Women's employment, social support, and mortality.

This study uses a longitudinal design to examine the extent to which social support at work is protective against death and the degree to which it explains mortality differences between employed women and those not in paid employment. Women's total role responsibilities and community involvement, as an alternative source of social support and social integration, are also considered in the analysis. The outcome examined is mortality risk over a 15 year period. The 1140 women included in this study were randomly selected from among members of a large HMO and were part of a household interview conducted in 1970-71. Medical and vital records for 15 years post interview period are linked with the survey data. The results of this analysis suggest that social support at work is protective against mortality among employed women and contributes to mortality risk differences between employed and nonemployed women. While the relative hazard of death for nonemployed women who have some community involvement is greater than for employed women, the difference is not statistically significant. Community involvement may provide an alternative, albeit weaker, avenue for gaining some of the same advantages available in paid employment. Future research directions are discussed.     

Bodies, pleasure and displeasure

In sociology and cultural studies, the body is often treated only as a symbolic space, as a surface on which sexual meanings are written and from which they are read. Realist philosophy of science and philosophy of mind, however, do not treat discursive meaning as arbitrary and disconnected from the material universe. Using a realist framework, this paper examines areas of collision between values and beliefs about matters of fact concerning men's and women's sexual bodies and sexual pleasure and displeasure. Groups campaigning for and against male circumcision do not argue directly against each other. The first draw on health justifications, while the latter raise difficulties about human rights and loss of sexual sensitivity. Measuring penile sensitivity proves to be difficult. When sexual satisfaction is understood as traditional masculine role adequacy in reproductive coitus, there is no way of understanding complaints about loss of receptive sensuality. Debates about the structure and nomenclature of the clitoris, about the existence of female ejaculation and about the evolutionary function of the female orgasm similarly founder when the protagonists do not share a conceptual framework: macroscopic anatomic structures and physiological processes become invisible to observers and false assumptions are made, for example about when and how orgasm occurs. Most sexual difficulties are not physical dysfunctions, but failures to meet social rules of sexual behaviour. In conclusion, the paper draws attention to issues insufficiently addressed in contemporary sexuality studies and calls for practical engagement by social researchers with public health and policy.     

Women's Health Policies Associated with Obesity,Diabetes, High Blood Pressure,and Smoking: A Follow-Up on the Women's Health Report Card

ABSTRACT

This study sought to elucidate associations between state-level policies related to women's health and state prevalence of obesity, smoking, high blood pressure, and diabetes among women. Using data from national sources compiled for Making the Grade on Women's Health: A National and State-by-State Report Card, state policies on key women's health issues were evaluated on the degree to which policies adequately protected women's health. Blocked regressions assessed the policies associated with state outcomes. Anti-discrimination policies were prominent for high blood pressure, smoking, and obesity; models accounted for significant variance for all outcomes. State policies that support women may improve women's health.     

Women's global self-determination, eating regulation, and body dissatisfaction: exploring the role of autonomy support

Body dissatisfaction is an important correlate of dysfunctional eating. In the present study (N = 208) the primary aim was to test whether women's internal and autonomous motivation can protect against endorsements of societal pressures regarding the ideal female body and against body dissatisfaction. Additionally, the role of others' autonomy support was investigated. Women who reported more Global Self-Determination (GSD) were lower in internalisation of the thin ideal and this association was fully mediated by perceived sociocultural pressure to be thin. Moreover, the positive association between perceived pressure and body dissatisfaction was partially mediated by thin ideal internalisation. Body dissatisfaction was associated with a more controlled regulation of eating, and GSD moderated the association between body dissatisfaction and autonomous regulation of eating. Autonomy support played a role in eating regulation as women with more support reported more autonomous eating. Yet, the support did not moderate the relationship between body dissatisfaction and eating regulation. Future studies should continue to explore the potential facilitative role of autonomy support in promoting a self-determined approach to eating regulation.     

Human vulnerabilities,transgression and pleasure

In the face of the ‘obesity epidemic’ public health has largely failed to engage with the human pleasures that surround eating. Pleasures are often linked to vulnerabilities and frailties that are part of being human. We argue in this paper that leaving human vulnerabilities and the pleasures that haunt them under-acknowledged and under-examined within public health contributes to the problems that public health tries to solve. While in some quarters debates revolve around the best ways of encouraging people to become responsible for and modify their own behaviour, the well-documented centuries of struggle with managing human vulnerabilities and pleasures helps to explain why this is no easy task. The mantra of restraint, reason, and rationality is very limited in the face of the importance of some pleasures, even small ones, in human lives. In unequal societies, people have unequal access to pleasures. People are presented with a landscape of temptation, encouraged to consume, and then unequally admonished for indulging according to their means. Understanding and democratising pleasures will involve public health grappling with pleasures, and all those concerned with health inequity asking hard questions about ethics, morality, and intervention.     

Interpersonal conflict, social support, and burnout among home care workers in Japan

To examine associations between interpersonal relationships in work settings and burnout, a cross-sectional survey was conducted on home care workers in Sapporo, Japan, by using the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) and scales of interpersonal conflict and social support developed by the authors. Questionnaires were distributed among 303 subjects and returned by 243 subjects (80%). Complete answers were obtained from 106 subjects and were used for analysis. In multiple regression analyses, conflict with clients and their families significantly related to emotional exhaustion and depersonalization of the MBI (p<.05). Supervisory conflict significantly related to emotional exhaustion (p<.05), whereas coworker conflict significantly associated with depersonalization (p<.01). It is suggested that conflicts with clients' families, as well as clients, are important indicators for emotional exhaustion and depersonalization of home care workers.     

Antenatal depressive symptomatology, family conflict and social support among Chengdu Chinese women

To investigate the association between demo-socio-economic status, obstetric variables, family conflict, social support and antenatal depressive symptoms among 1,609 Chinese women from four regional public hospitals during their second trimester of pregnancy in Chengdu. The vulnerable factors of depressive symptoms were explored in terms of their demo-socio-economic, obstetric, and Chinese family relational aspects, as well as in terms of social support. The women were identified as having depressive symptoms using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale. Marital conflict and parent-in-law conflict were assessed using the Dyadic Adjustment Scale and the Stryker Adjustment Checklist, respectively. The Interpersonal Support Evaluation List was used to measure the functional aspects of the perceived availability of social support. The prevalence rates of antenatal mild to severe and severe depressive symptoms were 35.9 and 7.3%, respectively. The logistic regression analysis revealed that participants who had been married for a shorter time, had a single source of financial support, a poor marital and mother-in-law relationship, and who lacked social support were more likely to have mild to severe depressive symptoms (P < 0.05). Participants who were younger, who had lived in Chengdu for a shorter period of time, had a shorter duration of marriage, solo financial support, poor marital relationship, and poor social support were more likely to have severe depressive symptoms (P < 0.05). The findings provide important information for prenatal screening, public health and social policies to help in the reduction of antenatal depressive symptoms among the Chengdu population.     

石油野外工作人员安全感、社会支持 与工作家庭冲突的关系

摘要:目的　探讨石油野外工作人员安全感、社会支持与工作家庭冲突的关系。方法　采用安全感量表,社会支持评定量表和工作家庭冲突量表对某石油局井下工程公司的507名石油工作人员进行调查。结果　安全感各维度与工作家庭冲突存在显著负相关,与社会支持各维度存在显著正相关;人际安全感、确定控制感对工作家庭冲突（12.7%）及社会支持（11.9%）有显著预测作用;社会支持是安全感预测工作家庭冲突的中介变量（β＝-0.148,P＜0.001）。结论　人际安全感通过社会支持完全中介影响工作家庭冲突（β＝-0.023,P＞0.05）,确定控制感通过社会支持部分中介影响工作家庭冲突（β＝-0.313,P＜0.001）。     

Perceived social support in the lives of gay,bisexual and queer Hispanic college men

In this qualitative study, we examined the sources and nature of social support reported by 24 gay, bisexual and queer Hispanic college men at a small liberal arts college and a large university in the USA. We identified four themes of support across the interviews: Shared experiences (46%), Protector (42%), Support in the air (33%) and Gradual support (29%). Shared experiences included support from those who had previous experience with the lesbian, gay or bisexual community. Protector indicated a type of support that was psychologically, emotionally or physically protective in nature. Participants also reported receiving indirect support such as nonverbal behaviours or indirect gestures of endorsement and caring (support in the air). Participants reported that many of their network members came to support them gradually over time (gradual support). Within each theme we found support from both women and men, who provided support in gender-consistent ways. Our results highlight that despite continued prejudice and discrimination in society, sexual and racial/ethnic minority men have strongholds of support from men and women in their lives that enable them to navigate their development successfully.     

Women's voices after pregnancy loss: couples' patterns of communication and support.

This paper reports results of a study of prenatal diagnosis patients who lost pregnancies. The women felt they shared much in common with their male partners and generally felt understood and supported by the men. However, many of the women also saw their responses to the loss as different from those of their male partners. A variety of coping patterns were adopted by the women in the face of these differences. Implications are considered for preventive efforts to minimize distress; treatment approaches to help couples who experience greater difficulties; and future research directions.     

Women's experience of HIV as a chronic illness in South Africa: hard‐earned lives,biographical disruption and moral career

This article presents findings from a longitudinal qualitative study (48 in‐depth interviews with 12 women on antiretroviral treatment (ART)) exploring the experience of living with HIV as a chronic illness in South Africa by applying the structural and interactionist perspectives on chronic illness. The structural perspective indicates that the illness experience needs to be contextualised within the wider framework of the women's hard‐earned lives: throughout the interviews, the women tended to refuse singularising HIV/AIDS and continuously framed the illness within the context of general hardship and adversity. Employing an interactionist perspective, the repeated interviews demonstrated the partial applicability of the concept of biographical disruption to the illness experience: most women experienced feelings of denial and disbelief upon diagnosis, but the availability of ART clearly mitigated the impact of HIV on their biographies. In addition, our findings demonstrate that the interaction between structural aspects, (stigmatising) social relations, and the illness (and its treatment) determines the never‐ending cycle of identity appraisals, revisions and improvements, rendering the moral career of the HIV‐positive women on ART a continuous work in progress.     

Women's experiences of barriers to support while caregiving

This qualitative study explored women's perceptions of barriers to support during family caregiving in a Canadian setting. Twenty mothers of premature infants and twenty women caring for an older person who is cognitively impaired were interviewed in‐depth over 18 months. Both groups of women preferred that support be offered to them and identified numerous barriers to requesting support. Perceived barriers included an obligation to provide care, loss of independence and self‐esteem, concern for burden on others, the desire to excuse others from providing support, the inability to reciprocate support, fear of refusal or exposure, nonsupportive actions, the time and effort needed to coach others to provide effective support, and the lack of available, competent help. Some of these barriers reflect personal costs to the woman caregiver. Other barriers reflect societal norms that family caregiving is the responsibility of women.     

Adolescent views of diabetes-related parent conflict and support: a focus group analysis.

PURPOSE: To increase understanding of adolescent-parent diabetes-related conflicts and supports in the management of type 1 diabetes by means of a focus group research approach. METHODS: Twenty-four adolescents (10 boys and 14 girls, age 13-15 years; 97% white) participated in three same-sex focus groups at two diabetes summer camps. The focus group leader used a prepared set of open-ended questions to guide the 90-minute sessions. Sessions were tape-recorded, transcribed, and analyzed by a set procedure for qualitative analysis to identify the adolescents' perspectives on parent-adolescent sources of diabetes-related conflict and support. RESULTS: Adolescents reported the following sources of diabetes-related conflict: parental worry and intrusive behaviors; parental lack of understanding and blaming behaviors, and the parents focus on the future vs. the adolescent focus on the present. With regard to diabetes-related support, the teens identified parental understanding of the demands of diabetes and parental provision of reassurance about their child's illness and normative functioning. CONCLUSIONS: Adolescents' perceptions of parental worry, lack of understanding, and resulting intrusive and blaming behaviors are major areas of conflict that need to be addressed in the management of type 1 diabetes.     

Different types of day care and their relationship to maternal satisfaction,perceived support,and role conflict

Mothers using three different kinds of day care arrangements for their preschoolers: home day care providers, day care centers, andau pairs, were asked to rate their satisfaction with these types of care on a multidimensional scale. Measures of perceived support from spouse and employer, role conflict and maternal separation anxiety were also completed. While demographic variables including mother's age, education, and income proved to be highly correlated with the kind of day care chosen, role conflict and anxiety about being separated from her child were unrelated to type of arrangement used. Although the mothers generally reported at least moderate levels of satisfaction with different aspects of their child's care, those using day care centers were significantly less satisfied with the availability of their arrangements. Mothers using both centers and home day care providers also expressed significantly more concern with the amount of attention their child received.     

Caribbean pleasure industry: Tourism,sexuality and AIDS in the Dominican Republic

State-owned tobacco companies, which still account for 40% of global cigarette production, face continued pressure from, among others, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), to be privatised. This review of available literature on tobacco industry privatisation suggests that any economic benefits of privatisation may be lower than supposed, because private owners avoid competitive tenders (thus underpaying for assets), negotiate lengthy tax holidays and are complicit in the smuggling of cigarettes to avoid import and excise duties. It outlines how privatisation leads to increased marketing, more effective distribution and lower prices, creating additional demand for cigarettes among new and existing smokers, leading to increased cigarette consumption, higher smoking prevalence and lower age of smoking initiation. Privatisation also weakens tobacco control because private owners, in their drive for profits, lobby aggressively against effective policies and ignore or overturn existing policies.

This evidence suggests that further tobacco industry privatisation is likely to increase smoking and that instead of transferring assets from state to private ownership, alternative models of supply should be explored.