Does the EDI Equivalently Measure Facets of School Readiness for Aboriginal and Non-Aboriginal children?

The aim of the current paper was to examine the equivalence of the Early Development Instrument (EDI), a teacher rating measure of school readiness, for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children. The current study used an approach, which analyzes the structure and properties of the EDI at the subdomain level. Similar subdomain score distributions would suggest that the EDI measures subdomains similarly for both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal groups, whereas systematic variations in distributions would suggest the presence of bias at the subdomain level. The EDI was completed on a population of kindergarteners in 2003 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. Results indicate that mean scores for all the domains and subdomains were significantly lower for Aboriginal children. However, the distributions of subdomains in which children were rated as ‘challenges exist’ were similar among both groups. The findings suggest an equivalent structure of the EDI at the subdomains level for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children. The next step is to examine the specific correlates, beyond the structure of the EDI, that are associated with disparities in EDI subdomain scores, such as contextual factors and social conditions.     

金融危机后的东亚生产主义福利体制————基于我国香港和澳门地区的个案研究

在全球金融危机下,不同社会经济背景的人都有相似的境遇。为应对1997至1998年的亚洲金融危机,香港和澳门特区政府推出了温和的社会保障措施以帮助失业和贫穷人士。在经历亚洲金融危机和全球金融危机所带来的显著经济、社会变化之后,香港和澳门居民期望政府提供更多的社会保障。尽管如此,大部分亚洲政府在处理日益复杂的社会保障议题上仍未改变福利供给策略。因此,对于多数人而言,经济困境不但没有改变,更由于2008年全球金融危机之前的食品价格危机而雪上加霜。有鉴于此,在过去几年,香港和澳门政府都推出了多项政策以解决在职贫穷与跨代贫穷问题。但旧有的'生产主义福利体制'已难以满足全球化进程中日益复杂的社会经济变迁和公民福利期望,应妥善调整福利策略。基于我国香港和澳门地区金融危机后社会福利措施改革的研究,对分析东亚地区社会福利体制变革具有一定的借鉴意义。     

Hand in hand? UN–business cooperation for health and development

This article explores legitimacy challenges arising from increased cooperation between the United Nations and large business companies in the realm of global public health through an examination of the Global Public–Private Partnership for Handwashing with Soap, seeking to prevent the spread of disease in poor communities. In contrast to many health partnerships, it does not employ a “vertical” disease-specific program, neither does it involve pharmaceutical companies. Instead the partnership stresses the marketing skills of soap companies in influencing individuals’ hygiene behavior as an important rationale for public–private partnering. The article argues that market-based governing strategies might increase the output legitimacy of global health governance, but that modes of representation and accountability have not evolved sufficiently to provide for broader input legitimacy. I propose that a human rights-based approach to health provides an alternative model that holds greater promise for legitimate governance, focusing on rights-bearing subjects instead of soap consumers.     

Managing aging men in Asia: a strategic approach

We have established a comprehensive diagnostic paradigm for the management of aging men which seeks to evaluate the various determinants of the aging process in five major health areas: cardio-health, bone health, sex health, general health and endocrine state. This paradigm appears to be useful for the management of the problem of aging in our local population. It could be used for the management of individuals as well as for population research. When combined with the establishment of evidence-based management modalities, it will provide a useful tool for the holistic management of aging in Asia.     

Sex and aging in the city: Singapore

A survey was carried out on 307 healthy men and 774 women, aged between 30 and 70 years to evaluate the determinants of sex life in the highly urbanized Singapore population. The results showed that significantly more women (28.8%) as compared to men (16.3%) were currently sexually inactive. The main reason for sexual inactivity for women was being divorced or widowed (37.9%) and for men, the loss of interest in sex (42.8%). Relationship problems and being stressed out in life were the next two most common reasons for both men and women. Coital frequency for men and women between the ages of 30 and 55 years averaged about five to six times monthly and was significantly reduced to about three times monthly in those above 55 years old. More men (25.7%) wanted to have more frequent sex than women (5.4%), but were unable to fulfill their desire and the primary reason was that they were too stressed out in life. Results from this study revealed that sex life is determined not only by physiological, but also cultural, social and lifestyle factors. In Singapore, lifestyle factors accounted largely for sexual inactivity, and the inability to fulfill the desire for more frequent sex. The term ‘lifestyle impotency’ was coined to describe the group of men and women who were too stressed out in life to have sex. Therefore, there is a need to evolve a paradigm for the management of sexual dysfunctions by taking into account the underlying etiological factors which, as we have shown, may not be resolved by pharmaceutical interventions.     

Is Less More? Number of Siblings and Frequency of Maternal Activities with Preschool Children

ABSTRACT

We use the German Socio-Economic Panel to investigate to what extent the number of siblings has on the frequency of cognitively stimulating activities mothers undertake with their children aged 2 to 3 and 5 to 6. The resource dilution model assumes that this relationship should be negative. We introduce the resource augmentation hypothesis and argue that increasing sibship size can also have a positive effect when efficiency gains, the public good character of maternal activities, reallocation of maternal time, and child care by older siblings are considered. Our results from intraindividual and between family analyses suggest that resource dilution is unavoidable in large families, but that resource-augmenting processes are also at work. The relationship between the number of siblings and activity frequency is not linear and can be reversed from negative to positive in smaller families depending on the presence of younger siblings.     

Subjective Well-Being, Societal Condition and Social Policy – The Case Study of a Rich Chinese Society

The article looks at whether or not social policy and other societal-condition variables contribute to the subjective well-being of life satisfaction. It firstly argues that social policy needs to pay more attention to the study of subjective well-being. Then, it reviews the literature and finds that people in rich societies generally have higher levels of life satisfaction. But the findings of a social survey on the level of and variance in life satisfaction in a rich Chinese society reveal the contrary. The empirical data reflects a life satisfaction pattern along strong income and class lines. It also confirms that social policy and other societal-condition variables have different degrees of impact on life satisfaction. At last, implications of the findings for social policy are discussed.