College students’ attitudes toward abortion and commitment to the issue

Male and female participants were surveyed on abortion attitudes, commitment, and abortion experience. Results revealed a normal distribution of abortion attitudes rejecting the notion that the vast majority of the sample would have significantly pro-choice views. No significant difference was found in overall abortion attitudes of males vs. females, however, individuals with direct abortion experience were found to have significantly stronger pro-choice attitudes than individuals without direct abortion experience. Overall, college students reported a moderate degree of commitment to the issue of abortion. Females were significantly more committed than males, individuals with direct abortion experience were significantly more committed than individuals without direct abortion experience, and individuals with more extreme abortion attitudes were significantly more committed than those with weaker, more ambivalent, attitudes. No significant difference was found in level of commitment between pro-choice and pro-life individuals.     

Personal income taxation under mobility, exogenous and endogenous welfare weights, and asymmetric information

This paper analyses how governments should tax labour income accruing to a group of highly skilled and geographically mobile individuals who divide their time or career between several jurisdictions. The analysis differs from previous models on migration and taxation by addressing optimal regulation when agents work for several principals. Optimal taxation is developed for social welfare functions with exogenous and endogenous welfare weights. Marginal income taxes are applied for screening purposes, and the rates are lower with endogenous than with exogenous welfare weights. Received: 22 January 1998/Accepted: 3 July 1999)     

The measurement of diversity: Ethnic and socioeconomic mixing in residential areas

Units of observation such as census tracts continue to be analyzed according to various modal characteristics while the variation or diversity existent in such units is often ignored. The qualitative or nominal-level indicators of diversity are examined which (1) are operative in the polytomous situation, and (2) measure within-unit diversity rather than divergences among units. Six qualitative indicators are explained and compared both theoretically and by example, with the Index of Qualitative Variation suggested as the most appropriate measure of diversity when variables representing a nominal scale are used. Quantitative or interval-level diversity also was examined with six measures analyzed, representing three operational situations. Because of the susceptibilities of five of the quantitative measures to skewness and variable sample sizes, the coefficient of variation was recommended for interval-level variables to evaluate within-unit diversity.     

Civil Commitment for Drug Dependency

In recent proposals for new legislation in New South Wales for dealing with drug-dependent persons, opinion has been sharply divided over the issues for and against civil commitment for drug abuse per se. This paper examines the situation as seen from a legal point of view.     

Hybridization and speciation in the carabid beetles of the subgenusOhomopterus (Coleoptera, Carabidae, genusCarabus)

Natural hybridization among wingless carabid beetles of the subgenusOhomopterus (Carabidae, genusCarabus) is reviewed, and its significance in the evolution of this subgenus discussed. Natural hybridization occurs between parapatric species of similar size. Two case studies of natural hybridization suggest that natural hybridization could have affected the evolution of this subgenus in different ways. When there is a large difference in genital morphology between hybridizing species, interspecific copulation often results in genital injuries that causes mortality of copulating individuals, and hence reduces the fitness of hybridizing individuals greatly. In such a case, hybridization may be effective in maintaining the parapatric distribution of the two species, and in the long term, may promote reinforcement selection for traits which are effective in prezygotic reproductive isolation. When the morphological difference in genitalia is not so large as to cause genital injury, a hybrid population may be established at the intermediate zone between two parental species, provided that the immigration rates of the two species into the intermediate zone are small. Thus, natural hybridization may have contributed to both divergence and reticulate evolution in this subgenus.     

Gender roles,HIV risk behaviors,and perceptions of using female condoms among college students

The purpose of this study was to examine relationships between gender roles and HIV risk behavior, and perceptions and acceptance of the female condom among college students (n = 410). It was hypothesized that high hyperfeminine females and high hypermasculine males – those adhering to traditional gender roles – would engage in more HIV risk behaviors, including alcohol and drug use and various sexual practices, than those with lower hyperfemininity and hypermasculinity. It was also hypothesized that higher hyperfeminine females as well as higher hypermasculine males would perceive the female condom more negatively and would be less likely to view the female condom as a viable form of protection in the future. It was also hypothesized that high hyperfeminine females and high hypermasculine males would not accept the female condom as an alternative form of protection. Implications for prevention interventions are discussed.     

The demographic impact of Partition in the Punjab in 1947

We use data from the 1931, 1941, and 1951 censuses of India and the 1951 census of Pakistan to examine the demographic consequences of Partition in the Punjab in 1947. Had growth rates for the period 1931-41 for the Punjab as a whole continued to 1951, the population of the Punjab would have been 2.9 million larger than that recorded in 1951. Population losses from migration and mortality above age 20 were approximately 2.7 million greater between 1941 and 1951 than would have been predicted by loss rates between 1931 and 1941. We estimate a net Partition-related population movement out of the combined Punjab of about 400,000. We conclude from several lines of analysis that Partition-related population losses in the Punjab, either from deaths or unrecorded migration, were in the range 2.3-3.2 million. Partition was also marked by a dramatic religious homogenization at the district level.     

Retrospective information on health status and its application for population health measures

Healthy life expectancies are almost always calculated by using health data from cross-sectional surveys. This type of calculation is done partly because data from longitudinal surveys are not always available, and when they are available, they are collected at intervals that are longer than one year. In such cases, collecting health information retrospectively for the years skipped by the survey is useful. The main purpose of this paper is to show how retrospective health information can be used to estimate life expectancies in different health states. Healthy life expectancies are estimated with and without using data on retrospective health information, and the corresponding estimates are compared. The two sets of estimates are similar. We conclude that retrospectively assessed health information based on a one-year recall period can be used to estimate years of life in various health states and that estimates based on such information will closely approximate estimates based on concurrent health information.