Sociosexuality Predicts Women’s Preferences for Symmetry in Men’s Faces

Although men displaying cues of good physical condition possess traits that are desirable in a mate (e.g., good health), these men are also more likely to possess antisocial characteristics that are undesirable in a long-term partner (e.g., aggression and tendency to infidelity). How women resolve this trade-off between the costs and benefits associated with choosing a mate in good physical condition may lead to strategic variation in women's mate preferences. Because the costs of choosing a mate with antisocial personality characteristics are greater in long- than short-term relationships, women's sociosexuality (i.e., the extent to which they are interested in uncommitted sexual relationships) may predict individual differences in their mate preferences. Here we investigated variation in 99 heterosexual women's preferences for facial symmetry, a characteristic that is thought to be an important cue of physical condition. Symmetry preferences were assessed using pairs of symmetrized and original (i.e., relatively asymmetric) versions of 10 male and 10 female faces. Analyses showed that women's sociosexuality, and their sociosexual attitude in particular, predicted their preferences for symmetry in men's, but not women's, faces; women who reported being more interested in short-term, uncommitted relationships demonstrated stronger attraction to symmetric men. Our findings present new evidence for potentially adaptive variation in women's symmetry preferences that is consistent with trade-off theories of attraction.     

Women’s Patterns of Participation in Mammography Screening in Denmark

The objective of the study is to analyse individual women’s participation patterns in mammography screening in Denmark. The study is set in the capital of Copenhagen and the county of Fyn representing around 95,000 women aged 50–69. The Central Population Register (CPR) was used to define the total target group, and supply information on migrations and deaths. Invitation and participation data came from the mammography screening programmes in Copenhagen (1991–1999) and Fyn (1993–2001), containing personal identification number, data on invitation date, participation and examination date for each screening round. In Copenhagen the coverage went from 70.5% in the first round to 63.1% in the fourth round, and the equivalent data for Fyn is 84.6% in the first round and 82.8% in the fourth round. Of the women eligible for at least three invitation rounds, 52.6% in Copenhagen and 76.4% in Fyn were faithful users, i.e. had participated in all screenings they were invited to. The conclusion is that the programme participation rates tend to overestimate the protection of the individual women covered by the programme. Behind the urban–rural gradient in programme participation is an even greater gradient in programme protection.     

Women’s Autonomy and Unintended Pregnancy Among Currently Pregnant Women in Bangladesh

This paper examines the net effect of women's autonomy on their pregnancy intention status among currently pregnant Bangladeshi women. This study is based on data from the Bangladesh Demographic Health Survey, 2007 (BDHS). A subset of interviews from currently pregnant women (718) were extracted from 10,146 married women of reproductive age. The BDHS 2007 used a pre-tested, structured questionnaire to collect sociodemographic, women's empowerment, and pregnancy information. Associations between unintended pregnancy and explanatory variables were assessed using bivariate analysis. Logistic regression was used to assess the net effect of women's autonomy on current pregnancy intention status after controlling for other variables. Results indicate that women's autonomy is a significant predictor of unintended pregnancy after adjusting for other factors. A unit increase in the autonomy scale decreases the odds of unintended pregnancy by 16%. Besides autonomy, our results also indicate that current age, number of children ever born, age at marriage, religion, media access, and contraceptive use exert strong influences over unintended pregnancy. Women who have ever used contraceptives are 82% more likely to classify their current pregnancies as unintended compared with women who are non-users of contraceptives. Improvement in women's autonomy and effective and efficient use of contraceptives may reduce unintended pregnancies as well as improve reproductive health outcomes.     

Testing Women’s Trust in Other Women and Same-Sex Attracted Males in Three Cultures

Heterosexual women trust mating-relevant advice received from gay men more than that received from heterosexual women. This trust is predicated on women’s perception that gay men lack ulterior sexual motives and romantically pursue other gay men. However, this trust may not hold in all cultures. For example, in both Samoa and the Istmo Zapotec of Southern Mexico, women take part in mate competition against feminine same-sex attracted males—referred to as fa’afafine and muxe, respectively—who regularly engage in sexual activity with masculine men. The present studies sought to replicate and extend research on women’s trust in males who are same-sex attracted. Experiments were conducted in Canada, Samoa, and the Istmo Zapotec, with women randomly assigned to consider the likelihood of various mate-poaching behaviors performed by either a rival woman or a same-sex attracted male. In Canada, women were more trusting of cisgender gay men than other women. Similarly, Samoan women were more trusting of fa’afafine than other women. In the Istmo Zapotec, women were equally distrustful of women and feminine muxe gunaa, whereas more masculine muxe nguiiu were rated as more trustworthy than women and muxe gunaa. These results illustrate that women’s trust in same-sex attracted males varies both between and within cultural contexts, perhaps impacted by the relative femininity of the male in question.

     

Men’s Controlling Behaviors and Women’s Experiences of Physical Violence in Malawi

In the feminist paradigm, intimate partner violence (IPV) among heterosexual couples is gender asymmetric and largely a tactic of male control. However, research on the relationship between men’s controlling behavior and physical violence against women is limited. This study examines whether having a controlling partner is associated with women’s reports of experiencing physical violence in Malawi. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were conducted using data from 8,385 women who completed the domestic violence module of the Malawi 2004 Demographic and Health Survey. About 18 % of women reported they had experienced moderately severe physical violence and 1 % experienced very severe violence in the past 12 months. A third of women reported their partners had ever been controlling. Results from multivariable ordinal logistic regression showed that women who had controlling partners were significantly more likely to report experiencing physical violence. Other factors significantly associated with women’s experience of physical violence included women who reported initiating physical violence against their partners, women’s work status, partners’ lower education level, and partners’ alcohol consumption. Women with controlling partners were at increased risk of experiencing physical violence in the past year. However, women who reported initiating physical violence in the past year were nearly four times more likely to experience partner violence in the same time period. Future research should attempt to elucidate these two important risk factors for IPV.     

Reexamining Individual Differences in Women’s Rape Avoidance Behaviors

A growing number of investigators explore evolutionary psychological hypotheses concerning the avoidance of rape using self-report measures of behavior. Among the most recent and most ambitious, is the work of McKibbin et al. (2011). McKibbin et al. presented evidence supporting their predictions that such behaviors would vary according to the individual’s physical attractiveness, relationship status, and proximity to kin. In addition, McKibbin et al. predicted, but failed to find evidence, that age would exercise a similar influence. We question McKibbin et al.’s position on both theoretical and empirical grounds, arguing that (1) two of their predictions do not rule out alternative explanations, and (2) their key supporting findings may well be artifacts of their measurement instrument, the Rape Avoidance Inventory (RAI). Employing new empirical evidence derived from a broader sample of U.S. women, we simultaneously tested McKibbin et al.’s predictions and compared the RAI to alternative dependent measures. We found that McKibbin et al.’s substantive predictions were not supported, and suggest that there may be limits to the utility of the RAI beyond one specific demographic category.     

Women’s autonomy and reproductive health-care-seeking behavior in Ethiopia

This paper investigated the potential importance of women’s autonomy in reproductive health-care-seeking behavior of women in Ethiopia. Data from the 2011 Ethiopian Demographic and Health survey (DHS), which involved a total of 16,515 women, were analyzed. A weighted sub-sample of married women and women who had a live birth were included in analyses on family planning and antenatal care. Women’s autonomy was measured by participation in decision making, attitudes toward wife beating, and whether getting permission to seek medical care was a big problem. Nearly 54% of women participated in all major household decisions, and 69% said getting permission to go for medical care was not a large problem. Women’s participation in domestic decision making was significantly positively associated with use of family planning (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]: 1.37, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.17–1.62), and antenatal care (aOR: 1.36, 95% CI: 1.13–1.64) after adjusting for the effects of socio-demographic variables. Moreover, greater women’s education, paid employment, exposure to media, and better household economic status were related to both use of family planning and antenatal care. Improving women’s autonomy will help to attain both gender equality and improved use of health services.     

Women’s Autonomy and Maternal Health-Seeking Behavior in Ethiopia

This paper examines the net effect of women’s autonomy on their health seeking behavior in Ethiopia. We hypothesize that women with higher autonomy are more likely to seek health care during pregnancy and delivery than those with lower autonomy. The paper also examines whether the autonomy-health utilization relationship is influenced by individual (education, work status, religion) and, household (wealth and rural–urban residence) level factors, all of which are important for both autonomy and health-care utilization. Results indicate that women’s autonomy remains significant even after adjusting for other individual and household variables. Besides autonomy, our results highlight other individual and household level influences on the health seeking behaviors of women in Ethiopia. Results also demonstrate the need to look beyond individual level factors when examining the health seeking behaviors of women in Ethiopia. The statistical significance of some individual-level measures, such as education means it cannot be used as proxy for women’s autonomy. This calls for policy makers not only to empower women, but also provide them with better formal education.     

The Association of Women’s Empowerment with Stillbirths in Nepal

Introduction

Globally, 2.6 million stillbirths occur each year. Empowering women can improve their overall reproductive health and help reduce stillbirths. Women empowerment has been defined as women’s ability to make choices in economic decision-making, household and health care decision-making. In this paper, we aimed to evaluate if women’s empowerment is associated with stillbirths.

Methods

Data from 2016 Nepal Demographic Health Surveys (NDHS) were analysed to evaluate the association between women’s empowerment and stillbirths. Equiplots were generated to assess the distribution of stillbirths by wealth quintile, place of residence and level of maternal education using data from NHDS 1996, 2001, 2006, 2011 and 2016 data. For the association of women empowerment factors and stillbirths, univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted.

Results

A total of 88 stillbirths were reported during the survey. Univariate analysis showed age of mother, education of mother, age of husband, wealth index, head of household, decision on healthcare and decision on household purchases had significant association with stillbirths (p < 0.05). In multivariate analysis, only maternal age 35 years and above was significant (aOR 2.42; 1.22–4.80). Education of mother (aOR 1.48; 0.94–2.33), age of husband (aOR 1.54; 0.86–2.76), household head (aOR 1.51; 0.88–2.59), poor wealth index (aOR 1.62; 0.98–2.68), middle wealth index (aOR 1.37; 0.76–2.47), decision making for healthcare (aOR 1.36; 0.84–2.21) and household purchases (aOR 1.01; 0.61–1.66) had no any significant association with stillbirths.

Conclusions

There are various factors linked with stillbirths. It is important to track stillbirths to improve health outcomes of mothers and newborn. Further studies are necessary to analyse women empowerment factors to understand the linkages between empowerment and stillbirths.

     

Tobacco Use Among Married Women in Nepal: The Role of Women’s Empowerment

This study documented the prevalence and correlates of tobacco use among women of reproductive age in Nepal using nationally representative data. We utilized the 2006 Nepal Demographic and Health Survey that interviewed 10,793 women and 4,397 men. We analyzed the couple’s data or households (N = 2,600) in which both husband and wife were interviewed. We examined the effects of women’s empowerment—measured by education, employment, intra-household decisions, and age—on their tobacco use controlling for other individual and household characteristics. Women’s empowerment had mixed effects on tobacco use. While women’s education was inversely associated with their tobacco use, their age, employment and ability to make intra-household mobility decisions were positively associated with smoking. Women with primary and beyond primary education were 48 and 92 % less likely to smoke compared to women with no education, respectively. Tobacco use among women increased dramatically with age from 8 % in teen years to 42 % in their forties. A 1 year increase in age increased the odds of tobacco use by 6 %. Women whose husbands smoked were twice as likely to smoke. Nepal should not only restrict tobacco use in public places by implementing its Tobacco Control and Regulatory Act of 2010 but also focus on encouraging smoke-free homes by increasing awareness about the health consequences of tobacco use and secondhand smoke among populations most likely to smoke that include nearly all men, employed women, women with low levels of education, women whose spouses smoke and those who are 30 and above in age. Additionally, a long term goal should be to ensure at least 5th grade of education for all girls.     

Women’s Postpartum Practices and Chronic Pain in Rural China

Objectives The aims of this study were to describe women’s traditional postpartum practice and chronic pain, and to explore the relationship between them. Methods In this cross-sectional and case-control study, two scales were used to measure the traditional practices and chronic pain in a random sample of 1,831 women 5–11 years after delivery. Results Twenty-eight different postpartum practices were measured by traditional postpartum practices scale (TPPS) and the majority of the women adhered to these practices during their postpartum period. The prevalence of chronic pain was 55.8%. A multiple logistic regression analysis, as well as the analysis from a pair-matched case-control design showed that there was no relationship between women’s traditional practices and chronic pain. Conclusions Women’s traditional postpartum practices did not decrease the risk of chronic pain for women 5–11 years after their deliveries.     

Reported Sexual Desire Predicts Men’s Preferences for Sexually Dimorphic Cues in Women’s Faces

Recent studies investigating the relationship between sexual desire and sexual attraction have found that heterosexual women’s reported sexual desire is positively correlated with their reported attraction to both own- and opposite-sex individuals, but that heterosexual men’s reported sexual desire is positively correlated with their reported attraction to opposite-sex individuals only. These findings have led to the proposal that sexual desire is a generalized energizer of sexual attraction in heterosexual women (i.e., influences women’s attraction to both men and women), but only energizes heterosexual men’s sexual attraction to women. Here we show that heterosexual men’s scores on the Sexual Desire Inventory-2 were positively correlated with their preferences for exaggerated sex-typical shape cues in opposite-sex, but not own-sex, faces. Together with previous research showing that heterosexual women’s reported sexual desire is positively correlated with their preferences for exaggerated sex-typical shape cues in both own- and opposite-sex faces, our findings present novel converging evidence for sex-specific relationships between sexual desire and attractiveness judgments of own- and opposite-sex individuals.     

Women’s Quality of Life in the Premenopausal and Postmenopausal Periods

Purpose The purpose of this research was to determine the relationship between menopausal symptoms and quality of life in women in the pre and postmenopausal periods.Methods and instruments All 171 women in the climacteric period who registered at the Pamukkale University Education and Research Hospital Obstetrics and Gynecology Clinic between January and July 2001 were included in the study. A questionnaire asking for sociodemographic information, complaints related to the climacteric period, and HRT use, as well as the WHOQOL brief, were used in order to obtain data.Findings One hundred of the women who participated in the study were premenopausal and 71 were postmenopausal and the mean age was 47.39 (SD=6.65). No significant difference was found in pre and postmenopausal women in the comparison of their quality of physical life, psychological, social relationships and environment scores (p>0.05). The physical quality of life scores for those without vasomotor complaints in the pre and postmenopausal periods were significantly higher in those with a high educational level and women who had been menopausal between 1–5 years and more than 10 years (p<0.05). Age and HRT use in postmenopausal women were not found to affect quality of life scores (p>0.05).Result We did not find any significant difference in the quality of life of pre and postmenopausal women.     

Women’s Self-Care in the Reproductive Age: An Essential Agenda

Archives of Sexual Behavior -     

Association of Comorbidity with Disability in Older Women: The Women’s Health and Aging Study

There is substantial evidence that physical disability results from chronic diseases and that the number of chronic diseases is associated with the presence and severity of disability. There is some evidence that interactions between specific diseases are of import in causing disability. Beyond arthritis, however, little is known of the disease pairs that may be important to focus on in future research. This study explores the associations between multiple disease pairs and different types of physical disability, with the objective of hypothesis development regarding the importance of disease interactions. The study population comprised a representative sample of 3841 women 65 years and older living in Baltimore, screened for participation in the Women’s Health and Aging Study. The study design was cross-sectional. An interviewer-administered screening questionnaire was administered regarding self-reported physical disability in 15 tasks of daily life, history of physician diagnosis of 14 chronic diseases, and MiniMental State examination. Task difficulty was empirically grouped into six subsets of minimally overlapping disabilities, with a comparison group consisting of those with no difficulty in any task subset. Multiple logistic regression models were fit assessing the relationship of major chronic diseases and of interactions of disease pairs with each disability subtype and with any disability, adjusting for confounders. Fourteen percent of the population reported mobility difficulty only; 5%, upper extremity difficulty only; 9%, both of these difficulties but no others; 7%, difficulty in higher function but not self-care tasks; 7%, self-care task difficulty but not higher function tasks; and 15%, difficulty in both higher function and self-care (weighted data). Almost all in the latter three groups had difficulty, as well, in mobility or upper extremity tasks. In regression models, specific disease pairs were synergistically associated with different types of disability. For example, important disease pairs that recurred in their associations with different disability types were the presence of arthritis and visual impairments, arthritis and high blood pressure, heart disease and cancer, lung disease and cancer, and stroke and high blood pressure. In addition, the type of disability that a disease was associated with varied, depending on the other disease that was present. Finally, when interactions were accounted for, many diseases were no longer, in themselves, independently associated with a given type of disability. Partitioning disability into six subtypes was more informative in terms of associations than was evaluating a summary category of “any disability.” These findings provide a basis for further hypothesis development and testing of synergistic relationships of specific diseases with disabilities. If testing confirms these observations, these findings could provide a basis for new strategies for prevention of disability by minimizing comorbid interactions.     

Punjabi Immigrant Women’s Breast Cancer Stories

The breast cancer experiences of Punjabi immigrant women, who represent the most populace group of South Asians in Canada, need to be understood in order to inform culturally appropriate cancer services. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore women’s stories of breast cancer in order to uncover how they made sense of their experiences. Interviews with twelve Punjabi immigrant women who had breast cancer within the last 8 years were available for this study. The four storylines that emerged from the ethnographic narrative analysis were: getting through a family crisis, dealing with just another health problem, living with never-ending fear and suffering, and learning a “lesson from God.” A minor theme, “being part of a close-knit family,” highlighted the family context as the most pronounced influence on the women’s experiences. These findings provide valuable insights into how women’s experiences of breast cancer were shaped by the intersections of culture, family, community, cancer treatments, and interactions with health care professionals.     

Women’s Reproductive Health in Slum Populations in India: Evidence From NFHS-3

The urban population in India is one of the largest in the world. Its unprecedented growth has resulted in a large section of the population living in abject poverty in overcrowded slums. There have been limited efforts to capture the health of people in urban slums. In the present study, we have used data collected during the National Family Health Survey-3 to provide a national representation of women’s reproductive health in the slum population in India. We examined a sample of 4,827 women in the age group of 15–49 years to assess the association of the variable slum with selected reproductive health services. We have also tried to identify the sociodemographic factors that influence the utilization of these services among women in the slum communities. All analyses were stratified by slum/non-slum residence, and multivariate logistic regression was used to analyze the strength of association between key reproductive health services and relevant sociodemographic factors. We found that less than half of the women from the slum areas were currently using any contraceptive methods, and discontinuation rate was higher among these women. Sterilization was the most common method of contraception (25%). Use of contraceptives depended on the age, level of education, parity, and the knowledge of contraceptive methods (p < 0.05). There were significant differences in the two populations based on the timing and frequency of antenatal visits. The probability of ANC visits depended significantly on the level of education and economic status (p < 0.05). We found that among slum women, the proportion of deliveries conducted by skilled attendants was low, and the percentage of home deliveries was high. The use of skilled delivery care was found to be significantly associated with age, level of education, economic status, parity, and prior antenatal visits (p < 0.05). We found that women from slum areas depended on the government facilities for reproductive health services. Our findings suggest that significant differences in reproductive health outcomes exist among women from slum and non-slum communities in India. Efforts to progress towards the health MDGs and other national or international health targets may not be achieved without a focus on the urban slum population.     

Understanding Women’s Choices: How Women’s Perceptions of Quality of Care Influences Place of Delivery in a Rural Sub-County in Kenya. A Qualitative Study

Maternal and Child Health Journal - Maternal mortality is still unacceptably high in Kenya. The Kenyan Government introduced a free maternity service to overcome financial barriers to access. This...