Sex differences in the vocabulary of college students

The present study replicated Jastrow's 1891 experiment concerning differences between male and female vocabulary. Participants were 20 male and 20 female Caucasian middle‐class college students. They recorded up to 100 nouns in a 15‐minute period. Results indicate that women have increased their use of unusual words compared to women in 1891. Males used more scientific words and more body part words than females. In contrast to the previous study, there are no significant differences between the sexes in use of animal, nature, and food words. Females used more clothing words than males in this study, as in the previous study, and produced more different words than males. Vocabulary changes appear to reflect changes in the social structure of the society.     

Mandatory Notification of Child Abuse and Neglect

The New South Wales Child Protection Council recently issued a Community Consultation Paper detailing a wide range of proposals in relation to the physical abuse and neglect of children. The Paper recommends a considerable expansion of the current requirements for mandatory notification of child abuse and neglect. The rationale behind the Council's support of mandatory notification is, however, open to question in the light of available research findings as well as broad policy considerations.     

Les transformations du marché du travail : un éclairage à partir de l’analyse des décalages entre offre et demande dans un système productif localisé

This new look at approaches to the labor market emphasizes that changes observed during the past twenty years are related to trends as much in supply as in demand. Analyzing both these sides is shown to be valuable for understanding the impact on labor market trends and shedding light on the tensions and contradictions between supply and demand. The mechanisms that have come into play during this period are analyzed in a local productive system, namely agribusiness in the lower Rhone valley in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Region of France.     

Live-in Foreign Domestic Workers and their Impact on Hong Kong’s Middle Class Families

This paper discusses the impact of foreign domestic workers (FDWs) on parental roles and family dynamics of Hong Kong’s middle class families. The increase in married women’s labor force participation in Hong Kong has led to a greater demand for childcare, which has been filled by FDWs. Based on interviews with 15 dual-earner couples in middle class nuclear families employing FDWs, how FDWs affect the mother’s gender role and family dynamics is discussed. Boundary work is used by parents in their daily interaction with their children and their FDWs so as to reconcile the perceived indispensability of these workers on the one hand, and the challenges they pose to the definition of parenthood on the other. This research was funded by a Lingnan University Social Sciences Program Research Grant RES/SOC010/978. I am grateful to the guest editors and two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments.     

The EPA Health Risk Assessment of Methylcyclopentadienyl Manganese Tricarbonyl (MMT)

This paper describes the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's assessment of potential health risks associated with the possible widespread use of a manganese (Mn)-based fuel additive, methylcyclopentadienyl manganese tricarbonyl (MMT). This assessment was significant in several respects and may be instructive in identifying certain methodological issues of general relevance to risk assessment. A major feature of the inhalation health risk assessment was the derivation of Mn inhalation reference concentration (RfC) estimates using various statistical approaches, including benchmark dose and Bayesian analyses. The exposure assessment component used data from the Particle Total Exposure Assessment Methodology (PTEAM) study and other sources to estimate personal exposure levels of particulate Mn attributable to the permitted use of MMT in leaded gasoline in Riverside, CA, at the time of the PTEAM study; on this basis it was then possible to predict a distribution of possible future exposure levels associated with the use of MMT in all unleaded gasoline. Qualitative as well as quantitative aspects of the risk characterization are summarized, along with inherent uncertainties due to data limitations.     

Fit for Work? The Influence of Sick Pay and Job Flexibility on Sickness Absence and Implications for Presenteeism

Recent developments in UK policy on health and employment have sought to change perceptions about what constitutes ‘fitness for work’. With the aim of reducing the incidence and duration of sickness absence, a range of initiatives, including the introduction of the ‘fit note’, are challenging the belief that it is necessary to be 100 per cent well in order to be at work. However, this article suggests that contextual factors independent of health may also influence people's decisions about whether or not to attend work at times of reduced wellness. Drawing upon data from a qualitative study of mental health and employment, this article illustrates how the terms and conditions of a person's employment may influence sickness absence decisions in a number of ways. It is argued that sick pay provisions, size of employer and nature of work may influence both decisions to take time off and decisions about when to return to work. The degree of flexibility to manage one's workload around times of poorer health may also have a bearing on whether people feel able to carry on with their work without recourse to sickness absence. Therefore, it may be important for policy interventions to consider not only health circumstances but also structural/contextual influences on conceptualizations of being ‘fit for work’. The implications of such contextually‐influenced decision‐making for ‘presenteeism’ are also considered. It is suggested that current conceptualizations of presenteeism are somewhat ambiguous; employees coming to work despite ill health is simultaneously presented as a problem and an aspiration.