An Empirical Analysis of Strike Durations in Ghana from 1980 to 2004

Abstract. This paper provides a seminal analysis of strike activity for an African country in investigating the determinants of strike durations in Ghana over the period 1980–2004. The empirical approach uses a set of well‐known parametric accelerated failure time strike duration models. There is a broad consensus among the different empirical models about the role exerted on average strike duration by strike size, the rate of inflation, enterprise ownership, and political governance. However, evidence on the relationship between strike durations and business cycle activity in Ghana is less clear‐cut.     

Perceived Family Functioning and Family Resources of Hong Kong Families: Implications for Social Work Practice

This article reports the results of a telephone survey (n = 1,015 respondents) that aims to identify the perceived general family functioning and family resources of Hong Kong Chinese families and their linkage to each other in a rapidly transforming society. The perceived general family functioning of the respondents was average, and the five types of family resources—time, income, human capital, psychological capital, and social capital—of the respondents ranged from average to good. The following family resource domains, in descending order, have accounted for significant variance in perceived general family functioning: income, time spent with family, stress coping efficacy, religion, and satisfaction with the living environment. Our findings provide empirical support for policy formulation and social work practice.     

Using experiential knowledge to understand urban rat ecology: A survey of Canadian pest control professionals

Rats (Rattus rattus and Rattus norvegicus) are among the most prolific and widespread urban pest species in the world. However, there is relatively little contemporary data regarding the ecology of rats in urban centers, preventing the development of effective strategies for urban rat management. Practical constraints associated with field studies suggest the need for more efficient methods of data collection, one of which could involve pest control professionals, who have considerable experiential knowledge of urban rats. The objective of this study was to gather data regarding urban rat ecology through a survey of Canadian pest control professionals and to determine whether such a survey could be useful for the collection of ecological data regarding pest species. Survey results suggested that rat infestations fluctuate seasonally and that there are a variety of environmental factors that may attract rats, particularly exposed garbage, abandoned buildings, and compost. Respondents suggested that rat infestations are most frequent and/or severe in residential areas, commercial areas dealing with food, as well as in neighborhoods of low socioeconomic status. The majority of respondents believed that rats pose at least a moderate health risk to the general public and to themselves, and they also believed that although poison baiting is the cheapest and easiest method of rat control, environmental modification is the most effective way to control rat infestations in the long term. Despite issues with low response rates, these results suggest that pest control professionals may be a valuable source of data regarding urban pest species.     

Comorbid mood and adjustment disorders among pathological gamblers seeking treatment in Hong Kong

Research findings on comorbidity and pathological gambling are non–existent in Chinese communities. The objectives of this study were to: (a) determine the prevalence of comorbid mood and adjustment disorders among pathological gamblers seeking treatment in Hong Kong; (b) compare demographic profiles and clinical features in pathological gamblers with and without comorbid mood and adjustment disorders; and (c) explore the association and temporal relationship between pathological gambling and comorbid mood and adjustment disorders. Assessment instruments included demographic data, BSI, SCID-I, ASI and LIFE-RIFT. Results showed that about two-thirds (63.7%; n = 128) of 201 participants reported lifetime comorbid psychiatric disorders. Most common comorbid disorders were mood disorders (29.4%; n = 59) and adjustment disorders (20.9%; n = 42). Pathological gamblers with comorbid mood or adjustment disorders showed more severe levels of psychopathology, impairment in psychosocial functioning and gambling problems. This study is important because it is the first scientific comorbidity study among pathological gamblers in a Chinese context.     

Young Women's Experiences and Perceptions of Cunnilingus during Adolescence

Recent studies indicate that cunnilingus may be as prevalent as fellatio among American adolescents. Despite this approximate equivalence in rates, there is an imbalance in the amount and type of attention paid to fellatio and cunnilingus. Furthermore, there has been little empirical examination of young women's experiences and perceptions of cunnilingus during adolescence. Two studies in response to this gap in knowledge were conducted. In Study 1, regression analyses indicated that a young woman's sexual assertiveness was linked to having more lifetime cunnilingus partners, as well as more cunnilingus experiences in the past three months. Study 2 explored young women's perceptions of cunnilingus and their speculations about their male partners’ perceptions thereof. Linear mixed modeling revealed that participants had highly favorable impressions of cunnilingus, which they believed their male partners shared. These findings are considered in terms of positive adolescent sexual development and cultural norms regarding female sexuality.     

Behavioral and Relational Contexts of Adolescent Desire,Wanting, and Pleasure: Undergraduate Women's Retrospective Accounts

Studies of adolescent female sexuality often focus on coitus to the exclusion of noncoital behaviors, the relational context of sexual interactions, and adolescent women's subjective perceptions of their experiences. In this study, 38 undergraduate women's retrospective accounts of their adolescent heterosexual experiences were examined. Generalized estimating equation models were used to test the relation of diverse heterosexual behaviors and relationship types to participants' subjective perceptions of desire, wanting, and pleasure. Of the sexual behaviors, coitus was the strongest predictor of participants' subjective perceptions. Compared to coitus, erotic touching, manual stimulation, and fellatio were significantly less predictive; there were no differences between coitus and cunnilingus or coitus and kissing. Of the relationships (serious, dating, “friends with benefits” [FWBs], and “hookups”), FWBs was the strongest predictor of participants' desire, wanting, and pleasure; in comparison, hookups were significantly less predictive. These findings offer insight into the sexual behaviors and preferences of young women, as well as distinctions between types of non-romantic sexual relationships.     

Relocating Prejudice: A Transnational Approach to Understanding Immigrants' Racial Attitudes

Immigration is changing the racial composition of many societies. Yet leading theories of racial prejudice, even in a multiracial context, focus on dynamics in a single nation‐state and fail to account for the experiences of the foreign‐born. We adopt a transnational approach that incorporates processes creating prejudice from both inside and outside the receiving society and that shows how attitudes move across borders through immigration, transnationalism, and globalization. We draw upon two in‐depth studies of immigrants and those who stay in the home countries, focusing on Koreans' and Dominicans' attitudes toward Black Americans. By situating existing theories of racial prejudice within a transnational framework, we illustrate how models of transnationalism are relevant not just within immigration scholarship, but to more general processes of social change.     

Reconstruction of Birth Histories from Census and Household Survey Data

In this paper a new procedure for reconstructing birth histories from census or household survey data is developed. Given the number of children ever born, the number of deceased children, and the ‘own children’ birth history of each woman, it is possible to ‘fill in’ probabilistically the missing births of her deceased children and of children not present in the household. Thus, the procedure generates complete birth histories from which such measures as age-specific fertility rates, parity progression ratios, and birth interval measures may be estimated. For purposes of illustration and validation, the method is applied to the household survey data of the 1974 Korean National Fertility Survey, both to the entire sample of households, and to households with women from whom individual birth histories were collected. Age-specific fertility rates and parity progression measures estimated from the reconstructed birth histories are compared with those estimated by applying the ‘own children’ method, for the period 1960–74.