Suchergebnisse

We study the stability of Catalan and Spanish coexistence in Catalonia, a key political and economic European region. Recent, abundant empirical data of language use is analyzed within an analytic model of population dynamics. This model contemplates the possibilities of both long-term language coexistence and decline. The data needs to be interpreted under different circumstances. The most likely scenario, we find, is a sustained coexistence. Extreme cases still lead to the decline of one of the tongues–we delimit when this can happen. Asymptotic behavior is often an unreliable predictor in complex social systems; we make an attempt at forecasting fractions of speakers towards 2030. These also suggest sustained coexistence, but some counterintuitive dynamics are unveiled. Model parameters estimated from the data convey relevant information about the prestige and interlinguistic similarity of both tongues. We quantify these parameters rigorously for these languages for the first time. Remarkably, Spanish is found to have a larger prestige in areas which historically had larger Catalan monolingual communities. With limited, spatially-segregated data we examine more fine grained dynamics, thus better addressing the likely outcomes. Differences in model parameters across regions reveal how the two languages are perceived in more urban or rural environments. ; This work was partially funded by the Galician Royal Academy (Real Academia Galega), to which we also acknowledge a lasting infrastructural support.

7 pages, no figures.-- Published online Sep 18, 2009. ; [Background] Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a public health problem with significant consequences on women's health. This study estimates the prevalence of intimate partner violence by type among Madrid's female population and assesses the association with socio-economic variables. ; [Methods] We conducted a cross-sectional study in 2004, 2136 women aged 18–70 years, living in the Madrid region with a partner or who had been in contact with an ex-partner in the previous year, were interviewed by telephone. The questionnaire used to measure past-year intimate partner violence, consisted of a Spanish translation of the psychological and sexual violence module of the French National Survey on Violence against Women, and the physical violence module of the Conflict Tactics Scale-1. To assess the association with socio-economic factors, logistic regression models were fitted. ; [Results] About 10.1% [confidence interval (CI) 8.9–11.5] of the women had suffered some type of IPV in the previous year. 8.6% (CI 7.4–9.8) experienced psychological violence, 2.4% (CI 1.8–3.1) physical violence and 1.1% (CI 0.68–1.6) sexual violence; the prevalence of psychological-only violence (non-physical/non-sexual) was 6.9% (CI 5.8–8.0). Factors associated with psychological-only violence were divorced or separated status and Group III (clerical workers; supervisors of manual workers) or V (unskilled manual workers) occupation. Unemployment and divorced or separated status were associated with physical violence. ; [Conclusions] Spanish women in our study, experienced past year partner violence at a similar level as in other industrialized countries. Unemployment and low occupational status are associated with physical and psychological-only violence, respectively. ; Funded by: Dirección General de Salud Pública; Agencia Laín Entralgo; Consejeria de Sanidad y Consumo, Comunidad de Madrid (Public Health General Directorate; Health and Consumers affairs Authority. Regional Government of the Madrid Region). ; Publicado