Strabismus and employment: the opinion of headhunters

Abstract. Purpose: The aim of this study was to determine the influence of strabismus on an individual's ability to find employment based on the opinion of Swiss headhunters. Methods: Forty Swiss headhunters retrieved from a Swiss online telephone directory were interviewed using a validated questionnaire in order to determine if strabismus would have an impact on a person's ability to find employment. Photographs of a strabismic man and woman as well as of other computer-generated facial anomalies could be downloaded from the Internet during the interview. Results: 72.5% of headhunters judged that strabismic individuals would have more difficulties in finding a job than orthotropic persons. These difficulties were judged to be stronger in women than in men (P = 0.006), and in exotropic compared to esotropic persons (P = 0.01). Asked about seven facial anomalies, exotropia was found to have the third and esotropia the fourth (women) or fifth (men) most strongly negative impact on finding employment, after having strong acne and a visible missing tooth. Headhunters judged that persons with strabismus are significantly perceived as less attractive and less intelligent by potential employers. Conclusion: Visible strabismus negatively influences individuals' ability to find a job and therefore has an impact on their economic status. Successful strabismus surgery realigns the visual axes, producing a normal facial appearance and therefore eliminating the negative impact of strabismus on employability.

Education and employment pathways from the end of compulsory school to young adulthood: the first ten years

Dieser Beitrag beschäftigt sich mit den Ausbildungs- und Erwerbsverläufen vom Ende der obligatorischen Schulzeit bis ins junge Erwachsenenalter. Als empirische Datengrundlage dient die Längsschnittstudie TREE („Transitionen von der Erstausbildung ins Erwerbsleben“). Die Auswertungen beruhen auf den Daten der ersten acht Befragungswellen von 2001 bis 2010.

Ability to Work and Employment Rates in Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)-1-Infected Individuals Receiving Combination Antiretroviral Therapy: The Swiss HIV Cohort Study

Background.  Limited data exist on human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected individuals' ability to work after receiving combination antiretroviral therapy (cART). We aimed to investigate predictors of regaining full ability to work at 1 year after starting cART. Methods.  Antiretroviral-naive HIV-infected individuals <60 years who started cART from January 1998 through December 2012 within the framework of the Swiss HIV Cohort Study were analyzed. Inability to work was defined as a medical judgment of the patient's ability to work as 0%. Results.  Of 5800 subjects, 4382 (75.6%) were fully able to work, 471 (8.1%) able to work part time, and 947 (16.3%) were unable to work at baseline. Of the 947 patients unable to work, 439 (46.3%) were able to work either full time or part time at 1 year of treatment. Predictors of recovering full ability to work were non-white ethnicity (odds ratio [OR], 2.06; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.20-3.54), higher education (OR, 4.03; 95% CI, 2.47-7.48), and achieving HIV-ribonucleic acid <50 copies/mL (OR, 1.83; 95% CI, 1.20-2.80). Older age (OR, 0.55; 95% CI, .42-.72, per 10 years older) and psychiatric disorders (OR, 0.24; 95% CI, .13-.47) were associated with lower odds of ability to work. Recovering full ability to work at 1 year increased from 24.0% in 1998-2001 to 41.2% in 2009-2012, but the employment rates did not increase. Conclusions.  Regaining full ability to work depends primarily on achieving viral suppression, absence of psychiatric comorbidity, and favorable psychosocial factors. The discrepancy between patients' ability to work and employment rates indicates barriers to reintegration of persons infected with HIV.

Development of self-esteem and relationship satisfaction in couples: Two longitudinal studies

We examined the effects of self-esteem development on the development of relationship satisfaction in 2 samples of couples. Study 1 used data from both partners of 885 couples assessed 5 times over 12 years, and Study 2 used data from both partners of 6,116 couples assessed 3 times over 15 years. The pattern of results was similar across the 2 studies. First, development of relationship satisfaction could be modeled as a couple-level process. Second, initial level of self-esteem of each partner predicted the initial level of the partners’ common relationship satisfaction, and change in self-esteem of each partner predicted change in the partners’ common relationship satisfaction. Third, these effects did not differ by gender and held when controlling for participants’ age, length of relationship, health, and employment status. Fourth, self-esteem similarity among partners did not influence the development of their relationship satisfaction. The findings suggest that the development of self-esteem in both partners of a couple contributes in a meaningful way to the development of the partners’ common satisfaction with their relationship.

Avalanche related damage potential - changes of persons and mobile values since the mid-twentieth century, case study Galtür

When determining risk related to natural hazard processes, many studies neglect the investigations of the damage potential or are limited to the assessment of immobile values like buildings. However, persons as well as mobile values form an essential part of the damage potential. Knowledge of the maximum number of exposed persons in an endangered area is of great importance for elaborating evacuation plans and immediate measures in case of catastrophes. In addition, motor vehicles can also be highly damaged, as was shown by the analysis of avalanche events. With the removal of mobile values in time as a preventive measure this kind of damage can be minimised. This study presents a method for recording the maximum number of exposed persons and monetarily assessing motor vehicles in the municipality of Galt¨ur (Tyrol, Austria). Moreover, general developments of the damage potential due to significant socio-economic changes since the mid-twentieth century are pointed out in the study area. The present situation of the maximum number of persons and mobile values in the official avalanche hazard zones of the municipality is described in detail. Information on the number of persons is derived of census data, tourism and employment statistics. During the winter months, a significant increase overlaid by strong short-term fluctuation in the number of persons can be noted. These changes result from a higher demand of tourism related manpower as well as from varying occupancy rates. The number of motor vehicles in endangered areas is closely associated to the number of exposed persons. The potential number of motor vehicles is investigated by means of mapping, statistics on the stock of motor vehicles and the density distribution. Diurnal and seasonal fluctuations of the investigated damage potential are pointed out. The recording of the number of persons and mobile values in endangered areas is vital for any disaster management.

Post-immigration education of adult immigrants in Switzerland

In 2000, 20 per cent of the Swiss resident population was constituted by foreigners (Fibbi and Wanner 2009). As in other European countries, the migrant population in Switzerland can broadly be differentiated into three groups: 1) Migrant groups from less-developed regions with substantially lower educational attainments and an increased risk for unemployment than in the reference population, 2) Migrant groups that are rather more successful, although still somewhat behind the majority population, 3) Migrant groups who even outperform the majority population in terms of educational and employment success (Heath et al. 2008). Given these inequalities – in particular in the first migrant group – participation in further education in the country of destination might contribute to better integrate migrants in the Swiss society in general and the labour market in particular. On the basis of the pooled SAKE data set (1991-2000), patterns of participation in further education of adult migrants are analysed. As the results show, many migrant groups differ from the Swiss reference population regarding participation in further education. While inequalities are often explained by educational attainments and occupational status, in some cases they hold even if controlled for the determinants explaining participation in further education in general. Regarding migrant-specific determinants, type of residence permit proved to be an important indicator explaining the disadvantages in access to further education encountered by migrants originating from Former Yugoslavia.

Übergangslösungen beim Eintritt in die Schweizer Berufsbildung: Brückenschlag oder Sackgasse?

In der Schweiz finden viele Jugendliche keinen direkten Zugang zu einer beruflichen Grundbildung; vielmehr durchlaufen sie zunächst eine so genannte Übergangslösung oder ein Brückenangebot wie z.B. ein zehntes Schuljahr. Wir beleuchten in diesem Beitrag zum einen, wie schulische, individuelle, familiäre und kontextuell-systemische Faktoren den Übertritt in solche Brückenangebote beeinflussen. Zum anderen gehen wir der Frage nach, wie sich ein verzögerter Einstieg via ein Brückenangebot auf die Chance auswirkt, einen Abschluss der Sekundarstufe II zu erwerben. Die empirische Analyse stützt sich auf die TREE-Studie, welche eine Kohorte von Schulentlassenen des Jahres 2000 längsschnittlich beobachtet. Wir modellieren dabei zunächst die interessierenden Übertrittsprozesse mittels einer multinomialen logistischen Regression, um dann mittels Propensity Score Matching deren Wirkung auf die nachobligatorischen Bildungschancen abzuschätzen.