Skewed Sex Ratios and Criminal Victimization in India

Although substantial research has explored the causes of India’s excessively masculine population sex ratio, few studies have examined the consequences of this surplus of males. We merge individual-level data from the 2004–2005 India Human Development Survey with data from the 2001 India population census to examine the association between the district-level male-to-female sex ratio at ages 15 to 39 and self-reports of victimization by theft, breaking and entering, and assault. Multilevel logistic regression analyses reveal positive and statistically significant albeit substantively modest effects of the district-level sex ratio on all three victimization risks. We also find that higher male-to-female sex ratios are associated with the perception that young unmarried women in the local community are frequently harassed. Household-level indicators of family structure, socioeconomic status, and caste, as well as areal indicators of women’s empowerment and collective efficacy, also emerge as significant predictors of self-reported criminal victimization and the perceived harassment of young women. The implications of these findings for India’s growing sex ratio imbalance are discussed.     

Testing for markov process vs semi-markov process

Here we have obtained a non-parametric test for testing the null hypothesis H₀ that the given realization is from a Markov process against the alternative hypothesis H₁ that it is from a semi-Markov process with the transition rate monotone increasing (or decreasing). We have shown that the test criterion has normal distribution asymptotically, and the test is consistent and unbiased.     

India’s ‘Missing Women’ and Men’s Sexual Risk Behavior

Although scholars and policymakers have long been concerned with the ??missing women?? of India, little rigorous research has examined the consequences of India??s sex ratio imbalance for young men??s sexual risk behavior and reproductive health. We use data from the third wave of India??s 2005?C2006 National Family and Health Survey to examine the influence of the community female-to-male sex ratio at ages 10?C39 on men??s likelihood of marrying early in life, of engaging in premarital, multi-partnered, and commercial sex, and of contracting a sexually-transmitted disease. We estimate logistic regression models that control for respondents?? demographic and socioeconomic status and that adjust for the clustering of observations within communities. Net of the effects of other characteristics, the female-to-male sex ratio is positively and significantly associated with the likelihood that men marry prior to age 18 and inversely and significantly associated with the odds that men have had intercourse with a commercial sex worker. However, no significant net associations are observed between the sex ratio and the other outcomes. Education, wealth, religious affiliation, caste, and geographic region emerge as significant predictors of Indian men??s sexual risk behaviors.     

Residential mobility and the onset of adolescent sexual activity

Data from almost 5,000 adolescent respondents to the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) are used to examine the mechanisms that transmit the facilitative effect of residential mobility on the timing of the transition to first premarital sexual intercourse. Adolescents who have recently moved are approximately one third more likely than nonmobile adolescents to experience first premarital intercourse between the first two waves of Add Health. We find that much of the difference between adolescent movers and stayers in the onset of sexual activity is attributable to the greater propensity for delinquency and the weaker academic performance among members of movers’ school‐based friendship networks. Adolescents’ own delinquent behavior and academic performance also help to mediate the association between residential mobility and the transition to first intercourse.     

RESIDENTIAL MOBILITY AND ATTEMPTED SUICIDE AMONG ADOLESCENTS: An Individual-Level Analysis

Building on the Durkheimian legacy's emphasis on social integration as a determinant of suicidal behavior, many macrolevel studies have observed an association between aggregate rates of geographical mobility and suicide, but little research has explored this connection at the individual level. We use data from 9,594 respondents who participated in two waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to examine the effect of recent residential mobility on attempted suicide one year later and to explore the mechanisms that potentially transmit this effect. We find that among adolescent girls, recent movers are about 60 percent more likely than nonmovers to report having attempted suicide during the following year and that this difference cannot be readily explained by mover versus nonmover differences in preexisting demographic and family background characteristics. Some of the apparent effect of residential mobility on females' risk of attempting suicide operates through higher rates of victimization and delinquency, lower levels of school attachment, higher rates of social isolation, and a tendency for movers to associate with peers who exhibit delinquent behaviors and who themselves have attempted suicide. In contrast, we find no evidence that mobile female adolescents' deficit of parental social capital or lower levels of school engagement can account for the difference in attempted suicide risk between movers and nonmovers. We also find that residential mobility is not significantly associated with suicide attempts among adolescent males.     

Sex‐Selective Abortions in India

Provisional estimates from the 2001 census of India, which showed unusually high sex ratios for young children, have sparked renewed concern about the growing use of sex‐selective abortions to satisfy parental preferences for sons. According to the 1998–99 National Family Health Survey (NFHS‐2), in recent years the sex ratio at birth in India has been abnormally high (107–121 males per 100 females) in 16 of India's 26 states. Data from NFHS‐2 on abortions, sex ratios at birth, son preference, and the use of ultrasound and amniocentesis during pregnancy present compelling evidence of the extensive use of sex‐selective abortions, particularly in Gujarat, Haryana, and Punjab. The authors estimate that in the late 1990s more than 100,000 sex‐selective abortions of female fetuses were being performed annually in India. Recent efforts to expand and enforce government regulations against this practice may have some effect, but they are not likely to be completely successful without changes in the societal conditions that foster son preference.     

Likelihood ratio test for testing order of continuous time finite markov chains

Anderson and Goodman ( 1957) have obtained the likelihood ratio tests and chi-square tests for testing the hypothesis about the order of discrete time finite Markov chains, On the similar lines we have obtained likeli¬hood ratio tests and chi-square tests (asymptotic) for testing hypotheses about the order of continuous time Markov chains (MC) with finite state space.     

Higher Education and the Largest Impoverished and Marginalized Group of the Indian Population: Reviewing Enrolment and Access to Higher Education among Tribals in India

Higher education has been found to have a significant relationship with the Human Development Index and also the Gender Development Index. Its significance is especially apparent in the largest impoverished and marginalized group of the Indian population, Tribals. Tribals constitute the second largest social group in India and account for approximately 8% (equivalent to 85 million people) of the total population. Access to higher education in the Tribal population as reflected by the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) is an issue of concern as it falls behind the rest of the population even when compared with other deprived groups. Additionally, the GER of female Tribals falls behind that of their male counterparts. These factors reflect the inequality persisting among Tribals within Indian society. The present paper provides and analyses the current GER of Tribals in India and across states as well as taking a more detailed look at the enrolment of Tribals across various faculties in higher education.     

Reproductive health and domestic violence: Are the poorest women uniquely disadvantaged?

We use Demographic and Health Survey data from Cambodia, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti to compare women in different poverty and violence categories in terms of their experience of selected reproductive health outcomes. "Poor" women are those who belong to the bottom quintile of households arrayed according to a widely accepted asset-based wealth index. The results suggest that women who are both poor and have experienced violence are not unique in their reproductive health disadvantage. In particular, for all three reproductive health outcomes we consider the negative association with having experienced violence cuts across all women, poor and wealthy.     

The Company You Keep: Adolescent Mobility and Peer Behavior*

Residential mobility has been linked to a variety of problematic behaviors during adolescence, but the reasons for this association are not well understood. This analysis examines the relationship between adolescent residential mobility and the academic and deviant behaviors of members of adolescents’ friendship networks. Using data from approximately 12,000 respondents in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), we find that residentially mobile adolescents belong to school‐based friendship networks whose members exhibit weaker academic performance and expectations, less school engagement, and higher rates of deviance than do members of the friendship networks of nonmobile adolescents, even after controlling for adolescents’ own academic and deviant behaviors. These differences in the behavioral composition of adolescent friendship networks are not ephemeral, but appear to persist for several years. Moreover, these differences are equally pronounced among older and younger adolescents and among girls and boys. We also find that parental socioeconomic status is positively associated with adolescents’ involvement in high‐achieving and prosocial friendship networks. Directions for future research exploring the impact of residential and school mobility on adolescent development and functioning are discussed.