Social change and the family: Comparative perspectives from the west, China, and South Asia

This paper examines the influence of social and economic change on family structure and relationships: How do such economic and social transformations as industrialization, urbanization, demographic change, the expansion of education, and the long-term growth of income influence the family? We take a comparative and historical approach, reviewing the experiences of three major sociocultural regions: the West, China, and South Asia. Many of the changes that have occurred in family life have been remarkably similar in the three settings—the separation of the workplace from the home, increased training of children in nonfamilial institutions, the development of living arrangements outside the family household, increased access of children to financial and other productive resources, and increased participation by children in the selection of a mate. While the similarities of family change in diverse cultural settings are striking, specific aspects of change have varied across settings because of significant pre-existing differences in family structure, residential patterns of marriage, autonomy of children, and the role of marriage within kinship systems.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/45661/1/11206_2005_Article_BF01124383.pd

Sustaining community living of the very old: medical and service issues A manutenção da vida comunitária dos idosos: aspectos médicos e assistenciais

The unprecedented prolongation of life in the United States has been accompanied by increased numbers of disabled people in their 80s and 90s, who have high needs for health care and social services. The paper reports longitudinal findings on 150 individuals, 85 years and older. Over three years, their functioning on activities of daily living significantly declined at the same time that they continued to described their health as good and to report contentment about their life. Families were active in sustaining community living of the oldest old, but those most at risk of institutionalization were the childless. Over time, 48% of the survivors stayed functionally fit, while 28% became increasingly disabled and dependent and 24% remained stable at a high level of disability. The means by which the oldest old coped with their disabilities include practical steps in simplifying their environment and narrowing their social world. They also used cognitive regulation by modifying their health beliefs and delimiting those areas over which they could exert a sense of control.<br>O crescimento nos níveis de esperança de vida nos Estados Unidos da América tem sido acompanhado por um número crescente de pessoas inválidas nos seus 80-90 anos de idade, aumentando as demandas sobre os serviços de saúde e de assistência social. Este trabalho apresenta os resultados de investigação longitudinal, realizada com 150 indivíduos deidade superior a 85 anos. Ao longo de três anos, a capacidade funcional dos integrantes da amostra no desempenho de atividades rotineiras diárias declinou significativamente, ao mesmo tempo que os mesmos continuavam a referir sua saúde como sendo boa e a expressar contentamento sobre suas vidas. As famílias foram ativas no suporte à vida comunitária dos idosos mais velhos. Os de maior risco de institucionalização foram aqueles sem filhos. Ao longo do tempo, 48% dos sobreviventes permaneceram funcionais, enquanto 28% tornaram-se cada vez mais inválidos e dependentes, enquanto 24% permaneceram estáveis, apresentando alto grau de invalidez. As formas através das quais os idosos mais velhos lidavam com sua invalidez incluíram medidas no sentido de simplificar seu ambiente e reduzir seu mundo social. Elestambém lançaram mão de regulação cognitiva através da modificação de suas crenças sobre saúde, delimitando aquelas áreas sobre as quais eles podiam exercer algum controle

The effect of parental consanguinity and inbreeding in Hirado, Japan

A census of Hirado, Japan in the summer of 1964 produced data on the reproductive performances of husbands and wives for 10,530 marriages where either the husband, the wife, or both were alive and residing in the city at the time of the census. Approximately one in every 6 of these marriages involves spouses who are biologically related to one another, and in some 10 per cent of marriages the husband, wife, or both are inbred. Analysis of the effects of length of cohabitation, socio-economic status, and consanguinity and inbreeding on total pregnancies, total livebirths, and “net fertility” (total livebirths minus non-accidental deaths in the first 21 years of life) revealed the following insofar as marriages contracted in the years 1920–1939 are concerned: 1. Total pregnancies and total livebirths were significantly increased with consanguinity, but “net fertility” was not when allowance is made for the role of socio-economic factors, and religious affiliation is ignored. The latter finding is thought to reflect the increased risk of death to liveborn children born to consanguineous marriages. Among Buddhists, the only religious group large enough to warrant separate analysis, total pregnancies, total livebirths and “net fertility” are all significantly and positively associated with parental relationship. However, the regression coefficient associated with “net fertility” is less than half the value associated with either total pregnancies or total livebirths.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/47633/1/439_2004_Article_BF00286995.pd