One Size Fits All? The Validity of a Composite Poverty Index Across Urban and Rural Households in South Africa

Composite indices have been prominently used in poverty research. However, validity of these indices remains subject to debate. This paper examines the validity of a common type of composite poverty indices using data from a cross-sectional survey of 2477 households in urban and rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Multiple-group comparisons in structural equation modelling were employed for testing differences in the measurement model across urban and rural groups. The analysis revealed substantial variations between urban and rural respondents both in the conceptualisation of poverty as well as in the weights and importance assigned to individual poverty indicators. The validity of a ‘one size fits all’ measurement model can therefore not be confirmed. In consequence, it becomes virtually impossible to determine a household’s poverty level relative to the full sample. Findings from our analysis have important practical implications in nuancing how we can sensitively use composite poverty indices to identify poor people.     

Teenagers in foster care: Issues,themes, and debates from and for practice and policy

The task of fostering adolescents is unique, requiring skills, qualities, and information that acknowledge each young person's particular needs. This editorial summarises a range of research in this special issue covering parenting styles, transitions out of care, child sexual exploitation, and the needs of LGBTQ and separated teenagers. Three themes emerging from the papers are discussed: autonomy and control; risk, resilience, and trauma; and relationships, identity, and stigma.     

Aspects physiques de la division sexuelle des tâches: quand la qualification professionnelle et l'organisation du travail viennent en aide aux femmes cols bleus*

The greatest hindrances to women's persistence in non-traditional jobs in industry are psychosocial and organizational; physical difficulties seem negligible in comparison. This study identifies the physical characteristics of three categories of manual jobs and shows how they affect the way women perform their work and their physical (and mental) health. On the basis of data collected on men and women's bodily pains, physical difficulties, and psychosocial problems, the study suggests that to a certain extent, women have succeeded qualitatively and quantitatively in entering these jobs, although problems—health risks, adaptation of tools and machinery, and the “cultural coexistence” of the sexes—remain to be resolved in the short term. The study finally suggests that women could take advantage of both organization in the workplace and their own technical qualifications to guarantee their legitimacy in such jobs. Les principaux obstacles au maintien des femmes en emploi non tra-ditionnel en industrie sont de nature psycho-sociale ou organisation-nelle. Les difficultés d'ordre physique paraissent négligeables en comparaison. Cette étude dresse la liste des caractéristiques physiques de trois catégories d'emplois manuels et montre comment celles-ci affectent la facilité avec laquelle les femmes les occupent et leur intégrité physique (et mentale). Sur la base d'un relevé des douleurs, difficultés physiques et problèmes psycho-sociaux des femmes et des homines, l'étude suggère un succès relatif, quantitatif et qualitatif, de rintégration des femmes dans ce milieu de travail, mais encore des problemes (de santé, d'aménagement matériel, de «co-existence culturelle» des sexes) qui à moyen terme devront être résolus, et que les femmes peuvent tirer parti de l'organisation du travail et de leur qualification technique pour assurer leur légitimité dans ces emplois.     

Health Behaviors,Self-Rated Health,and Quality of Life: A Study Among First-Year Swedish University Students

Abstract

The authors conducted a baseline investigation of male and female university students' health behaviors and self-rated health and quality of life (QOL). The study population consisted of all full-time, first-year students registered in a comprehensive study program offered at a Swedish university in autumn 1998. In spring 1999, the researchers sent self-administered questionnaires dealing with health status, lifestyle, and living conditions to the students at their home addresses. Male respondents used tobacco, were frequent drinkers, and engaged in binge drinking in larger proportions than expected by chance. A majority of the respondents rated their physical and psychological health as very good or good, but male students' ratings were higher than those of female students, whereas the males' average scores on self-perceived QOL were lower than those of females. Both male and female students' self-perceived QOL was more strongly associated with self-rated psychological than with physical health.     

Does a Brochure About Pathological Gambling Provide New Information?

The purpose of the present study is to evaluate whether a brochure on pathological gambling provides new information and knowledge to the general population. A total of 115 randomly chosen people from shopping malls and municipal parks were randomly distributed to control and experimental groups. Results indicated that the brochure provided new information concerning problem gambling, at risk behaviors, and the availability of specialised help.     

Understanding the diversity of EU migration policy in practice: the implementation of the Blue Card initiative

High-skilled immigration (HSI) policies, and their harmonisation across member states, have been an important part of the EU's Lisbon strategy focusing on the knowledge-based economy, and the subsequent ‘Europe 2020’ which emphasises economic recovery. Intra-EU mobility of high-skilled workers is quite low, and member states have targeted high-skilled third-country nationals (TCNs), both through national policies and the EU's recent Blue Card scheme. However, the Blue Card Directive (adopted in 2009, transposed by June 2011), despite its scope for Unionised regulation, allows member states to decide how many high-skilled TCNs they want to admit, if any. The article argues that tensions between openness and closure to migration exist at both member state and EU level. These tensions are resolved through considerable diversity in the conditions and rights accorded to Blue Card holders across member states. Drawing on new empirical data, the article analyses first results of the transposition of the Blue Card Directive. It examines how far, in what form, and with what implications, diversity continues regarding the principle of mobility for these migrants across member states. The pattern and nature of transposition are hence important in shaping an EU-regulated liberal market in labour recruitment, and the development, or otherwise, of rights-based mobility regulation.     

The ‘virtuous’ cycle of parental empowerment: Partnering with parents to safeguard young people from exploitation

When young people are sexually exploited, parents and professionals alike can feel uncertain about how to balance the need to protect the child's rights to agency and autonomy while also reducing the risk of harm. Despite the shared interest in keeping young people safe, there remains a substantial gap in the research literature about how practitioners engage parents to increase capacity to safeguard their children, particularly within the context of a child protection system ill-equipped to address forms of extrafamilial harm such as child sexual exploitation. This paper aims to contribute to understanding how professionals effectively engage parents by drawing upon evidence from research evaluations of two programmes in rural/urban North and urban South locations in England, both providing specialist support to parents/carers of sexually exploited children and young people. Through interrogating elements of effective support work evidenced across both programmes, a set of emerging key themes are presented, proposing that parent support and engagement can create a ‘virtuous’ cycle, whereby families are strengthened and are better able to protect their children from sexual exploitation and other forms of extrafamilial harm.