suggests a decolonizing approach to intersectionality and highlights the importance of transcending binary discourse to engage in deconstructing the multiple layers of colonization in our internal and external spaces that is necessary for liberatory praxis. Finally, a few recommendations for how LGBTQAI+ studies and academia can support scholars with multiple marginalized identities are identified.     

Clinical Gender Differences Among Adult Pathological Gamblers Seeking Treatment

This study aimed to examine the gender-related differences in demographics, gambling measures, psychological functioning, and motivation for therapy in an outpatient sample of pathological gamblers seeking treatment. Participants in this multisite study included 103 adult outpatients (51 women and 52 men) meeting current DSM-IV-TR criteria for PG. Logistic regression was used to examine if gender was related together to categorical and continuous independent variables. Female gamblers were older than men and more likely to be divorced or widowed and to have a lower annual income. Women became more dependent on bingo and men on slot machines. Gambling motivation and the course of illness for both sexes were also different. Female gamblers were more anxious and with a poorer self-esteem than male gamblers and more affected by depressive symptoms; in turn, men were more impulsive and higher sensation seekers than women and more affected by drug/alcohol abuse. The 68.6% of female gamblers reported being victims of intimate partner violence. There were no gender differences about the motivation for treatment. Future research should examine gambling behaviors and psychological functioning and suggest treatment approaches to address specific goals according to these gender-related differences.     

Integrated scheduling and inventory management of an oil products distribution system

The oil supply chain is facing new challenges due to emerging issues such as new alternative energy sources, oil sources scarcity, and price variability with high impact on demand and production and profit margins reduction. Additionally, the existence of large, complex and world wide spread businesses implies a complex system to be managed where distribution can be seen as one of the key areas that needs to be efficiently and effectively managed. Different types of distribution modes characterize the oil supply chain where the pipeline mode is one of the most complex to operate when having multiproduct characteristics. This paper addresses the planning of a generic oil derivatives transportation system characterized by a multiproduct pipeline that connects a single refinery to a storage tank farm. Two alternative mixed integer linear programming models (MILP) that aim to attain a set of planning objectives such as fulfilling costumers’ demands (which is mandatory) while minimizing the medium flow rate are developed. Additionally, final inventory levels are avoided to be excessively low. A real world scenario of a Portuguese company is used to validate and compare the two alternative MILP models developed in this paper.     

Intermediate inequality and welfare

We introduce a new centrist or intermediate inequality concept, between the usual relative and absolute notions, which is shown to be a variant of the α-ray invariant inequality measures in Pfingsten and Seidl (1997). We say that distributions x and y have the same (x, π)-inequality if the total income difference between them is allocated among the individuals as follows: 100π% preserving income shares in x, and 100(1−π)% in equal absolute amounts. This notion can be made as operational as current standard methods in Shorrocks (1983). Received: 13 May 1998/Accepted: 25 January 1999     

Attitudes Toward Women in Health Care Organizations: A Turkish Case Study

Abstract

The aim of this article is to examine the health care employees’ attitudes toward women in health care organizations in Turkey. It was measured using a 25-item scale by Spence, Helmreich, and Stapp (1973 Spence, J. T., Helmreich, R., & Stapp, J. (1973). A short version of the Attitudes toward Women Scale (AWS). Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 2(4), 219–220. doi:10.3758/BF03329252[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). The study was conducted on 541 employees: 279 males and 262 females. Structural equation model (SEM) was applied to analyze the relationship between gender, marital status, and income and attitudes toward woman. The result of this analysis showed that the relations between gender, marital status, and income and attitudes toward woman were statistically significant. All three hypotheses were statistically supported. This result indicated that employees’ marital status and (monthly) income significantly predicted their scores of attitudes toward woman in a positive direction. Besides, employees’ gender significantly predicted their scores of attitudes toward woman in an inverse direction. Future research can focus on investigating the effects of the attitudes toward women on other elements (e.g., performance, motivation, job satisfaction) or a wider sample to reach more generalized results.     

Urban or rural fragments: which soil use in forest surroundings induces greater litter deposition?

Urban Ecosystems - The soil use in surroundings of forest remnants, as well as, variations in seasonality and rainfall totals from each year might influence the composition, structure, and...