Persons Of Low Socioeconomic Status Research Articles

Participation, Political Structure, and Concurrence

Under what circumstances do citizens in a democracy influence their leaders? This paper uses an index of citizen-leader agreement on community problems to examine the effects of political factors on linkage. This index, termed concurrence, was based on parallel questions on community problems asked of citizens, government heads, and other local leaders sampled in sixty-four smaller American communities.Concurrence was significantly higher in communities with high levels of citizen participation, contested elections, partisan ballots, and active political parties. Regression analysis showed that while voting rates had the largest direct impact on concurrence, participation had more impact when salient electoral alternatives were available. Partisan, contested elections also were associated with higher concurrence between leaders and persons of low socioeconomic status. Political factors also affected concurrence rates in both consensual and nonconsensual communities.Alternative explanations for these findings (popular control of leaders, leaders' efforts to influence citizens or manipulate participation) are considered. Since concurrence scores of nonelected local leaders were also higher in participant communities with contested elections, it is suggested that political factors may affect citizen-leader agreement by facilitating communication between leaders and citizens, as well as by aiding electoral accountability.

Genital Infection With Type 2 Herpes Simplex Virus

Current evidence leaves little doubt that genital herpes is primarily a venereal disease. Like gonorrhea, it is frequently subclinical or asymptomatic. A high rate of infection is found among patients attending venereal disease clinics and among persons of low socioeconomic status. The infection (primary or recurrent) is generally self-limiting, but in a pregnant woman it poses a significant risk to the fetus. It also has been linked to an increased risk of cervical cancer. The Papanicolaou smear is a useful tool for early detection. Effective antiviral therapy for genital herpes is unavailable. Photodynamic inactivation appears promising in recurrent herpes but may be hazardous; malignant transformation of infected cells subjected to this process has been demonstrated in vitro.

Fatal arteriosclerotic heart disease, water hardness at home, and socioeconomic characteristics.

Comstock, G. W. (Training Center for Public Health Research, Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, Box 2067, Hagerstown, Md. 21740). Fatal arteriosclerotic heart disease, water hardness at home, and socioeconomic character-istics. Amer J Epidem 94: 1–10, 1971.—Several reports have indicated an inverse correlation between the hardness of community water supplies and deaths from arteriosclerotic and degenerative heart disease. An unusual opportunity to look at this association in more detail arose in Washington County, Maryland. Drinking water sources there vary markedly in hardness, and a private census in 1963 made it possible to match cases and controls from the same defined population and to study a number of socioeconomic characteristics. During the next three years, there were 189 deaths attributed to arteriosclerotic and degenerative heart disease among white males aged 45 to 64 who could be identified in the census. For each case, 2 controls were randomly selected from the census lists and matched for race, sex and year of birth. Water samples were collected from the residences of cases and controls and examined for total hardness. No significant association of arteriosclerotic and degenerative heart disease deaths could be found with water hardness. Deaths from these causes were more common among persons of lower socioeconomic status, among cigarette smokers, and among persons who attended church infrequently. Although water hardness is not likely to be a real risk factor for cardiovascular disease, the role of trace elements in home drinking water supplies should be investigated.