Suchergebnisse

In research on China's state-controlled elections, whether pro-democratic and politically efficacious citizens vote or abstain more has dominated the debate. Analyzing an up-to-date data set, we find class status and citizens' institutional environment command overwhelming power in determining voter turnout, while psychological and motivational variables show no significant impacts. Specifically, members of the middle class employed in the state sector are more likely to vote than other social groups, while their counterparts in the private and foreign sectors are far less inclined to vote. While in general, citizens show relatively high level of support for the regime, except among the state-employed middle class, this support is not translated into a higher turnout rate. Electoral behaviors of Chinese citizens, therefore, are heavily conditioned by an individual social group's particular relation with the state. Members of the Communist Party turn out to vote no more than other members of the society, revealing a critical institutional failure the system faces.

AbstractThis paper is a methodological examination of quantifiable comparisons of civil society. First, we trace the origins of civil society, pointing out the three levels of levels of semantic meaning of civil society and the background of the various applications of the word in modern language. The paper then goes on to introduce several internationally used measurement tools used to quantitatively evaluate civil society, then focuses on the application the Civil Society Index (CSI) in Mainland China to provide thoughts on the development of an evaluation system for the measurement of civil society. Finally, the paper attempts to look at the expanded use of CSI on a number of levels, including organizations, communities and projects.

Background: Previous studies have examined the prevalence of psychological strains among various suicide populations. However, it is still unexamined whether psychological strains can predict suicide intent directly. Aims: We planned to explore the prevalence of psychological strains and analyze the relationship between psychological strains and suicide intent among Chinese rural young suicides. Methods: Psychological autopsy method was used to investigate the environmental and other factors of rural young suicides. Psychological strains were identified from in-depth interviews by the proxy informants of each suicide. The first 8 items of Beck's Suicidal Intention Scale (SIS) were used to estimate the suicide intent. Results: Results showed that 96.6% of the suicides had at least one type of strain, and those suicides who had more strains tended to score higher on the suicide intent scale. Conclusion: The study further supports that suicide intent can be predicted by psychological strains in Chinese rural young suicides. The scanning of psychological strains can be used for suicide prevention in Chinese rural young suicides.

AbstractIn the last few years, the demands of homeowners in Chinese cities have gradually shifted away from economic rights and towards political ones. At the same time, alliances across different communities have emerged and vigorous attempts to form citywide solidarities have been made. In this process, a group of dedicated leaders has emerged, contributing greatly to the escalation of collective actions. This article focuses on a core group of Beijing activists behind the organization, expression and participation of homeowners' associations. Relying on data collected from interviews, documents and participatory observations conducted over a period of more than two years, we were able to pin down the socio-economic, social and political backgrounds of these leaders, as well as their attitudes, objectives and repertoire of actions. We describe leaders as falling into a two-by-two typology that is defined by a motivation dimension and an activeness dimension. Depending on his or her goals and approaches, a protest leader can be variously viewed as a political actionist, a frustrated changer, a double harvester or a tiger rider. These different types of leaders are all in one way or another promoting socio-political changes in China.

In the last few years, the demands of homeowners in Chinese cities have gradually shifted away from economic rights and towards political ones. At the same time, alliances across different communities have emerged and vigorous attempts to form citywide solidarities have been made. In this process, a group of dedicated leaders has emerged, contributing greatly to the escalation of collective actions. This article focuses on a core group of Beijing activists behind the organization, expression and participation of homeowners' associations. Relying on data collected from interviews, documents and participatory observations conducted over a period of more than two years, we were able to pin down the socio-economic, social and political backgrounds of these leaders, as well as their attitudes, objectives and repertoire of actions. We describe leaders as falling into a two-by-two typology that is defined by a motivation dimension and an activeness dimension. Depending on his or her goals and approaches, a protest leader can be variously viewed as a political actionist, a frustrated changer, a double harvester or a tiger rider. These different types of leaders are all in one way or another promoting socio-political changes in China. (China Q/GIGA)

Background: As China is going through a profound aging process, the mental health of the elderly is becoming an issue. As in many other societies, the elderly in China is a population at high risk of suicide; Methods: Data for the study were taken from the Sample Survey of the Aged Population in Urban/Rural China (SSAPUR) accomplished in 2010 by the China Ministry of Civil Affairs. The valid sample for this study was composed of 18,683 individuals, including 9416 urban residents and 9267 rural residents both aged 60 or more years; Results: Logistic regression analyses showed that household income and expenditure, the number of children, chronic diseases, disability of daily living, depression, the frequency of visiting neighbors and having friends or relatives who can help or not had remarkable effects on the suicidal ideation among urban and rural old people. Gender, education, political affiliation, marital status and self-rated health status did not work on the dependent variable. However, some risk factors for suicidal ideation among the Chinese elderly were different between rural and urban regions; Conclusions: We should take different measures when facing the different groups of the elderly.

Abstract. Background: Physical illness is a strong correlate of suicidal behavior. However, its impact on attempted suicide in rural China is under-studied. Aims: This study was designed to assess the influence of physical illness on risk of suicide attempts and to identify distinguishing characteristics among medically serious suicide attempters with physical illnesses from those without. Method: Participants were medically serious suicide attempters identified through hospital emergency rooms ( n = 659) as well as age- and gender-matched community controls ( n = 659) from Shandong Province, China. Face-to-face interviews with the respondents were conducted with a semistructured protocol that included sociodemographic and psychological measures. Results: Physical illness was a significant risk factor for medically serious suicide attempts ( OR = 1.739, 95% CI = 1.182–2.560). Older age was a significant risk factor, while female gender, no religion, and non-peasant occupations were significant protective factors for suicide attempts with physical illness. Limitations: Samples from only one province may not completely represent all serious suicide attempters in China. Furthermore, we did not assess the severity and the degree to which their physical illness limited the functioning of the individual. Conclusion: Physical illness is an important risk factor for suicide attempts in rural China. More efforts are needed to specifically target older people, males, those with religious beliefs, and peasant workers with physical illness.