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(If possible, a projector for a power point would be very useful (or I can bring handouts))

Abstract

COVID-19’s impact on fertility is complex. Concern over access to family planning led to predictions of fertility increases, particularly in less developed countries. Isolation and economic hardship prompted others to predict fertility declines, particularly in more developed settings. Research in Britain and South Africa ties stress in the early months of the pandemic to higher fetal loss for males. Across the pandemic declines in fertility emerged highlighting the diversity of COVID-19 impacts across national, regional and individual parental characteristics. Analyses to date tend to focus on the size of birth cohorts and the pandemic’s influence on the timing of births. Few studies have explored how the pandemic affects the composition of birth cohorts, particularly in regions with strong son preference and skewed sex ratios at birth (the number of males born per 100 females)

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Exploring data (2019-2023) in the southern Caucasus I examine national and regional patterns of SRBs, addressing three questions. First, is there evidence linking state led pronatalist programs to the emergence of a “baby bump” during the pandemic period, or protection from a decline in births? Second, have pandemic related limitations on healthcare access led to declines in SRBs imbalances? Lastly, has the pandemic period amplified son-preference, and if so, is the change persistent? Data from individual national health surveys and regional vital statistics sex, parity, rural residence, and region from each country provide insight into these questions.

Exploring how pandemic fertility trends interact with the existence of well documented imbalances in sex ratios at birth provides a unique contribution to our understanding of how cohort size and the son preference interact with health crises. Findings in the Caucasus show an overall decline in fertility in 2020-2022 and a statistically significant rise in the sex ratio at birth, questioning the efficacy of various pronatalist programs and pre-pandemic efforts to address son preferences and sex selection abortion. SRB imbalances, markedly in Azerbaijan, rose highest in rural areas, showing declines in 2022 and 2023. Results indicate the increased “costs” of childbearing during the uncertainty of the pandemic led to fewer births and more women seeking male births. Findings highlight the persistence of son preference in the region, contributing to the “lost females” in the region, and expands our understanding of fertility during the pandemic.

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This paper explores university students' awareness and personal connections to suicide, investigates their knowledge and understanding of suicidal behavior, assesses their willingness and confidence in intervening and helping peers in crisis, and identifies gaps in knowledge or skills related to suicide prevention to develop targeted interventions and support systems.

University students (n=239) from four universities in Kyrgyzstan participated in a cross-sectional survey study. The survey, based on existing literature and utilizing the Bystander Intervention (BSI) Model, employed multiple-choice and Likert scale questions alongside open-ended inquiries. Data were collected electronically via Google Forms, ensuring voluntary and anonymous participation with informed consent obtained electronically. Descriptive statistics and thematic analysis was used to summarize and interpret the survey responses, respectively.

We argue that our preliminary findings indicate a noteworthy increase in awareness among university students regarding the prevalence of suicide, irrespective of their personal exposure to suicide or suicidal behavior. We also argue that the survey reveals that while students demonstrate some knowledge in recognizing risk factors for suicide and suicidal behavior in others, there exists a clear need for more comprehensive guidance or training in identifying these signs. We argue that our preliminary findings highlight a positive correlation between personal exposure to suicide and students' willingness to help others. We argue that these introductory results underscore the importance of ongoing efforts to promote awareness, enhance knowledge, and foster a supportive student environment conducive to suicide prevention.

This paper draws upon published materials and statistical data from various countries, including Kyrgyzstan to explore suicide intervention strategies. A significant portion of the literature review is informed by Latané and Darley’s five-step BSI Model (1970) and Nickerson et al.’s (2014) seminal study on the BSI Model, originally developed for addressing bullying and sexual harassment.

Currently, this paper is in the process of writing the findings and discussions and we are planning to find a home for our paper in the near future.

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Perceptions of crime and justice are hot spots of contention in contemporary criminology research. Perception is complicated by the fact that participants in morally and/or legally questionable actions can apply obfuscated structures. For example, participants in corrupt transactions use various structures and/or instruments to mitigate moral taboos and/or legislative restrictions. In our study, we test Rossman's theory of obfuscation structures – bundling, brokerage, gift exchange, and pawning – that decrease the moral opprobrium of external audiences and thereby legitimize corrupt transactions. Bundling, when two morally acceptable exchanges support each other to create the appearance of an exchange that may not be morally acceptable. Brokerage, when a third party mediates an exchange between two parties. Gift exchange, the mutual giving of gifts between two parties within a relationship. Pawning, when individuals take on debts and repay them using goods or services they are hesitant to sell directly, serving as a way to obscure the transaction. In our research methodology, we adopt a comprehensive approach that involves two interconnected experimental methods for studying the case of Kazakhstan. First of all, we replicate the Schilke-Rossman vignette experiment, demonstrating how it works in another geographical context. For these purposes, we conducted a pilot experiment involving 200 respondents. Second, we combine qualitative and experimental approaches by conducting focus groups with embedded experiments, inspired by the approach of Boltanski and Thévenot. All this sheds light on various nuances of the perception of crime and justice, and allows us to understand deeply how people perceive corruption and how they justify their perceptions about it.

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Investigating return from schooling, scholars have traditionally focused on the supply side, collecting data from employees. This research focuses on the demand side and describes how employers create a system of signals, talking about which requirements are essential for potential candidates. These signals are primarily in the form of salary amounts. Using open data about vacancies of a popular government platform – enbek.kz – that covering low and medium-paid jobs in the public and quasi-public sectors, small and medium-sized businesses, we analyze 75 thousand vacancies. There are two groups of vacancies posted on Enbek.kz: state-subsidized and unsubsidized. Unsubsidized vacancies are offers from small and medium-sized businesses that seek to maximize profits. State-subsidized vacancies serve different purposes and are often related to the desire of officials to report about the maximum number of jobs. Centering our attention on these differences this research becomes more comprehensive and better demonstrates the effects for potential applicants. We conduct a comparative analysis of the two types, regressing the potential level of wages on the level of education, language proficiency, skills, and other factors. In addition, we separately use quantile regression to estimate how different the effect of an additional year of work is for the lowest- and highest-paying jobs. Thus, this study contributes to the human capital research program by shedding light on how signals from employers influence returns to education.