The Effects of Religious Fundamentalism and Religiosity on Preference for Traditional Family Norms*

This study examines the effects of religion on preference for a patriarchal family, one in which the husband makes decisions while the wife is subservient to him. The effects of both religious fundamentalism and personal religiosity are considered using a survey of adults in a Southwestern city. The analysis reveals a strong positive direct effect of adherence to a fundamentalist doctrine on support for the patriarchal family, but no direct effect of personal religiosity. An interaction effect of these two variables, reported in some other studies of the effect of religion on other family issues, is not found. The effect of religious fundamentalism is equal in magnitude to the effect of age, and greater than the effects of education, gender, family income, head of household occupational prestige, subjective class identification, race and rural background. With the exceptions of age and gender, religious fundamentalism serves as a crucial intervening variable in the relationships between these variables and endorsement of patriarchal norms in the husband-wife relationship.     

Gender, time use, and health

One of the continuing paradoxes facing social epidemiologists concerns sex differences in morbidity and mortality. Although women live longer than men, they apparently get sick more. We hypothesize that women's higher morbidity levels result from less paid work and lower wages combined with more hours spent in household labor, child care, and helping others, and fewer hours of leisure and sleep. Men and women hold different social roles; men hold most of the highly rewarding roles. We operationalize social roles as time commitments to various role-related activities. This approach provides interval-level measures such as time spent in caring for children instead of simple dichotomies such as parent/nonparent. We find that when gender differences in social roles are controlled, being male is associated with poorer health than being female. We conclude that if gender roles were more equal, women would experience better health than men, more consistent with their greater longevity.     

Criminal justice on trial

The range of initiatives for young or drug-dependent offenders is bewildering, and includes arrest referral (to drugs worker), drug treatment and testing orders, drugs courts, random mandatory drugs testing of prisoners, transitional care between prison and community, and Scotland's now disbanded Airborne Initiative. Yet judges prescribe sentence on lesser evidence about what works, is safe and is cost effective than that relied on by doctors prescribing licensed medicines. Sheila M. Bird and Clive B. Fairweather make a passionate plea for an evidence-based approach to investigating the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of criminal justice initiatives     

Tagging and deportation: who gets it right?

The Home Office in England suffered major embarrassment this year over its failure to deport foreign nationals who had served prison sentences. It could not even supply statistics on how many there were, or what crimes they may have committed after release. Scotland, in contrast, could answer such questions with ease. Sheila Bird investigates English failure and Scottish solutions.     

Age-related changes in maximal power and maximal heart rate recorded during a ramped test in 114 cyclists age 15-73 years

This study assessed age-related changes in power and heart rate in 114 competitive male cyclists age 15-73 years. Participants completed a maximal Kingcycle ergometer test with maximal ramped minute power (RMPmax, W) recorded as the highest average power during any 60 s and maximal heart rate (HRmax, beats/min) as the highest value during the test. From age 15 to 29 (n = 38) RMPmax increased by 7.2 W/year (r = .53, SE 49 W, p < .05). From age 30 to 73 (n = 78) RMPmax declined by 2.4 W/year (r = - .49, SE 49 W, p < .05). Heart rate decreased across the full age range by 0.66 beats . min( -1 ) . year( -1 ) (r = -.75, SE 9 beats/min, p < .05). Age accounted for only 25% of the variance in RMPmax but 56% in HRmax. RMPmax was shown to peak at age 30, then decline with age, whereas HRmax declined across the full age range.     

Getting your partner to use condoms: Interviews with men and women at risk of HIV/STDs

Data from individual semistructured interviews with 90 young heterosexual couples were analyzed to identify strategies that men and women at risk of HIV/STDs would use to influence their partners to use condoms for the purpose of disease prevention. In addition, we explored whether participants thought influencing strategies would differ for pregnancy prevention. Content analysis of the interview data indicated that participants would use the following verbal strategies: persuading/suggesting, commanding/asserting, and threatening to withhold sex. Several participants, particularly those who had recently used condoms with their partners, reported that they would also use non‐verbal strategies involving condoms themselves (e.g., putting a condom on, buying or getting condoms, or presenting a condom to their partner). Many participants believed that they would use a different strategy for pregnancy prevention because it would be easier to convince a partner to use condoms for that purpose.     

Differential Use of Social Work Manpower

In this paper the authors report on a research, training, and demonstration study that dealt with the interaction of law and social work graduate students in delivering services to the elderly poor. Data suggested more similarities than differences in roles and tasks performed. Attitudinal measures indicated stereotypes toward the disciplines and the elderly. Confusion of roles and stereotypic attitudes accounted for a low referral rate within a project highly skewed toward interdisciplinary practice. Confrontation education is suggested as a means to modify stereotypes, clarify roles, and encourage the integrated service delivery needed by the elderly. Implications for higher education are drawn.     

The Influence of the Built Environment and Other Factors on the Physical Activity of Older Women from Different Ethnic Communities

ABSTRACT

Inactivity has been identified as a major contributor to the burden of disease in older women. Study aims were: (a) to assess the personal, social, and environmental facilitators and impediments to physical activity in older women from ethnic communities; and (b) to determine the factors associated with physical activity participation. Older women (aged 60–84 years) were recruited from the local Italian (n = 20), Vietnamese (n = 26) and Anglo-Celtic (n = 26) communities. A survey questionnaire was administered in the participants' preferred language. The most common barriers were: “I am not in good health,” “I am self-conscious about my looks,” “I am too tired,” “I don't have time,” and “The weather is bad.” When comparing the ethnic groups, the Vietnamese women reported fewer barriers than the Italian women (2.6 vs. 5.9). While the Vietnamese women were much more likely to report being “self-conscious about my looks,” the Italian women more commonly reported poor health, being too tired, and not liking exercise as barriers. Overall, those living alone were more likely to be active and those who reported fear of injury, less active. Recognizing ethnospecific differences in the prevalence of barriers may be important when devising strategies to increase activity levels of older women.