Rajulton Fernando

The Early Life Courses of Canadian Men: Analysis of Timing and Sequences of Events

This paper focuses on the transition to adulthood of Canadian men born from 1916 to 1975. Through a life course framework, six early life events - school completion, work start, home-leaving, cohabitation, first marriage, and first birth - are examined using data from the 1995 Canadian General Social Survey of the Family. The trends in the timing and spread of each event, the length of transition to adulthood, and the trajectories to marriage indicate that the early life courses of Canadian men have changed tremendously with more diversified family behaviours and significant increases in ages at school completion and at start of regular work.

Intentional replacement of dead children in sub-Saharan Africa: evidence from Ghana and Kenya

This paper examines whether childhood deaths elicit an explicit, conscious and intentional fertility response using the 1998 Demographic and Health Survey data for Ghana and Kenya . Using multivariate hazard models, childhood mortality experience was found to have long term fertility implications beyond the short term physiological effects. In both countries, women who have experienced childhood mortality were found to have significantly higher number of additional children than those without. The death of the first child in particular was found to be associated with the risk of a higher order birth consistent with recent findings in Cameroon. The policy implications of the findings are discussed.

Assessing the Psychometric Properties of Kember and Leung's Reflection Questionnaire.

Reflective thinking is often stated as a learning outcome of baccalaureate nursing education, and as a characteristic of a competent professional; however, no consistent method exists to assess the extent to which students engage in reflective thinking. To address this need, Kember and Leung developed and tested a self-report questionnaire based on Mezirow’s conceptualisation of levels of reflective thinking. The purpose of this study was to test the psychometric properties of the Reflection Questionnaire, developed by Kember and Leung. A convenience sample (n = 538) of third-year baccalaureate nursing students from four collaborative nursing programmes in Ontario was used. Ethical approval was secured from 10 sites. Second-order confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) were used to test the factor structure of the Reflection Questionnaire. This research was part of a larger study on reflective thinking and is a first step in validating a four-level measure of reflective thinking, in educational environments, with baccalaureate nursing students. The results of the second-order CFA provide support for the construct validity of reflective thinking. Results of this study contribute to the evidence supporting the reliability and validity of the questionnaire. Nurse educators can use this information when implementing the questionnaire, and learning the extent to which students are engaging in the reflective thinking process.

The effects of infant deaths on the risk of subsequent birth: A comparative analysis of DHS data from Ghana and Kenya

Abstract This paper examines the conditions under which there might be a strong or weak relationship between childhood mortality and fertility at the micro level. The premise is that as a society undergoes transition during which a conscious effort is made to space and limit birth, the effect associated with infant death on the risk of subsequent birth reduces. Using the 1998 DHS data from Ghana and Kenya, our multivariate hazard models show that women who have experienced infant deaths tend to have a higher risk of subsequent births than those without any infant deaths at all parities studied in both countries. In a comparative context, however, the magnitude of the effect associated with infant death was weaker in Kenya at all parities, corroborating the hypothesis that the effect indeed reduces in the course of transition. Besides infant deaths, other demographic, socioeconomic and sociocultural factors were also found to associate with the risk of births. The limitations and policy implications of the findings are discussed.

Influences of economy and culture in development among mountain tribes of Indian Central Himalaya.

SUMMARY The Indian republic contains a large number of tribal communities with varied cultures. Efforts to develop these communities by the government of India and the provincial governments continue to be important in the post-independence planning era, and perceptible development has occurred in the socioeconomic and demographic areas. However, expected goals have not been achieved and differing socioeconomic and demographic developments are still found in tribal communities, even within the same ecosystem. In this paper, an effort is made to characterize the differential trends of socio-economic and demographic development among two mountain tribes — the Jaunsaries and the Bhotias — inhabiting the Indian Central Himalayan region. With the exception of altitudinal variation, the Central Himalayan region of India is governed by a set of more or less similar geophysical and environmental conditions. However, discernible differences in socioeconomic and demographic developments are found in these tribal communities, and are affected by the economy and culture of the tribal communities. The findings suggest that economic and cultural advantages and limitations should be appropriately integrated in planning to make development efforts more meaningful and sustainable.

Status of Women and Fertility in Pakistan

As argued, low status of women is associated with high fertility. Yet, it is the most neglected area in fertility studies because of measurement complications. The concept itself needs clarification since there is no universal definition. Despite these complications, utilizing fourteen theory driven indicators, this study attempts to measure the status of women in Pakistan and examines its relationship with fertility. Structural Equation Models are used to measure status and Path Models to examine its association with fertility. The results confirm a negative association between status of women and fertility in Pakistan.