Child health: An underplayed variable in parental leave policy debates?

This paper examines parental leave policy from the perspective of infant and young child health. Factors assisting the successful integration of breastfeeding and maternal employment are outlined. Health effects of day care attendance are also explored as an integral component of this assessment. It is suggested that the potential health disadvantages associated with lack of, or inability to access, parental leave to care for infants may be compounded by the possible adverse health effects of involvement in group day care. Possible reasons for the relative lack of attention to infant health concerns, including those related to both breastfeeding and day care attendance, in the English-language parental leave literature are examined. This includes an analysis of the tensions posed for gender equity objectives by a child health emphasis in parental leave discussions. Two contrasting country-level case studies--the USA and Sweden--are presented in order to highlight the implications of specific configurations of parental leave and early childhood education and care policies for both infant health and gender equity objectives. The paper concludes by looking at how parental leave development and design can best take account of child health considerations. Éste articulo evalúa la política del permiso laboral (la baja por maternidad/paternidad) desde la perspectiva de la salud de los niños. Se resumen los factores que ayuden la integración exitosa entre el amamantar y el empleo materno. Además, como elemento esencial se esta investigación, se indaga los efectos de guardería para la salud infantil. Sugerimos que las posibles desventajas para la salud infantil asociadas con la carencia de, o la incapacidad de obtener, la baja para cuidar a los niños pueden agravar las semejantes desventajas asociadas con la asistencia del niño a la guardería. Se buscan explicaciones posibles para la falta relativa en la literatura inglés de la atención al asunto de la salud infantil. Se incluye un análisis de las tensiones en los objetivos de la igualdad de los sexos que salen de un énfasis en la salud infantil en debates sobre el permiso laboral de los padres. Se presento estudios de los casos de los EEUU y Suecia para destacar las implicaciones de configuraciones especificas del permiso de los padres y la política de la educación y guardaría infantil tanto para los objetivos sociales de la salud infantil como la igualdad entre los sexos. En conclusión se considera cómo el desarrollo y diseño del permiso de los padres pueda mejor tomar en cuenta el asunto de la salud de los niños.     

Dual-language characteristics and earnings: Male Mexican workers in the United States

This paper examines income differentials between native-born white males of non-Hispanic origins and Mexican American males of varying linguistic statuses. The analysis relies on conventional modeling techniques of the earnings process and the selected use of mother tongue, English fluency, and primary language usage to categorize the Mexican American population. The findings differ among the derived groups. Among Mexican immigrants, there does not appear to be any direct economic reward for speaking English. For the U.S.-born Chicanos, there is only a small economic advantage associated with being reared as an English monolingual, and there appears to be a clear disadvantage directly associated with being a Spanish-dominant bilingual.     

洛杉矶：个人主义英雄的坟墓——解读菲茨杰拉德的《最后的大亨》

在《最后的大亨》中,菲茨杰拉德刻画了一个完美的个人主义英雄——斯塔尔.但浮华奢靡的现代工业城市洛杉矶腐蚀了斯塔尔的心智和道德,耗尽了他的能量和才华,摧毁了他的精神和肉体,成为埋葬英雄的坟墓.菲茨杰拉德从自身的人生经历出发,怀抱着农业文明的理想来审视、观照现代城市洛杉矶,认为城市助长了浮华奢靡,使人们远离农业的自然状态,从而导致了其堕落和毁灭.     

Monitoring and modeling the urban growth of two mid-sized Chilean cities

Chile's economic development model changed drastically in 1973. Public policy liberalization ended and the market became the principal entity for regulating growth, including urban growth. The implementation of this new model resulted in unprecedented urban growth, markedly impacting the landscape. In mid-sized cities, this spatial growth has been especially significant. Two examples of such mid-sized cities are Chillán and Los Ángeles, located in the Biobío Region, in the so-called Central Valley. This research analyzed the land use/cover change in Chillán and Los Ángeles from 1978 to 1998, identified the patterns of urban growth and the fragmentation of the urban space, applying GIS and remote sensing tools. The main driving forces of the urban changes were analyzed and the model to predict the land use/cover changes was applied. Our results show the importance of monitoring and modeling rapid urban growth for attaining sustainable mid-sized cities in developing countries that are strongly dependent on export of natural resources. Monitoring and modeling could also help to avoid a repetition of the errors that produced the unsustainable growth characteristic of large Latin American cities.     

Where are the new fathers? German families with a non-traditional distribution of professional and family work

The concepts 'new fathers' and 'new men' reflect changed attitudes about gender roles today. However, at a behavioural level, the traditional division of labour in families has proved tenacious. Wage differences between the sexes are believed to be a main reason for this. This German pilot project examined the division of labour of couples, to pursue the question of what consequences a couple's relative earnings have for a cooperative role structure as well as for the transition to parenthood. Qualitative interviews were conducted with both partners in 25 couples in which the woman's earnings were as high as or higher than those of the man. The results show clear deviations from the 'standard model', thereby indicating the significant influence of earnings. Most couples divided parental leave so that neither partner had to drop out of employment for a long period of time. The egalitarian role distribution had a positive effect on the relationship between parents and on satisfaction with this relationship. RESUMEN Los conceptos de 'padre moderno' y 'hombre nuevo' reflejan actitudes cambiadas sobre papeles de los sexos hoy en día. No obstante, al nivel de comportamiento, la división tradicional de trabajo ha sido tenaz. Se cree que esto surge principalmente de diferencias de sueldos entre los sexos. Éste proyecto piloto alemán evaluó la división de trabajo entre parejas para averiguar las consecuencias de los ingresos relativos de una pareja en la estructura cooperativa de papeles de sexo, además de el la transición a ser padres. Se llevaron a cabo entrevistas cualitativas con ambos compañeros de 25 parejas donde los ingresos de las mujeres eran iguales o superior a los del hombre. Los resultados muestran desviaciones claras del 'modelo estándar' señalando la considerable influencia de los ingresos. La mayoría de parejas compartían la baja por paternidad/maternidad para que ninguna persona tuviera que abandonar su empleo durante mucho tiempo. La distribución igualitaria de papeles afectó positivamente a la relación entre los padres y a su satisfacción con la relación.     

封闭与融合——比较纽约和洛杉矶华人社会的政治参与度

美国华人最近几年在政治生活中十分活跃,不论是参加竞选还是公民投票,都取得了很多历史性的突破。与父辈的华人相比,他们现在已经进入了参政的萌芽阶段。但是,纽约和洛杉矶两地华人在政治参与度和政治参与方式上有显著差别。通过利用制度分析的方法,考察移民居住国的制度和社会结构对移民政治参与的影响,从而对纽约和洛杉矶两地华人参政程度不同的原因进行深入的研究。最后得出结论,在民主开放的社会背景下,当存在政治、经济和社会等利益动机时,华人会主动地参与到政治进程中。纽约和洛杉矾两地华人参政的不同是由两地不同的社会结构和利益构架不同所造成的。     

From Being Unbanked to Becoming Unbanked or Unbankable: Community Experts Describe Financial Practices of Latinos in East Los Angeles

ABSTACT

Appropriate use of formal financial institutions facilitates saving and asset building. Yet 20% of the US Latino population is unbanked. In this cross-sectional qualitative study, 34 community experts were interviewed regarding financial practices in the predominantly low-income Latino and immigrant community of East Los Angeles. Thematic analysis of these in-depth, semistructured interviews suggests that immigration status fuels fears regarding banking and ultimately the persistence of unbanked status; limited financial education prompts community members to move from being unbanked to being unbankable. Techniques employed to reverse this cycle appear helpful, but ultimately overwhelmed by the magnitude of community mistrust and misinformation.     

Prestige versus socioeconomic status in the attainment processes of American men and women

This paper demonstrates the consequences to the researcher of choosing to analyze social mobility data with a prestige scale rather than with a socioeconomic index. First, the low intergenerational correlations reported for the International Prestige Scale are rejected when they are shown to be compatible with inadequate models of the processes of status inheritance. Second, the Duncan socioeconomic index is shown to be the preferred measure of status transmission in that it suffers from less random error than does the International Prestige Scale, particularly among men. Third, the occupational attainment processes of American men and women are described with socioeconomic scoring, and these findings are contrasted with those which obtain with prestige coding.     

The system-of-care for homeless youth: perceptions of service providers

Service providers' perceptions of the system of care for homeless youth are described. Face-to-face structured interviews were conducted with staff at homeless youth agencies in Los Angeles County (L.A. County) regarding organizational and staff characteristics, issues affecting youth, types of available services, gaps in services, and barriers to service delivery.Overall, agencies were large, well established, and provided multiple services. Most agencies (62%) were concentrated in Hollywood, a cruise area of L.A. County. Clear distinctions emerged between large and small agencies; large agencies had more resources, more professional staff, were established longer, and were policy advocates. Typical of other US metropolitan areas, services for homeless youth in L.A. County are located in cruise areas, and are not as readily available in other geographic areas. Such geographic barriers to providing a comprehensive and coordinated system of care can affect youth's pathways out of homelessness.     

Environmental Surveillance at Los Alamos: An Independent Reassessment of Historical Data

Since 1971, a series of annual Environmental Surveillance ... reports have served as the official public record of Los Alamos National Laboratory's (LANL) environmental performance. In northern New Mexico, where past LANL emissions are a public health concern, there is public skepticism over the accuracy of information contained in these reports. To test the hypothesis that LANL Environmental Surveillance ... reports systematically understate past emissions, we compared the data on releases in LANL's own internal Occurrence Reports Collection (ORC) to the data reported to the public in the Environmental Surveillance ... reports. A data set of 89 environmental occurrences recorded in the ORC in the time period from 1971 through 1980 was assembled. We did not find a systematic pattern of quantitative underreporting of source terms. However, 17 of the 89 (19%) environmental occurrences recorded in the ORC were not reported to the public in the Environmental Surveillance ... reports. The observed discrepancies are discussed in terms of their relevance to public health concerns. Methodological caveats dictate restraint in applying these findings beyond the scope of the relative comparison performed here. Possible social origins for the rejected hypothesis are discussed. Areas for further consideration by the Centers for Disease Control's dose reconstruction study of LANL are identified.