Search

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how optimistic bias, consumption cognition, news attention, information credibility, and social trust affect the purchase intention of food consumption. Data used in this study came from a questionnaire survey conducted in college students in Taipei and Beijing. Respondents in the two cities returned 258 and 268 questionnaires, respectively. Samples were analyzed through structural equation modelling (SEM) to test the model. Results showed that Taiwanese college students did not have optimistic bias but Chinese students did. The models showed that both Taiwanese and Chinese students' consumption cognition significantly influenced their purchase intention, and news attention significantly influenced only Chinese students' purchase intention. Model comparison analysis suggested significant differences between the models for Taiwan and mainland China. The results revealed that optimistic bias can be reduced in different social contexts as that of the Taiwan model and the mainland Chinese model found in this study were indeed different. This study also confirmed that people had optimistic bias on food safety issues, based on which recommendations were made to increase public awareness of food safety as well as to improve government's certification system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the author's comments on the articles about planning practices in different regions of Asia, published within the issue. From an essay over the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China he concludes that the planning in the region is suffering due to the influence of bureaucracy over the city's government. The politics in Taipei, Taiwan, he explains, is hampering the national development. The planning system is still under construction in Beijing, China.

Considerable change in the romantic and sexual behaviors of Asian young people may be occurring as traditionally Confucian societies modernize and increase outside contacts. This study explores the dimensions and context of this change in three sites at different stages in the process of modernization: Hanoi (early), Shanghai (intermediate), and Taipei (later stage). A survey was conducted of 17,016 males and females aged 15-24 in urban and rural settings in three large metropolitan areas. Survival analysis and Cox regressions were performed to explore ages of respondents at key transitions and the significance of differences between two age cohorts: 15-19 and 20-24. Significant differences are found in levels of sexual and other transitions, even within the narrow time span reflected by the age cohorts. The findings highlight the differential impact of modernization on adolescent sexual behavior as traditional societies undergo social change, and they underline the importance of context in exploring youthful transitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]