Economic Well-being and Cohabitation: Another Nonmetro Disadvantage?

Our study examines residential variability in the prevalence of cohabiting households, the extent to which children are present, characteristics of the household head, and multiple indicators of economic well-being. Despite a lower prevalence of cohabiting households in nonmetropolitan compared to other areas, a larger proportion contain children. For all measures considered, economic well-being is lowest for cohabiting households with children in nonmetropolitan areas, and compared to their metro counterparts a larger proportion receive all forms of public assistance. The higher likelihood of poverty among nonmetropolitan cohabiting households with children is not explained by the characteristics of the household heads in multivariate models predicting household poverty. Cohabitation clearly has different family and economic implications in nonmetropolitan than in other residential areas.     

Changing Linkages Between Work and Poverty in Rural America1

Abstract The changing relationship between work and poverty in non-metropolitan (nonmetro) America is documented using data from the 1980 and 1990 March supplements of the Current Population Survey. Specifically, this paper assesses changing differentials in the proportion of poor people who are working; documents the rapid rise in poverty among nonmetro and metropolitan (metro) workers during the 1979—1989 period, especially among young adults and females; and provides evidence of growing inequality between metro and nonmetro workers, a pattern that cannot be explained by differences in work attachment, human capital, or job characteristics. The results imply that poverty is a persistent if not increasingly harsh reality for workers in rural America.     

The effect of marital status at first birth on marital dissolution among adolescent mothers

The sequencing of marriage and first birth was expected to play an important role in the stability of marriage among adolescent mothers. We hypothesized that adolescent women who married prior to conception would have the lowest rates of marital disruption, followed by those who married between conception and birth. Adolescent women who gave birth prior to marriage were expected to suffer the highest rates of marital dissolution. The results provide partial support for our hypotheses. There is little difference in the probability of separation between adolescent mothers who had a postmarital conception and those who had a premarital conception but married before the birth. Having a premarital birth, however, significantly increases the probability of marital dissolution. We also hypothesized that marital status at first birth would have less effect on the probability of marital dissolution for blacks than for whites. This, too, is generally supported by our findings. Among black females, those with a premarital birth are the first to suffer a marital disruption, but by the end of ten years there is little difference in the probability of separation among the three marital status groups. In contrast, among white females, those with a premarital birth are the first to experience a disruption, and this differential persists over all subsequent marriage duration intervals. Thus, the sequencing of marriage relative to birth has similar short term effects for whites and blacks, but the effect for blacks is evident only in the short term. Ten years after the marriage, black adolescent mothers have similar rates of marital stability regardless of the sequencing of marriage. This is consistent with the findings of previous research and with our hypothesis; with the black family pattern of lower rates of marriage, higher rates of illegitimacy and higher divorce rates, the sequencing of marriage has no long lasting consequences on marital stability. Finally, our predicted decline in the effect of marital status at first birth over historical time also finds partial support. For white females there has been a change in the effect of marriage-first birth sequencing on separation over time. In the period encompassed by the women in our study, white adolescent mothers who married subsequent to the birth have been the most likely to experience a separation at all marriage duration intervals, but this differential narrows as age at interview declines. Among black females there has been no change in the effect of a premarital birth over time.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)     

Action Learning - A Paradigm in Emergence: the Problems Facing a Challenge to Traditional Management Education and Development

This paper examines the proposition that action learning is a new paradigm in management education. Action learning is becoming widely accepted methodology for the development of managers and managerial competence. This is in both public and private sector organizations and within the context of certificated and organisationally based programmes. The paper seeks to use Kuhn's work on the nature of paradigms and change as a way of explaining the increase of interest in his approach. Importantly, although this approach promises to answer some of the problems of traditional management education, it is not without its own critics. Kuhn's criteria for a paradigm change are explained with reference to action learning literature and knowledge of practice. From this a framework is developed that compares a traditional approach to management education with an action learning approach on three levels. Our conclusion is that action learning is a new paradigm, but for the maximum benefit to be gained from the approach its application needs to be more carefully considered, particularly in relation to the provision of some wider external frameworks for the manager to use as‘tools for thinking’     

Review and appraisal of guidelines for the management of asthma during pregnancy

Background

Asthma affects 12.7% of pregnancies in Australia. Poorly controlled asthma is associated with increased maternal and infant morbidity and mortality. Optimal antenatal management of asthma during pregnancy has the potential to reduce complications relating to asthma. Evidence-based clinical practice guidelines help to translate health research findings into practice and when implemented can improve health outcomes. National and International guidelines currently provide recommendations for optimal asthma care in pregnancy.

Korea/Japan or Japan/Korea? The Saga of Co‐hosting the 2002 Soccer World Cup

Since Japan's defeat and enforced withdrawal from Korea in 1945, continuing acrimony from those 35 years of Japan's unwelcome domination on the Korean Peninsula has been a thorny issue affecting full normalization of relations between the two countries. The first round of post‐war talks between Japan and South Korea remained stalled for almost half a decade, and not until 1965, after 14 years of subsequent – and painfully drawn out – negotiations were diplomatic relations finally established. Today, in spite of a gradual thawing of that very icy relationship, Korean people's bitterness over Japan's militarist past and over what they regard as insufficient apologies and reparations was always going to feature as the two nations went head to head in their bid to host the 2002 World Cup. Following FIFA's decision in 1996 that Japan and South Korea would jointly stage the cup as co‐hosts – the first time in soccer World Cup history – extant animosity became increasingly problematic as South Korea, Japan and FIFA hammered out the details. In this paper I draw upon media coverage from the mid‐1990s to the present day to discuss FIFA's historic co‐hosting decision, a judgment which, in spite of the difficulties then and now, does have the potential to make a very positive impact on both countries and greater Asia. After briefly introducing the broader sports/politics conundrum, I outline the final stages of the host‐nation selection dilemma which forced FIFA into its unprecedented joint decision, locating that process within a framework of the competitive lobbying between the two political rivals and internal demands for a change of management style within FIFA itself. I will also highlight the economic, political, historical and social ramifications of a co‐hosted soccer World Cup and attempts to deal with the issues. South Korea's desire for North Korea to participate in the tournament will also be discussed as a vehicle for encouraging stability on the Korean Peninsula and for future cooperation between Japan and South Korea on their policies towards North Korea. Although the 2002 World Cup arrangements are already firmly in place, the long‐term animosity and the continuing accusations and points‐scoring between the two host‐nations suggest that we can not yet take it for granted that the co‐hosted 2002 soccer spectacular will go according to plan.     

Residence and Income Inequality: Effects on Mortality Among U.S. Counties

Abstract Despite lower average incomes, greater percentages living in poverty, lower levels of health insurance, less preventive health care, and poorer health status, nonmetropolitan residents have been found to experience lower mortality than their metropolitan counterparts. Several pathways through which residence influences mortality have been proposed. The objective of this study is to examine the effects of income inequality on residential differentials in mortality. Using data from the Compressed Mortality File for counties in the coterminous United States for 1990, we estimate weighted least squares models of total mortality for 3,067 counties, and separately for metropolitan and nonmetropolitan counties. Mortality is lower in nonmetropolitan counties than in metropolitan counties, once rates are standardized for age, sex, and race. Moreover, income inequality exerts stronger effects in nonmetro counties, an effect that persists when per capita income, median household size, and racial composition are controlled. The percentage of the population that is black exerts an independent effect on mortality in both metro and non‐metro counties.     

Qualitative examination of rural service provision to persons with concurrent developmental and mental health challenges

Although there has been an international trend away from institutionalization to community-based care, this has not always been successful, particularly for the unique and vulnerable population diagnosed with both mental health and developmental disabilities. The challenge of meeting the needs of this population is increased in rural and remote areas. As a part of a larger study, this paper reports on the voices of service providers for people dually diagnosed as they maneuver through the considerable challenges of meeting complex needs while located in remote northern communities. The complexities of rural service provision for those with a dual diagnosis of mental illness and developmental disability is also highlighted and includes challenges of northern living, difficulties in diagnosis, and system level issues. This paper confronts the inequities in provision of effective community-based services to this population and draws attention to the need to support and develop local, integrated services in order to build inclusive communities for all.