Fertility expectation and employment across three female cohorts

The purpose of the study reported here is to assess the relationship between fertility expectation (total number of children expected to have or have had), childrearing career (ratio of actual or intended total time per child taken out of the labour force to rear children), and the following variables across female age cohorts: (a) age, (b) education, (c) personal income, (d) religious strength, (e) marital status, and (f) employment status. The random sample consists of 323 women. Results of simultaneous equation modelling indicates that fertility expectation and childrearing career are influenced by different factors in the age cohorts. Results are discussed in terms of role compatibility and new home economics theories.Data were part of the Winnipeg Area Study, managed by Raymond Curry in the Department of Sociology, University of Manitoba.Dr. Kingsbury received her Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina-Greensboro. Her research interests are fertility decision-making and women's employment.     

“The words of my mouth,and the meditation of my heart”: The mindset of gamblers revealed in their language

The colorful language of gambling and gaming is essential to creating the players' world; in analyzing it we understand that world. This fringe vocabulary or slanguage is examined in connection with standard language, and is analyzed for its origins, its humor, and for the attitudes it expresses and transmits. This language is seen as a neglected indicator ofl'histoire de mentalité, the mindset of gamblers. It is also suggested that other factors—body language, paralanguage, stock expressions composed of standard words (jokes, catch phrases, etc.)-hold clues to the outlook, superstitions, behavior, the rational and irrational beliefs of gamblers.     

Female‐Headed Families and Poverty in Rural America*

Abstract Employing data from the 1980, 1990, and 2000 March supplements of the Current Population Surveys, this study examines changing household and family structure in metro and nonmetro areas and corresponding changes in poverty, emphasizing female‐headed families with children under age 18. We also pay particular attention to the structure and economic conditions of subfamilies with children during this period. Household and family structure in suburban metro and nonmetro areas were quite similar by 2000. In contrast, families and households in nonmetro and metro central city areas were similar in their high prevalence of poverty. Finally, the risk of female‐headed families and subfamilies with children living in poverty is highest for nonmetro residents, and their individual characteristics suppress rather than account for this disadvantage. This pattern persisted across the decades studied, despite economic growth during the 1990s.     

Networking Through Loose and Strong Ties: An Australian Qualitative Study

Given the significant role attributed to community organizations by many social capital scholars, it is appropriate to investigate the dynamics of that process. In particular, Woolcock and Narayan (World Bank Res. Obs. 15(2): 225–249, 2000) have suggested that bridging and bonding are two different types of connections, whereby bridging is associated with loose ties across communities and bonding is associated with strong ties within a limited group. This qualitative study explores the loose and strong ties of 39 participants connected through community organizations in rural and urban New South Wales. The results suggest that loose and strong ties are not synonymous with bridging and bonding. In general loose and strong ties differ in degree rather than in kind and people prefer to bridge through their strong ties. The interesting exceptions were ties to professionals, which were highly trusted but defined as loose ties. It is suggested that a model for a high social capital society might be a chain of well-bonded groups each with strong links to some other groups.     

Volunteer and coordinator perspectives on managing women volunteers

Recent changes in Australia, such as the new public management and national competition policy, have affected the way that human services are provided and have complicated the role of volunteer coordinators. However, because volunteers are free to choose their level of contribution, it is the volunteers' perspective that is the ultimate yardstick against which their coordination is assessed. The aim of the research examined here was a deeper understanding of women volunteers' and their coordinators' views of their work. The research was conducted within a qualitative paradigm, employing individual and focus group interviews. The analysis identified eight areas of concern for volunteers around their management. The analysis of the coordinators' interviews revealed three coordination styles—horizontal, nurturing, and managerial—of which the managerial was most in conflict with the volunteers' perspective.     

The Onset of Working Memory in Infants

We used an optimized configuration of the delayed‐response task to explore the ability of young infants to remember which of 2 locations was correct across 12 trials after a 1‐ to 2‐sec delay. Performance improved with age, particularly after 5.5 months. These findings suggest an onset of appreciable working memory for many infants in the middle of their 6th month.     

Subjective indices of housing satisfaction as social indicators for planning public housing in Nigeria

This paper argues that successful public housing programmes in Nigeria need to combine objective criteria with subjective indicators of resident satisfaction with public housing. Against the background of an empirical study of two public housing estates in Enugu, it was discovered that a critical mass of occupants felt dissatisfied with the type of housing units provided for them. Using different analytic techniques, the sources of dissatisfaction were highlighted and their planning implications discussed.