Advantages of place as perceived by Sunbelt promoters

A questionnaire was sent to 104 Chamber of Commerce executives in states and cities in the South and Southwest to evaluate the factors they perceive to be important in recruiting business and industrial migrants from the North. 81 respondents rates 33 locational factors on a scale of 1 to 5. Results show variation in the perceived importance of factors between Southeast, South Central, and Southwest states and the Border states. Patterns of perceived competition among cities reveal that Border cities view Southern cities as their most important competitors but Southern cities see their major competitors as other rapidly growing Southern cities. Large cities do not see smaller cities as competitors with the exception of the "high tech" research centers such as Raleigh, North Carolina.

The effect of oral contraceptive pills on levels of oxytocin in plasma and on cognitive functions

Millions of healthy women use combined oral contraceptives (o.c.) for decades. In spite of that, little is known about their possible effects on cognitive functions. In this open cross-over study, 20 women were examined twice at four-week intervals at a fixed period of the menstrual cycle when they were and when they were not taking o.c. They were examined with a test-battery to assess cognitive functions. Blood samples were taken before and after breakfast to assess levels of oxytocin and prolactin. A significant increase in levels of oxytocin was registered when the women were on o.c. There was no significant difference in performance on the psychometric tests when the participants were on o.c. compared to when they were without o.c.

Place-to-place migration in Israel: estimates of a logistic model

"A multinomial logit model focusing on economic and other locational factors is formulated and applied to data on place-to-place migration in Israel. Results indicate the effects of expected industrial wage differentials, in accordance with the hypothesis of Harris and Todaro (1970), and of disparities in the structure of industrial employment, suggesting that perceived risk as well as expected return enter into the decision to migrate, as Stark and Levhari (1982) have argued. Other effects include those associated with regional differentials in amenities and agglomeration associated with urbanization, population mobility by age group, center-periphery migration trends, border security hazards, and the like. Implications of the analysis for the Israeli policy of population dispersion are discussed."

Family planning needs and behavior of Mexican American women: a study of health care professionals and their clientele

"A random sample of Mexican American women and a sample of family planning health care professionals, both from two major southwestern cities in the United States, were compared in terms of their reports of birth control methods used, problems in obtaining family planning services, and values involved in making fertility-related decisions, within the Mexican American population.... While there were points of agreement between the two samples, discrepancies were found in reports of problems in obtaining family planning services, fertility-related values, and in the acceptability of female sterilization as a birth control method. It was concluded that family planning professionals in these service areas tend to stereotype Mexican American women, and may not yet realize that the family planning attitudes and behavior of these women are probably changing in significant ways." (SUMMARY IN SPA)

Relations between physicians' behaviors and analogue patients' satisfaction, recall, and impressions

This paper investigates associations between physicians' task-oriented and socioemotional behaviors, on the one hand, and analogue patients' satisfaction, recall of information, and global impressions. The study is based on role-playing subjects' responses to interactions between physicians and simulated patients. Audiotapes of two standardized patient cases presented by trained patient simulators to 43 primary care physicians were rated by role-playing patients (N = 258), and electronically filtered excerpts from the encounters were rated for vocal affect by 37 independent judges. Content analysis was made of the visits' transcripts to assess interaction process and to identify all medical information communicated. Finally, speech error rate was calculated from a combination of audiotape and transcript. Findings revealed that role-playing patients clearly distinguished task from socioemotional behaviors of the physicians, and a consistent pattern of association emerged between physicians' task behaviors and role-playing patients' satisfaction, recall, and impressions. Within the task domain, patient-centered skills (i.e., giving information and counseling) were consistently related to patient effects in a positive direction, but physician-centered behaviors (i.e., giving directions and asking questions) demonstrated the opposite relationship. A negative pattern of association was also evident between physicians' socioemotional behaviors and patient effects.

Subjective perception of bleeding and serum ferritin concentration in long-term users of Norplant

Serum ferritin was measured in 4 groups of long-term users of NORPLANT implants. The users were divided according to their own subjective perception of bleeding: a random sample of 46 one year active users; 30 active users who had increased bleeding; 39 women who had increased bleeding and had the implants removed; 28 active or terminated users who had reduced bleeding. These four groups were compared with a control group of 68 new acceptors of any method at the same clinic who met the criteria for use of NORPLANT. The mean age, parity, years of schooling and family income were similar for the 5 groups. Mean hematocrit for all NORPLANT groups were significantly higher than the control group. About half of the NORPLANT subjects and controls with normal hematocrit had ferritin levels below 11 ng/ml. The proportion of subjects with ferritin less than 11.0 ng/ml were: Group 1) 48%; 2) 63%; 3) 77%; 4) 36% and

CONTROLS

57%. Mean iron stores for all NORPLANT users did not differ significantly from those of a demographically similar control group. Significant differences were, however, observed in two subgroups of NORPLANT users. Those women who had increased bleeding and requested implant removal had lower mean ferritin levels and those who perceived decreased bleeding as a result of NORPLANT use had higher ferritin concentration.

Migration and mental health: an empirical test of depression risk factors among immigrant Mexican women

Empirical research in the field of migration and mental health is rare and its recent appearance follows decades of inconsistent reports in the research literature about the risks posed by numerous precipitating and predisposing factors. This article has 2 goals: 1) to summarize critically selected issues and methodological problems regarding mental health implications of migration-adaptation, and, 2) to test empirically hypotheses derived from the Fabrega Migration Adaptation Model to determine whether they have predictive value for depressive symptomatology in a cross-sectional sample of Mexican immigrant women in San Diego county. Findings from bivariate analyses indicate most of the model's factors were significantly related to depressive symptoms. Multivariate analyses identified 1) demographic factors (education-income), 2) perceived economic opportunity, 3) perceived distance between the 2 centers involved in the migration, and 4) loss of interpersonal ties in Mexico as the most parsimonious subset of depression indicators within the model. Implications are discussed.

Factors in long-term marriages

"The present study involves a nonrandom sample of 351 [U.S.] couples who have been married 15 years or more. Differences were found in the reported reasons for staying together between happy, unhappy, and mixed (one partner happy and one unhappy) marriages. For happy couples, the most frequently mentioned reasons for staying together was the perceived nature of the relationship, then the belief in marriage as a long-term commitment. Among the mixed and unhappy marriages, the most frequently named reason was the belief that marriage is a long-term commitment. Nineteen percent of those in mixed marriages and 47% in unhappy marriages said the children kept the marriage together."

Contraceptive perceptions and method choice among young single women in the United States

Data from a national survey of young unmarried women are used to analyze the relationship of perceptions of method characteristics to the acceptability of methods for use and to the actual contraceptive choice. Ordinary least squares (OLS) and logistic regression analyses are employed to assess the effects of perceptions on method acceptability and on actual use. Methods that were seen as having more highly positive attributes were also seen as more acceptable, and were used by a greater proportion of the women in the sample, even though the overwhelming popularity of the pill overshadowed all other methods. It was concluded that perceptual factors can help predict who will use a particular method and that this can be potentially useful to family planning service providers in influencing method choice.

Barriers to modern contraceptive use in rural Peru

This paper examines Quechua-speaking Indians' choice of contraceptive methods and discusses barriers to the use of modern contraceptives. A study conducted in a Peruvian highland community shows that contraceptive choice is strongly related to a couple's life experiences, their contact with urban centers, their economic status, and their emphasis on cultural values. Among contraceptive users, husbands are concerned with family size and encourage their wives to seek information about the use of modern contraceptives. A discrepancy in attitudes exists between spouses: the men's positive attitude toward modern contraception contrasts with the women's traditional desire for a large family. In this study population, modern contraception is a novelty that has reached only a few families. The majority of the couples practice natural and traditional family planning methods, which are not reliable. Villagers do not use modern contraceptives as a result of cultural barriers created by family planning services that do not take into account the lifestyle of these people, insufficient knowledge of human physiology, comments from dissatisfied users, and women's reliance on their reproductive role for self-esteem.

A comparison of physician-patient views of teen prenatal information needs

To help physicians provide supportive information to pregnant teens, 146 pregnant adolescents and 46 physicians completed self-administered questionnaires about prenatal and infant care. Teens placed great importance on knowing about prenatal and parenting behaviors. Teens and physicians generally attached similar importance to concerns across all items (p less than 0.45). Both groups considered similar items extremely important, with the exception of birth control, which was more frequently rated extremely important by physicians (p less than 0.001). However, physicians reported differences between the importance they attached and the importance they thought teens would attack to items (p less than 0.001). Physicians did not accurately estimate the importance teens would attribute to 23 of the 24 items (p less than 0.001), and they anticipated that the teens would attach significantly less importance to items than the teens actually attached. Psychosocial concerns, which physicians anticipated would be considered most important, were often minimized by teens. Responses were not significantly associated with physician age, sex, or level of training, thus suggesting the need to address patient information concerns at all levels of professional education.

Health education in Cuba: a preface

Critics of health education policy in the United States fault it for ignoring the unequal ability of Americans to adopt more healthy behavior and for underestimating the social, economic, and political causes of disease. Many critics hypothesize that health education in a less bourgeois society would be more equitable and less individualistic. This article tests that hypothesis by analyzing the current Cuban health education program aimed at the reduction of chronic diseases. It argues that while the Cuban program appears to be every bit as individualistic as the North American program, theirs may not be comparable to ours because Cubans are less likely than Americans to reify the state. At least among supporters of the revolution, Cubans do not automatically make a conceptual distinction between the individual and the society. Discussions about responsibility for disease prevention take on new meaning in this light.

Transitions to parenthood: his, hers, and theirs

This study explores marital processes that may underlie the apparent decline in satisfaction with marriage in partners becoming parents for the first time. We assessed 47 couples expecting a first child and 15 couples not yet decided about having children at pretest, post 1 (6 months postpartum or 9 months after pretest) and post 2 (18 months postpartum or 21 months after pretest). Questionnaires examined (1) psychological sense of self; (2) partners' role arrangements and communication; (3) parenting ideology; (4) perceptions of the family of origin; and (5) social support and life stress, including parents' work patterns. Support was found for three hypotheses: (1) In four of the five family domains men and women having a first child showed more negative changes over time than nonparent spouses; (2) New fathers and mothers grew increasingly different from one another in most of these domains; (3) A combination of gender differentiation and change (increasing conflict) apparently contributed to lowered satisfaction with marriage for men and women.

Intergenerational influences on the parent-infant relationship in the transition to parenthood

In this study, questions were addressed concerning the intergenerational transmission of parent-child relationships in couples going through the transition to parenthood. During the second trimester of their first pregnancy, couples provided information concerning experiences of parenting in their family of origin, then were reinterviewed and observed interacting with their infants at 3 months postpartum. It was expected that when these young adults had reported prenatally better parenting by their parents on specific parenting variables, they in turn would experience early parenthood more adaptively and would show better parenting with their own infants. The results provide support for this hypothesis.

Prebirth prediction of the quality of the mother-infant interaction: the first year of life

A predictive method involving the assessment of prebirth functioning and the anticipated quality of parenting is described and developed in order to facilitate identification of families at risk for future parenting. The association between these predictions and selected outcome criteria was studied in a representative sample of 46 families. Both the quantitative and qualitative results support the hypothesis that those families where mother and father were both characterized during the prebirth assessments as above average on adaptation-competence, capacity for relationships, and their positive view of their marriage, and who were expected to provide an optimal parent care environment, did in fact enhance a mother-infant relationship characterized by positive mutuality and responsiveness. It is assumed that the prebirth assessments and predictions, even though global in nature, effectively reflect a profile of family system and individual characteristics that are likely to enhance the development of positive mother-infant mutuality. We stress “enhance” because the characteristics of the infant, such as his or her irritability, are also going to influence the quality of the emerging transaction (Heinicke et al., 1985; Matheny, Riese, and Wilson, 1985).

The relationship of self-concept and autonomy to oral contraceptive compliance among adolescent females

Self-concept and autonomy are typically negotiated during adolescence, a time when many females also become sexually active. Nonuse and discontinuation of contraceptives by teenagers place them at high risk for pregnancy. The present study explores the relationship between these psychological factors and contraceptive noncompliance during adolescence. Fifty-five adolescent females beginning a contraceptive regimen were entered into the study. Compliance at four months after the initiation of an oral contraceptive was associated with scoring high on the Behavior Subscale of the Piers-Harris Self-Concept Scale and the Autonomy Scale modified from Eysenk.

Factors affecting desired family size among preliterate New Guinea mothers

A random sample of 331 Enga mothers in Papua New Guinea perceived that an average of 5.96 live births (S.D. = 1.88) were needed to achieve their mean desired completed family size (DFS) of 4.65 children (S.D. = 1.32). The mean of the personal child mortality rates projected by the individual mothers. 194/1000, is very close to the rate of 198/1000 (224 deaths among 1134 live births) experienced by the women as a group and the 177/1000 documented in a 1972 prospective study in the area. This suggests that as a group preliterate women may possess an accurate estimate of prevailing child mortality rates. Considerable interest in family planning was shown. However for cultural or linguistic reasons, the majority (except in the case of the pill and tubal ligation) expressed no opinions about their readiness to use specific modern methods. The mean parity of 43 women seeking tubal ligation was 5.98 (S.D. = 1.81). An integrated maternal health and family planning program focusing on the health benefits to mother and child of the current 3-4-year birth interval seems indicated.

Factors associated with the perception of side-effects relating to the use of contraceptive methods

Limited research has been done in South Africa regarding the incidence of side-effects and perceptions of these among users of contraceptives. Numerous knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) surveys have been conducted by the Human Sciences Research Council (Erasmus 1981a; Erasmus 1981b; Erasmus 1982 ; Groenewald 1978 ; Lótter, Van Tonder 1976; Mostert, Malherbe 1974; Mostert 1974; Strydom 1981; Van der Merwe 1982) and in some of these studies questions concerning side-effects were included to determine reasons for discontinuation of specific contraceptive methods. The literature concerning research on side-effects related to contraceptive use usually pertains either to clinical studies

Effect of oral contraceptives and some psychological factors on the menstrual experience

Fifty-seven women (mean age = 23·5 years), half of whom used an oral contraceptive, completed Moos' menstrual distress questionnaire at each of the three menstrual phases. In addition they kept menstrual diary cards for 50 days, recording days on which menstrual blood loss occurred. During an intermenstrual phase, they completed: a general information questionnaire with questions on menstrual, socialization and demographic variables; Eysenck's personality inventory; the multidimensional health locus of control scale; the Bern sex role inventory; and a measure of preventive health behaviour. Analyses investigating the effects of pill use and psychological factors on the incidence and intensity of menstrual distress found few significant associations between these measures, especially when symptom changes over the menstrual cycle were the dependent variables. The implications of these results for the aetiology of menstrual distress are discussed.

Attributions, expectations, and coping with abortion

We examined cognitive predictors of coping with a negative life event. Women undergoing first-trimester abortion were, before the procedure, surveyed regarding their attributions for their pregnancy, expectations for coping, the meaningfulness of the pregnancy, and the degree to which the pregnancy was intended. After the abortion and again at a follow-up visit, we assessed affective state, physical complaints, anticipated negative consequences, and depression. As predicted, women who blamed their pregnancy on their character coped less well than low self-character blamers, but contrary to predictions, self-behavior blame was unrelated to coping. Women who had high coping expectations before the abortion coped much better than those with low coping expectations. Women who found their pregnancy highly meaningful, however, coped worse immediately after the abortion than did women who found their pregnancy less meaningful. Intentionality of the pregnancy was related to depression three weeks after the abortion, and women accompanied by their partner to the abortion clinic coped less well immediately after the abortion than women unaccompanied by their partner.