Family Structure and Children’s Schooling in sub-Saharan Africa

To examine the effect of family structure on children’s schooling in sub-Saharan Africa, we employed Multi-level Modeling to analyse data from recent Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) in 26 African Countries. In general, both polygyny and presence of a husband in the home detract from children’s education. After controlling for maternal education, childrenof single, never married mothers and those who are divorced or separated have educational disadvantage, suggesting the importance of maternal education for children’s educational outcomes. Males are more likely than females to have higher educational attainment, especially those in polygynous families. It is recommended that female education in general and the education of the girl-child in particular, be encouraged as a way of discouraging such negative cultural attitudes and practices as polygyny and bias in favour of boys’ education.Keywords: Monogamy, Polygyny, Marital Status, Multi-level Regression, Patriarchy

An Empirical Assessment of Divorce Law in Indonesia

A discussion of the effect of the marriage Act 1974 against divorce behavior Muslim community in Indonesia can be said to be rare. Various writings that discuss the application of these laws focus more on aspects of institutional, legal and political.DOI: 10.15408/sdi.v4i4.76

Bridging Alone: Religious Conservatism, Marital Homogamy, and Voluntary Association Membership

This study characterizes social insularity of religiously conservative American married couples by examining patterns of voluntary associationmembership. Constructing a dataset of 3938 marital dyads from the second wave of the National Survey of Families and Households, the author investigates whether conservative religious homogamy encourages membership in religious voluntary groups and discourages membership in secular voluntary groups. Results indicate that couples’ shared affiliation with conservative denominations, paired with beliefs in biblical authority and inerrancy, increases the likelihood of religious group membership for husbands and wives and reduces the likelihood of secular group membership for wives, but not for husbands. The social insularity of conservative religious groups appears to be reinforced by homogamy—particularly by wives who share faith with husbands

Molecular, Biochemical and Genetic Characteristics of BSE in Canada

The epidemiology and possibly the etiology of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) have recently been recognized to be heterogeneous. In particular, three types [classical (C) and two atypical (H, L)] have been identified, largely on the basis of characteristics of the proteinase K (PK)-resistant core of the misfolded prion protein associated with the disease (PrPres). The present study was conducted to characterize the 17 Canadian BSE cases which occurred prior to November 2009 based on the molecular and biochemical properties of their PrPres, including immunoreactivity, molecular weight, glycoform profile and relative PK sensitivity. Two cases exhibited molecular weight and glycoform profiles similar to those of previously reported atypical cases, one corresponding to H-type BSE (case 6) and the other to L-type BSE (case 11). All other cases were classified as C-type. PK digestion under mild and stringent conditions revealed a reduced protease resistance in both of these cases compared to the C-type cases. With Western immunoblotting, N-terminal-specific antibodies bound to PrPres from case 6 but not to that from case 11 or C-type cases. C-terminal-specific antibodies revealed a shift in the glycoform profile and detected a fourth protein fragment in case 6, indicative of two PrPres subpopulations in H-type BSE. No mutations suggesting a genetic etiology were found in any of the 17 animals by sequencing the full PrP-coding sequence in exon 3 of the PRNP gene. Thus, each of the three known BSE types have been confirmed in Canadian cattle and show molecular characteristics highly similar to those of classical and atypical BSE cases described from Europe, Japan and the USA. The occurrence of atypical cases of BSE in countries such as Canada with low BSE prevalence and transmission risk argues for the occurrence of sporadic forms of BSE worldwide

Cross-national variation in family influences on child health

Drawing on the family process literature, child health models, and recent studies of macro-level effects on health, we examine the effects of household structure, resources, care-giving, reproduction, and communication on child nutritional status and infant mortality. Using Demographic and Health Surveys, we analyze the influence of these factors across 42 countries in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. We also consider country-level including nontraditional family structure, level of economic development and expenditures on health care. Our results underscore the importance of family resources, decision-making, and health and feeding practices on child well-being in less developed countries. Although there is cross-national variability, the size of the variability was small relative to the overall effect. The country-level measures had modest effects on infant mortality and child nutritional status.Infant mortality Nutritional status Ecological analysis Cross-national

The Relationship of Religiosity and Sexuality in Non-Heterosexual Mormon Women: A Mixed Methods Study

This paper examines religious experiences of lesbian and bisexual women who are current or former members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (identifying as LDS or Mormon). Data were obtained from LGBTQ individuals through a national and international online survey that queried personal/family relationships, romantic/sexual relationships and relationship with the religion. Individuals were placed in four orientation groups based on Kinsey behavior and attraction scores: Lesbian, Bisexual, High Attraction/Low Behavior, and High Behavior/Low Attraction. Some important differences among these groups emerged. Those self-positioned at the high (same-sex) end of the scale were most often disaffiliated from the Church. Bisexuality permitted a modest degree of non-disclosure, mixed-orientation marriage, and remaining in church activity. Conforming to the church’s standard of sexual behavior did not correlate with positive attitudes toward the Church. Instead, marginalization due to awareness that one’s sexual minority status was unaccepted in the religion was the overriding sentiment