Remeasuring ageing in Hong Kong SAR; or ‘keeping the demographic window open’

Hong Kong SAR has among both the lowest fertility rates and highest life expectancy in the world. Under the current calculation of the Old Age Dependency Ratio (OADR), Hong Kong is, understandably, ageing extremely rapidly. This is a cause of significant concern among policy makers. However, OADR assumes that the entire population aged above 65 is both ‘old’ and ‘dependent’, neither of which is clearly defined, and that all aged below 65 are active in the labour force. Furthermore, because the rate is fundamentally based upon a European/North American model of pension and retirement it is arguably less appropriate to areas of the world where retirement ages are more fluid and pension systems less developed. We apply and extend a method for Hong Kong, designed by Sanderson and Scherbov, to ‘remeasure ageing’ by taking remaining life expectancy as the constant, rather than years lived by using projected life tables and 1 × 1 population projections. In doing so, we show that Sanderson and Scherbov’s new ‘prospective’ measurements of ageing more accurately reflect the increased longevity and vitality of Hong Kong’s population. Rather than passively accepting fate as a ‘rapidly ageing’ population, East Asian economies can be active in rethinking society’s relationship to work and other activities across the life-cycle. By adapting existing measurements to take into account the different welfare regimes in East Asia, we can radically alter the timeframe in which population ageing becomes ‘critical’. This allows more time to develop a more holistic life-course view of the relationship between work, longevity and fertility and to actively tackle ageing in an optimistic way.     

Assessment of the Refined Aging Semantic Differential: Recommendations for Enhancing Validity

The US population is aging. Traditional perspectives have emphasized that a substantial increase in the number of gerontological social workers is needed to care for this population. However, published evidence demonstrates that, along with population growth, economic and social factors must be taken into account before predicting future gerontological social work demand. Structural lag theory is introduced to explain how these factors affect the profession and may limit its presence in gerontological work settings. Recommendations are made to correct the lag, allowing the social work profession a more substantive voice in the aging enterprise.     

Child abuse in the context of domestic violence: prevalence, explanations, and practice implications

This article addresses the following questions: (a) How common is child abuse among domestically violent families? (b) Are there specific patterns of child abuse among domestically violent families? (c) What may explain occurrences of child abuse in domestically violent families? (d) How might domestic violence affect treatment for child abuse? We review research on child abuse in the context of domestic violence. We discuss implications of this research for service-delivery programs for domestically violent families.     

Work, employment, and mental illness: expanding the domain of Canadian social work

Despite established evidence that work and employment are an important component of recovery for people who experience mental illness, social work education in Canada seldom offers graduate training or courses on the significance of work in peoples' lives or on the practices involved in helping to gain and retain employment for these individuals. In this article the authors argue that the high levels of unemployment among people who experience mental illness, and the rising incidence of mental health and addictions issues in workplaces, offer the opportunity, as well as the mandate, for social work educators to provide professional education in the area of employment support and assistance.     

Victimization Within Mutually Antipathetic Peer Relationships

Children's victimization experiences within relationships characterized by mutual animosity were examined among 210 6th‐ and 7th‐grade boys and girls. Participants reported that a greater proportion of mutual antipathies, relative to other peers, victimized them. Moreover, the receipt of victimization within antipathetic relationships was greater when the partner in the relationship was aggressive, physically strong, non‐victimized and had low levels of internalizing problems. Perceptions of victimization and levels of maladjustment were also found to be more strongly associated with victimization from mutual antipathies than with victimization from other peers. Together, these findings highlight the importance of studying victimization in the context of antipathetic relationships and contribute to an emerging literature on the developmental significance of these relationships.     

Economic Conditions in Rome and Their Lessons for Us

Abstract

The Economic and Social History of an English Village (Crawley, Hampshire) A.D. 909-1928. By N. S. B. Gras and E. C. Gras. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1930, XV, 730 pp. $7.50.

The American Revolution and the British Empire. By R. Coupland. Longmans, Green and Co. London, New York, Toronto, 1930; vii, 331 pp. $4.50. Reviewed by Robert Livingston Schuyler.

The Genius of Mexico. Lectures Delivered before the Fifth Seminar in Mexico, 19.10. Edited by Hubert C. Herring and Katharine Terrill. The Committee on Cultural Relations with Latin America, New York, 1931. 334 pp. Reviewed by Milton W. Hamilton.

A Guide to the Study of Medieval History. By Louis J. Paetow. Revised Edition under the Auspices of the Medieval Academy of America, Dana C. Munro, editor in chief. New York, 1931. (Crofts, $6.00). Reviewed by John L. La Monte.

International Government. By Edmund C. Mower. D. C. Heath &; Co., Boston, 1931. xix, 736 pp. $5.00.

International Law. A Restatement of Principles in Conformity with Actual Practise. By Ellery C. Stowell. Henry Holt &; Co., New York, 1931. xxvi, 829 pp. $4.75. Reviewed by Walden Moore.

A History of South America. By Charles Edmund Akers. E. P. Dutton and Co., New York, 1930. xxxii, 781 pp. Illus. Maps. $5.

A History of the Argentine Republic. By F. A. Kirkpatrick. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1931. xxvii, 255 pp. Illus. Maps.

Narratives of the Discovery of America. By A. W. Lawrence and Jean Young. Jonathan Cape and Harrison Smith, New York, 1931. viii, 300 pp. Maps. $3.

Select Documents Illustrating the four Voyages of Columbus. Vol. 1. By Cecil Jane. The Hakluyt Society, London, 1930. Illus. Maps. Reviewed by A. Curtis Wilgus.

The American Public Mind. By Peter Odegard. Columbia University Press, New York, 1930. 308 pp.

American Society. By Charles F. Thwing. The Macmillan Company, New York, 1931. 271 pp. Reviewed by R. Stanley McCordock.

The Cabinet Council of England in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, 1622-1784, vol. 1. By Edward Raymond Turner. The Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore, 1930. xi, 469 pp. $7.50. Reviewed by Charles F. Mullett.

A History of the Hebrew People from the Earliest Times to the Year 70 A.D. Largely in the Language of Bible. Prepared by George A. Barton. The Century Co., New York, London, 1930, 464 pp. $3.50. Reviewed by Salo Baron.

Nelson W. Aldrich: a Leader in American Politics. By Nathaniel Wright Stephenson. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1930. xii, 496 pp. Reviewed by Herbert B. Howe.     

Foreign aid and national priorities

Foreign aid evolved from a combination of postwar trends—reconstruction efforts, U.S. foreign policy objectives, post-colonial relations, and humanitarianism. At no prior time has foreign aid played a role in relations among nations; and there are signs—relative stagnation of aid flows, increased doubts about the aid relationship—that aid in its present form may not be a permanent feature of the international scene. One of the important questions to be addressed as we speculate about the prospects for the Second Development Decade and beyond, is whether this is a process to be resisted or an evolution to be aided.