Exposure to international migration and its effect on childbearing in Turkey

International migration alters social norms, family structures, and population development in sending regions. Each of these factors affects fertility, making the impact of international migration on childbearing an increasingly important area of study. In many sending regions, the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) provide a promising, but underutilized, source of data for understanding the relationship between international migration and childbearing. Using the household and individual questionnaires in the 2003 Turkish DHS, we develop a multi-layered approach for measuring international migration. We then use these measures to examine differences in childbearing among women in migrant and non-migrant households, assessing the effects of migrant selection and migration-related roles and attitudes on the number of children born. After adjusting for selection characteristics, we find return female migrants and migrant wives are not significantly different from women in non-migrant households; role and attitude differences have only modest impacts on the association between women’s exposure to migration and childbearing.     

Components of change in migration and destination-propensity rates for metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas: 1935–1980

This article focuses on components of change in out-migration and destination-propensity rates of metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas. The results indicate that changes in subgroup-specific rates were the driving force behind the changing patterns between and within these two areas. Composition effects played a secondary role, mainly counteracting the negative impact of changing rates. Although the rate of change in out-migration from metropolitan areas has been reduced and out-migration from nonmetropolitan areas declined during the most recent period, the propensity to select metropolitan areas increased over the period studied. Finally, rate-specific changes vary by age and education, indicating a change in migration's impact on population composition at origin and destination.     

A modification for use in destabilized populations of brass's technique for estimating completeness of death registration

The analysis of censuses for pre-industrial Europe has caused doubts about the supposed dominance of stem and joint family organization in earlier times. Using a hypothetical example of a nuclear family organization where extended composition is only found when widowed persons find shelter in the household of one of their children, we show that both the expected value and the variance of the estimated frequency of extended composition are high under demographic circumstances typical of pre-industrial Europe. This makes inferences about family organization based on data concerning family composition hazardous     

Extended Analysis and Evidence Integration of Chloroprene as a Human Carcinogen

β-Chloroprene is used in the production of polychloroprene, a synthetic rubber. In 2010, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published the Integrated Risk Information System “Toxicological Review of Chloroprene,” concluding that chloroprene was “likely to be carcinogenic to humans.” This was based on findings from a 1998 National Toxicology Program (NTP) study showing multiple tumors within and across animal species; results from occupational epidemiological studies; a proposed mutagenic mode of action; and structural similarities with 1,3-butadiene and vinyl chloride. Using mouse data from the NTP study and assuming a mutagenic mode of action, EPA calculated an inhalation unit risk (IUR) for chloroprene of 5 × 10⁻⁴ per µg/m³. This is among the highest IURs for chemicals classified by IARC or EPA as known or probable human carcinogens and orders of magnitude higher than the IURs for carcinogens such as vinyl chloride, benzene, and 1,3-butadiene. Due to differences in pharmacokinetics, mice appear to be uniquely responsive to chloroprene exposure compared to other animals, including humans, which is consistent with the lack of evidence of carcinogenicity in robust occupational epidemiological studies. We evaluated and integrated all lines of evidence for chloroprene carcinogenicity to assess whether the 2010 EPA IUR could be scientifically substantiated. Due to clear interspecies differences in carcinogenic response to chloroprene, we applied a physiologically based pharmacokinetic model for chloroprene to calculate a species-specific internal dose (amount metabolized/gram of lung tissue) and derived an IUR that is over 100-fold lower than the 2010 EPA IUR. Therefore, we recommend that EPA's IUR be updated.     

Women's scores on the sexual inhibition/sexual excitation scales (SIS/SES): gender similarities and differences

The Sexual Inhibition/Sexual Excitation Scales (SIS/SES) assess individual propensities to become sexually aroused and to inhibit arousal. Prior analyses of men's SIS/SES data (Janssen, Vorst, Finn, & Bancroft, 2002a) yielded one excitation factor (SES) and two inhibitory factors (SIS1/Threat of Performance Failure and SIS2/Threat of Performance Consequences). The current study utilized a dataset of 2,045 undergraduates (1,067 women and 978 men) to examine the psychometric properties of women's SIS/SES scores. Women scored higher on sexual inhibition and lower on sexual excitation compared with men. The convergent/discriminant validity of women's SIS/SES scores globally resembled men's, but showed stronger associations with other sexuality - related measures and less pronounced relationships with measures of general behavioral approach/avoidance. The test-retest reliability of men's and women's SIS/SES scores were similar, but individual items exhibited differential relevance to men's and women's arousal. An exploratory factor analysis of women's scores was utilized to further examine shared and unshared themes.     

When the levee breaks: treating adolescents and families in the aftermath of hurricane katrina

Hurricane Katrina brought to the surface serious questions about the capacity of the public health system to respond to community-wide disaster. The storm and its aftermath severed developmentally protective family and community ties; thus its consequences are expected to be particularly acute for vulnerable adolescents. Research confirms that teens are at risk for a range of negative outcomes under conditions of life stress and family disorganization. Specifically, the multiple interacting risk factors for substance abuse in adolescence may be compounded when families and communities have experienced a major trauma. Further, existing service structures and treatments for working with young disaster victims may not address their risk for co-occurring substance abuse and traumatic stress reactions because they tend to be individually or peer group focused, and fail to consider the multi-systemic aspects of disaster recovery. This article proposes an innovative family-based intervention for young disaster victims, based on an empirically supported model for adolescent substance abuse, Multidimensional Family Therapy (MDFT; Liddle, 2002). Outcomes and mechanisms of the model's effects are being investigated in a randomized clinical trial with clinically referred substance-abusing teens in a New Orleans area community impacted by Hurricane Katrina.     

Small samples confidencce intervals on common mean of two normal distributions variances

Let X₁,X₂,…,X_m be distributed normally with mean μ and variance σ² _X; Let Y₁,Y₂,…,Y_n be distributed normally with mean μ and variance σ² _Y; let X₁,X₂,…,X_m,Y₁,Y₂,…,Y_n be jointly independent. There have been several papers written concerning point estimation of μ for this problem, but very little is available in the literature concerning confidence intervals on the common mean μ. In this paper a method is proposed that results in a confidence interval with confidence coefficient essentially equal to a prescribed value 1 - α. The method is evaluated and compnred with other methods through the expected length of the confidence interval.