Injury prevention among friends : the benefits of school connectedness

Background: Injury is a leading cause of adolescent death. Risk-taking behaviours, including unsafe road behaviours, violence and alcohol use, are primary contributors. Recent research suggests adolescents look out for their friends and engage in protective behaviour to reduce others’ involvement in risk-taking. A positive school environment, and particularly students’ school connectedness, is also associated with reduced injury-risks. Aim: This study aimed to understand the role of school connectedness in adolescents’ intentions to protect and prevent their friends from involvement in alcohol use, fights, drink driving and unlicensed driving. Method: Surveys were completed by 540 13-14 year old students (49% male). Four sequential logistic regression analyses were conducted to determine whether school connectedness statistically predicted intentions to protect friends from injury-risk behaviours. Gender and ethnicity were entered at step 1, students’ own risk behaviour at step 2, and school connectedness scores at step 3 for all analyses. Results: School connectedness significantly predicted intentions to protect friends from all four injury-risk behaviours, after accounting for the variance attributable to sex, ethnicity and adolescents’ own involvement in injury-risks. Significance: School connectedness is negatively associated with adolescents’ own injury-risk behaviours. This research extends our knowledge of this critical protective factor, as it shows that students who are connected to school are also more likely to protect their friends from alcohol use, violence and unsafe road behaviours. School connectedness may therefore be an important factor to target in school-based prevention programs, both to reduce adolescents’ own injury-risk behaviour and to increase injury prevention among friends.

Gender bias in schooling : the case for Bhutan

Differing parental considerations for girls and boys in households are a primary cause of the gender gap in school enrolment and educational attainment in developing countries, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. While a number of studies have focused on the inequality of educational opportunities in South Asia, little is known about Bhutan. This study uses recent household expenditure data from the Bhutan Living Standard Survey to evaluate the gender gap in the allocation of resources for schooling. The findings, based on cross-sectional as well as household fixed-effect approaches, suggest that girls are less likely to enrol in school but are not allocated fewer resources once they are enrolled.

Feminist criminologies’ contribution to understandings of sex, gender, and crime

This chapter provides an overview of the contribution of feminist criminologies to understandings of the complex intersections between sex, gender and crime. Dozens of scholars and activists have participated in these debates over the past four decades. For our contribution to this handbook, we interviewed ten distinguished scholars whose contributions are recognized internationally. Through the commentary provided by these scholars, this chapter examines some of the distinctive contributions of feminism to our knowledge about sex, gender, and crime, as well as some of the challenges it continues to face in the field of criminology. We conclude that feminist work within criminology continues to face a number of lingering challenges, most notably in relation to the struggle to maintain relevance in a world where concerns about gender inequality are marginalized and considered as historical relics not contemporary issues; where there are on-going tensions around the best strategies for change, as well as difficulties in challenging distorted representations of female crime and violence; and where a backlash, anti-feminist politics seeks to discredit explanations that draw a link between sex, gender, and crime. This chapter critically reviews these lingering challenges—locating feminist approaches (of which there are many) at the centre and not the periphery of advancing knowledge about gender, sex, and crime.

Incentive-based interventions for increasing physical activity and fitness

This is the protocol for a review and there is no abstract. The objectives are as follows: The main aim of the review is to determine the effectiveness of using incentive-based approaches (IBAs) (financial and non-financial) to increase physical activity in community-dwelling children and adults. A secondary objective will be to address the use of incentives to improve cardiovascular and metabolic fitness. A final objective will be to explore: - whether there are any adverse effects associated with the use of IBAs for increasing physical activity; - whether there are any differential effects of IBAs within and between study populations by age, gender, education, inequalities and health status; and - whether the use of disincentive/aversive approaches leads to a reduction in sedentary behaviour.

Australian adolescents’ perceived school-based barriers and facilitators to engagement in physical activity

OBJECTIVE: School-aged youth spend a significant amount of time either in transit to and from school, or within school settings performing a range of varying learning-based activities. Adolescent physical activity has also been shown to increase the likelihood of maintaining physical activity throughout adulthood. The purpose of this study is to investigate adolescents’ perceived school-based barriers and facilitators to engagement in physical activity. METHODS: One-hundred and twenty four participants (38 males and 86 females) were recruited from two non-denominational same-sex private schools, in Brisbane, Australia. The mean age and standard deviation (SD) was 13.83 (0.56) and 14.40 (2.33) for males and females respectively. Participants responded to a series questions regarding perceived barriers and facilitators to engagement in physical activity. Quantitative data was analysed using descriptive statistics and frequency distributions, and qualitative data with thematic analysis. RESULTS: A total of 121 (97.6%) participants had complete data sets and were included in the analysis. School timetable (44.6%), homework (81.8%), and assessment (81.0%) were identified as the most prominent perceived factors, increasing the difficulty of physical activity engagement. Physical Education classes (71.9%) and school sport programs (80.2%) were identified as the most prominent perceived factors that facilitate engagement in physical activity. There was no significant gender effect. CONCLUSIONS: Each of the identified factors perceived by adolescent's as either barriers or facilitators to engagement in physical activity may be addressed by administrators at a school and government policy level. These may include strategies such as; increasing the assigned hours to physical education classes, providing additional extra-curricular sporting opportunities, and reviewing the time allocated to homework and assessment items. This may provide a simpler, low-cost solution to increasing youth physical activity, as opposed to contemporary higher-cost strategies utilising increased staff commitment, mass media, provision of equipment and counsellors and other health professionals.

A gender comparison of food shopper typologies

This research segments male and female food shoppers based on store and product attribute evaluations, enjoyment, planning, and shopping responsibility. A rich profile for each segment is developed from a sample of 580 primary food shoppers. Gender comparisons are operationalized and these developed food shopper typologies are contrasted against earlier works. Factor analysis, cluster analysis, and ANOVA were employed to develop specific segments of shoppers. This is the first study to identify specific groups of male food shoppers and contrast these to traditional female shoppers and earlier typographical works. The research provides the basis for further cross-cultural, cross-contextual comparative studies.

Female concentration and the gender wage differential in the United Kingdom

The paper utilizes the methodology proposed by Johnson and Solon (American Economic Review, 76 (5), 1117-1125, 1986) to examine the impact of job segregation on the gender wage gap in the UK in 1991. The results suggest that despite implementation of the UK 1983 Equal Pay Amendment there remains clear evidence that male/female workers in female dominated jobs continue to earn less for work of ‘similar worth’ than their counterparts in male dominated jobs within the same firm. This conclusion is insensitive to whether one adopts an occupation or firm based measure of gender concentration.

Girls and violence : the case for a feminist theory of female violence

Rises recorded for girls’ violence in countries like Australia, Canada, United Kingdom and United States have been hotly contested. One view is these rising rates of violence are an artefact of new forms of policy, policing, criminalisation and social control over young women. Another view is that young women may indeed have become more violent as they have increasingly participated in youth subcultural activities involving gangs and drugs, and cyber‐cultural activities that incite and reward girls’ violence. Any comprehensive explanation will need to address how a complex interplay of cultural, social, behavioural, and policy responses contribute to these rises. This article argues that there is no singular cause, explanation or theory that accounts for the rises in adolescent female violence, and that many of the simple explanations circulating in popular culture are driven by an anti‐feminist ideology. By concentrating on females as victims of violence and very rarely as perpetrators, feminist criminology has for the most part ducked the thorny issue of female violence, leaving a discursive space for anti‐feminist sentiment to reign. The article concludes by arguing the case for developing a feminist theory of female violence.

Projecting the trend in the Canadian gender wage gap 2001-2031: Will an increase in female education acquisition and commitment be enough?

The paper projects the gender wage gap for 25-64 year-olds in Canada over the period 2001-2031. The empirical analysis uses the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics together with Statistics Canada demographic projections. The methodology combines the population projections with assumptions relating to the evolution of educational attainment in order to first project the future distribution of human capital skills and, based on these projections, the future size of the gender wage gap. The projections suggest continued gender wage convergence produced by changing skills characteristics. However, a substantial pay gap will remain in 2031.

Projecting the U.S. gender wage gap 2000–40

This paper projects the gender wage gap for 25–64 year old Americans for the period 2000–40. The analysis uses data from the Panel Survey of Income Dynamics (PSID) for 1995 and 1996 together with the U.S. Census Bureau demographic projections. The method combines the population projections with assumptions regarding the evolution of educational attainment in order to first project the future distribution of skills and, based on these projections, the future size of the gender wage gap. The main set of projections suggests that changing skill characteristics—specifically educational attainment—will continue to close the gender wage gap. However, even in 2040, a substantial pay gap of at least 75 percent of the size of that in 1995 will remain.

Gender and other determinants of trust and reciprocity in an experimental labour market amongst Chinese students

Due to economic and demographic changes highly educated women play an important role on the Chinese labour market. Gender has been shown to be an important characteristic that influences behaviour in economic experiments, as have, to a lesser degree, academic major, age and income. We provide a study looking at trust and reciprocity and their determinants in a labour market laboratory experiment. Our experimental data is based on two games, the Gift Exchange Game (GEG) and a variant of this game (the Wage Promising Game, WPG) where the employer's wage offer is non-binding and the employer can choose the wage freely after observing the workers effort. We and that women are less trusting and reciprocal than men in the GEG while this cannot be found in the WPG. Letting participants play the GEG and the WPG, allows us to disentangle reciprocal and risk attitudes. While in the employer role, it seems to be that risk attitude is the main factor, this is not confirmed analysing decisions in the worker role.

Postnatal depression in Central Vietnam

Postnatal depression (PND) is a significant global health issue, which not only impacts maternal wellbeing, but also infant development and family structures. Mental health disorders represent approximately 14% of global burden of disease and disability, including low and middle-income countries (LMIC), and PND has direct relevance to the Millennium Development Goals of reducing child mortality, improving maternal health, and creating global partnerships (United Nations, 2012; Guiseppe, Becker & Farmer, 2011). Emerging evidence suggests that PND in LMIC is similar to, or higher than in high-income countries (HIC), however, less than 10% of LMIC have prevalence data available (Fisher, Cabral de Mello, & Izutsu 2009; Lund et al., 2011). Whilst a small number of studies on maternal mental disorders have been published in Vietnam, only one specifically focuses on PND in a hospital-based sample. Also, community based mental health studies and information on mental health in rural areas of Vietnam is still scarce. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of PND, and its associated social determinants in postnatal women in Thua Thien Hue Province, Central Vietnam. In order to identify social determinants relevant to the Central Vietnamese context, two qualitative studies and one community survey were undertaken. Associations between maternal mental health and infant health outcomes were also explored. The study was comprised of three phases. Firstly, iterative, qualitative interviews with Vietnamese health professionals (n = 17) and postpartum women (n = 15) were conducted and analysed using Kleinman's theory of explanatory models to identify narratives surrounding PND in the Vietnamese context (Kleinman, 1978). Secondly, a participatory concept mapping exercise was undertaken with two groups of health professionals (n = 12) to explore perceived risk and protective factors for postnatal mental health. Qualitative phases of the research elucidated narratives surrounding maternal mental health in the Vietnamese context such as son preference, use of traditional medicines, and the popularity of confinement practices such as having one to three months of complete rest. The qualitative research also revealed the construct of depression was not widely recognised. Rather, postpartum changes in mood were conceptualised as a loss of 'vital strength' following childbirth or 'disappointment'. Most women managed postpartum changes in mood within the family although some sought help from traditional medicine practitioners or biomedical doctors. Thirdly, a cross-sectional study of twelve randomly selected communes (six urban, six rural) in Thua Thien Hue Province was then conducted. Overall, 465 women with infants between 4 weeks and six months old participated, and 431 questionnaires were analysed. Women from urban (n = 216) and rural (n = 215) areas participated. All eligible women completed a structured interview about their health, basic demographics, and social circumstances. Maternal depression was measured using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) as a continuous variable. Multivariate generalised linear regression was conducted using PASW Statistics version 18.0 (2009). When using the conventional EPDS threshold for probable depression (EPDS score ~ 13) 18.1% (n = 78) of women were depressed (Gibson, McKenzie-McHarg, Shakespeare, Price & Gray, 2009). Interestingly, 20.4% of urban women (n = 44) had EPDS scores~ 13, which was a higher proportion than rural women, where 15.8% (n = 34) had EPDS scores ~ 13, although this difference was not statistically significant: t(429) = -0.689, p = 0.491. Whilst qualitative narratives identified infant gender and family composition, and traditional confinement practices as relevant to postnatal mood, these were not statistically significant in multivariate analysis. Rather, poverty, food security, being frightened of your husband or family members, experiences of intimate partner violence and breastfeeding difficulties had strong statistical associations. PND was also associated with having an infant with diarrhoea in the past two weeks, but not infant malnutrition or acute respiratory infections. This study is the first to explore maternal mental health in Central Vietnam, and provides further evidence that PND is a universally experienced phenomenon. The independent social risk factors of depressive symptoms identified such as poverty, food insecurity, experiences of violence and powerlessness, and relationship adversity points to women in a context of social suffering which is relevant throughout the world (Kleinman, Das & Lock, 1997). The culturally specific risk factors explored such as infant gender were not statistically significant when included in a multivariable model. However, they feature prominently in qualitative narratives surrounding PND in Vietnam, both in this study and previous literature. It appears that whilst infant gender may not be associated with PND per se, the reactions of close relatives to the gender of the baby can adversely affect maternal wellbeing. This study used a community based participatory research approach (CBPR) (Israel.2005). This approach encourages the knowledge produced to be used for public health interventions and workforce training in the community in which the research was conducted, and such work has commenced. These results suggest that packages of interventions for LMIC devised to address maternal mental health and infant wellbeing could be applied in Central Vietnam. Such interventions could include training lay workers to follow up postpartum women, and incorporating mental health screening and referral into primary maternal and child health care (Pate! et al., 2011; Rahman, Malik, Sikander & Roberts, 2008). Addressing the underlying social determinants of PND through poverty reduction and violence elimination programs is also recommended.

Board age and gender diversity : a test of competing linear and curvilinear predictions

The inconsistent findings of past board diversity research demand a test of competing linear and curvilinear diversity–performance predictions. This research focuses on board age and gender diversity, and presents a positive linear prediction based on resource dependence theory, a negative linear prediction based on social identity theory, and an inverted U-shaped curvilinear prediction based on the integration of resource dependence theory with social identity theory. The predictions were tested using archival data on 288 large organizations listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, with a 1-year time lag between diversity (age and gender) and performance (employee productivity and return on assets). The results indicate a positive linear relationship between gender diversity and employee productivity, a negative linear relationship between age diversity and return on assets, and an inverted U-shaped curvilinear relationship between age diversity and return on assets. The findings provide additional evidence on the business case for board gender diversity and refine the business case for board age diversity.

Bioequivalence of two tablet formulations of capecitabine and exploration of age, gender, body surface area, and creatinine clearance as factors influencing systemic exposure in cancer patients

Purpose: The objective of the study was to assess the bioequivalence of two tablet formulations of capecitabine and to explore the effect of age, gender, body surface area and creatinine clearance on the systemic exposure to capecitabine and its metabolites. Methods: The study was designed as an open, randomized two-way crossover trial. A single oral dose of 2000 mg capecitabine was administered on two separate days to 25 patients with solid tumors. On one day, the patients received four 500-mg tablets of formulation B (test formulation) and on the other day, four 500-mg tablets of formulation A (reference formulation). The washout period between the two administrations was between 2 and 8 days. After each administration, serial blood and urine samples were collected for up to 12 and 24 h, respectively. Unchanged capecitabine and its metabolites were determined in plasma using LC/MS-MS and in urine by NMRS. Results: Based on the primary pharmacokinetic parameter, AUC(0-∞) of 5'-DFUR, equivalence was concluded for the two formulations, since the 90% confidence interval of the estimate of formulation B relative to formulation A of 97% to 107% was within the acceptance region 80% to 125%. There was no clinically significant difference between the t(max) for the two formulations (median 2.1 versus 2.0 h). The estimate for C(max) was 111% for formulation B compared to formulation A and the 90% confidence interval of 95% to 136% was within the reference region 70% to 143%. Overall, these results suggest no relevant difference between the two formulations regarding the extent to which 5'-DFUR reached the systemic circulation and the rate at which 5'-DFUR appeared in the systemic circulation. The overall urinary excretions were 86.0% and 86.5% of the dose, respectively, and the proportion recovered as each metabolite was similar for the two formulations. The majority of the dose was excreted as FBAL (61.5% and 60.3%), all other chemical species making a minor contribution. Univariate and multivariate regression analysis to explore the influence of age, gender, body surface area and creatinine clearance on the log-transformed pharmacokinetic parameters AUC(0-∞) and C(max) of capecitabine and its metabolites revealed no clinically significant effects. The only statistically significant results were obtained for AUC(0-∞) and C(max) of intact drug and for C(max) of FBAL, which were higher in females than in males. Conclusion: The bioavailability of 5'-DFUR in the systemic circulation was practically identical after administration of the two tablet formulations. Therefore, the two formulations can be regarded as bioequivalent. The variables investigated (age, gender, body surface area, and creatinine clearance) had no clinically significant effect on the pharmacokinetics of capecitabine or its metabolites.