COITAL EXPERIENCE AMONG ADOLESCENTS IN THREE SOCIAL-EDUCATIONAL GROUPS IN URBAN CHIANG MAI,THAILAND

This article compares coital experience of Chiang Mai 17–20-year-olds who were: (1) out-of-school; (2) studying at vocational schools; and (3) studying at general schools or university. Four-fifths, two-thirds and one-third, respectively, of males in these groups had had intercourse, compared to 53, 62 and 15 per cent of females. The gender difference for general school/university students, but not vocational school students, probably reflects HIV/AIDS refocusing male sexual initiation away from commercial sex workers. Vocational school females may have been disproportionately affected. Loss of virginity was associated, for both sexes, with social-educational background and lifestyle, and was less likely in certain minority ethnic groups. Among males, it was also associated with age and parental marital dissolution, and among females, with independent living and parental disharmony. Within social-educational groups, lifestyle variables dominated, but among general school/university students, parental marital dissolution (for males) and disharmony (for females) were also important, and Chinese ethnicity deterred male sexual experimentation.     

Coital Experience Among Adolescents in Three Social-Educational Groups in Urban Chiang Mai, Thailand

This article compares coital experience of Chiang Mai 17-20-year-olds who were: (1) out-of-school; (2) studying at vocational schools; and (3) studying at general schools or university. Four-fifths, two-thirds and one-third, respectively, of males in these groups had had intercourse, compared to 53, 62 and 15 per cent of females. The gender difference for general school/university students, but not vocational school students, probably reflects HIV/AIDS refocusing male sexual initiation away from commercial sex workers. Vocational school females may have been disproportionately affected. Loss of virginity was associated, for both sexes, with social-educational background and lifestyle, and was less likely in certain minority ethnic groups. Among males, it was also associated with age and parental marital dissolution, and among females, with independent living and parental disharmony. Within social-educational groups, lifestyle variables dominated, but among general school/university students, parental marital dissolution (for males) and disharmony (for females) were also important, and Chinese ethnicity deterred male sexual experimentation.     

An otological investigation of Lithuanian skulls

Two thousand seven hundred and sixty temporal bones from 1603 skulls ranging from the Neolithic to the eighteenth century AD were investigated visually and under magnification, scoring auditory exostoses, stapes footplate fixation and removing preserved auditory ossicles. Sixteen cases of auditory exostoses were noted. Changes in their occurrence were evident in adult skulls from the first to second millennia AD, (3.31 ± 0.87 per cent and 0.25 ± 0.18 per cent, p < 0.001). Clear sexual differences were also elucidated (males: 1.96 ± 0.56 per cent, females: 0.49 ± 0.28 per cent). Taking into account the geographical latitude of Lithuania, this prevalence should not be considered high. Twelve cases of stapes footplate fixation in the oval window, which could be considered as otosclerosis, were identified; no sexual or temporal differences were noted. The general frequency in adult skulls (0.99 ± 0.28 per cent) is similar to that in contemporary Caucasoid people. Three hundred and four intact auditory ossicles obtained during examination were measured. As these measurements did not differ significantly from data in the literature, morphological stability of the auditory ossicles was confirmed. Certain sexual differences were established for several measurements.     

Archaeological evidence for the extinction of a breeding population of elephant seals in Tasmania in prehistoric times

Southern elephant seals, Mirounga leonina L., do not inhabit the northwest coast of Tasmania today, but archaeological evidence indicates that they did so in prehistoric times, when they constituted an important food resource to the Aboriginal tribes of the region. Skeletal remains of at least 300 elephant seals were present in one midden alone. There is distinct sexual dimorphism in the canine teeth of elephant seals, and regular seasonal variations in the density of concentric layers of calcified dentine, as well as the pattern of these variations, provide insight into the age and reproductive history of individual animals. The sectioned canine teeth of 145 southern elephant seals (107 females, 38 males) from a Tasmanian midden were examined to provide information on the age and sex of the seals as well as aspects of their reproductive history. The age distributions differed between the sexes, and partly explain the different frequencies of males and females. All the males were young, immature individuals, none more than 6 years old, which is about the age at which a secondary growth spurt occurs in males and results in a marked sexual disparity in body size. By contrast, 47% of the females were of breeding age, 26% had given birth to pups, and several were up to 20 years of age. At least 26% of animals were estimated to be less than 3 months old, the approximate age at which they go to sea for the first time, confirming that they were born on the northwest Tasmanian coast. Animals were killed throughout the year, and there is evidence of change in reproductive pattern over time, consistent with a response to predation pressure. The evidence points to the conclusion that the population was exterminated by Aboriginal hunters, through selective exploitation of smaller animals, which included significant numbers of breeding females. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Non‐specific indicators of stress and their association with age at death in Medieval York: Using stature and vertebral neural canal size to examine the effects of stress occurring during different periods of development

Selective mortality can occur towards individuals who survive episodes of physiological stress, such as disease and malnutrition, during development. The skeletal elements affected depend on the timing of these stressful episodes. Studying multiple non‐specific indicators of stress can show which periods of development were affected and whether certain periods can be linked with selective mortality. To examine this method a preliminary study of 61 adult individuals from the Medieval population of Fishergate House, York was undertaken to examine small vertebral neural canal size and reduced adult stature. Previous studies have shown that selective mortality occurs towards individuals who display these non‐specific indicators of stress. Statistical analysis showed that small transverse neural canal diameter was significantly associated with early adult mortality for males and females and there was evidence of selective mortality towards females with reduced stature. This suggests that individuals who died in early adulthood experienced health insults during late childhood which stunted VNC growth but males in particular were not significantly affected by health insults after this age as they achieved a normal adult stature. Therefore it appears that health insults which occurred during late childhood had a greater influence on adult health in the Fishergate House population. This method could be expanded to provide more detailed information by using a greater variety of non‐specific indicators of stress which will allow more specific periods of development to be investigated. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Application of Health Expectancy Research on Working Male Population in Bangladesh

Lower quality of life and more work-loss days for the workforce are barriers for economic development in Bangladesh. Using nationally representative data—the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Surveys for the 2004–2007 period, we examined the prevalence of diseases (asthma, diabetes, heart problems, high blood pressure, jaundice/hepatitis, malaria/fever, tuberculosis, and other) that prevented ever-married male workers from doing their regular activities in Bangladesh, and we examined changes in partial work-loss free life expectancy (WLFLE). The study found improvements in the mean number of work-loss days as well as in WLFLE; male workers at age 30 in 2007 expected 212 days more WLFLE than male workers of the same age in 2004. Other diseases prevented 17.8 per cent of male workers in 2004 and 9.1 per cent of male workers in 2007 from doing their normal work. Malaria/fever prevented 14.4 per cent and 11.5 per cent of male workers in 2004 and 2007, respectively, from doing their normal work. In both years, of all the diseases, the other diseases category and malaria/fever were found to be the major causes preventing Bangladeshi male workers from doing their normal work. This study recommends taking action against malaria/fever so that people can continue working without health problems or illness, and it recommends identifying other diseases which cause work-loss days. It suggests collecting data for both the males and females in a consistent manner by keeping the same questions with the same wording, order, and age groups consistent over time.     

Medieval Britain in 1972

WHAT WAS IT LIKE to be a teenager in medieval England? Despite the fact that medieval society often singled young apprentices and workers out for comment, their study has been largely neglected in medieval archaeology. The skeletal remains of 4940 children and adolescents (6.6–25 years) from 151 sites in medieval England were compiled from a combination of primary data collection and secondary data from published and unpublished skeletal reports and online databases. The aim was to explore whether apprentices could be identified in the archaeological record and, if so, at what age they started work and what impact occupation had on their health. The data were divided into urban and rural groups, dating from before and after the Black Death of ad 1348–49, and before the Industrial Revolution. A shift in the demographic pattern of urban and rural adolescents was identified after the Black Death, with a greater number of young females residing in urban contexts after 14 years. The average age of males in urban contexts increased from 12 years to 14 years after the plague years, contrary to what we might expect with the greater opportunities for work after the Black Death. There were higher rates of spinal and joint disease in the urban adolescents, and before the age of 18 years, their injuries were more widespread than their rural counterparts. Domestic service was the potential cause of greater strain on the knees and backs of urban females, with interpersonal violence evident in young urban males. Overall, it was the urban females that carried the burden of respiratory and infectious diseases, suggesting they may have been the most vulnerable group. This study has demonstrated the value of adolescent skeletal remains in revealing information about their health and working life, before and after the Black Death.     

舞阳贾湖墓葬的统计学初步分析

本工作旨在了解贾湖单人墓随葬品数量与墓主人性别、年龄以及墓葬分期之间的关系。根据墓葬样本的实际情况,本工作使用t-检验、单因素和双因素方差分析的方法进行了初步的统计学分析。结果显示,贾湖墓葬随葬品总量与性别无关,但与墓主人的死亡年龄有关,壮年随葬品较丰富。同时,随葬品数量受到性别和死亡年龄的交互影响比较显著,女性少年儿童的随葬品数量最多,男性壮年的随葬品次之。从随葬品的种类上看,除少年儿童组最多外,女性壮年墓葬占有石制品最多;男性壮年墓葬占有骨、牙制品最多。本工作还发现陶器和骨、牙制品的数量在不同时期存在着较显著变化,第二期时骨、牙制品和陶制品的数量较多。本工作认为,女孩随葬品数量较多的情况可能与母系氏族社会重女习俗有关,不同性别的壮年侧重随葬不同质地的物品则可能暗示着贾湖先民们已经出现了一定程度的社会分工,陶和骨、牙制品在第二期时比较丰富的现象可能与这一时期渔猎采集活动较活跃有关。     

A Case of Maternal and Perinatal Death in Neolithic Southern Vietnam,c. 2100–1050 BCE

Despite ostensibly elevated rates of young female mortality in the past, believed to be associated with the risks of pregnancy and child birth, surprisingly few cases of pregnant female burials are reported in the bioarchaeological literature. This paper describes and discusses the case of a young female who died and was interred with an unborn full‐term breech foetus at the Neolithic site of An Son, southern Vietnam c. 2100–1050BCE. Her exceptionally poor oral health, evidence for cribra orbitalia, linear enamel hypoplasia, small stature and compromised gynaecological competence, contributes to a differential diagnosis that explores a range of additional complications that may have contributed to the death of both mother and unborn child. An examination and appreciation of this case contribute to our knowledge of the reproductive age and health of young females in Neolithic Southern Vietnam and the challenges they faced during pregnancy and childbirth. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Sex assessment of medieval Norwegian skeletons based on permanent tooth crown size

The excavation of the Library site in Trondheim uncovered the medieval cemetry of St. Olav's church containing 388 skeletons, of which 248 had skulls with teeth. Sex assessment was based on osteological criteria, and for 145 skeletons sex classification was performed with a high degree of certainty. The remaining 103 were classified as uncertain male, uncertain female and sex undetermined. Mesio-distal and facio-lingual crown widths of permanent teeth in the group of reliably assessed males and females were used in sex-discriminant analyses. A combination of two or more teeth was less effective in discrimination than using one tooth alone. This was due to missing data in the combined variable sets and thereby loss of cases. Missing variables were due to post-mortem tooth loss, attrition or large deposits of calculus. The teeth were ranked according to their power in sex discrimination. The left maxillary first molar (26) represented by its facio-lingual dimension was the best sex discriminator (classified 85 per cent of the cases correctly), followed by the right maxillary first molar (16) also represented by its facio-lingual dimension (classified 77 per cent correctly). With only one variable in the discriminant function, a critical value could be calculated and tabulated for each tooth. This was used in sex assessment of the osteologically undetermined and uncertain groups. Only variables that could sex classify correctly at least 70 per cent of the cases with the Jack-knife procedure were used. Sex assessment could be made for 16 of 24 (66.7 per cent) of the osteologically sex-undetermined adult individuals and for 21 of 44 (47.7 per cent) of the children. Of 35 osteologically uncertainly sex-assessed skulls, only nine (six men and three women) corresponded with dental classification.     

Fracture patterns among the Nubians of Semna South,Sudanese Nubia

A collection of 592 individuals from the site of Semna South in Sudanese Nubia was studied for evidence of healed fractures of the skull and appendicular skeleton. The sample included 241 males, 239 females, 109 subadults and three adults for whom a sex could not be determined. Potential analytical and interpretive bias due to vagaries of preservation was quantified and examined. Almost 21% of the adults exhibited at least one healed fracture, while only two subadults showed such trauma. Rates of fractures, calculated for each bone, varied from a high of 17.9% for the cranium to a low of 0% for the right femur. Some fractures were likely caused by the physical environment, for example, falls along the rocky shores of the Nile. Other trauma, such as craniofacial fractures, found in both males and females, may have been due to interpersonal violence. The high rate of craniofacial trauma may indicate that this group experienced social stress which could have precipitated or intensified interpersonal violence. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Socio-demographic differences of disability prevalence among the population aged 60 years and over in Bangladesh

This study aims to delineate the sociodemographic differences in disability prevalence across the population aged 60 years and over in Bangladesh, and to investigate the association of factors with reporting disability in later life. A microdata sample for those aged 60 years or over from the Census of Bangladesh 2011 was used where disability was assessed with a self-reported single response question. Logistic regression models were performed separately for men and women. Results reveal that the disability prevalence rate increased sharply with age, and it was higher among older women (5.2 per cent) compared to men (4.8 per cent). Physical and vision disabilities were the two categories with the highest prevalence of reported disabilities, with a higher prevalence of physical disability among men and vision disability among women. Being older, female, currently not in marital partnership, and having a lower educational attainment, not being employed, living alone, and residing in the rural areas were significantly associated with reporting disability in later life. The higher prevalence of disability among older women, those who are illiterate, and those residing in rural areas highlights the need for policies prioritising these groups. Special attention should also be given to those who are currently not in marital partnership, particularly women who are living alone.     

Producing liminal space: gender,age and class in northern Ontario's tree planting industry

Drawing upon qualitative data, this article examines how tree planters in northern Ontario, Canada engage with liminality in terms of gender, class, age and space. In doing so, it provides insight into concepts of gender liminality and the variegated experiences of males and females in liminal space. The article focuses on four aspects of the liminal engagement. First, the spaces of tree planting are liminal as they are marked by homelife and worklife, but dominated by neither. Second, gender performances are liminal, as males perform masculinities seldom necessary or appropriate – yet often valorized – in their permanent communities, while females (who make up nearly half of the workforce) are offered opportunities to work and succeed in a traditionally male industry. However, success often requires that they adopt certain masculine traits. Third, most tree planters are in the interstitial age of ‘youth’, somewhere between adolescence and adulthood. Finally, tree planters are generally members of affluent urban middle-classes, yet the work they perform is more readily associated with rural or peripheral working-classes.     

Evidence for “Celtic migrations”? Strontium isotope analysis at the early La Tène (LT B) cemeteries of Nebringen (Germany) and Monte Bibele (Italy)

Strontium isotope analysis on human remains from the Iron Age (4th/3rd century BC) cemeteries of Nebringen, Germany and Monte Bibele, Italy were carried out to investigate the role of residential changes during the period of the historic “Celtic migrations”. From an archaeological perspective, the location of the cemeteries in the Celtic core (Nebringen) and expansion area (Monte Bibele), and the distinctive development of their material culture, suggest that the buried populations had differing mobility rates. On the contrary, the strontium results indicate that only few individuals were mobile or non-local. There is, however, a difference in variation of strontium isotope ratios between the two studied cemeteries, presumably caused by differing geological conditions. In Nebringen changing use of cultivated land in a geologically heterogeneous environment most likely caused varying strontium isotope ratios even within the same jaw, while individual mobility over longer distances can also not be excluded. In Monte Bibele the range of strontium isotope ratios is narrow, and this may be explained by a community living in the same village and using the same agricultural resources. For various prehistoric time periods it has been suggested that some population groups were more mobile than others, for example because they had special social roles. In the two cemeteries studied here, males have slightly more often a non-local birthplace or moved during childhood. In contrast, females had isotope signatures which are more consistent with the local geological environment. Male mobility is, however, not correlated with burial as a warrior, and patrilocal residential patterns were not observed among females. Foreign and local items are found with isotopically local and non-local individuals and objects per se do not indicate descent. The motives for residential changes were, therefore, varied and not constrained to a specific area or population group. The presented dataset provides details on the way of life and land-use in the Celtic communities, for which information is otherwise absent.     

Gender disparities in child health care seeking in northern Vietnam

Vietnam recently demonstrated a skewed sex ratio at birth. Little research has examined postnatal impacts of son preference in Vietnam, such as in child health care seeking. Past research in other Asian countries with son preference has found that parents are more likely to take sons to a health facility when they are sick, to do so more promptly, and invest more resources in care, than daughters. Using data from a paediatric hospital emergency department, we analyse gender differences in illnesses, referral patterns, and outcomes among children to understand how gender disparities in paediatric hospital admissions arise. Almost twice as many boys were brought into the facility as girls. Compared to girls, boys were significantly more likely to have bypassed lower-level facilities and entered care at the tertiary facility, controlling for severity of illness and socio-demographic characteristics. This suggests parents provide preferential treatment to boys, potentially leading to excess morbidity among girls who become ill. However, we find no significant differences in delay of care seeking or evidence of provider bias. Ensuring that girls are able to access appropriate, quality care when needed, will improve equity of access to care for all children.     

Interpreting Oral Pathology at Machu Picchu,Peru

This study analyzes oral pathological conditions—caries, antemortem tooth loss, and occlusal macrowear—among adults (N = 70) interred at Machu Picchu, Peru. Previous isotopic diet reconstructions at Machu Picchu suggest substantial early‐life variation that may have narrowed somewhat by the last decade of life. This study seeks to further elucidate the intersection of diet, sex, and health at Machu Picchu by analyzing oral pathological conditions with existing carbon and nitrogen isotopic data. Observed caries prevalence is corrected to control for age and tooth loss, and is described for both anterior and posterior teeth; wear data are scored and reported for individual tooth types. Results indicate caries prevalence consistent with carbohydrate‐rich diets and no significant difference between males and females. However, no significant isotopic parameters are associated with caries prevalence in young adult males, while caries prevalence is significantly associated only with enamel carbonate δ¹³C in older adult males. Dietary protein sources, but not C₄ resources, are associated with caries prevalence in young adult females, and to a lesser degree in older adult females. Significant associations between occlusal wear and caries exist among young adult males and young adult females, but involving different tooth types. These findings suggest differential protein consumption at Machu Picchu between males and females, and separate masticatory and physiological processes shaping caries prevalence between the sexes at the site. This study therefore underscores the role that gender roles may have played in diet variation among this population and the need to account for sex in analyzing oral pathology. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Botswana: abortion "debate" dynamics

The Penal Code (Amendment) Bill or the abortion bill has the objective of liberalizing the current law on the regulation of abortion. Abortion had been strictly prohibited and carried stiff penalties. Anyone who attempted to assists a woman to procure an abortion could be liable to 7 years' imprisonment. However, medical abortions were distinguished as being medically determined to save the health of the mother. Demands for a reevaluation of the law came from the medical profession, and in response the Minister for Presidential Affairs submitted a bill to Parliament in November, 1990. The expressed government rationale for these proposed amendments was concern about the health of women. In Botswana about 200 women die yearly because of pregnancy. According to the proposed law: an abortion could be carried out within the first 16 weeks of pregnancy if: 1) the pregnancy were a result of rape, incest, or defilement (the impregnation of a girl aged 16 or less, the impregnation of imbeciles or idiots), 2) the physical or mental health of the woman were at risk because of the pregnancy, 3) the child would be born with a serious physical or mental abnormality. The abortion could be carried out only if 2 medical doctors approved it. The amendments fall far short of increasing women's control over their bodies. The Botswana Christian Council issued a statement early in the public debate. While it did not oppose the bill in its entirety, clear concern was expressed concerning the apparent right of determining who lives and who dies depending on the handicap of the child. This rather liberal position was challenged by the Roman Catholic Church which interpreted abortion as the murder of God-given life. The bill was nevertheless passed by Parliament in September 1991, and the President signed it on October 11, 1991.     

Bad blood: poverty, psychopathy and the politics of transgression in Kenya Colony, 1939-59

This article examines the inter-relationship between psychiatry and sex, both fertile fields within the recent historiography of colonialism and empire. Using a series of case files pertaining to European patients admitted to the Mathari Mental Hospital in Nairobi during the 1940s and 1950s, this article shows how sexual transgression among colonial Europeans precipitated, and was combined with, mental distress. Considering psychiatric treatment as a form of social control, the article investigates a number of cases in which a European patient had been perceived to have transgressed the normative sexual behaviour codes of settler society in Kenya. What these files suggest is that transgressive sexuality in Kenya was itself framed by indices, as insistent as they were uncertain, of gender, race and class. While psychiatry as social control has some degree of purchase here, more valuable is an attempt to discern the particular ways in which certain forms of sexual behaviour were understood in diagnostic terms. Men who had sex with Africans, we see, tended to be diagnosed as 'depressed' on arrival at the hospital but were judged to be mentally normal consequently. Women, by contrast, were liable to be diagnosed as psychopathic, a diagnosis, I argue, that helped to explain the uniquely transgressive status of impoverished European women living alone in the margins of white society. Unlike white men, moreover, women did not have to have sex with non-Europeans to transgress sexual codes: this is because female poverty was a sexual problem in a way that male poverty decidedly was not. Poor white women were marked by uncertainty over their sexual behaviour—and dubious racial identity in its turn—and the problem of social contamination was described by reference both to the polluted racial ancestry of an individual and to the prospective contamination of healthy racial stocks. This article aims to address current historical debates around sex and empire, 'white subalternity' and the social history of psychiatry and mental health. All names have been changed to protect patient anonymity.     

HEALTH OF HOME-BASED SEX WORKERS AND THEIR CHILDREN IN RURAL ANDHRA PRADESH,INDIA

This study uses secondary data from 2006 to assess the physical and mental health of rural, home-based sex workers and their young children in rural Andhra Pradesh state of India. The analyses of survey and clinical data show a high level of morbidity amongst sex worker women and their children. Women show high levels of nutritional deficiencies, anaemia, weight loss and hospitalisation. Women's mental health is particularly serious, with 92 per cent being depressed and 57 per cent having attempted suicide. The majority have experienced domestic and work-related violence, including rape. Clinical assessments of sex workers’ children show that most have received vaccinations, but almost half have parasites, dental problems and nutritional deficiencies. Both the physical and mental health of sex worker mothers are associated with the health of their children. Therefore, health interventions focusing on sex worker mothers have the potential to improve the health of their children.