Showing papers in "Social Indicators Research in 1983"
TL;DR: In this paper, a 12-year time series of LUF indicators is developed for the U.S. labor force and its key subgroups, showing how the complexity of labor force structure that emerges from a multi-state indicator of underemployment can be rigorously modeled.
Abstract: Underemployment indicators are both ‘objective’ indicators of individual well-being and social welfare and ‘normative’ indicators for programmatic use. Components of an underemployment indicator framework, the Labor Utilization Framework (LUF), are operationally defined and shown to be closely related to a family of proposed alternatives. Using CPS data, a 12-year time series of LUF indicators is developed for the U.S. labor force and its key subgroups. The across-time heterogeneity of the labor force is analyzed in relation to a ‘basic’ demographic group-by-LUF-by-time contingency, showing how the complexity of labor force structure that emerges from a multi-state indicator of underemployment can be rigorously modeled. Standard loglinear models, which focus on the temporal aspects of data from repeated cross-sectional surveys, provide the analytic technique. Changes in the demographic composition of the labor force account for about 30% of the overall period variability, and age structure has made the most important contribution to the compositional change.
84 citations
TL;DR: The authors investigated the extent to which income adequacy was related to satisfaction with perceived overall life quality and two of the more economically based domains of life quality: satisfaction with family income and satisfaction with level of consumption.
Abstract: The study investigated the extent to which income adequacy was related to satisfaction with perceived overall life quality and two of the more economically based domains of life quality: satisfaction with family income and satisfaction with level of consumption. A representative national sample of 1046 adults was interviewed. Findings indicated that as income adequacy increased, whether objectively or subjectively measured, satisfaction with each of the three life quality measures also increased. Income adequacy explained more of the variance in the two economically based domains than in the more global area of overal life quality. Thus income adequacy was a contributor to life quality, but other domains of life experience were also important. Subjective adequacy explained more of the variation in each of the three life quality measures than did objective adequacy. While respondents differed significantly in the congruency in their subjective and objective adequacy levels, that difference explained very little of the variation in satisfaction with the three life quality measures.
72 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyzed satisfaction and happiness with life as a whole in terms of satisfaction with health, finances, family, job, friends, housing, area, recreation, religion, selfesteem, transportation and government services for males and females.
Abstract: Satisfaction and happiness with life as a whole are analyzed in terms of satisfaction with health, finances, family, job, friends, housing, area, recreation, religion, self-esteem, transportation and government services for males and females. Patterns of influential variables differ for males and females. The perceived gap between what one has and wants is a better predictor of satisfaction than the gap between what one has and thinks similar others have, and the gap between what one has and the best one has had in the past. Domain-to-satisfaction and happiness explanations are combined with gap theoretic explanations to reveal the psychological dynamics of judgments of satisfaction for males and females for the 12 domains and global well-being.
72 citations
TL;DR: In the Netherlands, between 1950 and 1980 suicide rates have risen far more among the unmarried than among the married, whereas almost no differences exist in the most traditional ones as mentioned in this paper, indicating that marriage is becoming an increasingly indispensable 'haven' in an increasingly 'privatizing' world.
Abstract: In present day Western society the institution of marriage appears to be of great significance for the well-being of the individual. Compared with married persons, the unmarried are generally less happy, less healthy, more disturbed and more prone to premature death. Among the married, happiness and health are highly dependent on marital success. The idea has been floated that the importance of marriage is now gradually declining. It is believed that single life is becoming more satisfying and that married persons are gradually becoming less dependent on their spouses.
Empirical data do not substantiate that belief. Firstly, the differences in well-being between unmarried and married persons are becoming greater rather than smaller. In the Netherlands -- between 1950 and 1980 -- suicide rates have risen far more among the unmarried than among the married. Furthermore the differences in happiness between unmarried and married persons appear greatest in the most modern European countries, whereas almost no differences exist in the most traditional ones. Secondly, married person' appear to have become more dependent on the relationship with their spouse rather than less. During the last few decades in the Netherlands the overall happiness of married people has become more closely associated with their satisfaction with marriage. These trends can be interpreted as suggesting that marriage is becoming an increasingly indispensable 'haven' in an increasingly 'privatizing' world.
43 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a new measure, Political Support-Alienation (PSA), is proposed to measure diffuse support for the political system and political stability in Mexico, which is shown to have greater reliability and validity than the standard PSA.
Abstract: A large body of theoretical research suggests a strong association between diffuse support for the political system and political stability. Yet, empirical research has paid little attention to the measurement of diffuse support, preferring instead to rely uncritically upon the Trust in Government index devised many years ago. This paper seeks to test a new measure, Political Support-Alienation with data from Mexico. The alternative measure is shown to have greater reliability and validity than the standard measure. Important implications for the interpretation of levels of diffuse support in Mexico emerge from the analysis. Data from the United states and Costa Rica are introduced to provide comparative perspective.
43 citations
TL;DR: This paper investigated the effect of neighborhood racial and socioeconomic composition on urban residents' evaluations of their neighborhoods and found that all types of residents-both black and white, low income and high income-evaluate lower income and higher minority areas more negatively.
Abstract: Using merged survey and census data from Los Angeles and Detroit, this study investigates the effect of neighborhood racial and socioeconomic composition on urban residents' evaluations of their neighborhoods. The findings show that all types of residents-both black and white, low income and high income-evaluate lower income and higher minority areas more negatively. Aversion to low income and high minority areas does not appear to result from class and racial prejudice, but rather from undesirable neighborhood characteristics.
27 citations
TL;DR: A resource exchange theory for the development of perceptual indicators of quality of family life is presented with empirical evidence to test the theory as discussed by the authors, which specifies six classes of resources: love, status, services, information, goods and money, as necessary to maintain some level of life quality.
Abstract: A resource exchange theory for the development of perceptual indicators of quality of family life is presented with empirical evidence to test the theory The theory specifies six classes of resources: love, status, services, information, goods and money, as necessary to maintain some level of life quality The first three are the most dependent on the particular people involved in the exchange relationship and the interpersonal exchanges of these resources offer opportunities for highest levels of satisfaction It was hypothesized (1) that feelings about the particularistic resources received from family would significantly contribute to family life satisfaction for men and women; (2) that the order of resource classes on the particularism dimension would correspond to the order of their effectiveness in contributing to family life satisfaction Results of the study support the theoretical model and hypotheses and suggest that further research with respondents of differing life circumstances is needed The need for indicators of quality of family life in quality of life research is emphasized
23 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined some of the central concerns expressed by residents over the presence of penal institutions within their community, and looked at some factors which may influence the type and intensity of those concerns using existing survey data collected in the lower Fraser Valley region of British Columbia, Canada.
Abstract: This paper examines some of the central concerns expressed by residents over the presence of penal institutions within their community, and looks at some of the factors which may influence the type and intensity of those concerns Using existing survey data collected in the lower Fraser Valley region of British Columbia, Canada, four generic factors of perceived impact are identified: concern for family safety; concern for general quality of life; concern for value of neighbourhood, and concern for neigh-bourhood instability Three hypotheses are then examined, relating these four concerns to the respondents' history of victimization, physical proximity to the institutions, and current position in family life cycle
21 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a technique is proposed for calculating community-level sex-specific infant and child mortality on the basis of the household data collected by the World Fertiligy Survey.
Abstract: A technique is proposed for calculating community-level sex-specific infant and child mortality on the basis of the household data collected by the World Fertiligy Survey. These estimates then serve as dependent variables for a multivariate analysis of 84 Peruvian communities of less than 25 000 population. This analysis is guided by a quasi-theoretical strategy that puts three classes of variables in competition: physical ecology, program interventions, and social structure. The representative of the first category, altitude, was significantly associated with male and female child mortality when the other independent variables were controlled. However this result is probably better interpreted as an indirect effect of social organization in the mountainous areas. The representative variable of the second category, number of local medical institutions, was unrelated to any of the four dependent variables. All three of the indicators of the social organization-community population size, proportion of educated women, and proportion speaking Spanish-were negatively correlated with the dependent variables as expected, but in the multivariate analysis only female education continued to be a consistent negative predictor. However, there is reason to believe that population size and capacity to speak the national language would be predictors with a larger sample. The paper concludes with a preliminary analysis of those communities having significantly higher or lower mortality rates than would have been expected on the basis of a knowledge of Spanish, education, community size and local medical facilities. Such deviant case analysis may pinpoint “problem communities” or, alternatively, communities with special advantages.
21 citations
TL;DR: Evidence from several procedures for validating the opinion survey data is presented, among which comparisons between the subjective and selected objective indicators of regional quality of life prove to be most conclusive, indicating the outline of a workable methodology of usable social indicators knowledge.
Abstract: Mainly because of data limitations, direct comparisons between subjective and objective indicators of local or regional quality of life have been inconclusive until now. The 1978 opinion survey among more than 33 000 Swiss recruits representing about 80% of their age cohort allows one for the first time to disaggregate survey data regionally for all parts of a whole country. The portrait of 97 regions and 25 cantons of Switzerland, based on the recruits' assessments of their native commune, seem adequately to reflect the rich variety of quality of life experiences in this extremely decentralized and culturally heterogenous country. Evidence from several procedures for validating the opinion survey data is presented, among which comparisons between the subjective and selected objective indicators of regional quality of life prove to be most conclusive. In general, the intercorrelations between these two types of social indicators are astonishingly high. Some consequences of this result for the subjective vs. objective social indicator controversy are elaborated. Methodological considerations on the peculiar elusiveness of the quality of life category follow, indicating the outline of a workable methodology of usable social indicators knowledge.
17 citations
TL;DR: Ogburn's Note on Method emphasises the importance of ensuring factual accuracy and objectivity and of eliminating opinions, recommendations and biases from the work of the Research Committee on Social Trends as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Sociologist William Fielding Ogburn was director of research for President Hoover's Research Committee on Social Trends, 1929–1933, one of the earliest major pieces of social indicator research. A memorandum written by Ogburn in 1932 on the methodology of Recent Social Trends is published for the first time with an introduction describing the background to the work and the methodological controversies which it engendered. Ogburn's Note on Method emphasises the importance of ensuring factual accuracy and objectivity and of eliminating opinions, recommendations and biases from the work of the President's Committee.
TL;DR: In this article, survey techniques are combined with behavioral observations in an attempt to replicate a 1950 baseline study in order to examine trends in racial discrimination in restaurants, and a substantial amount of discrimination was found in 1981, though somewhat less than in 1950.
Abstract: Survey techniques are combined with behavioral observations in this attempt to replicate a 1950 baseline study in order to examine trends in racial discrimination. In the 1950 study, treatment of black and white couples was compared in a sample of 62 restaurants drawn from a population of all restaurants in a large area of East Side Manhattan. In 1981 we carried out similar comparisons in a sample of 20 restaurants (plus four replications) drawn from the same area, following as closely as possible the procedures used in the baseline study. A substantial amount of discrimination was found in 1981, though somewhat less than in 1950. The difficult problems of determining when discrimination has and has not occurred are discussed from the standpoints of both black customers and social science investigators.
TL;DR: This article found that minority groups in American cities were significantly more spatially concentrated than those in German or Canadian cities and the populations living in these areas were predominantly minority, old, renters and welfare recipients, in contrast to deprived areas in cities in the other two nations.
Abstract: Since metropolitan areas in North America and Western Europe reflect similar social and economic divisions in society; similar degrees of spatial inequality for social and housing indicators are expected. This proposition was tested for seven cities (four in West Germany, two in the United States and one in Canada) for 1960–61 and 1970–71. Eight of the nine social indicators showed approximately equal inequality scores, once scale differences are controlled. Minority groups in American cities were significantly more spatially concentrated than those in German or Canadian cities. Areas of multiple housing deprivation were more clearly defined in American cities and the populations living in these areas were predominantly minority, old, renters and welfare recipients, a sharp contrast to deprived areas in cities in the other two nations. The German urban social mosaic is becoming more ‘Americanized’ as postwar housing shortages give way to increased homeownership, suburbanization and greater social class segregation.
TL;DR: Examination of the individual and joint effects of community, housing and household on the levels of satisfaction, dissatisfaction, pleasure, and worry which Korean people experience shows clear trends in quality of life.
Abstract: Both in industrialized and industrializing countries environment is widely believed to be an important contributing source of the quality which people seek to bring to their lives. Yet, quality of life researchers have made little effort to determine the exact nature of environmental effects on perceptions of quality of life. This paper examines the individual and joint effects of community, housing and household on the levels of satisfaction, dissatisfaction, pleasure, and worry which Korean people experience.
TL;DR: This paper found that the majority of Canadians are not highly technophobic, and that most technological innovations have been accepted and integrated into respondents' daily lives, while some technological "events/affects" do precipitate higher levels of fear.
Abstract: Our results show that this sample of Canadians is not highly technophobic. While some technological ‘events/affects’ do precipitate higher levels of fear, most technological innovations have been accepted and integrated into respondents' daily lives. This finding is consistent with earlier research reviewed. Some respondents did experience technophobia. In an attempt to explain the differences among the technophobia scores, five hypotheses were explored. Religious membership and religiosity were not related to TRS. Gender, occupation and residence did show a moderate correlation. One intention of the present study was to replicate Gardiner's study using a different Canadian sample. For the most part, results of the present work parallel those of Gardiner (See Table II). The results described here have both theoretical and practical implications. The reluctance of some individuals to accept ‘technological’ innovations may, as in the case of ‘math phobias’ be a result of specific socializing experiences, created out of a unique social structure in which they find themselves (‘trained incapacity’). Because technophobia is frequently not easily discernible, corrective (remedial) measures are usually not employed. In addition, the relationship between technological attitudes and behaviour should be explored controlling for gender, social class, age, education, occupation and related threatening conditions such as automation. Of course, the question asked; e.g., “Are you frightened...,” may not be the only question of importance or even the best possible. One might ascertain the degree of rust which repsondents have in technolical devices. For example, the computer that handles billing for city utilities or banks, or the current use of computers in medical diagnosis, are situations involving trust. One might seek to measure the degree to which respondents feel uncomfortable with technology because it is not directly accountable, and is not subject to the normal interpersonal sanctions that tend to reinforce reciprocity and fairness. That is, one might utilize a measure relating to situations in which technology replaces ‘responsible’ persons. At a more practical level, the results suggest that a total acceptance of the technological revolution has not occurred. Hence, the introduction of new technology of some types will continue to be questioned and, as some writers have suggested, will be actively rejected. Under what conditions might an anti-technology movement develop? The basis of such a movement may not be a fear of technological devices only, but of the surrender of personal responsibility and control to technology and technicians. Or such a movement might be based on a rational assessment of the obsolescence of one's skills as technology threatens more and more jobs (McLuhan, 1980). This study is exploratory, tentative, and very narrowly construed; even so, technophobia is a social fact which will, sooner or later, have to be dealt with more effectively as Canadian society continues to participate in the technological revolution.
Abstract: The focus of this paper is social indicator reporting, not the development of scientific generalization. This social indicator analysis involves the development of an extensive set of empirical indicators to show the extent of equity and equality of education. Equity and equality are viewed as distinct concepts, each with its own indicators. The set of indicators proposed is applied to Thailand in a case study. Examples of indicators used are (1) the relationship between socioeconomic background and access to preschool education, (2) the relationship between provincial wealth and opportunities for upper primary education, (3) proportion of females in lower primary schools, and (4) degree of equality among provinces in grant per pupil in primary education. The discrepancy ratio is introduced as an indicator to standardize measures of inequality and inequity. This set of indicators shows moderate levels of inequality and inequity in Thailand, with the most serious problems at the preschool, secondary, and higher education levels. Empirical indicators of this type are viewed as critically necessary for governments everywhere to enable them to chart their progress toward greater equity and equality.
TL;DR: In this article, a comparative study of three modalities of attitudes, towards each of ten kinds of protest acts, of citizens in five Western democracies was conducted, and the results showed that the five democracies share a common culture of attitudes towards protest acts.
Abstract: A European team conducted a comparative study of three modalities of attitudes, towards each of ten kinds of protest acts, of citizens in five Western democracies. Their data were kindly put at our disposal for further analysis. The present paper refines the definitional framework for the attitudes by introducing two further content facets: the strength of the protest act and distinction between acts of omission and of commission. Hypotheses based on the more complete definitional system concern (a) the structure of the intercorrelations among the 30 attitudes, and (b) the relative levels of positiveness of attitude towards the separate acts. Empirical testing of the correlational hypothesis by Smallest Space Analysis reveals a triplex lawfulness which is invariant across the five countries, based on the facets of the definitional system. In this sense, the five Western democracies share a common culture of attitudes towards protest acts. Lawfulness is also found, relating the facets to level of positiveness of the attitudes, though the five democracies differ with respect to the levels for separate acts. Individual differences remain between the countries within their common culture.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyzed neighborhood residential change at a micro decision-making level with emphasis upon the resident's subjective evaluation of his physical/social neighborhood environment and found that strong social attachment inhibited a move and the perceived deteriorating physical environment encouraging a residential shift.
Abstract: Neighborhood residential change is analyzed at a micro decision-making level with emphasis upon the resident's subjective evaluation of his physical/social neighborhood environment. Two conflicting modes affecting a residential change are discovered in the Israeli neighborhood examined: a strong social attachment inhibiting a move and the perceived deteriorating physical environment encouraging a residential shift. Clarifying these phenomena strongly suggests that the negative subjective evaluation of the immediate physical environment acts as a major catalyst in provoking a move. Restraint upon changes, despite the perceived conditions of the physical environment, depends greatly upon the intensity of the resident's social attachment to their neighborhood. The implications of the analysis of neighborhood stability and change are then discussed.
TL;DR: The state of religion in Canada is examined in this article, based upon the preliminary findings of two recent national surveys which have produced both cross-sectional and longitudinal data, including the involvement in organized religion, the viewing of religious TV programs, commitment to traditional Christianity, and interest in the new religions and the paranormal.
Abstract: The state of religion in Canada is examined, based upon the preliminary findings of two recent national surveys which have produced both cross-sectional and longitudinal data. Areas probed include: involvement in organized religion, the viewing of religious TV programs, commitment to traditional Christianity, and interest in the new religions and the paranormal. It is maintained that some three in four Canadians are neither committed nor opposed to old and new religions, but rather are ‘a-religious’, adhering to fragments of the Judaic-Christian tradition yet lacking a religious orientation which can be used to address life and death. This ‘unfocused majority’ is described as Canada's ‘religionless Christians’. The author concludes with an examination of the receptivity of Canadians to religion, and the prospects for variations in the predominant secularization pattern.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors developed a contraceptive policy measure related to the sale and distribution of pills, condoms and IUDs throughout the world and employed United Nations data to differentiate abortion policies throughout the globe.
Abstract: Although there have been a number of descriptive studies of the population policies of nations throughout the world, no systematic study that employs standardized population policy measures has been carried out. Employing recent United Nations data this study develops a contraceptive policy measure related to the sale and distribution of pills, condoms and IUDs throughout the world. United Nations data is also employed to differentiate abortion policies throughout the world. Dividing the nations of the world into developed, developing and underdeveloped nations, the previously mentioned measures are related to the socioeconomic, political, demographic and medical characteristics of the nations. The contraceptive policy measures are found to be significantly linked with infant mortality rates, while the abortion policy measures are found to be linked with the religious and political characteristics of the nations. Comparing these two policy measures for a subset of the nations, it is found that different factors are predictive of these two policy measures. The paper concludes by arguing that population researchers should see these two population control measures as involving two different types of population control.
TL;DR: The signed chi-square measure expresses all three statistical requirements of social indicators simultaneously, particularly when used with constant areal units as mentioned in this paper, and it can also consider subjective value-laden issues in the ranking of geographic areas on a good to bad scale.
Abstract: This paper examines the statistical requirements of area-based social indicators. It argues that on technical and conceptual grounds conventional ratio-measures fall short as indicators for use in area-based programmes of positive discrimination. Ratios quantify only one of the propositions of area-based policies as identified by Holtermann. The signed chi-square measure expresses all three statistical requirements of social indicators simultaneously, particularly when used with constant areal units. It can also consider subjective value-laden issues in the ranking of geographic areas on a good to bad scale. The concepts will be discussed using the 1971 grid square population census data on unemployment in Humberside.
TL;DR: In this paper, two alternative models for analyzing such data: regression and ARIMA were examined using data on highway deaths in North Carolina occurring before and after the national reduction in speed limits instituted in 1974.
Abstract: Time series analysis is a technique which has been utilized by econometricians and others for examining the relationship between events and time, particularly for forecasting purposes. More recent work has focused on time series analysis as a method to evaluate the effects of an exogenous event on a series. The major advantage of the interrupted time series design over a simple pre-post comparison is that the form of the change is taken into account. This paper will examine two alternative models for analyzing such data: regression and ARIMA. An example of the application of the two models will be demonstrated using data on highway deaths in North Carolina occurring before and after the national reduction in speed limits instituted in 1974. Conclusions are drawn about the comparative usefulness of these two techniques for program evaluation.
TL;DR: This paper examined the long-term changes that have occurred in the structure of the Canadian economy over the 1950-79 period, focusing on the growth of service industries relative to goods-producing industries during this period.
Abstract: This paper examines some of the important long-term changes that have occurred in the structure of the Canadian economy over the 1950–79 period. In particular, the paper focusses on the growth of service industries relative to goods-producing industries during this period. The performance of these industries is assessed in terms of output and employment and the reasons for the rapid growth of employment in the service sector are examined. The paper also examines the producitivity performance of the goods and service sectors and assesses the implication of low productivity growth in service industries on the overall productivity performance of the economy.
TL;DR: In this paper, the influence of crime and poverty-dependence factor scores on internal migration rates in Israel was studied and a strong positive relationship was indicated between crime and out-migration.
Abstract: The influence of 1975 crime and poverty-dependence factor scores on 1976-1980 internal migration rates in Israel was studied. Lag correlations between the two factor scores and in and out migration revealed that poverty-dependence was strongly and negatively related to in-migration and moderately and negatively related to out-migration. No relationship was found between crime and in-migration over the five year period but a strong positive relationship was indicated between crime and out-migration. The authors suggest "that social indicators such as crime and poverty-dependence revealed lasting effects on migration rates and may be an aid to social planners." (EXCERPT)
TL;DR: An alternative approach to traditional ad hoc methods of determining social worker positions is presented in this article, which is based upon the collection of objective data and their inclusion in a mathematical formula.
Abstract: An alternative approach to traditionalad hoc methods of determining social worker positions is presented. It is based upon the collection of objective data and their inclusion in a mathematical formula. This apprach assures the employment of identical criteria and administrative procedures for the assignment of social workers' positions.
TL;DR: The Canadian ideal of pluralism appears to extend beyond race and ethnicity to the moral sphere, resulting in a "moral mosaic" which, despite the efforts of moral interest groups, will probably remain fairly intact in the forseeable future as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Two recent national mail surveys in Canada have yielded important cross-sectional and longitudinal data on sexuality. More than one in four Canadians say that their sex lives are a cause for concern, and the majority do not approve of extramarital sex, homosexuality, the unregulated distribution of pornographic materials, and the availability of legal abortion in unlimited circumstances. Concern over sexual assault is widespread. Apart from their personal preferences, however, Canadians generally are reluctant to condemn various sexual practices without qualification, deny basic rights to homosexuals, or declare a total ban on the distribution of pornographic materials. They further are not inclined to refuse birth control information to teenagers who want it, or to make legal abortion an impossibility for women who believe it is necessity. The author asserts that the Canadian ideal of pluralism appears to extend beyond race and ethnicity to the moral sphere, resulting in a ‘moral mosaic’ which, despite the efforts of moral interest groups, will probably remain fairly intact in the forseeable future.
TL;DR: In ASEAN countries, improvements in measurements of poverty and equity can take several forms, e.g., a poverty threshold of $300 and a subsistence threshold of$150 (per capita per year, ‘Kravis’ dollars, mid-1970s).
Abstract: In ASEAN countries, improvements in measurements of poverty and equity can take several forms. First, some poverty lines should be officially adopted, e.g., a poverty threshold of $300 and a subsistence threshold of $150 (per capita per year, ‘Kravis’ dollars, mid-1970s). Second, target distributive groups should be identified and new indicators, such as a proposed index of ethnic imbalance in Malaysia, could be designed where needed. Third, quick-response well-being surveys, as in the social weather station experiment in the Philippines, could help in both the technical and the social understanding of the state of equity.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined variations in contraceptive policies among 74 nations of the world and employed quantitative data collected by the United Nations, the national policies for three types of contraceptive devices (birth control pills, condoms and IUDs) examined for nations at three levels of development.
Abstract: The study is concerned with examining variations in contraceptive policies among 74 nations of the world. Employing quantitative data collected by the United Nations, the national policies for three types of contraceptive devices (birth control pills, condoms and IUDs) were examined for nations at three levels of development. The policies for the three items were found to be highly intercorrelated. Given this fact, a restrictiveness index related to the commercial sale of the three types of contraceptive was constructed. A set of independent variables was then related to this restrictive index employing multivariate analysis. The results differed appreciably for the developed and non-developed nations. For the developed nations restrictiveness was significantly related to the fertility rate and the number of physicians in the society, whereas for the developing nations it was significantly related to the infant mortality rate in the society.
TL;DR: In this article, the change in the percentage of marital disruption among 3372 families between 1969 and 1978 is decomposed into: (1) an increase of 1.7 percent due to the direct effects of age at first marriage; (2) a decrease of 1 1.1 percent from changes in the relative age of first birth; and (3) a 2 7 percent increase stemming from changes within the internal structure of the families.
Abstract: Using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, between 1969 and 1978, the change in the percentage of marital disruption among 3372 families is decomposed into: (1) an increase of 1.7 percent due to the direct effects of age at first marriage; (2) a decrease of 1.1 percent from changes in the relative age at first birth; and (3) a 2.7 percent increase stemming from changes in the internal structure of the families. The maldaptation of concepts from the life-course perspective is demonstrated to have led to the expectation of somewhat different findings, and for the confusion regarding the roles of life-cycle and life-course events in precipitating marital instability. The results strongly suggest the use of greater discretion in the formulation and use of different classes of events within the life-course framework.
TL;DR: In this paper, changes in a typology of family structures incorporating household size and female labor force participation are decomposed using the 1969-78 years of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics.
Abstract: Changes in a typology of family structures incorporating household size and female labor force participation are decomposed using the 1969–78 years of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. Among other things, racial, cohort, and educational differences result in: (1) a decline in large families regardless of mother's work status, due principally to racial effects; (2) a slight rise in the labor force entry of women from older cohorts; and (3) a substantial rise in the number of non-working mothers in small families, mainly from the younger cohorts. The discussion focuses on the advantages and implications of the use of the family rather than the individual as the unit of analysis in this type of research.