Longevity Advances in High‐Income Countries, 1955–96

The advance of life expectancy within high‐income countries from 1955 to 1996 is well represented by a straight‐line trend. This explains more of the variance on average, and in 19 of 21 high‐income countries, than logged or unlogged age‐standardized death rates. Change in life expectancy in individual countries over this period was partially predicted by a country's level relative to the rest of this group of high‐income countries and partially by a country's own prior rate of advance, with substantial convergence toward the group mean for both measures.     

Migration, fertility, and state policy in Hubei Province, China

Despite China s one-child family planning policy, the nation experienced a slight rise in the birth rate in the mid-1980s. Many observers attributed this rise to the heightened fertility of those rural-to-urban migrants who moved without a change in registration (temporary migrants), presumably to avoid the surveillance of family planning programs at origin and destination. Using a sequential logit analysis with life-history data from a 1988 survey of Hubei Province, we test this possibility by comparing nonmigrants, permanent migrants, and temporary migrants. While changing family planning policies have a strong impact on timing of first birth and on the likelihood of higher-order births, migrants generally do not have more children than nonmigrants. In fact, migration tends to lower the propensity to have a child. More specifically, the fertility of temporary migrants does not differ significantly from that of other women.     

Observed Infant Reactions During Live Interparental Conflict

Associations between interparental conflict and infant reactions were examined. Infants' history of exposure to interparental conflict and infant reactive temperament were examined as moderators. A community sample of 74 infants, aged 6–14 months, participated with their parents. Behavioral observations were made of parents' marital conflict and their infants' reactions. Parents reported on their emotional states during conflict, infants' history of exposure to interparental conflict, and infant temperament. Multilevel modeling indicated that infants showed differential responses to marital conflict; destructive and depressive conflict were associated with increased infant discussion attending and negative reactions, whereas constructive conflict was associated with decreased discussion attending and negative reactions. Infants' history of exposure to marital conflict and infant reactive temperament emerged as moderators.     

Interrogating medical tourism: Ireland, abortion, and mobility rights

Medical tourism in Ireland, like in many Western states, is built around assumptions about individual agency, choice, possibility, and mobility. One specific form of medical tourism—the flow of women from Ireland traveling in order to secure an abortion—disrupts and contradicts these assumptions. One legacy of the bitter, contentious political and legal battles surrounding abortion in Ireland in the 1980s and 1990s has been securing the right of mobility for all pregnant Irish citizens to cross international borders to secure an abortion. However, these mobility rights are contingent upon nationality, social class, and race, and they have enabled successive Irish governments to avoid any responsibility for providing safe, legal, and affordable abortion services in Ireland. Nearly twenty years after the X case discussed here, the pregnant female body moving over international borders—entering and leaving the state—is still interpreted as problematic and threatening to the Irish state.     

African-American students’ perceptions of public relations education and practice: Implications for minority recruitment

In-depth interviews were conducted with African-American public relations students to explore their perceptions of public relations and the role race may play in their career success. The motivations for pursuing public relations and perceptions of the field are not different than those of other groups of students found in previous studies. However, the findings provide insights that are helpful in recruiting African-American students, and also in retaining them in the major. Central themes that emerged from the data are that it is important to have African-American role models, and that students’ view race as a fact of life that can be both a barrier and an asset.     

An Exploratory Study of Clinical Measures Associated with Subsyndromal Pathological Gambling in Patients with Binge Eating Disorder

Both binge eating disorder (BED) and pathological gambling (PG) are characterized by impairments in impulse control. Subsyndromal levels of PG have been associated with measures of adverse health. The nature and significance of PG features in individuals with BED is unknown. Ninety-four patients with BED (28 men and 66 women) were classified by gambling group based on inclusionary criteria for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-IV (DSM-IV) PG and compared on a range of behavioral, psychological and eating disorder (ED) psychopathology variables. One individual (1.1% of the sample) met criteria for PG, although 18.7% of patients with BED displayed one or more DSM-IV criteria for PG, hereafter referred to as problem gambling features. Men were more likely than women to have problem gambling features. BED patients with problem gambling features were distinguished by lower self-esteem and greater substance problem use. After controlling for gender, findings of reduced self-esteem and increased substance problem use among patients with problem gambling features remained significant. In patients with BED, problem gambling features are associated with a number of heightened clinical problems.     

Agency and expression despite repression: a comparative study of five ethiopian lesbians

Same-sex sexual practices are illegal in Ethiopia; consequently, little is known about Ethiopian lesbians. We explored the lives of five Ethiopian lesbians in order to understand their sexuality from their perspectives. We were particularly interested in how they perceived their sexual identities and practices, the obstacles they faced, and how they coped with such obstacles. Three major themes emerged from their responses to a semi-structured questionnaire, which we analyze from radical, African feminist perspectives. First, these women consistently described the negative impact of Ethiopian laws on their lives. Second, all testified to experiences of sexual agency, despite repression. Finally, their responses revealed considerable diversity and fluidity regarding sexual desire, attraction, and sexual behavior, demonstrating the complexities of lesbian sexuality. We conclude with recommendations for future research and lesbian activism.     

The impact of union-sponsored boycotts on the stock prices of target firms

An empirical analysis of the impact of union-sponsored boycotts on the stock prices of target firms strongly suggests that union boycott announcements initially lead to economically and statistically significant losses in the stock prices of the target firms. However, this short-term price decline is almost completely erased by rebounds in stock prices over the ensuing 15 trading days.