Sexually transmitted infections: Impact on individuals and their relationships

The impact of having genital herpes and genital human papilloma virus (HPV) on individuals and their relationships was investigated. A qualitative research methodology explored the lived experiences of 30 adults with genital herpes (15 men, 15 women), and 30 adults with HPV (15 men, 15 women). This study addressed individuals' feelings about the impact of stigma associated with having an STI, the impact of having an STI on sexuality and on intimate relationships, and feelings surrounding the process of disclosure. Implications of the findings for research and clinical practice are discussed.

Domestic violence and the exemption from seeking child support : providing safety or legitimizing ongoing poverty and fear

This article examines the experience of low-income women on welfare in Australia and the process of seeking child support from a violent ex-partner, contrasting this with research from the United States and the United Kingdom. Women in Australia who fear ongoing or renewed abuse as a result of seeking child support are eligible for an exemption. However, the exemption policy does not necessarily provide the intended protection of women and children from ongoing abuse and poverty. The exemption policy route also produces an unintended outcome whereby the perpetrators of violence are financially rewarded as they do not have to pay child support. These outcomes are shaped by a complex interaction of personal, cultural and structural forces that make the process of seeking child support for women who have experienced violence extremely problematic. The article demonstrates how in Australia, as in the US and UK policy contexts, the needs of women and their children are compromised by the details of policy specification and the way policies are implemented within the different systems.

A cross-cultural study into peer evaluations of women's leadership effectiveness

Purpose: The present paper is based on a cross-cultural exploration of middle managers in two diverse cultures and aims to focus on how the leadership styles of managerial women are perceived and evaluated. In particular, female and male peer evaluations of leadership effectiveness in Malaysia and Australia are to be explored.

Design/methodology/approach: Surveys from 324 middle managers from Malaysia and Australia were quantitatively analysed. The sample for the study was drawn from organisations in four industry types in both countries.

Findings:  Findings suggest that evaluations of female managers' leadership styles in general, and within the respondent's own organisations, were strongly culture specific, especially in Malaysia. The results reflected the strongly held values, attitudes and beliefs of each country. While this is not unexpected, it does highlight a need to be cautious when interpreting Western research results and attempting to transplant those into other cultures. In Malaysia, female managers were not seen as effective in the leadership styles they adopted in their roles when compared to the Australian female managers' evaluations. Such an evaluation may have had little to do with an objective appraisal of the female managers' capability, but rather with a strongly held cultural belief about the appropriate role of women in society, and in organisations in particular.

Research limitations/implications:  It is suggested that national culture manifests itself in the values, attitudes and behaviours of people. Cultural influences are therefore likely to impact on the way women and men behave in the workplace, particularly when roles of authority and power are evident, and the way in which that behaviour will be evaluated by others. Further research using different samples in different cultures are recommended. In addition, the influence of ethnicity, race or religion in plural countries such as Malaysia and Australia is also worthy of investigation.

Practical implications:  This research suggests that values and attitudes are strongly culture-specific and therefore have the ability to influence evaluations at an organisational level. Such an awareness of cultural influences should guide appropriate human resource practices, particularly within a globalized environment.

Originality/value:  The inclusion of a gender comparison in the data analysis in this paper is a significant attempt to add to the extant knowledge of the cross-cultural research. This is a unique contribution because of the omission of a gender perspective in the previous two seminal studies in culture literature (i.e. Hofstede and House et al.). In addition, the findings suggest that culture-specific influences are important determinants that impose expectations on the role of women differently from men in society and within organisations hence, making the gender comparison of the findings more significant.

Television time and continuous metabolic risk in physically active adults

Purpose: Among Australian adults who met the public health guideline for the minimum health-enhancing levels of physical activity, we examined the dose-response associations of television-viewing time with continuous metabolic risk variables.

Methods: Data were analyzed on 2031 men and 2033 women aged >= 25 yr from the 1999-2000 Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle study without clinically diagnosed diabetes or heart disease, who reported at least 2.5 h·wk-1 of moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity. Waist circumference, resting blood pressure, and fasting and 2-h plasma glucose, triglycerides, and high-density-lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) were measured. The cross-sectional associations of these metabolic variables with quartiles and hours per day of self-reported television-viewing time were examined separately for men and for women. Analyses were adjusted for age, education, income, smoking, diet quality, alcohol intake, parental history of diabetes, and total physical activity time, as well as menopausal status and current use of postmenopausal hormones for women.

Results: Significant, detrimental dose-response associations of television-viewing time were observed with waist circumference, systolic blood pressure, and 2-h plasma glucose in men and women, and with fasting plasma glucose, triglycerides, and HDL-C in women. The associations were stronger in women than in men, with significant gender interactions observed for triglycerides and HDL-C. Though waist circumference attenuated the associations, they remained statistically significant for 2-h plasma glucose in men and women, and for triglycerides and HDL-C in women.

Conclusions: In a population of healthy Australian adults who met the public health guideline for physical activity, television-viewing time was positively associated with a number of metabolic risk variables. These findings support the case for a concurrent sedentary behavior and health guideline for adults, which is in addition to the public health guideline on physical activity.

Mismatch between perceived and objective measures of physical activity environments

Objectives : This study investigated the correspondence between measures of physical activity facilities obtained through self-report and objective audits; and identified the socio-demographic, cognitive and behavioral characteristics of those who perceive their physical activity environment to be less supportive than objective measures indicate.
Methods : Self-report surveys were completed by 1540 women recruited from 45 neighborhoods in Melbourne, Australia. Women reported perceived access to physical activity facilities within 2 km from home, and also socio-demographic, cognitive and behavioral factors. Objective data on physical activity facilities within a 2 km pedestrian catchment area around women's homes were sourced.
Results : There was relatively poor agreement between measures of access to physical activity facilities obtained via self-report and objective assessment. Mismatch between perceived and objectively-assessed environments was more common amongst younger and older women, and women of low income, with low self-efficacy for physical activity, who were less active, who reported using fewer facilities and who had lived in the neighborhood for less than 2 years.
Conclusions : Future studies of environmental determinants of physical activity should consider incorporating objective indices of access to facilities, or accounting for the systematic bias that may result from relying on self-report perceptions as an indicator of the actual physical activity environment.

Consumer socialization : the mother and daughter shopping experience

As part of a broader study of women and shopping, we found that many women often talked about shopping with their mothers. We pursued this theme and explored the mother and daughter shopping experience. We position this work within the literature of consumer socialization. The objectives of this part of the research project were 1) gain knowledge of why mother and daughters shop together and 2) uncover what is valued in the shopping experience. Interviews were conducted in person and supplemented using email. The women were aged 18-70. The women provide accounts of how consumer habits, preferences and experiences are transferred across generations. We found that the bonds between mother and daughter relationship are acted out when shopping and the reciprocal coaching occurs.

Role of age, sex, and obesity in the higher prevalence of arthritis among lower socioeconomic groups: a population-based survey

Objective: To compare the prevalence of arthritis among population groups based on demographic, socioeconomic, and body mass index (BMI) characteristics; to investigate the combined influence of these factors on arthritis; and to assess the relationship between self-reported health and psychological distress and arthritis.

Methods: Data from the Victorian Population Health Survey (n = 7,500) were used in the study. Psychological distress was assessed using the Kessler Psychological Distress scale, and self-reported health was assessed by a single item. Multiple logistic regression was used to investigate the combined influence of demographic and socioeconomic factors and BMI on arthritis.

Results: Overall, 23% of Victorian adults (20% men and 26% women) reported having arthritis. The presence of arthritis was associated with high psychological distress (odds ratio [OR] 1.2; 95% confidence interval [95% CI] 1.1-1.4) and poor self-reported health (OR 1.9; 95% CI 1.7-2.1). Increased prevalence of arthritis was found in older age groups, lower education and income groups, and in people who were overweight or obese. Women had higher risk of arthritis, even after adjustment for age, residence, education, occupation, income, and BMI. Age and BMI independently predicted arthritis for men and women. For men, higher risk of arthritis was also associated with lower income.

Conclusion: Arthritis is a highly prevalent condition associated with poor health and high psychological distress. Prevalence of arthritis is disproportionately high among women and individuals from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. As the prevalence of arthritis is predicted to increase, careful consideration of causal factors, and setting priorities for resource allocation for the treatment and prevention of arthritis are required.

Educational organizations and gender in times of uncertainty

In this chapter I identify and elaborate, from a feminist perspective, upon the theoretical shifts and key concepts that inform sociological analyses of gender and educational organizations. Gender inequalities are embedded in the multi-dimensional structure of relationships between women and men, which, as the modern sociology of gender shows, operates at every level of experience, from economic arrangements, culture and the state to interpersonal relationships and individual emotions. (Connell, 2005: 1801) Even naming this a sociology of gender and organizations is problematic. Many sociologists consider gender as a key sociological concept, but not necessarily from a feminist perspective. Feminism is a multidisciplinary, transnational movement that 'focuses on the relationship between social movements, political action and social inequalities' (Arnot, 2002: 3) and on the everyday experiences of women and girls and how they translate into social and structural 'ruling relations' (Smith, 1988). Feminism takes on multiple trajectories and imperatives in different cultural contexts, although with familial resemblances, most particularly the shared objective of equality for women and girls. Education as a primary institution of individual and collective mobility and social change, but also social and economic reproduction, has long been a focus of feminist theory and activism. So a feminist sociology needs to address this complexity of feminist sociological 'encounters' with gender and organizations.