Correlates of extracurricular sport participation among Swiss adolescents.

BACKGROUND: Based on a large national survey on the health of adolescents, this paper focuses on the socio-demographic and lifestyle correlates of sport practice among Swiss adolescents. The SMASH2002 database includes 7428 vocational apprentices and high school students between the ages of 16 and 20 who answered a self-administered anonymous questionnaire containing 565 items targeting perceived health, health attitudes and behaviour. Weekly episodes of extracurricular sport activity were measured by a four-category scale, and the sample was dichotomised between active (>or=two episodes of sport/week) and inactive (<two episodes of sport/week) respondents. Thirty percent of female respondents and 40.2% of male respondents reported engaging in sport activity at least two to three times a week; another 9.7% of the female and 19.4% of the male respondents reported participating in least one sport activity each day (p<0.01). The percentage of active respondents was higher among students than among vocational apprentices (p<.01), and the rates of sport activity decreased more sharply over time among the apprentices than among the students (p<0.01). Most active adolescents reported having a better feeling of well-being than their inactive peers [among male students: odds ratio (OR): 3.13; 95% confidence interval (95%CI): 1.28-7.70]. The percentage of active females who reported being on a diet was high, and female apprentices exhibited higher involvement in dieting than their inactive peers (OR: 1.68; 95%CI: 1.32-2.14). Relative to the inactive male respondents, the proportion of active male respondents smoking was lower; however, a lower proportion of the latter group did not report drunkenness, and the percentage of those who reported lifetime cannabis consumption was higher among active than inactive students (females, OR:1.57; 95%CI:1.09-2.25; males, OR:1.80; 95%CI: 20-2.69). CONCLUSION: Organised sport activities should be better tailored to the work schedules of apprentices. Practitioners should be aware of the potential for problematic behaviour in the area of dieting and substance use among a subset of sport-oriented adolescents.

Participation of connexin-based channels in the control of vascular function

SUMMARYIntercellular communication is achieved at specialized regions of the plasma membrane by gap junctions. The proteins constituting the gap junctions are called connexins and are encoded by a family of genes highly conserved during evolution. In adult mouse, four connexins (Cxs) are known to be expressed in the vasculature: Cx37, Cx40, Cx43 and Cx45. Several recent studies have provided evidences that vascular connexins expression and blood pressure regulation are closely linked, suggesting a role for connexins in the control of blood pressure. However, the precise function that each vascular connexin plays under physiological and pathophysiological conditions is still not elucidated. In this context, this work was dedicated to evaluate the contribution of each of the four vascular connexins in the control of the vascular function and in the blood pressure regulation.In the present work, we first demonstrated that vascular connexins are differently regulated by hypertension in the mouse aorta. We also observed that endothelial connexins play a regulatory role on eNOS expression levels and function in the aorta, therefore in the control of vascular tone. Then, we demonstrated that Cx40 plays a pivotal role in the kidney by regulating the renal levels of COX-2 and nNOS, two key enzymes of the macula densa known to participate in the control of renin secreting cells. We also found that Cx43 forms the functional gap junction involved in intercellular Ca2+ wave propagation between vascular smooth muscle cells. Finally, we have started to generate transgenic mice expressing specifically Cx40 in the endothelium to investigate the involvement of Cx40 in the vasomotor tone, or in the renin secreting cells to evaluate the role of Cx40 in the control of renin secretion.In conclusion, this work has allowed us to identify new roles for connexins in the vasculature. Our results suggest that vascular connexins could be interesting targets for new therapies caring hypertension and vascular diseases.

The independent psychological effects of participation in demonstrations

Street demonstrations have received the lion's share of scholarly attention to collective action. This article starts by returning to this research in order to raise some methodological questions about how to collect data on demonstrations and on the validity of the subsequent results. Next, based on my own research on demonstrations, I suggest some questions that deserve to be analyzed. In particular, I argue that we should work more on the psychological effects of participation in demonstrations. One potential line of investigation would be to more systematically explore the socializing effects of political events. Indeed, vivid political events should be important catalysts because they can have significant effects. Events may have an impact at any age but socializing effects will differ based on one's position in the life cycle, from conversion for younger participants to substantiation for older participants. I hypothesize, in line with Mannheim's (1952) "impressionable years" model of socialization research, that people especially recall events as important if they happened in their adolescence or early adulthood.

Federalism and Welfare to Work in Switzerland: The Development of Active Social Policies in a Fragmented Welfare State

This article is concerned with the impact that federal structures have on the development of welfare to work or activation policies. More precisely, it argues that the incentives and the risks associated with a division of responsibilities among different jurisdictions may constitute an obstacle to broad reforms that promote labor market participation of nonworking benefit recipients. This argument is illustrated with a case study discussing policy responses to a massive rise in caseloads among social assistance recipients in Switzerland. We conclude that the lack of a fundamental reform was the consequence of the incentives provided by the federal structure of the program. These incentives have both encouraged cost shifting among jurisdictions and discouraged involvement of federal level policy makers in a bigger reform.

Subjective health assessments and active labor market participation of older men: evidence from a semiparametric binary choice model with nonadditive correlated individual-specific effects

We use panel data from the U. S. Health and Retirement Study, 1992-2002, to estimate the effect of self-assessed health limitations on the active labor market participation of older men. Self-assessments of health are likely to be endogenous to labor supply due to justification bias and individual-specific heterogeneity in subjective evaluations. We address both concerns. We propose a semiparametric binary choice procedure that incorporates nonadditive correlated individual-specific effects. Our estimation strategy identifies and estimates the average partial effects of health and functioning on labor market participation. The results indicate that poor health plays a major role in labor market exit decisions.

On Strong Citizens: A Sociological View on Cognitions and Contentious Participation

The present thesis is about cognitions of left-wing activists and the role they play to better understand contentious participation. It compares activists of three post-industrial social movement organizations in Switzerland, i.e. Solidarity across Borders defending migrant's rights, the Society of Threatened People promoting collective human rights and Greenpeace protecting the environment. It makes use of an innovative mixed methods design combining survey and interview data. The main theoretical contribution is to conceptualize an analytical tool enabling to grasp the cognitive map of these activists by putting forward the concept of strong citizen, summing up their relation to society and politics. The relation to society consists of an extensive relation to others and an interconnected vision of society. Consequently, their primary concerns include the handing of common goods and the equal treatment of individuals with regard to common goods. The relation to politics incorporates a critical and vigilant citizen. They are critical towards political authorities and they appreciate political action by organized groups of the civil society. The thesis states that only by having such worldviews activists are able to construct an injustice, agency and identity frame for the claims of their organizations. Thus, the present work delivers a parsimonious answer to the question of where an injustice, agency and identity frame comes from. It does so by a systematic analysis of four specific arguments. First, it empirically demonstrates that these activists have - at the aggregate level - specific cognitive resources compared to the general population. Second, it describes the content of this specific cognitive outlook by evaluating the appropriateness of the strong citizen concept. Third, it looks at variations between activist's communities and shows that activists of more challenging protest issues are stronger citizens than activists of more mainstream protests. Finally, cognitions are not the only part of the story if one looks at contentious participation. Other factors, i.e. social networks and biographical availability, matter too. Therefore, I test if cognitions are able to contribute in explaining differences between activists' communities if one controls for other factors. In sum, this thesis is thus a first step to demonstrate why one should be concerned about activists' cognitions. - Cette thèse s'intéresse aux cognitions des activistes de gauche et à leur rôle dans le phénomène de la participation contestataire. Des activistes de trois organisations post- industrielles en Suisse sont comparé, à savoir Solidarité sans Frontières qui défend les droits des migrants, la Société des Peuples menacés qui promeut les droits des collectivités minoritaires et Greenpeace qui oeuvre pour la protection de l'environnement. Cette recherche utilise un « mixed methods design » en combinant de manière innovant des données de sondage et d'entretiens. Ma principale contribution théorique réside dans la conceptualisation d'un outil analytique qui permet de saisir la « carte cognitive » des activistes, à travers le concept de « strong citizen » qui se réfère à la relation spécifique qu'entretiennent certains individus avec la société et la politique. Ces individus sont caractérisés par une vision inclusive et interconnectée de la société, ainsi que par une conception politique du citoyen comme critique et vigilant. Mon argument principal est celui selon lequel seuls les individus possédant ce type particulier de cognitions sont capable de construire un cadre d'injustice, d'« agency » et d'identité. Cette thèse apporte donc quelques éléments de réponse à la question de l'origine de ces cadres cognitifs qui sont cruciales pour la participation. Pour ce faire, quatre aspects spécifiques sont analysés de manière systématique. Premièrement, je démontre empiriquement, au niveau agrégé, que ces activistes possèdent effectivement des ressources cognitives spécifiques - en comparaison avec la population générale. Deuxièmement, j'analyse le contenu de ces cognitions, ce qui me permet notamment d'évaluer la pertinence et l'adéquation du concept de « strong citizen ». Troisièmement, en m'intéressant cette fois aux variations entre communautés d'activistes, je démontre que ceux réunis autour d'enjeux protestataires très revendicatifs sont, d'un point de vue cognitif, plus proches de la figure du « strong citizen » que ceux mobilisés sur des enjeux plus consensuels. Finalement, d'autres facteurs, à savoir les réseaux sociaux et la disponibilité biographique, sont intégrés à l'analyse afin de mesurer le réel pouvoir explicatif des cognitions dans l'explication des différences observées entre communautés d'activistes. A travers ces analyses, cette thèse met en avant l'importance du rôle des cognitions dans l'étude de la participation contestataire.

Health at work and risk factors related to ergonomics: some results from the Swiss sample of the 4th European working conditions survey

Introduction The European Foundation for the improvement of living and working conditions conducts a survey every 5 years since 1990. The foundation also offers the possibility to non-EU countries to be included in the survey: in 2005, Switzerland took part for the first time in the fourth edition of this survey. The Institute for Work and Health (IST) has been associated to the Swiss project conducted under the leadership of the SECO and the Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz. The survey covers different aspects of work like job characteristics and employment conditions, health and safety, work organization, learning and development opportunities, and the balance between working and non-working life (Parent-Thirion, Fernandez Macias, Hurley, & Vermeylen, 2007). More particularly, one question assesses the worker's self-perception of the effects of work on health. We identified (for the Swiss sample) several factors affecting the risk to report health problems caused by work. The Swiss sample includes 1040 respondents. Selection of participants was based on a random multi-stage sampling and was carried out by M.I.S Trend S.A. (Lausanne). Participation rate was 59%. The database was weighted by household size, gender, age, region of domicile, occupational group, and economic sector. Specially trained interviewers carried out the interviews at the respondents home. The survey was carriedout between the 19th of September 2005 and the 30th of November 2005. As detailed in (Graf et al., 2007), 31% of the Swiss respondents identify work as the cause of health problems they experience. Most frequently reported health problems include back pain (18%), stress (17%), muscle pain (13%), and overall fatigue (11%). Ergonomic aspects associated with higher risk of reporting health problems caused by work include frequent awkward postures (odds ratio [OR] 4.7, 95% confidence interval [CI] 3.1 to 5.4), tasks involving lifting heavy loads (OR 2.7, 95% CI 2.0 to 3.6) or lifting people (OR 2.2, 95% CI 1.4 to 3.5), standing or walking (OR 1.4, 95% CI 1.1 to 1.9), as well as repetitive movements (OR 1.7, 95% CI 1.3 to 2.3). These results highlight the need to continue and intensify the prevention of work related health problems in occupations characterized by risk factors related to ergonomics.

Decision-Making in Social Enterprises: Exploring the Link between Employee Participation and Organizational Commitment

This article studies the influence of the procedural justice resulting from participation in decision-making on employees' affective commitment in social enterprises. It also examines whether any potential link between participation and commitment is due to social exchange, as is the case with for-profit companies. The study is based on data from employees of French work integration social enterprises. The results confirm the positive relationship between procedural justice and affective commitment and the mediating role of perceived organizational support and leader-member exchanges. Managerial recommendations are then given to best maintain or increase employees' involvement in the decision-making processes of social enterprises.

Wishes or Constraints? Mothers' Labour Force Participation and its Motivation in Switzerland

The aim of this article is to estimate the impact of various factors related to role conflict theory and preference theory on the reduction of women's labour force participation after their transition to parenthood. Objective and subjective dimensions of women's labour force participation are assessed. The empirical test is based on a survey of couples with children in Switzerland. Results show that compared to structural factors associated with role conflict reduction, preferences have little impact on mothers' labour force participation, but explain a good deal of their frustration if the factual situation does not correspond to their wishes. Structural factors, such as occupation, economic resources, childcare, and an urban environment, support mothers' labour force participation, whereas active networks and a home centred lifestyle preference help them to cope with frustrations.

How to identify and recruit nurses to a survey 14 and 24 years after graduation in a context of scarce data : lessons learnt from the 2012 nurses at work pilot study on nurses' career paths

Nursing workforce data are scarce in Switzerland, with no active national registry of nurses. The worldwide nursing shortage is also affecting Switzerland, so that evidence-based results of the nurses at work project on career paths and retention are needed as part of the health care system stewardship; nurses at work is a retrospective cohort study of nurses who graduated in Swiss nursing schools in the last 30 years. Results of the pilot study are presented here (process and feasibility). The objectives are (1) to determine the size and structure of the potential target population by approaching two test-cohorts of nursing graduates (1988 and 1998); (2) to test methods of identifying and reaching them 14 and 24 years after graduation; (3) to compute participation rates, and identify recruitment and participation biases.

The comparability of quantitative surveys on sport participation in France (1967-2010)

Results from quantitative surveys enable historians, sociologists and demographers to describe and analyse the evolution of sport participation in France from 1967 to 2010. However, most of these social scientists use the results of these surveys to create very different methodologies without having studied the surveys' empirical data or databases. In this article, we demonstrate how we have attempted to establish a basis for comparability of the surveys by analysing these databases. As a result of our work, certain affirmations on which the history of sport participation in France has long been based may be called into question or even changed.