Chia-Ling Wu

THE LINKS BETWEEN EDUCATION AND HEALTH

University of Illinois, Urbana The positive association between education and health is well established, but explanations for this association are not. Our explanations fall into three categories: (1) work and economic conditions, (2) social-psychological resources, and (3) health lifestyle. We replicate analyses with two samples, cross-sectionally and over time, using two health measures (self-reported health and physical functioning). The first data set comes from a national probability sample of U.S. households in which respondents were interviewed by telephone in 1990 (2,031 respondents, ages 18 to 90). The second data set comes from a national probability sample of U.S. households in which respondents ages 20 to 64 were interviewed by telephone first in 1979 (3,025 respondents), and then again in 1980 (2,436 respondents). Results demonstrate a positive association between education and health and help explain why the association exists. (1) Compared to the poorly educated, well educated respondents are less likely to be unemployed, are more likely to work full-time, to have fulfilling, subjectively rewarding jobs, high incomes, and low economic hardship. Full-time work, fulfilling work, high income, and low economic hardship in turn significantly improve health in all analyses. (2) The well educated report a greater sense of control over their lives and their health, and they have higher levels of social support. The sense of control, and to a lesser extent support, are associated with good health. (3) The well educated are less likely to smoke, are more likely to exercise, to get health check-ups, and to drink moderately, all of which, except check-ups, are associated with good health. We conclude that high educational attainment improves health directly, and it improves health indirectly through work and economic conditions, social-psychological resources, and health lifestyle. he positive association between education and health is well established, but explanations for this association are not. Well educated people experience better health than the poorly educated, as indicated by high levels of self-reported health and physical functioning and low levels of morbidity, mortality, and disability. In contrast, low educational attainment is associated with high rates of infectious disease, many chronic noninfectious diseases, self-reported poor health, shorter survival when sick, and shorter life expectancy (Feldman, Makuc, Kleinman, and Cornoni-Huntley 1989; Guralnik, Land, Fillenbaum, and Branch 1993; Gutzwiller, LaVecchia, Levi, Negri, and Wietlisbach 1989; Kaplan, Haan, and Syme 1987; Kitagawa and Hauser 1973; Liu, Cedres, and Stamler 1982; Morris 1990; Pappas, Queen,

Education, age, and the cumulative advantage in health

The positive association between educational attainment and health is well established, but the way in which the education-based gap in health varies with age is not. Do the health advantages of high educational attainment and disadvantages of low educational attainment diverge or converge with age? The cumulative advantage perspective predicts a diverging SES gap in health with age, but past evidence does not allow us to accept or reject the hypothesis. We address this issue in two samples, cross-sectionally and over time, with three health measures. The first data set consists of a 1990 telephone interview of a national probability sample of U.S. households. There are 2,031 respondents, aged 18 to 90. The second is a national probability sample of U.S. households in which 2,436 respondents aged 20 to 64 were interviewed by telephone in 1979 and reinterviewed in 1980. We find that the gap in self-reported health, in physical functioning, and in physical well-being among people with high and low educational attainment increases with age. The health advantage of the well educated is larger in older age groups than in younger. Health advantages of high income and disadvantages of low income also diverge with age, but household income does not explain educations positive effect.

Managing multiple masculinities in donor insemination: doctors configuring infertile men and sperm donors in Taiwan

This article investigates how doctors configured infertile men and sperm donors in the development of donor insemination (DI) in Taiwan. In the initial stage (1950s-1970s) doctors adjusted clinical procedures to repair the deformed gender identities of infertile men. To expand DI in the late 1970s and early 1980s, doctors stressed the positive eugenics of DI by spotlighting the high intelligence of donors, playing down biological patrilineage and re-emphasising the contribution of men of higher rank in society. In the mid-1980s, when donors came to be seen as potential carriers of fatal diseases like acquired immune deficiency syndrome, doctors managed to associate risky donors with socially stigmatised men, and therefore perpetuate the conventional hierarchy of masculinities. As the intracytoplasmic sperm injection emerged in the early 1990s doctors quickly presented infertile men as universally longing for biological fatherhood and hence devalued DI in an attempt to augment paternal masculinity. These diverse configuration activities come together to create a socio-technical network of DI that most of the time perpetuates the reigning gender order, rather than destabilising it. I argue the importance of incorporating various types of participants in analysis to understand the changing dynamics of multiple masculinities along with the development of DI.

Editing, Cooking, and Transforming

When we were brainstorming a title during this journal’s launch period in 2006, I proposedChopsticks and Rice Cookers. I thought these shared artifacts, with nuanced differences in different regions, could symbolize the features of science and technology inEast Asia.MySTS colleagues, however,wereworried that our journal would be shelved under “food and drink,” so they promptly vetoedmy suggestions and askedme to bemore serious. (Iwas being serious!)Nevertheless, as over the past three years I’ve had the honor to serve as editor in chief, I did indeed experience editing work as a kind of collective cooking. Iwas in a privileged position to see how tremendous efforts have been put into the EASTS kitchens. STSers around the world have offered rich and diverse ingredients, with different cooking skills and magic seasonings, making possible every serving of EASTS. Kitchen work is often unseen. For their generous devotion and respectful expertise, I would like to express my gratitude here. First of all, I would like to thank all the editors during the 2013–15 term. The former editor in chief, Daiwei Fu, set up the infrastructure so well that we just started cooking seamlessly. The five associate editors, Gregory Clancey, Michael M. Fisher, Sungook Hong, Shang-Jen Li, and Togo Tsukahara—along with the Taiwanese editorial boardmembers, Dung-Sheng Chen, Ruey-Lin Chen, Daiwei Fu,Wen-HuaKuo, Sean Hsiang-Lin Lei, Wen-Yuan Lin, and Yi-Ping Lin—together made up our central editorial decision “task tank.” We bombarded them with numerous e-mails, and I thank them for their quick responses and wise suggestions. Most of the editors and advisers have received various assignments and have offered their expertise to make sure that the cooking has been organic and tasty. I appreciate each and every input they’ve given to the central kitchen. Working through the Internet makes this global teamwork possible, but it’s the face-to-face meetings around the kitchen table that often shape the dishes. My Taiwanese colleagues met every two months, and there was more work to do after each meeting. The international editorial board meeting has been held once or twice during meetings of 4S, APSTSN, and SHOT, and members quite like the reward of an actual in-person meeting after yearlong online dating. I am grateful for all the insights and hugs that my colleagues have offered. I would like to thank Adele Clarke particularly.