Demographic changes as a problem for social security systems

The relationship between demographic changes and the social security system is explored. The focus is on the current situation in the Federal Republic of Germany, but consideration is also given to comparable developments in other developed countries. Emphasis is placed on how changes in the age distribution of modern populations affect the relative proportion of the productive and the dependent populations.     

Premarital information efforts under way

Premarital couples are among priority targets of family planning information in the Philippines national population program as they can serve a pivotal role in slowing population growth. Applicants for marriage licenses are required to attend a family planning session as a prerequisite. Following recommendations of a training effort and seminar on Premarital Family Planning Counseling, on July 20, 1976, premarital information was institutionalized in the country by Presidential DEcree 965 which made family planning counseling obligatory to the marriage license applicants. Shortly after that, a multiagency effort gathered information on the status of the Premarital information program in the Philippines, which showed that there is no full-time specialist for the work. Medical officers; social workers; community welfare supervisors; and program and training officers do this work of information in addition to their usual duties. Distribution of the applicants varied greatly in age groups, educational levels, and professional category. The size of the group, length of session and topics of discussion varied greatly. Necessary efforts should be made to solve the major problems by selecting better sites for group sessions and training more personnel for the purpose. There is a great need fordeveloping more effective and research oriented information, education and communication materials, according to the needs and cultural traits of the target audience.     

Program analysis using the client oriented cost outcome system.

The client oriented cost outcome system has been under development in Pennsylvania community and hospital programs since 1972. The system builds upon the behavioral and decision data generated with or on behalf of consumers. Flexibility for local program system design is permitted if the procedures of consumer intake, review, and termination document each consumer's (a) problems, resources, and goals, (b) overall functioning level in their ordinary community, and (c) services intended and rendered as related to (a), above. While the system's primary application is in providing feedback for local program quality assurance and evaluation procedures, aggregation of data permits program planning and evaluation at county, state, and federal levels in terms of (a) client demographic or diagnostic characteristics, and (b) program service characteristics and objectives.     

Optimal Times to Contact Sample Households

Finding a suitable respondent at home is an essential and expensivecomponent of a household survey. This article reports on theresults of a study of the probabilities of finding someone aged14 or older at home and discusses the application of such datato survey design and budgeting.     

The health demographic profile system: current and longitudinal data base for social area analysis

The development of the Health Demographic Profile System, which is based on the 1980 census, is described. The system includes social and economic indicators designed to identify high risk target populations, in terms of mental health and general health service needs, as well as to describe the social and economic structure of both mental health service and other small geographic areas. The report describes: (1) the original system, that is, the Mental Health Demographic Profile System (MHDPS), which is based on the 1970 census, including details of the approach and content, (2) the 1980 provisional indicators and planned products, (3) plans for the development of a longitudinal system based on 1960, 1970, and 1980 data, and (4) current and future studies related to the 1980 Health Demographic Profile System.     

Complaint as a form of association

Complaining is a common pattern of interaction that can be viewed as a form of association. Our understanding of complaint and other forms of association is enhanced by applying insights from Simmel's formal sociology. The emergence of complaint, like other forms of association, adheres to a general developmental process and has specifiable social consequences. The integrative and disintegrative social consequences of complaint are spelled out.     

Out-migration and ethnic communities

"Comparative analysis of out-migration [in the United States]...reveals substantial ethnic differentials. Part of the variation results from group compositional differences in social class and other characteristics normally related to migration, particularly age, education and local birth. Equally important, however, are indicators of social and economic bonds." The data concern 3,345 adults who were first interviewed between 1967 and 1969 in Rhode Island and were reinterviewed in 1970, 1971, and 1979. "The results suggest that ethnic groups characterized by a dense network of social and economic ties do not sponsor out-migration, which has been the emphasis of many past studies of chain migration and migrant assimilation. Rather, they deter out-migration by providing alternative opportunities within the ethnic community."