Social Gaps in Eligibility for a Matriculation Certificate in Israel: A Pre- and Post-COVID-19 Comparison

Editor—In their editorial Davey Smith et al welcome the report of the independent inquiry into inequalities in health but criticise it for not sufficiently tackling the underlying causes of health...

ObjectivesThe aim of this paper is to estimate the impact of smoking and alcohol use on the increase in social inequality in mortality in Denmark in the period 1985–2009.DesignA nationwide...

Despite the global decline in the number of girls who study science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subjects, in Israel, gender differences of physics students are especially worrying. Although girls and boys in junior high school reach similar achievements in physics, the number of girls who study physics in high school is declining. However, an interesting picture emerges when we compare the Arab and Jewish sectors: Girls account for 30% of all high school students who study physics in the Jewish sector, compared to almost 60% in the Arab sector. Interviews with Arab high school students in an advanced physics program indicate that although girls face internal and external obstacles in patriarchic Arab society, they transform these obstacles into factors that motivate them to greater achievements, in order to gain self-confidence and a more stable, promising economic future in their society. These findings challenge conventional theories that explain the gender gap in STEM subjects.

Health expectancy represents the average lifetime in various states of health and differs among social groups. The purpose of the study was to determine trends in social inequality in health expectancy since 1994 between groups with high, medium and low educational levels in Denmark. The study was based on data from nationwide registers on educational level and mortality during the period 1994-2005 and data on health status derived from the Danish Health Interview Surveys carried out in 1994, 2000 and 2005. Expected lifetime in self-rated good and poor health, lifetime without and with longstanding illness and expected lifetime without and with long-lasting difficulties or restrictions were estimated by Sullivan's method. Between 1994 and 2005, life expectancy at age 30 years increased by 1.9 years for men and 1.5 years for women with a low educational level. For people with a high educational level, the increase was 2.7 years for men and 2.2 years for women. The difference between people with low and high educational level in expected lifetime in self-rated good health increased by 2.0 and 1.3 years for 30-year-old men and women, respectively. The social gap also increased for other indicators. During the past 12 years, social inequality in life expectancy and health expectancy has increased in Denmark, but the proportion of the population with a low educational level has decreased.

OBJECTIVE To analyze the evolution of catastrophic health expenditure and the inequalities in such expenses, according to the socioeconomic characteristics of Brazilian families.METHODS Data from the National Household Budget 2002-2003 (48,470 households) and 2008-2009 (55,970 households) were analyzed. Catastrophic health expenditure was defined as excess expenditure, considering different methods of calculation: 10.0% and 20.0% of total consumption and 40.0% of the family’s capacity to pay. The National Economic Indicator and schooling were considered as socioeconomic characteristics. Inequality measures utilized were the relative difference between rates, the rates ratio, and concentration index.RESULTS The catastrophic health expenditure varied between 0.7% and 21.0%, depending on the calculation method. The lowest prevalences were noted in relation to the capacity to pay, while the highest, in relation to total consumption. The prevalence of catastrophic health expenditure increased by 25.0% from 2002-2003 to 2008-2009 when the cutoff point of 20.0% relating to the total consumption was considered and by 100% when 40.0% or more of the capacity to pay was applied as the cut-off point. Socioeconomic inequalities in the catastrophic health expenditure in Brazil between 2002-2003 and 2008-2009 increased significantly, becoming 5.20 times higher among the poorest and 4.17 times higher among the least educated.CONCLUSIONS There was an increase in catastrophic health expenditure among Brazilian families, principally among the poorest and those headed by the least-educated individuals, contributing to an increase in social inequality.

STUDY OBJECTIVETo determine the extent of the inequalities in self reported health between socioeconomic groups and its changes over time in the Basque Country (Spain).DESIGNCross sectional data on the association...

Socioeconomic inequalities in premature mortality in France: Have they widened in recent decades?

Esta pesquisa investigou a dimensão subjetiva da desigualdade social, por meio do estudo de projetos de futuro de jovens ricos e pobres da cidade de São Paulo. Compreendemos que as desigualdades sociais brasileiras constituem fenômeno social complexo, que deve ser entendido tanto na sua dimensão objetiva quanto na subjetiva. Ao investigar a dimensão subjetiva desse fenômeno, buscamos dar visibilidade à presença de sujeitos que não são mera consequência da realidade social desigual, e sim sujeitos ativos, os quais constituem essa realidade e são, simultaneamente, constituídos por ela. Utilizamos como instrumentos duas redações acerca da temática do projeto de futuro: a primeira perguntando ao sujeito a respeito de seu futuro; a segunda a respeito do futuro que imagina para um jovem pertencente a uma classe social desigual. Consideramos as redações acerca de projetos de futuro como recursos metodológicos pelos quais podemos apreender a dimensão subjetiva da desigualdade social. Orientados pelo referencial teórico-metodológico da psicologia sócio-histórica, buscamos, nas falas escritas contidas nas redações, elementos de significações – sentidos e significados – dos jovens acerca de si mesmos, na relação com outros desiguais, em uma sociedade marcada por desigualdades sociais. As desigualdades sociais foram naturalizadas pelos jovens, que as justificaram a partir de esforços pessoais e/ou heranças familiares. Destacaram-se significações que valorizam o padrão de vida das elites como modelo a ser alcançado, com correlativa depreciação das camadas pobres. Para além das significações constituídas a partir das falas dos jovens, a dimensão subjetiva da desigualdade social configurou-se no silenciamento desses sujeitos quando solicitados a falar sobre outros desiguais.

Social differentiation has developed to be one of the crucial characteristics of urban development in Eastern Germany's large cities, an issue that is increasingly reflected in daily life perceptions and policy-making. This development can be especially observed in those cities that, after a phase of shrinkage in the 1990s, have seen new growth during the last years. The focus is here on social differentiation that we understand as an increase in social inequalities, and on social heterogeneity that is understood as pluralization of cultural and religious identities, lifestyles and living environments. Set against this background, the paper discusses social differentiation and increasing heterogeneity in Leipzig with a focus on daily life perceptions by the residents and local policy development. It analyses how social difference and increasing heterogeneity have become an issue for daily routines and practices as well as for policy formulation and how both perspectives interact. The paper is based on a multi-dimensional understanding of heterogeneity including the socio-economic, demographic, lifestyle and ethnic-migration dimension. Spatially, both the total city and neighbourhood perspective are in focus. The paper concludes, among others, that social heterogeneity in its horizontal dimension is being recognised and accepted and that this is reflected by policy development as well. This does not apply in the same manner for increasing social inequalities. The example of Leipzig shows, furthermore, that there is a need for more differentiation in the local discourse with respect to the explicit recognition of horizontal difference, the need to counteract vertical social inequalities and the fact that out of the interaction/intersection of both dimensions, a bundle of new equivocalities and complexities emerge.

The Jewish and the Arab sectors in Israel differ widely in every aspect of their respective socio-economic status. In particular, investment in education is much lower in the Arab sector and so is the educational attainment. To explain these differences, we construct a simple model which allows a representative household to optimally allocate its time between labor and leisure, and it income between consumption and investment in aducation. We utilize municipal level data in Israel to estimate the preference and technology parameters in the Jewish and Arab sectors. The estimated parameters are used to examine in each sector the typical household labor participation and education investment responses to various government intervention schemes. Specifically, we find that due to strong income effects, the disadvantaged group (Arabs) investment in education responds positively to direct transfer payments but negatively to increases in the return to education, while the advantaged group (Jews) reacts in exactly the opposite way.

Reconsidering upstream approaches to improving population health

Ethnicity matters in medicine and public health. Health professionals, both in public health and medicine, should be aware of the influence of ethnicity on health (care) and target health (care) services accordingly. In his paper, Bhopal discusses some of the issues that are relevant to health professionals who want to get familiar with this issue. These include the classification of ethnic groups, the use of ethnicity versus race as a basis for classification of groups and the use of absolute versus relative risks to describe inequalities in health. Bhopal also discusses some of the factors that produce ethnic inequalities in health. If health (care) policy is to respond effectively to these inequalities, we need to have a clear understanding of the factors that account for these inequalities, e.g. the higher burden of diabetes mellitus in immigrant populations with a South Asian background can only effectively be prevented if we have a detailed insight into the factors that are responsible for the increased risks of these groups. Currently, there is a paucity of evidence on these factors and mechanisms, and further research into these issues is warranted. An explanation that gets very little attention in Bhopal’s paper is that from socio-economic factors. Ethnic minority groups, in general, do have a lower socio-economic status than the ‘majority’ population in the host country. Given the well-known association between socio-economic status and health, it is not surprising that ethnic inequalities in health are, to at least some extent, socio-economic in nature. Many empirical studies support this hypothesis. As a general rule, explanation of ethnic inequalities in health should recognize that these inequalities are rooted in socio-economic factors. This is not to say, however, that ethnic inequalities in health can simply be understood by generalizing insights in socio-economic inequalities in health in the ‘majority’ population towards immigrant populations. Instead, we should aim to understand the complex way in which ethnic inequalities are linked up with socio-economic inequalities. The first point to realize is that socio-economic position is a multidimensional concept. It includes key components such as educational level and occupational class, but also employment status, income level and other indicators for material welfare. Different types of socio-economic determinants may be relevant to ethnic minority groups as compared with the majority population. For example, first-generation migrants may be disproportionally affected by lack of formal education. The lack of formal education, together with migrants’ problems of acculturation and integration, may particularly affect their later socio-economic career, including occupational positions, wealth accumulation and residential career. Thus, a ‘false start’ early in the socioeconomic career may affect migrant groups in particular. This implies that, if ethnic inequalities are to be addressed by policies on socio-economic determinants of health, particular emphasis may need to be placed on the root socioeconomic factors shaped in the early life of migrants. Second, the pervading relationship between socioeconomic factors and health (care) may take different forms in different ethnic groups. Recent studies showed that socioeconomic inequalities in health within ethnic minority groups often were smaller (or sometimes larger) than in the total national population. Illustrations for this were provided for example in recent Dutch studies on mortality by cause of death, metabolic syndrome prevalence and hospitalization rates. Such an effect modification has been found to be

The case of Israel is an interesting one as the country simultaneously faces a teacher shortage in the Jewish sector and a teacher surplus in the Arab one. Both phenomena have severe implications for the Israeli education system. The teacher shortage in the Jewish sector has led to the employment of numerous unqualified teachers. The teacher surplus in the Arab sector has led to significant unemployment and to the hiring of part-time teachers, which contributes to job insecurity, burnout and lower job satisfaction. To address these two contradictory challenges, several national policy actions have been enacted in recent years. The policies aimed at addressing the shortage in the Jewish sector focus on recruiting and retaining teachers. The policies endorsed to cope with the teacher surplus in the Arab sector have largely concentrated on limiting the number of student teachers in initial teacher education. Despite these efforts, neither phenomenon has improved in the past decade.

BackgroundThe public Educational Psychology Services provide mental health services for children and youth in Israel, alongside the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Social Affairs and Services. The Psychological and Counseling Services Division of the Ministry of Education (known as SHEFI - Sherut Psychology Yeutzi), funds and supervises local Educational Psychology Services which are aimed at supporting child development and enhancing the emotional welfare of children and their families. The demand for the services of educational psychologists is increasing. Yet this demand is not being met due to the insufficient number of job slots allocated, the geographical distances in outlying peripheral areas, the already high loads in the psychologists’ daily routine, and other such problems. A wide range of effective psychological services can be offered via the internet. The internet therefore has the potential to serve as a useful and efficient missing link between the high demands for educational psychology services on the one hand and the ability and desire among educational psychologists to meet those needs on the other. Moreover, even if the services were fully staffed, the resources would still be insufficient to provide personal (face-to-face) treatment for all, so that internet-based access to services would still need to be developed. Those services provide unique advantages such as overcoming distance and enabling higher availability of mental health professionals. The objectives of the current study were to describe the prevalence of public educational psychology services available online in Israel, with specific focus on the Arab minority and the peripheral regions, and to highlight the benefits of expanding those services.MethodDuring 2016, we conducted a survey comprising all 252 Public Educational Psychology Service units in Israel (n = 170 in the Jewish sector, and n = 82 in the Arab sector). The method used to search for online sites was in line with the actions taken by an average end-user searching for information on the internet.ResultsThe survey found that 125 of the units in the Jewish sector (73.5% of those units) and all 82 units in the Arab sector had no online site at all, constituting 82.2% of all the units in Israel. Of the 45 Jewish websites located by the survey, 42 (93.3% of the sites) were not user friendly (not interactive), and only three offered the possibility of interacting with psychologists (6.7% of the sites). Nevertheless, all the sites (n = 45) offered a high degree of quality and variety that exceeded basic information.ConclusionWe believe that the presence of educational psychologists on the internet is essential in order to meet the challenges presented by the growing needs of students, parents and teachers in the current digital era. The survey revealed that the public educational psychology system in Israel has not yet bridged the technological gap. Special attention should be directed to the peripheral regions and to the Arab sector, where the technological services can make a significant contribution. The local public services’ attempts to create and operate websites (45 Jewish websites according to the survey), are indicative of the determination to offer psychological support to the community at large, and of the ambition to overcome availability and accessibility problems. The concept of internet services might be useful not only for the SHEFI, but also for the array of mental health services for children and youth in Israel. Thus, we recommend that a policy should be formulated regarding internet-based mental health services for children and youth in Israel, and we call for a collaboration between the various ministries in implementing this process.

One of the main problems facing many countries today is the integration of minorities in the labor market. This problem applies in countries with a high immigrant intake and also in countries where the minorities are indigenous. Israel has a Jewish majority which manages the economy and an Arab minority which should be integrated in the labor market. One question that arises in this case study is whether the minority sector is better able to become integrated in the labor market as wage earners or as self-employed. The goal of this study is to examine this question in the context of the Israeli economy by comparing between the Arab sector and the Jewish sector. The first stage of the study compared the income of the self-employed compared to the income of wage-earners in each population group. The results at this stage showed that in the majority group, the income level of the wage-earners and the self-employed is almost the same, whereas in the minority group the income level of the self-employed is much higher than the wage-earners (a gap of 33% in favor of the self-employed). The second stage of the study examined the effect of the level of education on the decision to be self-employed in each of the population groups. To this end, we checked the self-employment rate for each level of education. The results showed that in the minority group (Arab sector) the level of education of the self-employed is higher than that of the wage-earners, whereas in the majority group (Jewish sector) the level of education of the self-employed is lower. DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2015.v4n1s2p277