Growing up with siblings in the age of one child: the potentially confounding role of socioeconomic background.

The declining influence of family background on educational attainment in Australia: The role of measured and unmeasured influences

Risk-adjustment algorithms typically incorporate demographic and clinical variables to equalize compensation to insurers for enrollees who vary in expected cost, but including information about enrollees' socioeconomic background is controversial. We studied 1 182 847 continuously insured 0 to 19-year-olds using 2008-2012 Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts and American Community Survey data. We characterized enrollees' socioeconomic background using the validated area-based socioeconomic measure and calculated annual plan payments using paid claims. We evaluated the relationship between annual plan payments and geocoded socioeconomic background using generalized estimating equations (γ distribution and log link). We expressed outcomes as the percentage difference in spending and utilization between enrollees with high and low socioeconomic backgrounds. Geocoded socioeconomic background had a significant, positive association with annual plan payments after applying standard adjusters. Every 1 SD increase in socioeconomic background was associated with a 7.8% (95% confidence interval, 7.2% to 8.3%; P < .001) increase in spending. High socioeconomic background enrollees used higher-priced outpatient and pharmacy services more frequently than their counterparts from low socioeconomic backgrounds (eg, 25% more outpatient encounters annually; 8% higher price per encounter; P < .001), which outweighed greater emergency department spending among low socioeconomic background enrollees. Higher socioeconomic background is associated with greater levels of pediatric health care spending in commercially insured children. Including socioeconomic information in risk-adjustment algorithms may address concerns about adverse selection from an economic perspective, but it would direct funds away from those caring for children and adolescents from lower socioeconomic backgrounds who are at greater risk of poor health.

Brief report: Understanding intention to be physically active and physical activity behaviour in adolescents from a low socio-economic status background: An application of the Theory of Planned Behaviour

The purpose of this article is to examine and compare how the ethnicity, gender and social class conditions of citizenship influence, and are understood by, teachers and secondary school students in England and Sweden. The intention is also to compare how conditions of citizenship are dealt with in social studies for upper secondary school in England and Sweden. The relationship between students education and real conditions for citizenship is complex and partly differs between, as well as within, the two countries. The present comparative examination and analysis aims to visualize both specific and common conditions of citizenship in England and Sweden. This is to draw attention to how the meaning of frequently used terminology and images in the field of Citizenship Education do not always coincide with teachers’ and students’ own opinions and perceived meanings. By doing this we hope to contribute some new knowledge regarding one of the most difficult challenges that citizenship education is struggling with, whether the provided knowledge and values prepare todays youth to defend and develop future democratic and just societies. To achieve this, we have conducted a number of interviews with teachers and secondary school students and asked them about their experiences and opinions regarding Citizenship Education and the nature of citizenship. The following main questions were central to the interviews:&#x0D; &#x0D; What knowledge and skills does a citizen need in a democracy and how is the meaning of citizenship connected to gender, class and ethnicity?&#x0D; How are personal liberties affected by the citizen’s gender, class and ethnicity according to the respondents?&#x0D; What are teachers’ and students’ experiences of Citizenship Education and how does school pay attention to citizens´ conditions based on gender, class and ethnicity?&#x0D; &#x0D; In recent years, both public debate and published research have shown that, in order to understand the real meanings of citizenship, it is necessary to understand and interpret formal citizenship rights and responsibilities from individuals’ social and cultural conditions as characterised by gender, ethnicity and social class. During the 2000s, the Swedish National Agency for Education (Skolverket) presented recurrent reports that shows how socio-economic background, in combination with foreign background, are crucial for pupils school results. The reports also show how segregation between schools and residential areas has increased on the basis of residents socio-economic and ethnic background. This group of students are a part of tomorrows citizens, which are also likely to remain marginalized even as adults. The links between Swedish school policy, pupils school results and the democratic development of society at large has been observed and analysed in contemporary Swedish research.&#x0D; In England, the picture is slightly different with the 7 per cent of the population who experience private education being over-represented in positions of power and influence. In May 2012, the then Secretary of State for Education Michael Gove provided a list of leaders in the arts, sciences, politics, sports, journalism, entertainment and other fields who had all been to independent schools, concluding that&#x0D; “the sheer scale, the breadth and the depth, of private school dominance of our society points to a deep problem in our country . . . Those who are born poor are more likely to stay poor and those who inherit privilege are more likely to pass on privilege in England than in any comparable county.”&#x0D; There is significant evidence that socio-economic background, in combination with ethnic background, continue to be highly influential on pupils school results. Links between national education policy, social class and pupils school results appear to remain entrenched in England. &#x0D; When we identify cultural and social conditions as in any way hindering the status of citizenship, we do so from a perspective which does not seek to blame the less powerful for holding particular cultural perceptions but which recognises the barriers a dominant culture sets against those with less power. The insight that tells us it is necessary to comprehend individuals’ social and cultural conditions in order to understand and interpret their formal citizenship rights and responsibilities is not, however, particularly recent. Marx wrote over 160 years ago that, “if you assume a particular civil society . . . you will get particular political conditions”, from which it must follow that any society divided on the grounds of class, ethnicity and gender will present political conditions which reflect such divisions. It is also the case that there is likely to be a significant space between what is (the real) and what is perceived (the formal); just because there is inequality it does not follow that everyone is aware of that inequality.

Aims1) Evaluate the rate of routine childhood vaccine uptake in South London through the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic2) Identify if there is uptake variation associated with socioeconomic or...

The study of elementary school teachers’ literacy identities and perceptions across different socioeconomic backgrounds is crucial for educational systems worldwide. Teachers play a key role in shaping students’ literacy development by embodying and promoting their own literacy identities in the classroom. This study aims to examine the influence of sociocultural factors on shaping the literacy identities of Turkish primary school teachers from different socioeconomic backgrounds and with varying literacy perceptions. This paper adopts a phenomenological approach, with data collected through interviews, written reflections, and daily activity notes. Overall, the findings indicate that literacy identities are formed through the interplay of family, friendships, emotional experiences, educational systems, personal motivation, individual characteristics, teaching experiences, and university exposure. It was found that teachers from higher socioeconomic statuses have more opportunities to develop positive literacy identities. Implications for research and practice are provided.

Purpose The current study aimed to examine the relationship between school composition variables (socioeconomic and migration background of students) and teacher collaboration and teacher self-efficacy. Design/methodology/approach Multilevel analyses of variance were conducted using the Dutch Teaching and Learning International Survey 2018 data. Findings Teacher collaboration was positively related to teacher self-efficacy in classroom management, instruction and student engagement as well as to teacher self-efficacy in multicultural classrooms. Furthermore, the analyses showed a positive relationship between socioeconomic background and teacher self-efficacy in classroom management and student engagement, but a negative relationship between migration background and teacher self-efficacy in classroom management. Finally, teachers working in schools with higher proportions of students from low socioeconomic and/or migration backgrounds reported higher levels of self-efficacy to teach in multicultural classrooms. Originality/value Former research on this topic has generally been small in scale and has employed qualitative data in urban contexts only, mostly focusing on either socioeconomic or migration backgrounds. The present study used a quantitative approach and examined both types of diversity.

Whereas there is a well-developed literature on socio-economic inequalities in timing of first marriage, most research on the association between socio-economic family background and union timing misses out on unmarried cohabitation. Using a rich Norwegian dataset linking survey data and administrative registers (N=6,317), this article examines the impact of parents' education and economic resources on timing of first union among men and women entering their first cohabitation or marriage between 1970 and 2002. Discrete-time multinomial logistic regression models reveal that timing of first cohabitation was more rapid among persons with lower educated parents, while direct entrance into marriage was delayed by growing up in a wealthier childhood home. These findings are discussed within a theoretical framework stressing intergenerational transfer of preferences and parents' abilities to sanction children's first union formation. Additionally, the delaying effects of socio-economic background could stem from individuals' rational search behaviour.

The explanations people give for wealth, or financial success, are not only of considerable political importance, but also offer an opportunity to assess some of the implications of attribution theory in a real‐lie setting. In the present study, 324 subjects from all walks of life and a variety of socioeconomic and demographic backgrounds were asked to anonymously complete an extensive questionnaire assessing their (a) free response explanations of the most common sources of wealth, (b) estimates of necessary income levels for “wealth” and “a decent life,” and (c) attribution judgments for likely causes of wealth in five target categories of people. The target categories were manipulated in terms of social class and ethnicity, to include native born and migrant, and middle‐ and working‐class characters, as well as attributions to an unspecified other. Results showed that judges used four major attributional categories in explaining wealth (external‐social, internal/individual, family background, and luck‐risk factors), and that both the target persons' class and ethnicity significantly influenced the attribution strategies used. In addition, the judges' socioeconomic background, demographic position, and voting preferences also significantly affected preferred attributions and estimates of income levels. These results are discussed in terms of the role of social, political, and ideological factors in everyday explanations, and their implications for some assumptions of attribution research are considered.

The objective of the study is to determine the effect of parent’s socio economic background on Mathematics anxiety and academic achievement in high school students. The sample comprised 540 (268 boys and 272 girls) 8th, 9th and 10th grade high school students from Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu states. The answers of students were evaluated using a Mathematics anxiety scale (MAS) and parent’s socio economic background estimated by a socio economic background questionnaire. The results have revealed that among the parent’s socio economic background variables, only parent’s education has a negative correlation with Mathematics anxiety and multivariate regression for this model revealed that combination of age, income and education can be a good predictor for Mathematics anxiety. The second part of results also exposed that parent’s income and parent’s education has a significant positive correlation with mathematics anxiety and multivariate regression for this model also revealed that combination of parent’s socio economic background can be a good predictor for Mathematics anxiety. On the basis of these findings, it was recommended that special classes should be provided for training of parents and they should be prepared in counseling and pedagogical classes. Key words: Academic achievement, parent’s socio economic background, mathematics anxiety.

The purpose of this study was to discover the trends and axes of education gap research and to examine the structure of concepts. Through network analysis, this study examined the emergence of key words in research and the networks they form. This was done to explore the perspectives of research, provide a comparative discussion, and identify implications. For this purpose, the word frequency, TF-IDF, and co-occurrence frequencies of 257 studies published from 2004 to 2024 were analyzed and compared, and the network properties, centrality, and CONCOR analysis were conducted to explore temporal trends. The results of the study showed, first, that 'educational gap', 'student', 'education', 'society', 'teacher', 'parent', and 'socioeconomic background', 'Korea' were consistently frequent, with differential trends in appearance over time. Second, the network consisted of 200 nodes and 19,350 links, with a high centrality of words that represent educational systems and achievement, stratification of differences, family variables, and social phenomena and movements. Third, 'region', ' education gap', 'policy', 'closing', and 'support' were identified as key words in 2004-2010; 'education gap', 'school', 'academic achievement', 'parents', and 'socioeconomic background' in 2011-2017; and 'students', 'society', 'school', 'COVID-19', 'policy', and 'educational inequality' in 2018-2024. By exploring the structure and temporal variation of these key concepts, this study found that education gaps have been explored as an issue that is connected to families, schools, and regions, and has been mobilized for policy support as a phenomenon linked to social stratification, inequality, and polarization.

Children from low socioeconomic backgrounds (SES) are at increased risk of reading problems. Although phonological awareness consistently emerges as a critical literacy skill for children, little research exists regarding the effects of the acquisition of phonological awareness skills on decreasing the reading achievement gap between children of different SES levels. In this study, 50 first graders from low SES backgrounds were randomly assigned to receivelO weeks of phonological awareness intervention or a control condition. In addition, 25 first graders from middle-high SES backgrounds served as a comparison group. A significant difference in phonological awareness skills was found between children in the low SES intervention group who received the phonological awareness intervention and similar children in the control group who did not receive the intervention. Reading skill differences between the low SES intervention and control groups were found at follow-up 24 weeks later but not immediately following intervention. Although the gap in reading skills of children from the low SES intervention group and the middle-high SES comparison group decreased, reading differences remained. Implications of findings with regard to prevention and identification of children at-risk for reading difficulties, as well as planning and implementing early literacy intervention for children from disadvantaged backgrounds are provided.

Over the past decade, a large number of studies have shown that in advanced democracies policymakers are more likely to represent the preferences of high-income citizens than the preferences of low-income citizens. In a quest to understand this income bias in substantive representation, several authors have recently suggested that the persistent descriptive underrepresentation of low-income groups in policymaking institutions may explain why political decisions so frequently are skewed toward the preferences of the affluent. However, although this is a plausible explanation, many previous studies dealing with the consequences of descriptive representation have failed to find an effect of policymakers’ incomes or social class backgrounds on their behavior in office. In this essay, we argue that descriptive representation may indeed have an effect on policymaking, yet for it to be consequential three necessary conditions must be satisfied.

BackgroundIn response to the COVID-19 pandemic, various measures—including restrictions on children’s physical activities, such as national lockdowns (LD)—were implemented to contain its spread. These measures may have compromised motor development, particularly among children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds (SEBs), who are typically less active than peers from higher SEBs. This study examined the impact of COVID-19 restrictions on motor development in relation to SEB.MethodsData from 68,996 children in Germany (Age: 8.83 ± 0.56 years, range: 6.4–13.0; 35,270 female, 51.1%) assessed between 2011/2012 and 2022/2023 were analyzed from the longitudinal study ‘Berlin hat Talent’. Assessments before and after the pandemic used the German Motor Fitness Test, covering endurance, strength, coordination, and flexibility. Demographic data were collected via questionnaires; SEB was derived from official school-type classifications. Linear mixed-effect models accounted for hierarchical data: test values (level 1), motor domains (2a), participants (2b), and schools (3b). Motor performance was expressed as z-scores based on German reference percentiles. Effects of Time (pre, post LD I, post LD II), Motor Domain, and SEB (continuous, -2 to 2) were estimated, controlling for Age , Gender, and Secular Trends.ResultsThe effect of Time was significant (p = .014, η2 < .01), with motor performance lower after LD II than pre-pandemic. Time × Motor Domain interaction showed motor domain-specific changes (p = .001, η2 < .01): endurance improved, while strength, coordination, and flexibility declined. Time × Motor Domain × SEB interaction was also significant (p < .001, η2 = .01), indicating that the effect of Time differed across motor domains depending on SEB. Adjusting for Secular Trends revealed that the pandemic’s overall impact (~ –4% across domains) was even stronger (p < .001, η2 = .29), with domain-specific changes to –15.47% to + 7.56%. The SEB gap slightly closed, as higher SEB groups declined more strongly (p < .001, η2 = .10).ConclusionsThe findings indicate domain-specific and SEB-related differences in motor performance during the pandemic, in particular after accounting for secular trends. Results underscore the need for ongoing monitoring and targeted support measures, particularly for children with lower SEB, during periods of disrupted daily activity.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40798-025-00968-w.

Low socioeconomic background (SB) has been associated with lower breast cancer (BC) incidence and higher BC mortality. One explanation of this paradox is the higher frequency of advanced BC observed in deprived women. However, it is still unclear if SB affects similarly BC incidence. This study investigated the link between SB and early/advanced BC incidence from Loire-Atlantique/Vendee Cancer registry data (France). Fourteen thousand three hundred fifty three women living in the geographic area covered by the registry and diagnosed with a primary BC in 2008-2015 were included. SB was approached by a combination of two ecological indexes (French European Deprivation Index and urban/rural residence place). Mixed effects logistic and Poisson regressions were used, respectively, to estimate the odds of advanced (stage ≥ II) BC and the ratio of incidence rates of early (stage 0-I) and advanced BC according to SB, overall and by age group (< 50, 50-74, ≥ 75). Compared to women living in affluent-urban areas, women living in deprived-urban and deprived-rural areas had a higher proportion of advanced BC [respectively, OR = 1.11 (1.01-1.22), OR = 1.60 (1.25-2.06)] and lower overall (from -6 to -15%) and early (from -9 to -31%) BC incidences rates Advanced BC incidence rates were not influenced by SB. These patterns were similar in women under 75years, especially in women living in deprived-rural areas. In the elderly, no association between SB and BC frequency/incidence rates by stage was found. Although advanced BC was more frequent in women living in deprived and rural areas, SB did not influence advanced BC incidence. Therefore, differences observed in overall BC incidence according to SB were only due to higher incidence of early BC in affluent and urban areas. Future research should confirm these results in other French areas.