Urban Institute

About: Urban Institute is a nonprofit organization based out in Washington D.C., District of Columbia, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Medicaid & Population. The organization has 927 authors who have published 2330 publications receiving 86426 citations.

Apprehension and fear: Learning a sense of sexual vulnerability

Abstract: Feminist theory and the sociological thinking of Gagnon and Simon (1973) complement each other in predicting the causes of a sense of sexual vulnerability in adult women. Using these theoretical perspectives, the authors predicted that females rather than males would be the targets of active efforts to instill a sense of sexual vulnerability, and that the effects of these efforts would be revealed most strongly in adult females rather than in children. An interview was used to collect data on the frequency and content of warnings received by men and women as children and as adults, the source of the warnings, and how concerned respondents felt as a result of the warnings. Results indicate that as children, neither female nor male respondents recall receiving many warnings of sexual danger, nor do they recall feeling much concern during childhood about potential sexual assault or harassment. Males continue to report low levels of warnings and fear as adults. However, adult women report much higher levels of both warnings and fear of sexual assault than either their adult male counterparts reported, or than they themselves felt as children. These results support other findings which suggest that gender differences in sexual socialization occur largely in adolescence, rather than in early childhood.

Job Demands and Work Ability at Older Ages

Abstract: Workers' ability to delay retirement depends partly on the demands of their jobs. Matching occupational characteristics from the Occupational Information Network to Current Population Survey respondents, this study finds that 7% of American workers held highly physically demanding jobs in 2006 and 35% held highly cognitively demanding jobs. The share of the workforce in physically demanding jobs fell by about one-sixth between 1971 and 2006, while the share in cognitively demanding jobs increased by more than one-third. The decline in physically demanding occupations will likely improve employment prospects for older adults, but the growth in cognitive demands may limit options for some older workers.

Changes in sexual risk behavior as young men transition to adulthood.

Abstract: CONTEXT: Understanding how young men’s sexual risk behaviors change during the transition from adolescence to early adulthood is important for the design and evaluation of effective strategies to reduce the transmission of HIV and other STDs. METHODS: Data from three waves of the National Survey of Adolescent Males (1988, 1991 and 1995) were used to categorize 1,880 respondents into clusters according to sexual risk behaviors. Univariate and bivariate analyses were conducted to assess associations between clusters and rates of self-reported STD diagnoses and positive chlamydia tests. RESULTS: Two dimensions of sexual risk-taking defined the clusters: partner characteristics and condom use. More than 50% of men remained in low-risk groups over time. In the first two waves, 24–32% of men reported engaging in high-risk behaviors (risky partners, condom nonuse); these behaviors were associated with elevated levels of STD outcomes. Nearly 40% of men who entered a high-risk group in the first two waves transitioned to a lower risk group by the third wave. Nine percent of men either engaged in increasingly risky behaviors or maintained membership in high-risk groups; elevated STD rates characterized both trajectories. Low condom use combined with having multiple partners during adolescence was associated with elevated STD rates in the year preceding the third wave; high condom use coupled with having risky partners was not. CONCLUSIONS: The prominence of low-risk behaviors over time suggests that most young men avoid sexual risk-taking. Effective strategies to reduce HIV and STD risk in young men must simultaneously address multiple dimensions of sexual behavior.