Human sexuality: the controversy continues

Sex education should be an integrated component of population education programs in the Philippines. There are, however, a variety of objections to this approach, which are linked to proposals that sex education is more relevant to biology and medicine curriculums. The Population Education Program of the Philippines conducted a study of 2093 parents and 4550 teachers to determine who registered objections to teaching certain population education content, what they objected to, and why such objections were raised. Findings show that only 3% of the sample reacted unfavorably to the inclusion of controversial topics, such as sex terms, illustrations of sex organs and the naming of contraceptive devices. The issues remaining to be solved are: content, terminology, teacher competence, parents' involvement, and teaching aids.     

Demographic crisis: The impact of the Bangladesh civil war (1971) on births and deaths in a rural area of Bangladesh

Summary In Matlab Bazaar Thana the Cholera Research Laboratory has registered the births, deaths and migrations in a population of approximately 125,000 since 1966. Although this rural area was not the scene of any significant armed encounters, striking changes in birth and death rates were registered during and after the conflict. Birth rates did not change during the relatively brief period of the civil war, but a small decline was registered for one year after the war. Fertility rates which had been declining slightly and irregularly in the pre-war baseline period may have increased slightly during the war and fell substantially in all age groups in the year following the war. The crude death rate, which rose by 37 per cent during the war, was a very sensitive reflection of the administrative and economic problems. Overall infant mortality rose by only 15 per cent over pre-war levels because all of the increase was observed in the post-neo-natal component, which traditionally accounts for less than one-third of the total infant mortality in Bangladesh. Children and older adults accounted for the majority of excess deaths which were largely attributed to acute diarrhoeas and other gastro-intestinal causes. The death rate at ages 1-4 rose by 43 per cent and at ages 5-9 soared to 208 per cent above pre-war baseline rates. All increases in age-specific mortality rates fell to baseline levels during the year following the war, except the 5-9-year age group, in which rates continued to be high largely because of deaths due to dysentery.     

Females and illness: recent trends in sex differences in the United States.

Data from the national Health Interview Survey for 1957-72 show that females have higher age-standardized rates of acute conditions, chronic conditions, and disability due to acute conditions, compared to males. More males, however, suffer limitations of activity or mobility due to chronic conditions, Females' excess morbidity for acute conditions persists when reproduction-related events are excluded. From 1957-72, females' disadvantage for acute conditions continues unchanged. But for chronic conditions, males are "catching up" to females in overall prevalence, and their conditions are becoming more severe relative to females'. These trends are compatible with trends in sex mortality differences over the same period. Four types of explanation are advanced to account for females' excess morbidity: interview behavior, illness behavior, acquired health risks, and inherited health risks. Empirical evidence suggests the first two factors inflate female rates compared to males; the last two do the opposite. It is hypothesized that excess female morbidity is due primarily to social and psychological factors, and a procedure to test this is stated.     

The Relationship Between Visioning Behaviours of Leaders and Follower Burnout

This paper investigates whether the perceived visioning behaviours of leaders influence the burnout process experienced by their followers. A structural equation model was used to examine these relationships using a sample of 480 senior managers from an Australian law-enforcement organization. Differences in the relationships between the two factors of visioning behaviour and aspects of burnout were identified. Inspirational motivation (concept-based) reduced the central factor of burnout, namely emotional exhaustion (psychological strain). Inspirational motivation (image-based) had a positive effect on personal accomplishment (self) and reduced depersonalization. The paper discusses the implications for leaders and followers and identifies directions for future research.     

Chinese version of the OSI: A validation study

This article examines the construct validity of the Occupational Stress Indicator (OSI) in its Chinese version as well as its criterion-oriented validity against self-reported data on absenteeism and accidents, using a final sample of 1054 workers in the Chinese manufacturing and power industries. The divergent and convergent validities of five of the OSI scales—Job satisfaction, Physical ill-health, Mental ill-health, Type A behaviour and Control—were examined by a multimethod-multitrait matrix technique. Results indicated that the Chinese OSI had fairly good validity in relation to other well-established measures as well as relevant organizational behaviours.     

Perception of Ecological Risk to Water Environments

This paper examines lay and expert perceptions of the ecological risks associated with a range of human activities that could adversely affect water resource environments. It employs the psychometric paradigm pioneered in characterizing perceptions of human health risks, which involves surveys to obtain judgments from subjects about risk items in terms of several important characteristics of the risks. The paper builds on a previous study that introduced ecological risk perception. This second study employs a larger, more diverse sample, a more focused topic area, and comparisons between lay and expert judgments. The results confirm that a small set of underlying factors explain a great deal of variability in lay judgments about ecological risks. These have been termed Ecological Impact, Human Benefits, Controllability , and Knowledge. The results are useful in explaining subjects' judgments of the general riskiness of, and need for regulation of, various risk items. The results also indicate several differences and areas of agreement among the lay and expert samples that point to potential key issues in future ecological risk management efforts for water resources.