Diet,mortality and life expectancy: a cross national analysis

"There are numerous reasons why mortality and life expectancy vary between countries. Epidemiological studies seem to indicate that dietary variations may be among them. A sample of 51 countries studied with data from the International Comparisons Project and other sources, shows that after controlling for nutrient intake, consumption of medical goods and services, income distribution, weather, and literacy, countries with more meat and poultry in their diet have lower life expectancies after age five. The results for infant mortality and child death between one and five indicate that a more animal-intensive diet may be actually beneficial, especially if fish consumption is increased and meat and poultry consumption reduced."     

Immigration and the earnings of youth in the U.S.

"This article reports findings that have emerged from an effort made at statistically measuring the effects of immigration on the earnings of U.S.-born youth. The presence of immigrants arriving before 1965 has a positive impact on youth earnings. Recently arrived immigrants impact negatively, however. These results are consistent with recent findings that the skill level of immigrants arriving within the last two decades is lower relative to that of immigrants arriving earlier. The results also show that the negative effects diminish as the youth ages, reflecting skill acquisition and job mobility of the young worker into jobs less vulnerable to competition from immigrant workers."     

International Conference on Population Aging. Keynote address

This is the keynote address of H.E.Dr. Vincent Tabone, President of Malta, at the International Conference on Aging, which was held in San Diego in September 1992. He states that the conference celebrates the tenth anniversary of the Vienna International Plan of Action, and provides an opportunity to evaluate progress and plan future direction. Dr. Tabone, as Minister of Foreign Affairs, first introduced the question of aging at the UN General Assembly over twenty years ago; the United Nations Secretariat established its first program in the field of aging in 1970. At the World Assembly on Aging in 1982, all members adopted the International Plan of Action, which defined guidelines for policies and programs in support of the aging populations. As a direct result of this, and in support of the needs of developing countries, the UN signed an agreement with the government of Malta that established the International Institute on Aging as an autonomous body under the auspices of the UN; it is the major expression of the Vienna Plan of Action. Concern for aging populations has developed enough maturity and momentum to oversee its own progress. Although current events may relegate the social and economic implications of the aged to the sphere of rhetoric, they demand thinking in terms of generations and transcend all political boundaries. This conference will evaluate progress toward deflecting a situation where the elderly constitute an increasing proportion of the population, without adequate and appropriate provision for their livelihood, and could have direct bearing on encouraging and ensuring the continuity of the family's vital and traditional role in preserving the dignity, status, and well-being of its aging members. A nation which begrudges its dues to the elderly, the successful products of society and triumphs of life, denies its past. This conference is a reaffirmation of commitment to the United Nations Principles for Older Persons, an omen of the review of the Global Targets on Aging for the year 2001 by the General Assembly at its forty-seventh session in October, and a stepping stone in the path toward integrating the elderly more fully into the mainstream of society. The year 1992 is a year for solidarity between the generations.     

HIV testing of health care workers

Until recently, nothing much beyond education and the dispensing of condoms was being done to control the spread of AIDS. We have not yet taken sufficient measures to prevent the spread of this disease. Instead, we insist on protecting the privacy of the HIV-positive individual. However, we ignore the right to privacy by mandating testing for syphilis, which is not nearly as serious a disease as AIDS. Now, mandatory testing of health care workers is being proposed more frequently.     

Immigrant fertility: an examination of social characteristics and assimilation

"This study compares the fertility patterns of foreign-born and native-born women in Canada and examines whether [the] same set of social characteristics accounts for differential fertility among both the groups. The study also assesses the importance of social characteristics and assimilation on immigrant fertility behavior. Two generations of currently married/cohabiting women with spouse present are analyzed using multiple regressions. The results reveal similar effects on fertility of social characteristics for foreign-born and native-born, while in the case of younger generations the effects are stronger."     

The Philippine national recording systems on international migration

The author reviews migration data sources and government collection agencies in the Philippines. He finds that "despite the importance of international migration for national policy, efforts to correct the serious data limitations in the area of migration statistics have been limited and uncoordinated. In fact, most estimates of emigration levels from the Philippines still rely heavily on the data gathered by receiving countries."     

Recent trends in the process of stratification

Using the 14 annual cross-sections from the General Social Survey, we specify a "basic model" of attainment and describe the year-by-year fluctuations in its parameters. The results are partially consistent with theories describing the gradual growth of universalistic patterns of stratification and mobility. Under a linear model of educational achievement, we find that the direct effects of race are weakening and the returns to class-based advantages are declining in tandem. The contours of the socioeconomic "gender gap" are also changing in important ways, with the male intercept declining at a rapid pace and the female term registering small and insignificant year-by-year gains. At the same time, the returns to experience and schooling are increasing for men, whereas the corresponding returns for women have remained stable over the 15-year period. This pattern of interaction effects implies that the size of the gender gap varies over time and across different population groups.