Gender Bias in the Allocation of Curative Health Care in Minia,Egypt

Research indicates that girls' disadvantage in 1–4 mortality is unusually high inEgypt, yet the relevance of intra-family differences in power for the distributionof health resources is debated. This analysis compares effects of the involvementof various family members on choice of provider, place of care, and total expendituresfor curative care among 129 girls and boys with diarrhea in Minia, Egypt. Girlshave lower odds than boys of visiting doctors versus lay providers and privateversus informal facilities, and the involvement of fathers in prior discussionsabout care may be important to reduce this disparity. Median expenditures forcurative care also are lower for girls than boys, particularly when fathers arenever involved in choice of care. Future research should examine the extent towhich these disparities in care reflect differences in the quality of care received.     

Toward a scheduling congruity theory of family resource management

This article presents the elements of a theory to explain the dynamic construction and execution of production processes. The theory takes into account both the cognitive underpinnings and observable streams of purposive action necessary for managerial behavior. It attempts to explain both the consciously planned and executed action of individuals and the more routine, repetitive activities which dominate most resource allocation behavior. Further, it provides a framework within which goal directed actions of individuals may be translated into goal directed actions of groups of individuals.The authors wish to thank two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on an earlier draft of this article.Rosemary J. Avery is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Consumer Economics and Housing at Cornell University, 103 Martha Van Rensselaer Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853. She received her Ph.D. from The Ohio State University in 1988. Her research areas include family management and time use, family decision making, and family formation via adoption.Kathryn Stafford is an Associate Professor in the Department of Family Resource Management at The Ohio State University, Campbell Hall, Neil Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210. Her research focuses upon management by families who generate income at home, and she has also done work in the areas of family time use and household production. She received her Ph.D. from Cornell University in 1978.     

The complexity of roles in community action projects: The example of the evaluation of ‘alternatives’

Evaluation of community interventions is a special form of evaluation involving many roles that are key to accomplishing both the intervention and the accompanying research. The present paper describes the roles involved in the evaluation of a community intervention (‘Alternatives’) aimed at safer use of alcohol and depressant medications by seniors.The three core roles were the community developer who provided leadership in the implementation of the project, the researcher/evaluator, and the community committee that sanctioned and facilitated the project. Other roles on the project included: the project coordinator, the nurse-interviewers who collected the survey data for the evaluation, volunteers from seniors groups, local health service providers, the media, the funders, and others on the project team who provided specific technical expertise.The paper describes the competing interests among these roles as well as conflicts that arose and how these conflicts were handled. Although specific roles are described, the types of roles and the potential for competing interests and conflict are generally relevant to community level evaluations.     

Resources,Family Organization,and Domestic Violence Against Married Women in Minya,Egypt

I evaluate the influence of household wealth, women's socioeconomic dependence, status inconsistency, and family organization on physical abuse in the prior year and attitudes about wife abuse and divorce among 2,522 married women in Minya, Egypt. Household wealth is negatively associated with physical abuse. Women who are dependent on marriage because they have sons and less schooling than their husbands are more likely to have experienced physical abuse and to report marginally more tolerance for such abuse. Women who are isolated from natal or biological kin and living with marital relatives are more likely to have experienced physical abuse. Findings underscore the role of women's dependence and social isolation in enabling physical abuse among women of all economic classes.     

Patterns of Childlessness among Catholic and Non-Catholic Women in the U.S.: A Log-Linear Analysis*

The principal objective of this paper is to conduct a log-linear analysis of patterns of childlessness among Catholic and non-Catholic women in the United States. We address this issue by examining white women between the ages of thirty-five and forty-four, ascertaining whether they are voluntarily, involuntarily, or temporarily childless or childed. Given the long-standing emphasis of the Catholic Church regarding the importance of children in marriage and the family, an emphasis which was not reversed during the Second Vatican Council, we suggest that even after controlling for religious activity and educational attainment, Catholic women should be less disposed than non-Catholic women to choose voluntarily to have no children. We review various aspects of Church doctrine leading to such an hypothesis. Our results do not suggest an “end” to Catholic-non-Catholic differentials in childlessness. Catholic women between the ages of thirty-five and forty-four in 1976 were very far apart from non-Catholic women with respect to the voluntary decision to have no children. And they are also very different from non-Catholic women regarding patterns of involuntary childlessness. These differential patterns of voluntary and involuntary childlessness are discussed and analyzed.     

Stochastic blockmodels: First steps

A stochastic model is proposed for social networks in which the actors in a network are partitioned into subgroups called blocks. The model provides a stochastic generalization of the blockmodel. Estimation techniques are developed for the special case of a single relation social network, with blocks specified a priori. An extension of the model allows for tendencies toward reciprocation of ties beyond those explained by the partition. The extended model provides a one degree-of-freedom test of the model. A numerical example from the social network literature is used to illustrate the methods.     

The role of perception in the intention to change the family financial situation

The study investigates factors associated with the individual intentions to change the family financial situation of 337 farm respondents. The hypotheses are that intentions to change are influenced by (a) resource flexibility or constraints existing at the time of the decision situation, including off-farm employment, education, age, and household size, and (b) perceptual factors of perceived income adequacy, locus of control, degree of discrepancy between standard and level of the family financial situation, and dissatisfaction or satisfaction with the discrepancy. Older respondents and those experiencing more external control are less likely to intend to change. Younger respondents and those who perceive their incomes as more adequate are more likely to perceive that they have control over their situation. The lower the perceived income adequacy, the greater the discrepancy between standard and level of the family financial situation and the lower the satisfaction with the discrepancy. Significant indirect effects were consistent with theoretical expectations.Research was supported by the Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station Projects 52-055, 52-054, and 52-058 and the Minnesota Extension Service. The authors wish to thank Jean W. Bauer, Ph.D., for research collaboration and Susan Keskinen and Cathy Schultz for research assistance.Her research interests include social, economic, and technical decision processes, discrepancies between standards and levels, and the interrelationship of work and family roles, particularly for farm women. Her Ph.D. is from Iowa State University.Her research interests in family resource management theory include social decision making processes and social decision rules, family life quality, and the economic consequences of divorce. Her Ph.D. is from Michigan State University.     

Two different worlds: The academic orientation of graduate education vs. the realities of one applied career

The current academic orientation of graduate education in sociology poses a number of barriers in preparing students for applied careers. As a case in point, a former housing analyst discusses problems with the emphases of graduate training versus the realities of a career in applied housing research. Issues discussed include the importance of an in-depth knowledge of the applied area, the need for broad sociological scope as opposed to substantive and theoretical specialization and statistical/methodological skills. To more closely mesh educational experience with the demands of the applied workplace, graduate programs might offer a variety of options within a broadly defined applied track, expand opportunities for students to gain applied experience and recruit faculty members from an applied background. specializing in social organization and demography. She currently is working on a dissertation that examines the implications of computer technology for workplace democracy.     

The potential for successful family foster care: conceptualizing competency domains for foster parents

The potential to foster successfully starts with developing and supporting competency in 12 domains: providing a safe and secure environment, providing a nurturing environment, promoting educational attainment and success, meeting physical and mental healthcare needs, promoting social and emotional development, supporting diversity and children's cultural needs, supporting permanency planning, managing ambiguity and loss for the foster child and family, growing as a foster parent, managing the demands of fostering on personal and familial well-being, supporting relationships between children and their families, and working as a team member. This article describes each domain and reviews relevant research to help guide the assessment of practicing and future foster parents.