Dogs and Practices of Community and Neighboring

ABSTRACT

Dogs are important facilitators of social interaction. However, little attention has been given to the specific mechanisms through which these relations proceed, or to the ways that dogs help to broker, maintain, and even disrupt social relations. This paper addresses this absence through an indepth qualitative analysis of the everyday experiences of 24 dog owning households who live in apartments in Sydney, Australia. It shows that dogs encourage people to spend more time outside, make people recognizable within their neighborhood, provide a topic of conversation, and actively solicit the attention of strangers. Dogs help make people recognizable and identifiable to others, while also creating social distance. The paper connects to broader literature on neighboring and community practice to show that community relations shaped by dogs involve practices of inclusion as well as exclusion. Exclusion provides an important motivation for new community formation.     

Identities in-between: the impact of satellite broadcasting on Greek Orthodox minority (Rum Polites) women's perception of their identities in Turkey

Abstract

This study aims to shed a light on women belonging to the Greek Orthodox Christian (Rum Polites) community in Istanbul, Turkey and their perception of their identity with the help of satellite broadcasting (ERT World). This research is the first attempt to analyse Rum women's viewing attitudes and their correlations with a number of variables such as education, age, family structure, religion, occupation, and their perceptions of themselves as part of a distinctive religious and cultural entity. Since the female members of the community are heavy television viewers, television is a powerful tool to construct a social reality and a sense of self. By conducting in-depth interviews and interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), this study aims to reveal how this unique community makes sense of their identities and social worlds through television.     

Attitude to Animals and Empathy: Comparing Animal Protection and General Community Samples

ABSTRACT

Although a number of studies have examined a range of demographic and personality variables that may impact upon attitudes towards the treatment of non-human species, little consensus has been reached within the literature. The aim of the current study was to evaluate and assess levels of human-directed empathy and attitudes towards the treatment of animals in two diverse populations, namely the general community (n = 543) and those within the animal protection field (n = 389). Both groups of participants completed the Attitude Towards the Treatment of Animals Scale (AAS) and the Davis Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), a measure of human-directed empathy. Comparisons between the two samples indicated that those within the animal protection community scored more highly on both the animal attitude and human-directed empathy measures. Correlational analyses revealed a positive relation between AAS and IRI scores for both samples, whilst the strength of the correlation was greater for those within the animal protection sample. These findings are discussed.     

The Role of Quality Health Services and Discussion about Birth Spacing in Postpartum Contraceptive Use in Sindh,Pakistan: A Multilevel Analysis

IntroductionRapid population growth, stagnant contraceptive prevalence, and high unmet need for family planning present significant challenges for meeting Pakistan’s national and international development goals. Although health behaviors are shaped by multiple social and environmental factors, research on contraceptive uptake in Pakistan has focused on individual and household determinants, and little attention has been given to community characteristics that may affect access to services and reproductive behavior.MethodsIndividual and community determinants of contraceptive use were identified using multivariable multilevel logistic regression to analyze data from a 2014 cross-sectional survey of 6,200 mothers in 503 communities in Sindh, Pakistan.ResultsOnly 27% of women who had given birth in the two years before the study reported using contraceptives. After adjusting for individual and community characteristics, there was no difference in the odds of contraceptive use between urban and rural women. Women who had delivered at a health facility had 1.4 times higher odds of contraceptive use than women who delivered at home. Those who received information about birth spacing from a doctor or relatives/friends had 1.81 and 1.38 times higher odds of contraceptive use, respectively, than those who did not. Living in a community where a higher proportion of women received quality antenatal care and where discussion of birth spacing was more common was significantly associated with contraceptive use. Community-wide poverty lowered contraceptive use.ConclusionsQuality of care at the community level has strong effects on contraceptive use, independent of the characteristics of individual households or women. These findings suggest that powerful gains in contraceptive use may be realized by improving the quality of antenatal care in Pakistan. Community health workers should focus on generating discussion of birth spacing in the community. Outreach efforts should target communities where the demand for contraception appears to be depressed due to high levels of poverty.     

Is it God Speaking? Agency of Deities in the Western Himalaya

ABSTRACT

In many ethnographies, deities reflect social structures, represent power relations, or serve as a resource for individuals. However, believers usually do not doubt the existence of deities and their agency: that is, their ability to act and initiate change. The gap between these points of view narrows in the religious experiences in the Indian Himalayas. There, the local population, who communicate with local deities via mediums, face an epistemological problem: how to be certain that they are, indeed, talking with their gods. Furthermore, the believers are aware that they play a role in the decisions of the gods. These two aspects of the religious experience are expressed in the gradual transition of the gods from a Pahā?ī to a pan-Hindu identity, an indication of the way in which the agency of the gods is being challenged and is subject to negotiation by the locals.     

‘Islamophobia never stands still’: race,religion, and culture

Abstract

Islamophobia bundles religious, ethnic and cultural prejudices together even though a narrow definition of the term flags religion as playing the central part. Calls for decoupling religion from ethnicity and culture appear justifiable: religions are increasingly disconnected from the cultures in which they have been embedded. But established political discourse infrequently makes such distinctions and may go further to racialize cultural and religious attributes of non-Europeans through essentialist framing. Islamophobia becomes a cryptic articulation of race and racism even if overtly it appears as religiously-based prejudice. Islam has been culturalized and racialized by its adherents and antagonists alike. Survey data on attitudes towards Muslims confirm such framing: the most common grounds given for experiencing discrimination was race or ethnic origin; religion and belief system were cited less often. Racialization, race and differential racism have become more endemic to Islamophobesã stigmatizing of Muslims, but to categorize Islamophobes as racists is bad politics.     

Periodical abstracts

Abstract

This research analyzed physicians’ attitudes toward and use of genetic counseling. Data were obtained through mailed questionnaires sent to all 445 general and family practitioners, pediatricians, and obstetrician‐gynecologists in private practice and involved in direct patient care in Maricopa and Pima Counties, Arizona. Results indicated strong attitudinal support for genetic counseling. Almost all respondents felt that it was a useful and necessary medical service, and most felt that it resulted in more responsible patient decisions. Actual genetic counseling by physicians was comparatively rare, however. The data suggested that the paucity of counseling may have derived from a lack of training in genetics, scarcity of patient requests, and legal naïveté. Genetic counseling, amniocentesis, and abortion received the most support from younger physicians, obstetrician‐gynecologists, and those who were Jewish, less religious, and had few or no children.     

Structural and Functional Characteristics of Aquatic Animal Communities

Structural and functional characteristics of macrobenthic animal communities have been studied in several rivers and lakes. Shannon diversity index (H) has been used as a measure of animal community structure. Relation of community production (P_b) to metabolic rate of all animals in the community (R_b) was regarded as its functional characteristic. Quantitative relations between structural and functional characteristics of aquatic animal communities have been established. The work deals with steadiness and stability and complexity of aquatic animal communities with regard to their structural and functional characteristics. For a better understanding of possible changes in communities brought about by human impact a notion of community durability is introduced, which means their ability to resist environmental changes maintaining their structure and functions.     

Correlates of attitudes toward euthanasia

Abstract

Data from a national survey conducted in 1977 were examined to identify correlates of attitudes toward euthanasia and suicide for terminally ill persons. The results indicated that race, religious participation, and attitudes toward freedom of expression were directly associated with such attitudes. It was also found that regional variations in such attitudes could be explained by the degree of urbanization of geographic regions.     

Wearing the veil: hijab,Islam and job qualifications as determinants of social attitudes towards immigrant women in Norway

Immigrant women are a particularly vulnerable part of the immigrant population. In this paper we analyse negative attitudes towards immigrant women in Norway. We focus on immigrant women’s formal job qualifications, their religious background and wearing of hijab – the headscarf sometimes used by Muslim women. Using survey-embedded experiments we are able to analyse the net effects on attitudes of job qualifications, Islamic religious background and the hijab. The results show that native population frequently has more negative views of Muslim women who wear a hijab. The negative effects of a hijab do not seem to be strongly reduced if a woman wearing it has higher education. With a single exception, the results also show that Muslim background in itself (i.e. without the hijab) does not have any strong effect on attitudes of the native population towards immigrant women.     

Patterns of Welfare Attitudes in the Australian Population

The study of community attitudes toward welfare and welfare recipients is an area of increasing interest. This is not only because negative attitudes can lead to stigmatization and discrimination, but because of the relevance of social attitudes to policy decisions. We quantify the attitudes toward welfare in the Australian population using attitude data from a nationally representative survey (N = 3243). Although there was broad support for the social welfare system, negative attitudes are held toward those who receive welfare benefits. Using canonical correlation analysis we identify multivariate associations between welfare attitudes and respondent demographic characteristics. A primary attitudinal dimension of welfare positivity was found amongst those with higher levels of education, life instability, and personal exposure to the welfare system. Other patterns of negative welfare attitudes appeared to be motivated by beliefs that the respondent’s personal circumstances indicate their deservingness. Moreover, a previously unidentified and unconsidered subset of respondents was identified. This group had positive attitudes toward receiving government benefits despite having no recent experience of welfare. They did, however, possess many of the characteristics that frequently lead to welfare receipt. These results provide insights into not only how attitudinal patterns segment across the population, but are of relevance to policy makers considering how to align welfare reform with community attitudes.     

Children'S Attitudes About the Humane Treatment of Animals and Empathy: One-Year Follow up of a School-Based Intervention

ABSTRACT

This study assessed the maintenance of the effect of a year-long school-based humane education program on fourth grade children's attitudes toward animals. Generalization to human-directed empathy was also measured. Using a pretest-posttest (Year 1) follow-up (Year 2) design and ANCOVA, we found that the experimental group (children who experienced the program) humane attitudes mean was greater than the control group mean at initial posttesting and at the Year 2 follow up. At both Year 1 and Year 2 posttesting, the enhancement of attitudes toward animals generalized to human-directed empathy, especially when the quality of the children's relations with their pets was considered as a covariate. The results contribute to the growing literature on the significance of the relations between children and animals, and serve to encourage humane education efforts.     

Generation,ethnic and religious diversity in friendship choice: exploring interethnic close ties in Britain

Abstract

Interethnic friendships can reflect intergroup relations and immigrants' integration into host societies. Using pooled 2007–09 Citizenship Surveys, this study investigates interethnic friendship patterns and determinants of friendship choice in Britain. The paper focuses on generational, ethnic and religious diversity in forming interethnic close ties. The most common friendship pattern is having co-ethnic close friends. This ethnic boundary in interethnic ties, however, weakens across generations whereby those born in or migrated to Britain at young ages have a higher chance of having close friends from other ethnic groups. We find that interethnic friendships are formed in a ‘pan-ethnic’ pattern by which those with similar ethnic/racial and religious background such as Muslim Indians and Pakistanis, or mixed white and black Caribbean and black Caribbean, are more likely to nominate one another as close friends.     

“The correlates of attitudes toward euthanasia” revisited

Abstract

In a 1979 Social Biology article, B. K. Singh found religious affiliation to be an insignificant variable for the prediction of euthanasia and suicide attitudes. Reanalysis of this same data indicated that religious affiliation, coded as a discrete variable, Catholic vs. non‐Catholic, was masking existing differences among religious denominations. Using a chi‐square partitioning analysis comparing Jewish, Catholic, Protestant, and Non Religion categories indicated significant differences between Protestant and a combined category of Non Religion‐Jews for both euthanasia and suicide attitudes. Future efforts to predict euthanasia and suicide attitudes should include religious affiliation as dummy variable instead of an artificially dichotomized variable.     

Effectiveness of teaching general practitioners skills in brief cognitive behaviour therapy to treat patients with depression: randomised controlled trial

ObjectiveTo assess the effectiveness of teaching general practitioners skills in brief cognitive behaviour therapy.DesignParallel group, cluster randomised, controlled trial of an educational package on cognitive behaviour therapy.SettingGeneral practices in north London.Participants84 general practitioner principals and 272 patients attending their practices who scored above the threshold for psychological distress on the hospital anxiety and depression scale.InterventionA training package of four half days on brief cognitive behaviour therapy.ResultsDoctors'' knowledge of depression and attitudes towards its treatment showed no major difference between intervention and control groups after 6 months. The training had no discernible impact on patients'' outcomes.ConclusionGeneral practitioners may require more training and support than a basic educational package on brief cognitive behaviour therapy to acquire skills to help patients with depression.

What is already known on this topic

Trained professionals can deliver effective cognitive behaviour therapy to depressed patients presenting to general practitionersLimited evidence shows that cognitive behaviour therapy is effective when delivered by general practitioners who have received extensive instructionMost doctors do not have the time or inclination to carry out such comprehensive training

What this study adds

Basic training in brief cognitive behaviour therapy has little effect on general practitioners'' attitudes to the identification and treatment of depression or the outcome of their patients with emotional problemsGeneral practitioners may require more extensive training and support if they are to acquire skills in brief cognitive behaviour therapy that will have a positive impact on their patients     

Teenage sexual attitudes in China

Abstract

Not much is known about the sexual attitudes of Chinese teenagers. In this article we endeavor to address this void by examining the sexual attitudes of Chinese teenagers with survey data collected in Sichuan Province in 1988. Our analysis has two goals: first, to describe aggregate attitudes toward premarital sexual practices; and second, to identify the principal factors that influence these attitudes. To accomplish the second goal we estimate several regression equations with predictor variables known to influence teen sexual attitudes. Our analysis reveals major differences and similarities between China and the United States and indicates that China's teenagers are somewhat strongly opposed to teen sexual contact, but seem to be more understanding of others who so engage, despite strict laws and public morality forbidding it.     

Selective migration from Samoa: A longitudinal study of pre‐migration differences in social and psychological characteristics

Abstract

In 1981 extensive questionnaire and interview data were collected on some 100 young Samoan adults. Five years later in 1986 we determined their whereabouts and divided the data in accordance with migration status. The answers of the 35 who had migrated in the intervening period were contrasted to those 65 who remained in Samoa. The migrants differed in several distinct areas. Migrants reported a higher degree of peer‐reliance as a personal adaptive strategy. Migrants also reported larger numbers of individuals in social support networks, a higher quality of support and more community involvement. They also report less expressive display of anger. Those who did not migrate reported a slightly better view of life in Samoa and abroad, as well as better relations with their friends and neighbors. These findings support a hypothesis that migrants are pre‐selected to fit into migrant communities and do not appear to be misfits who are unhappy with life in Samoa.     

Do Birdwatchers Care about Bird Disturbance?

ABSTRACT

Little is known about how non-consumptive recreationists perceive their impacts on animals and how this relates to recreationist behavior. We surveyed attitudes and behaviors relating to bird disturbance of 179 birdwatchers who visited a world-renowned, restricted-access birdwatching destination (the Western Treatment Plant [WTP], Victoria, Australia). We distributed a 10-page, 49-question survey to birdwatchers at the WTP and posted it to a mailing list of those who held birdwatching access permits. The questionnaire explored socio-demographic profiles of respondents, and their bird- watching behaviors and attitudes to bird disturbance. Birdwatchers regarded vehicles as particularly disturbing and some bird groups, and breeding birds, as especially sensitive to disturbance. They generally disagreed with the contention that birdwatchers and plant workers disturb birds. All respondents reported using strategies to mitigate bird disturbance (e.g., keeping quiet and distant). Those who adopted more strategies to mitigate disturbance agreed more with the contention that birdwatchers and workers cause disturbance, and that breeding birds are especially sensitive to disturbance. Our results suggest that birdwatchers who perceive that their activity disturbs birds are more likely to modify their behaviors to minimize the disturbance. As such, wildlife managers and educators must clearly communicate possible impacts of birdwatching to birdwatchers to maximize the uptake of ethical birdwatching practices.     

Speciesism Predicts Prejudice Against Low-Status and Hierarchy-Attenuating Human Groups

A growing body of evidence demonstrates that attitudes toward nonhuman animals correlate with attitudes toward disadvantaged human groups. It has been suggested that the connection rests in the ideology of social dominance. Endorsement of social hierarchy and intergroup domination is thought to extend to both human intergroup and human– animal contexts. The present research tested this reasoning by examining the scope and basis of the relation between speciesism and human inter-group attitudes. It was hypothesized that speciesism would predict less positive attitudes toward low-status groups (e.g., disadvantaged ethnic minorities) and those who support social change (e.g., feminists) but that it would be uncorrelated with attitudes toward stigmatized groups that are unmarked by social status (e.g., atheists). Two studies (Study 1, n = 98; Study 2, n = 82) tested this prediction using survey measures of speciesism, social dominance orientation, and attitudes toward 31 human groups including those noted above. Participants were first- and second-year university students in a mid-sized university in Ontario, Canada. As hypothesized, in both studies speciesism predicted less positive attitudes primarily toward low-status groups and groups that support social change. Further, relations between speciesism and intergroup attitudes were explained by their shared connection with social dominance orientation. These data contribute to the growing body of evidence showing links between speciesism and prejudice by illustrating that their shared emphasis on support for social hierarchy gives rise to a specific pattern of intergroup attitudes—one that supports inequality.     

Knowledge and Attitudes towards Antibiotic Use and Resistance - A Latent Class Analysis of a Swedish Population-Based Sample

BackgroundIn 2006, a study investigating knowledge and attitudes regarding antibiotic use and resistance in Sweden, indicated high level of knowledge but also areas in need of improvement.Objective(i) To provide an update on the knowledge and attitudes to antibiotic use and resistance of the Swedish population, and (ii) to identify which groups within the population are in particular need of improved knowledge or attitudes.MethodsA questionnaire was sent by post in 2013 to 2,500 randomly-selected individuals aged 18–74, living in Sweden. Latent class analyses were conducted to group respondents based on their responses. The association between socio-demographic characteristics and the probability of belonging to each latent class was assessed.ResultsThe response rate was 57%. Ninety-four per cent of the responders knew that bacteria could become resistant to antibiotics and the majority answered correctly to the questions regarding antibiotic resistance development. The respondents expressed confidence in doctors who decided not to prescribe antibiotics. Three latent classes related to ‘knowledge regarding antibiotic use and resistance’, two regarding ‘attitudes towards antibiotic accessibility and infection prevention’ and three regarding ‘attitudes towards antibiotic use and effects’ were revealed. Men, younger and more educated people were more knowledgeable but males had a less restrictive attitude. Respondents with high levels of knowledge on antibiotics were more likely to have appropriate restrictive attitudes to antibiotics.ConclusionKnowledge on antibiotic use and resistance is maintained high and has improved in Sweden compared to 2006. People with lower education and elderly are especially in need of improved knowledge about antibiotic use and resistance.