Young Women's Involvement Research Articles

Young Women’s Political Participation and Gender Depoliticization in Nigeria

Since return to Nigeria to civilian administration in 1999, women have been making efforts to access political leadership space with little progress. With international and national instruments to ensure more women gain inroad into politics, there is a dismal record in this aspect. Anchoring the paper on theory of political participation, the paper explored the possibility of gender depoliticisation through the involvement of young women in politics. Desk research method which utilised secondary sources of data collection was employed. The paper argued that in spite of the fact that young women are involved in activism,they are grossly underrepresented in political leadership. Culture, political acrimony, stigmatisation, religion, lack of finance, political violence, etc., constitute barriers to young women representation in politics. The paper contended that there is always political inequality between women and men, particularly among the youngest generations. The paper concluded that young women are at risk of not being included and favourably considered in the decision making process, as non-participation in politics poses a threat to their gender's dignified existence in the body polity. It recommended that socio-economic barriers including culture, religion, patriarchal belief, political acrimony, insecurity, etc., should be addressed. Empowerment should start from the family to re-orientate on the social barriers affecting young women participation in leadership positions. Girl-child education needs prioritisation to develop potentials, particularly contribution in decision making process at all levels of governance, among others.

Development of social and labor relations in Ukraine: opportunities for achieving sustainable development goals

The article analyzes the essence of social and labor relations (SLR) in the current socioeconomic environment, where the roles of all market actors are being reassessed. The author proposes to include not only traditional partners, but also stakeholders (scientific community, experts, and the public) as participants of the SLR. The author's concept assumes that the SLR, as a set of relationships, should be focused on the formation, implementation, and reproduction of human capital in the country. This approach implies the existence of a criterion of coherence of interests, i.e., participants direct their activities to achieve common goals. These goals include sustainable development goals, in particular, in the SLR area, the goals of gender equality, decent work, and economic development. The analysis of the SLR through the prism of achieving the defined sustainable development goals showed the following. Achievement of the goal of gender equality in Ukraine in the labor market (as a component of the SLR) is considered through equal opportunities for both sexes. Achieving equality is a process with a positive trend and is characterized by positive changes in reducing the gaps between the average wages of women and men. At the same time, the involvement of young women is decreasing (but there are objective reasons for this). In assessing the level of decent work, several basic indicators were identified: the prevalence of forced part-time employment; decent pay (which is assessed by the ability of wages to fulfill not only reproductive but also incentive functions), and the unemployment rate. It was found that the partners made the largest gaps in the area of remuneration, which reduces the ability to achieve sustainable development goals. The reasons for this are as follows: the focus of wages only on the function of labor reproduction and an inappropriate wage structure that does not motivate professional development, development, etc. The revealed level of forced partial employment at enterprises showed the sustainability of this process, which indicates the natural level of this phenomenon (it is noted that deviations from the main target may be caused by external socio-economic, political, or other reasons that produce uncertainty). As for the unemployment rate, its dynamics correlate with the domestic socioeconomic situation in the country and the ability of SLR participants to create jobs. According to the data obtained, it is confirmed that the achievement of the sustainable development goal by this indicator is in a state of stagnation (i.e., the situation is generally stable, but hidden risks remain).

Utilization of Family Planning Services in Karnali Academy of Health Science, Jumla

Introduction: Family planning is an integral part of maternal health as its uptake is a significant factor in the reduction of maternal mortality and in ensuring positive child health outcomes specially in developing countries, however, its usage remains low.
 Objectives: To describe prevalence and pattern of contraceptive use, among women accessing family planning facilities.
 Study design: A retrospective review of hospital records of family planning clinic clients at the teaching hospital was conducted.
 Results: Total 2811 clients accepted a family planning service during the period. Contraceptive prevalence rate was 21%. Modal age group of clients (81%) was below 20 years old. Injection Depo was the most common method (69%) and implant was less used method (8%) among the temporary method of family planning.
 Conclusion: There is an identified need for promotion of uptake of family planning methods. Involvement of young women, uneducated women and men in contraception counseling and services is essential to improve its uptake and continuity.

Changes in Dietary Iodine Explains Increasing Incidence of Breast Cancer with Distant Involvement in Young Women

Changes in Dietary Iodine Explains Increasing Incidence of Breast Cancer with Distant Involvement in Young Women

Abstract B099: Postpartum mammary gland involution promotes COX-2 dependent tumor cell invasion of lymphatics

Abstract Although tumor cell dissemination via the lymphatic vasculature is thought to be a common pathway of metastasis for solid human cancers, the mechanisms of lymphatic mediated metastasis remain poorly understood1. For breast cancer patients, lymph node involvement remains a very important indicator of patient prognosis and is utilized clinically for therapeutic choices2,3. A recent study has shown that the incidence of being diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer, i.e. breast cancer that has spread outside the breast, is increasing in young women4. Furthermore, young women's breast cancers diagnosed within 5 years postpartum are more likely to be metastatic5-7. Given that 35-45% of young women's breast cancers are likely to be diagnosed within 5 years of giving birth, we predict that postpartum cases may be driving the observed increase in breast cancers with distant involvement in young women. Here, we hypothesized that the postpartum period promotes lymphangiogenesis, which leads to breast tumor metastasis. To test this hypothesis we have generated xenograft and isograft mouse models of postpartum breast cancer that show increased metastasis in postpartum animals8,9. We utilized these rodent models and a cohort of young women's breast tissues to investigate lymphatic mediated metastasis in the postpartum period. In our rodent models, we show that 1) lymphangiogenesis is enhanced during normal postpartum involution, 2) tumor cells can utilize the lymphatic vasculature to escape the mammary gland during postpartum involution, 3) postpartum tumors display increased lymphatic vessel density and lymphatic vessel invasion in the tumor periphery, and 4) that postpartum tumor cells promote lymphangiogenesis and express high levels of pro-lymphangiogenic molecules VEGF-C and Sem7a ex vivo. Importantly, we show that both normal and tumor associated lymphangiogenesis in vivo are dependent upon COX-2 and that COX-2 inhibitors can block metastasis of postpartum tumors. In our young women's breast cancer cohort we also report increased mammary lymphangiogenesis tissues from women within one year of childbirth, increased lymphatic vessel density at the tumor periphery of postpartum breast cancers, as well as a positive correlation between lymphatic vessel density and lymphatic vessel invasion. Thus, we suggest that lymphatic mediated metastasis in young women may be decreased by COX-2 inhibitor or NSAID use. 1. Stacker, S.A., Baldwin, M.E. & Achen, M.G. The role of tumor lymphangiogenesis in metastatic spread. Faseb J 16, 922-934 (2002). 2. Alitalo, K. & Carmeliet, P. Molecular mechanisms of lymphangiogenesis in health and disease. Cancer cell 1, 219-227 (2002). 3. Pepper, M.S., Tille, J.C., Nisato, R. & Skobe, M. Lymphangiogenesis and tumor metastasis. Cell Tissue Res 314, 167-177 (2003). 4. Johnson, R.H., Chien, F.L. & Bleyer, A. Incidence of breast cancer with distant involvement among women in the United States, 1976 to 2009. Jama 309, 800-805 (2013). 5. Callihan, E.B., et al. Postpartum diagnosis demonstrates a high risk for metastasis and merits an expanded definition of pregnancy-associated breast cancer. Breast Cancer Res Treat (2013). 6. Johansson, A.L., Andersson, T.M., Hsieh, C.C., Cnattingius, S. & Lambe, M. Increased Mortality in Women with Breast Cancer Detected during Pregnancy and Different Periods Postpartum. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 20, 1865-1872 (2011). 7. Stensheim, H., Moller, B., van Dijk, T. & Fossa, S.D. Cause-specific survival for women diagnosed with cancer during pregnancy or lactation: a registry-based cohort study. J Clin Oncol 27, 45-51 (2009). 8. McDaniel, S.M., et al. Remodeling of the mammary microenvironment after lactation promotes breast tumor cell metastasis. The American journal of pathology 168, 608-620 (2006). 9. Lyons, T.R., et al. Postpartum mammary gland involution drives progression of ductal carcinoma in situ through collagen and COX-2. Nat Med 17, 1109-1115 (2011). Citation Format: Traci R. Lyons, Virginia F. Borges, Courtney B. Betts, Puja Kapoor, Holly A. Martinson, Sonali Jindal, Pepper Schedin. Postpartum mammary gland involution promotes COX-2 dependent tumor cell invasion of lymphatics. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Advances in Breast Cancer Research: Genetics, Biology, and Clinical Applications; Oct 3-6, 2013; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Res 2013;11(10 Suppl):Abstract nr B099.

Incidence Rate of Breast Cancer in Young Women

To the Editor: Using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database from 1976 to 2009, Dr Johnson and colleagues reported a statistically significant increase in the incidence rate of breast cancer with distant involvement in young women, but no significant increase in the incidence of localized or regional disease. The authors also stratified the analysis by estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) status. They reported an annual percent change (APC) of 8.15 for ER positive (ER ) and PR disease (P .001), 8.89 for ER and PR negative (PR ) (P .001), 0.51 for ER PR (P = .79), and 5.44 for ER PR (P .001). We question whether these observations are accurate because there was a considerable proportion of missing values on ER and PR status, especially during the earlier years, in the SEER database. Among patients aged 25 years or older in the SEER’s 13 registries, the percentage of missing ER status was 34.0% in 1992, decreasing to 8.7% in 2009; the percentage of missing PR status was 36.0% in 1992, decreasing to 10.6% in 2009. Without accounting for this missing data pattern, the calculation of incidence rate trends by ER and PR status may be biased. The increase in metastatic breast cancer in young women reported by Johnson et al also may be due to divergent trends in the 2 main breast cancer subtypes (ER and ER ) over the years; ER breast cancer incidence has been increasing while ER breast cancer incidence has been decreasing; however, the underlying reasons are still unclear. It is possible that the risk factor profile has shifted over time, particularly in younger women in the United States, with delayed childbearing and lower parity. A pooled analysis of 34 epidemiological studies reported that nulliparity and increasing age at first birth were both significantly more frequent in ER than in ER breast cancers. We hypothesize that advanced age at first full-term pregnancy leads to relatively more breast cancer occurring during pregnancy, and that physiological changes during pregnancy may delay the diagnosis of breast cancer without routine screening. Breast cancer diagnosed during or a few years subsequent to a recent pregnancy is more likely to be at an advanced stage.

Navigating School to Work Transitions in an Indonesian Industrial Town: Young Women in Cilegon

This article explores how young Muslim women make the transition from school to work in the industrial town of Cilegon, in Banten, Indonesia. As Cilegon's economy is shifting from manufacturing industries towards trade and services, job opportunities for young men in heavy industries is stagnant, but new job opportunities have opened up for young women. Young women's involvement in education and work offers new levels of autonomy and the opportunity to engage with modern, urban lifestyles. Their involvement in work continues to be bound by religious values and a gender ideology which sets age boundaries for marriage and emphasises girls’ responsibilities as future wives and mothers, in ways that differ from male peers. How do young women navigate Cilegon's changing economy? What are their aspirations and strategies in pursuing certain kinds of desired employment?

Peer substance involvement modifies genetic influences on regular substance involvement in young women

Peer substance involvement (PSI) is a robust correlate of adolescent substance use. A small number of genetically informative studies suggest that shared genetic and environmental factors contribute to this association. We examine mechanisms by which PSI influences the etiology of regular substance involvement (RSI), particularly in women. Population-based cohort study of twin women from the US Midwest. 2176 twin women. To examine the relationship between self-reported PSI during adolescence and a composite RSI representing regular tobacco, alcohol and cannabis use during young adulthood, using genetically informative correlation, moderation and joint correlation-moderation models. There was evidence for a significant additive genetic X environment interaction. PSI was moderately heritable (h(2) = 0.25). Genetic, shared and non-shared influences on RSI overlapped with influences on PSI (genetic correlation of 0.43). Even after controlling for these shared genetic influences, RSI was more heritable in those reporting greater PSI. While young women may select peers based on certain dispositional traits (e.g. permissiveness towards substance use), the social milieu constructed by PSI does modify the architecture of increased RSI in those individuals with increasing levels of PSI being associated with stronger expression of heritable influences.

‘They know nothing about university – neither of them went’: the effect of parents’ level of education on their involvement in their daughters’ higher education choices

This article attempts to explore how parents are involved in their daughters’ decision‐making around their higher education path. It draws on qualitative research that investigated the process through which young women from the UK and Saudi Arabia reached a decision about a subject or an institution for higher educational study. The paper demonstrates different forms of parents’ involvement (emotional, financial, providing information) in their daughters’ higher educational choices in relation to parents’ prior level of education. It concludes that parents’ involvement differs according to the gender of the parent. It suggests little relationship between the parents’ educational background and the nature of their involvement in their daughters’ educational choices. The article shows some similarities in the nature of parents’ involvement in young women’s decision‐making process between the UK groups and the Saudi groups, though decisions were made within two different cultural contexts.

The relationship between consumer involvement and brand perceptions of female cosmetic consumers

This study investigates young women's involvement with cosmetics using Kapferer and Laurent's consumer involvement profile (CIP). Using the CIP, five cosmetic consumer types are identified and their perceptions for cosmetic brands are compared. An electronic survey measuring consumer involvement, brand personality and brand attitude was administered to a sample of female participants at a mid-Atlantic university in the United States. Cluster analysis was used to identify consumer types and multiple regression analysis was used to determine the relationship between brand personality and brand attitude within each consumer type for the three most popular American cosmetic brands identified for the female sample. This study pinpointed five consumer involvement types for the young female cosmetic market. Results showed that a combination of brand personalities predict a positive brand attitude in every consumer type across all three cosmetic brands. Interesting similarities, as well as differences, in brand perceptions were found across consumer types and brands. Brand personality ‘competence’ appeared as the most common predictor of a positive brand attitude across all brands and consumer types. This study shows that segmenting young females into cosmetic involvement types can provide useful tools for marketers to better understand the dynamics of brand perceptions in relation to consumer groups and specific cosmetic brands. In addition, the results provide special insight into gauging consumer perceptions and developing successful brand strategies.

Daughters of Islam

This article examines the significance of family influence on young women from minority (Muslim) communities who have participated in a combined sport and education programme designed to encourage access to further and higher education. The study explores how family expectations about the roles of young women affect the participants' responses to the programme. The research examines young women's understanding of their parents' views in relation to their participation in the programme and their broader aspirations for their daughters' adult lives in the family, education and employment domains. The young women's accounts of their family members' views on minority life in Britain, and the influence this might have on their own opportunities and experiences, are also considered. The research was conducted in partnership with a graduate female Muslim Sport and education development worker and with young female participants ( n = 7) in the sports programme, all of whom were actively involved in the design, implementation and analysis of the study. The young women undertook in-depth interviews within their families, and responded to the content of these in subsequent focus group discussions. The study revealed extensive parental influence on the young women's involvement in the sports programme and over their lives as a whole, and the significance of Islam within this; however, it also highlighted the extent to which young people `navigated' between their family identity and the westernized experiences they were exposed to on a day-to-day basis. Conclusions are drawn about the value of sport in illuminating the lived experience of minority groups, and on the need for further analysis of young people's sports behaviour in the context of family.

A Widening of the Net of Social Control?

Young women's involvement with the U.S. juvenile justice system has grown rapidly over the last two decades. With this growth has come a proliferation of interventions intended to meet a 1992 federal initiative for correctional facilities and programs for adolescents to provide “gender-specific” services. In this article, we present the results of an inductive, qualitative evaluation of an art therapy program for institutionalized girls developed in response to this initiative. Using data from focus groups with young women and interviews with staff and administration, we demonstrate how the program, as it attempts to help them, also attempts to control the young women by reinforcing gendered notions of appropriateness. Examining assumptions about gender on which the program is based, as well as the notable absence of attention to issues of race, ethnicity, and class, we draw on the work of Foucault to consider how gender-specific treatment can serve to broaden social control over young women. We examine the young women's resistance to such regulation and consider implications for therapeutic intervention in an involuntary context.

Challenging Notions of Gendered Game Play: Teenagers playing The Sims

This paper challenges notions of gendered game playing practice implicit in much research into young women's involvement with the computer gaming culture. It draws on a study of Australian teenagers playing The Sims Deluxe as part of an English curriculum unit and insights from feminist media studies to explore relationships between gender and game playing practices. Departing from a reliance on predetermined notions of “gender”, “domestic space”, and “successful game play”, it conceptualizes The Sims as a game in which the boundaries between gender and domestic space are disturbed. It argues that observing students’ constructions of gender and domestic space through the act of game play itself provides a more productive insight into the gendered dimensions of game play for educators wishing to work computer games such as The Sims into curriculum development.

Physical Self and Physical Activity Relationships in College Women: Does Social Physique Anxiety Moderate Effects?

This research assessed whether social physique anxiety moderated the relationship between physical self-perceptions and the level of physical activity involvement in young women. Participants were 354 female students who completed the Social Physique Anxiety Scale (SPAS), Physical Self-Perception Profile, Self-Administered 7-Day Physical Activity Recall (PAR), and Leisure Time Exercise Questionnaire (LTEQ). Both physical activity measures were significantly related to the SPAS and all physical self-perceptions. Multiple regressions showed that only self-perceptions of conditioning significantly predicted PAR (R2 = .24) and LTEQ (R2 = .30). SPA did not add any unique variance in predicting activity, and no moderator effects were found for either PAR or LTEQ. Findings suggest that perception of physical conditioning is the dominant predictor of physical activity levels in young women, and social physique anxiety does not moderate this relationship.

Women, Sports, and Science: Do Female Athletes Have an Advantage?

Both functionalist and conflict theories of sports suggest that participation in sports may have a positive influence on achievement in science, especially for young women. The research presented here found that young women's involvement in high school sports often has a strong and positive association with their success in science in their sophomore and senior years of high school, but that participation in cheerleading is usually negatively associated with success in science. It also found that involvement in sports is a factor in young African American women's success in science, but not always a positive factor. Comparable analyses for young men showed that sports activities are much less important in predicting their science experiences and that when these activities are significant, they have a negative influence

Mandatory Treatment for Drug Use During Pregnancy

THE CRACK epidemic is unique among American drug waves because of the high level of involvement of young women. 1,2 In response to this, there have been attempts to impose criminal sanctions on pregnant women who use drugs or alcohol. To date, there have been 50 efforts to prosecute women for using drugs or alcohol while pregnant, with two convictions, and at least seven states have legislation pending that would alter child protective laws to encompass drug use during pregnancy under the rubric of fetal abuse. 3,4 Fueled by hotly contested political controversies, such as the legal status of the fetus and the criminalization of addiction, the debate has generally polarized between therapy or sanction. Some have proposed mandatory treatment for pregnant women as a compromise. This article examines other experiences with mandatory treatment to assess whether such treatment has proven efficacious, whether these

Perspectives in development: the problem of nurses and nursing in Zambia.

The training of indigenous women in hospital nursing is directly modelled on western services. Hence training does not address social problems attendant on implicit cultural conflict between indigenous and western healing systems and conceptualisations of illness. Because these problems are not faced in the curriculum, nurses are imperfectly socialised into the modern health care setting. They, and the public, continue to accept the efficacy of both health care systems, assuming complementarity when in fact in many respects they conflict. The involvement of young women in healing, a radical innovation, became institutionalized. Because of the high visibility of the nurse and a radical change in the role of young women as healers, and because of the vulnerability of the patients, conflict in treatment systems focused on nurses who became scapegoats in hospitals, which came to be called 'houses of death'.

Effects of cortisone on acute disseminated lupus erythematosus.

AFTER THE demonstration by Hench and his associates 1 of the favorable influence of adrenal cortex hormone, 17-hydroxy-11-dehydrocorticosterone (cortisone), and pituitary adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) on the course of rheumatoid arthritis, it was only a matter of time and availability of the hormones until study of the effects of these substances was extended to include other members of the so-called collagen group of diseases, particularly rheumatic fever, 2 periarteritis nodosa 3 and disseminated lupus erythematosus. 4 The typical clinical features of disseminated lupus erythematosus 5 —the eruptive phenomena, arthritis, serous effusions and nephritis—as well as other far reaching systemic implications of the disease need not be elaborated here except to emphasize the high incidence of involvement in young women, the hyperreactive qualities of these patients, the insidious nature of the masked symptoms in the early phases and the tendency toward a course of recurrent relapses and remissions extending sometimes over a