An Economic Analysis of Children's Health and Intellectual Development

The basic purpose of our research is to contribute to an understanding of the joint determination of children's cognitive development and their health. Although there is a large literature concerning the first of these issues, there has been little work on the latter. We also explore interrelationships between various aspects of children's physical health and their intellectual development and, in particular, attempt to answer the important question of whether poor health retards the cognitive development of children.

Adolescent Health, Family Background, and Preventive Medical Care

This paper investigates the health of white adolescents, focusing particularly on the roles of family background and preventive medical care. This emphasis is motivated in part by our desire to study adolescent health in the context of the nature-nurture controversy. The findings indicate first, that family characteristics (especially mother's schooling) do have a significant impact on adolescent health and second, that preventive care is an important vehicle for this impact in the case of dental health hut not in the ease of physical health measures. Similarly, the greater availability of dentists has a positive impact on dental health, but greater availability of pediatricians does not alter the physical health measures. On the basis of these results we predict that government efforts to improve the dental health of adolescents with policies to lower the cost of dental care or increase the availability of dentists are much more likely to be successful than similar policies directed at improving their physical health.

An Exploration of the Dynamic Relationship between Health and Cognitive Development in Adolescence

This paper is an empirical exploration of the dynamic relationship between health and cognitive development in a longitudinal data set compiled from two nationally representative cross-sections of children. Our results indicate that there is feedback both from health to cognitive development and from cognitive development to health, but the latter of these relationships is stronger. They also indicate that estimates of family background effects taken from the dynamic model -- which can be assumed to be less influenced by genetic factors are smaller than their cross-sectional counterparts, but some still remain statistically significant. The first finding calls attention to the existence of a continuing inter-action between health and cognitive development over the life cycle. The second finding suggests that nurture "matters" in cognitive development and health outcomes.

Women's higher education in Japan: Family background, economic factors, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Law

Since the mid-1980s there has been a striking increase in the propensity of young Japanese women to attend four-year universities. During this same period, the Japanese Diet, in 1985, passed the Equal Employment Opportunity Law, which focused on improving women's access to career employment. This paper uses micro data from the Japanese Panel Survey on Consumers (JPSC) to investigate the importance of socioeconomic and demographic factors, as well as the EEO Law, in determining the higher education decisions of young women in Japan. We find that one of the most important factors for determining whether or not a young woman attends university is whether or not her mother attended university. Other important factors we identify include whether or not her father attended university, whether or not the young woman attended juku in high school, family income, and attendance at private secondary school. Data limitations prevent drawing strong conclusions about the role of the passage of the EEO Law, but our results suggest that the passage of the law was associated with an increase in the propensity of young women to choose university over junior college

What about the men? Perinatal experiences of men of color whose partners were at risk for preterm birth, a qualitative study.

BACKGROUND:Preterm birth in the United States is associated with maternal clinical factors such as diabetes, hypertension and social factors including race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. In California, 8.7% of all live births are preterm, with African American and Black families experiencing the greatest burden. The impact of paternal factors on birth outcomes has been studied, but little is known about the experience of men of color (MOC). The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of MOC who are partners to women at medical and social risk for preterm birth. METHODS:This study used a qualitative research design and focus group methods. The research was embedded within an existing study exploring experiences of women of color at risk for preterm birth conducted by the California Preterm Birth Initiative. RESULTS:Twelve MOC participated in the study and among them had 9 preterm children. Four themes emerged from thematic analysis of men's experiences: (1) "Being the Rock": Providing comfort and security; (2) "It's a blessing all the way around": Keeping faith during uncertainty; (3) "Tell me EVERYTHING": Unmet needs during pregnancy and delivery; (4) "Like a guinea pig": Frustration with the healthcare system. Participants identified many barriers to having a healthy pregnancy and birth including inadequate support for decision making, differential treatment, and discrimination. CONCLUSIONS:This study shows novel and shared narratives regarding MOC experiences during pregnancy, birth, and postpartum periods. Healthcare providers have an essential role to acknowledge MOC, their experience of discrimination and mistrust, and to assess needs for support that can improve birth outcomes. As MOC and their families are at especially high social and medical risk for preterm birth, their voice and experience should be central in all future research on this topic

The status of women in Japan: Has the Equal Employment Opportunity Law made a difference?

In April, 1986 the Japanese Equal Employment Opportunity Law went into effect. This law prohibits gender discrimination with respect to vocational training, fringe benefits, retirement and dismissal, and urges firms to try to equalize opportunity with regard to recruitment, hiring, job assignment, and promotion. Evaluating this law soon after its passage, Edwards (1988) predicted that it was not likely to have a significant impact on Japanese women's labor market opportunities- not so much because of its weak enforcement provisions, but rather because of the way in which the personnel policies of Japanese firms interact with the labor supply patterns of Japanese women. In this paper I assess the accuracy of Edwards' prediction by examining data for the period since the law's passage to determine if there have been any measurable effects. In addition, I discuss new developments in the Japanese economy that herald an improved labor market outlook for Japanese women, and especially university graduates

Education and Marriage Decisions of Japanese Women and the Role of the Equal Employment Opportunity Act

The Japanese Equal Employment Opportunity Act (EEOA) of 1985 aimed to reduce gender discrimination in the labor market, especially for career-oriented jobs. This paper investigates whether this act had an unanticipated effect on women\u27s marriage decisions. Using micro data from the Japanese Panel Survey of Consumers, we model women\u27s interrelated decisions on university education and whether to marry, focusing on whether women have married by age 32. Our results show a negative relationship between university education and marriage that is much greater for post-EEOA cohorts of women than for pre-EEOA cohorts, consistent with our hypothesis that the enhanced career opportunities associated with the EEOA stimulated women to delay or forgo marriage

Education and Marriage Decisions of Japanese Women and the Role of the Equal Employment Opportunity Act

Prompted by concordant upward trends in both the university advancement rate and the unmarried rate for Japanese women, this paper investigates whether the Equal Employment Opportunity Act (EEOA), which was passed in 1985, affected women\u27s marriage decisions either directly or via their decisions to pursue university education. To this end, we estimate a model that treats education and marriage decisions as jointly determined using longitudinal data for Japanese women. We find little evidence that the passage of EEOA increased the proportion of women who advance to university, but strong support for the proposition that it increased the deterrent effect of university education on marriage

Knowledge and Opinions of Third Year Veterinary Students Relevant to Animal Welfare Before and After Implementation of a Core Welfare Course

Although leading veterinary organizations emphasize the importance of animal welfare knowledge, there exists a gap in current veterinary student animal welfare education and training. A survey instrument was created to assess third-year Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) student knowledge of key animal welfare topics, opinions regarding the inclusion of welfare education in the veterinary curriculum, and views on veterinarian responsibilities as advocates. In Spring 2018, Colorado State University added a required animal welfare course to the DVM curriculum. Pre- and post-course paper surveys were distributed to the third-year students enrolled in the animal welfare course. One hundred thirty one completed pre-course surveys were collected and 125 completed post-course surveys were collected. Of the pre and post-course surveys collected, 61 were paired with identification codes and utilized for statistical comparison. Results indicated that the course led students to view the inclusion of an animal welfare course in the veterinary curriculum more favorably (p = 0.009) and improved their confidence in conducting research on animal welfare topics (p < 0.001). The course did not change students' sense of responsibility toward welfare advocacy. Associations were not found between attitudes toward these issues and demographic variables of home community, respondent gender, and track selection (p > 0.06). Veterinarians were consistently ranked by students as the most influential member of a community in matters of animal welfare. Future research on the lack of veterinary student knowledge of animal welfare should be done on a national scale to facilitate strategic development of mandatory animal welfare courses in veterinary curricula. Future research should be designed to gain knowledge regarding DVM students' opinions and attitudes regarding effective methods of incorporating animal welfare education into their professional training