Adult Materialism/Postmaterialism And Later Mental Health: The Role Of Self-Efficacy

This study used data from the British National Child Development Study (NCDS) to examine the relationship between materialism/postmaterialism and later mental health. Materialism/postmaterialism was assessed (using Inglehart’s 4-item index) at age 33 and mental health (measured by the GHQ-12) was assessed at age 42. It was found that after controlling for socio-economic status at birth, father and mother involvement in early childhood, parental family structure throughout childhood, psychological maladjustment in adolescence, educational attainment and contemporaneous factors (labour force participation, self-reported physical health, belonging to a religion, and being partnered) materialism was negatively related to ill mental health in men. The relationship between materialism and later mental health became insignificant, however, once self-efficacy was entered in the model, suggesting that materialism was positively associated with self-efficacy which was positively related to mental health. Postmaterialism was insignificantly related to mental health in both men and women.     

Parameters of Household Composition as Demographic Measures

Cross-sectional data, such as Census statistics, enable the re-enactment of household lifecourse through the construction of the household composition matrix, a tabulation of persons in households by their age and bythe age of their corresponding household-heads. Household lifecourse is represented in the household composition matrix somewhat analogously to survivorship in a life-table in demography. A measure of household lifecourse is the average household size, specific to age of household-head. Associated with the age-specific household size is the age-interval 0–4, which yields average number of children present in households, also by age of head. Trajectories of re-enacted household lifecourses for Phoenix and for the State ofArizona are depicted here to track the gamma probability density function. Through this relationship also the association between household size, children per household, and fertility emerges. To the extent that housing conditions or tenure impact average household size, or other aspects of household composition, fertility in particular is discerned as a housing- related demographic attribute of households. Household size and headship ratio, both specific to age of head, are here shown to be analytically related to the household composition matrix, their product yielding the age-specific headship coefficient. As a measure incorporating parameters of households and dwellers, thus also characterizingoccupied dwellingunits, the headshipcoefficient emerges as a demographic indicator of housing in a community.     

Well-Being in an Adult Swedish Population

Objectives: The aim of this study was to see if earlier findings about factors associated with well-being could be replicated in a large population-based sample in Sweden. To the best of our knowledge, no research on well-being has been conducted on such a large population in a country, which by most standards is regarded as one of the most fortunate in the world. With its economic wealth and highly developed social welfare and health care system, Sweden is a country where the conditions for a high level of well-being would appear to be met. Methods: 10,441 randomly selected Swedish citizens, aged between 20 and 64 years, living in Stockholm County, completed a questionnaire covering issues such as demographics, social network and psychological well-being. The data were collected during the years 1998–2000. Results: Male gender, greater age, cohabiting, good childhood conditions, support from friends, sound financial situation and absence of negative life events were positively associated with well-being and explained 20% of the variance. Conclusion: The findings replicated earlier studies. Factors associated with well-being seem to remain the same, and are still explaining only a small part of the total variance, despite different measurements, time, sample sizes or country of origin. Therefore, research on well-being needs to take a new turn, by placing less focus on external factors and more focus on the internal factors, such as a person’s personality and coping strategies.     

Marketing and Quality of Life: A Model for Improving Perinatal Health Status

Introduction: A marketing/business model using non-traditional Quality of Life measures was developed to assess perinatal health status on a micro-geographic level. This perinatal health status needs assessment study for Georgia South Central Region was conducted for the years 1994–1999. The model may be applied to any geographic unit in the U.S. – from a block group level to a state or a region. Methodology: An Infant Health Risk Score was created for each county and census tract by calculating the Z-scores of various Medical, Lifestyle, and Access variables so as to construct a Quality of Life Index. The scores identified the areas in the region that were at high risk for certain medical, lifestyle, and access variables (i.e., high risk for preterm births, low education levels, and poor access to perinatal services). A marketing tool, Claritas PRIZM Clusters, was used to identify a specific cluster and associated marketing information for each census tract within the region. Results: The Infant Health Quality of Life Risk Scores were linked with the PRIZM cluster marketing data to target areas in the region that exhibit high risk medical, lifestyle, and access scores. Health promotion and disease prevention strategies were developed using a marketing/business model. Specifically, media usage and consumer behavior purchasing patterns were identified and processed for every high risk area in the region. The categories for media usage were television, radio, and magazines and the categories for consumer behavior included restaurants, food items, and shopping locations. Discussion: The Perinatal Region is developing strategies to implement the media usage and consumer behavior marketing information to focus their prevention efforts to the high risk areas in the region based on the Quality of Life Measurements. Linking marketing business tools with a Quality of Life health status needs assessment has significant potential for improving the planning, the evaluation, and the focus of prevention efforts.     

Single Parents and Paid Work

Radical social changes in household formation over the past three decades have given rise to the single parent family. In spite of the level of public assistance, which is among the most generous in the OECD, research has shown that single parents (usually mothers) are among the most impoverished members of society. Recent legislation is moving toward mandating single parents off public assistance and into paid work in order for them to achieve more sustainable futures. In this paper we argue that this strategy is unlikely to succeed unless the particular needs of single parents are understood and addressed within a broader debate concerning women, care, and paid work. Family‐friendly workplace practices, more extensive publicly funded childcare, and better opportunities for lifelong learning are some of the changes that are urgently needed to assist not only single parents but all who try to combine the dual roles of working and caring.     

Teaching the Holocaust in America's Schools: Some considerations for teachers 1

This paper examines a number of variables that teachers must consider before beginning a study of the Holocaust with their students. Since Holocaust education should look very different depending upon the grade level of the students, it discusses how these variables come into play for different grades, as well as theoretical considerations for teaching the Holocaust in the classroom. It traces the history of Holocaust education in America's schools, discusses major approaches to presenting the topic, and explores the connection between Holocaust education and the teaching of morality.     

Seasonal change of nest survival and related aspects in an aggregation ofLasioglossum duplex (Dalla torre), a eusocial halictine bee (Hymenoptera: Halictidae)

Summary Nest survival in an aggregation of a eusocial halictine bee,Lasioglossum duplex, was censused through an annual cycle. Out of 2,500 nests marked at the beginning of solitary phase in the spring, only 25.5% attained eusocial phase. But 60.5% of 636 nests attaining eusocial phase successfully produced sexual offspring. This shows that solitary phase is the most vulnerable period in the annual cycle. A very low productivity in eusocial phase in the census year was clarified from examination of 99 nests in the autumn. The number of prospective foundresses surviving to the next year was estimated upon the number of brood cells in examined nests and of old females surviving these nests. Deviation between this estimate and the number of nests made in the next spring was 8.8%, confirming a drop of population size to less than one third in the next year. Some nests solitarily made in the summer by dispersed females were examined. Productivity in such nests was extremely low, hence these nests should contribute virtually nothing to the next generation. Possible factors affecting the low productivity in eusocial phase were enumerated though none of these were supported by concrete evidence. Some considerations were given on the relation between obtained results and colony life cycle in eusocial insects, particularly in halictine bees. Bionomics of the eusocial halictine bee,Lasioglossum duplex. VI.