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Investigates the conflicts that emerge as a result of changes to communities and boundaries in rural Latin America, focusing on their impact on the creation of boundaries in a peasant community in the Ecuadorian Andes. Examination of the link between the creation of community and household boundaries to ethnic identification during rituals and daily life; Factors that can be attributed to the changes in communities and boundaries.

Long-term trends in suicides among females were investigated using data from Sacramento County, California. Of the 3,741 cases, 3,398 were Caucasian and 952 (25.4 percent) were females. These analyses focus on 837 Caucasian and Hispanic females. Female suicide rates in Sacramento County have increased gradually since 1925 with a corresponding decline in the male/female sex ratio. The suicide data suggest that a minimum of three types of female suicides can be identified and that the incidence of each type varies with the age of the women. Indicators that help in identifying cases and in tentatively describing an etiology include marital status, employment status and occupation, physical ill health, familial loss or disruption, and psychiatric symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between occupational status and suicide was examined using data from Sacramento County, California. Data were obtained from coroner's records filed routinely on all cases of sudden, violent, or unexpected death since 1925. Occupation- and age-specific suicide rates were calculated for males and age-adjusted for overall comparison for the decades 1945-1954, 1955-1964, and 1965-1974. Findings show an inverse relationship between occupational status and suicide for all age groups over the past 30 years. Over time, male suicide rates have increased particularly for employed males over 65, employed males aged 14 to 24, and males in low-status occupations. General economic insecurity among workers of low socioeconomic status (SES), particularly the elderly, is suggested as a contributing factor to these trends.

This study explored the personal impact of dental problems in terms of pain, worry, and conversation avoidance, and factors associated with this impact. A self-reported dental health index, comprising three questions asked of participants in the Rand Health Insurance Experiment, was examined. Index reliability was 0.69. One-way analysis of variance and Pearson's product-moment correlations were used to explore the bivariate associations between the index and sociodemographic variables, provider-assessed clinical indicators, and the respondent's report of a toothache. Perceived dental health of the study sample (N = 1,658) was notably lower in the presence of a toothache, increasing numbers of decayed teeth, and worsening periodontal health. Weaker, but statistically significant, associations were observed for sociodemographic factors. Nonwhites and those persons with lower educational and income levels reported more impact. In regression analysis, standardized coefficients indicated that the respondent's report of a toothache and, secondarily, numbers of decayed teeth were the most important explanatory factors. These findings suggest that in the future improved self-reported measures, in addition to clinical indicators, may be an acceptable and cost-effective method of epidemiological data collection and dental health outcome assessment.