Affluent Families Research Articles

Friends of the New York Seaport: Antebellum Quaker Commerce, Culture, and Concerns

Friends of the New York Seaport:Antebellum Quaker Commerce, Culture, and Concerns Mitchell Santine Gould (bio) Prior to 1860, all the great fortunes of the country had come from the sea, and so, inevitably, from the earliest days and until the glory of the American merchant marine had passed away, ships and shipping were the most conspicuous feature of New York business life, and the water front was the centre of interest. —The Bank of Manhattan, 19151 The greatest role for Friends in the triumph of the New York Seaport was the introduction of the packet-shipping scheme by English immigrant Jeremiah Thompson in 1818, an innovation so revolutionary that it helped transform Manhattan into the nation's commercial center. Shortly before the Revolution, Philadelphia was the nation's largest city, with an estimated population of 40,000, and New York was the next largest, at roughly 25,000.2 Ironically, it was Quaker merchants who were largely responsible for New York's supremacy over the "Quaker City." "To a Yorkshireman, New York owes much," wrote Robert G. Albion in 1939. "It was through his initiative that the city prospered so much from two other British projects—the inception of the transatlantic packet service, and the 'Cotton Triangle' to provide return cargoes for the packets."3 Yet even before Friends introduced fixed schedules for square-riggers, they had already taken an instrumental role in establishing the colonial port's financial and philanthropic infrastructures, as we shall see momentarily. Quaker influence on transatlantic navigation began with a far-ranging contribution to the merchant marine: the whalers' discovery of the Gulf Stream. Their findings were communicated to Benjamin Franklin by his cousin, Nantucket Quaker Timothy Folger. In 1768, while he was managing the American post office in London, Franklin learned that [End Page 25] mail packets between Falmouth and New York generally took a fortnight longer than voyages from London to Rhode Island. When Franklin expressed his skepticism that such was possible to Folger, the whaling captain replied that Rhode Island captains were acquainted with the Gulf Stream, but English captains were not. Friends informed these ships that they were fighting a current running at three miles an hour, and advised them to get out of it, but they were "too wise to be counselled by simple American fishermen," grumbled Folger. Benjamin Franklin appreciated that a vessel from Europe to North America could easily shorten her passage by avoiding the current, and a vessel from America to Europe could just as easily improve her speed by remaining inside it, using an overboard thermometer to detect the stream's Gulf warmth. Franklin then asked Folger to design a chart to benefit navigation. When this chart was first distributed, English sailors again dismissed the advice, but later, after receiving engravings of the same map from France, they reconsidered, and there began a revolution in Atlantic commerce.4 Fifty years later, there were many prosperous merchants in the Quaker quarter, near Manhattan's early Pearl Street Friends Meeting. Members of the Religious Society of Friends, recalled Rufus Wilmot Griswold in 1856, could be found as far out as Chatham Street, and the more affluent families settled as far south as Maiden Lane: "the Pearsalls, the Pryors, the Embrees, the Effinghams, the Hickses, the Hawxhursts, the Hulletts, the Havilands, the Cornells, the Kenyons, the Townsends, the Tituses, the Willetts, the Wrights."5 Pearl Street Meeting hosted worship and the concomitant social networking of Friends until its demolition in 1829.6 Eventually, the meeting's location at the intersection of Pearl, Cherry, and Dover Streets would be named Franklin Square; not, as is commonly believed, for Benjamin Franklin, but for Walter Franklin, a wealthy merchant whose magnificent gardens were originally planted at this spot. Walter Franklin was born in 1727, the eldest child of Thomas Franklin and Mary Pearsall, from whom he inherited a fortune. He invested his windfall in trade with China, Russia, and other exotic marketplaces. Upon his retirement, he lived in the "style of a nobleman," driven hither and thither in an "elegant chariot," in an era in which private coaches were still rare in the city. The Pearl Street Meeting House was...

Recognizing and addressing child neglect in affluent families

AbstractThis paper explores how social workers intervene with affluent parents when there are child protection concerns about neglect. Based on data gathered from a small‐scale exploratory qualitative study with 30 practitioners from 12 local authorities across England, this study examined three overarching questions: (a) How do social workers identify risk factors for vulnerable children in affluent circumstances? (b) Which factors inhibit or enable social workers' engagement with resistant affluent parents when there are child protection concerns? (c) What kind of skills, knowledge, and experience is necessary for social workers to effectively assert their professional authority with affluent parents when there are concerns about abuse and neglect? The findings revealed that indicators of neglect can be difficult to identify and challenging to respond to when parents are affluent. Results indicate that social workers have to navigate complex power relationships with parents who are able to use their class privileges to resist their interventions. The paper concludes with a discussion of social workers' skills and capacities for engaging highly‐resistant affluent parents in the child protection system.

Symbolically Maintained Inequality: How Harvard and Stanford Students Construct Boundaries among Elite Universities

The study of elites is enjoying a revival at a time of increasing economic inequality. Sociologists of education have been leaders in this area, researching how affluent families position their children to compete favorably in a highly stratified higher education system. However, scholars have done less research on how students do symbolic work of their own to bolster elite status. In this study, we use qualitative interviews with 56 undergraduates at Harvard and Stanford Universities to explore how students construct a status hierarchy among elite campuses. Students come to campus with a working knowledge of prestige differences between top institutions but then are influenced by others to refine their perceptions. We find that Harvard and Stanford students value universities that offer a ‘‘well-rounded’’ liberal arts education while criticizing other selective institutions for being, alternatively, too intellectual, connected to the old-world status system, overly associated with partying and athletics, or having a student body too single-minded about career preparation. Our findings suggest that through constructing these nuanced perceptions of elite universities’ distinctiveness, students justify their rarefied positions and contribute to the ongoing status distinctions among social elites more generally.

Positive parental engagement: Investigating the role of the mother-father relationship.

Promoting positive parental engagement (e.g., reading to the child, practicing nursery rhymes with the child, playing with the child) is beneficial for children. Previous research has largely been limited to only maternal reports and relatively affluent families. The current study longitudinally investigated spillover between positive experiences in the mother-father relationship and positive parental engagement using an ethnically and economically diverse sample of parents. Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 3,780 mother-father dyads)-and guided by family systems theory-we tested a series of path analysis models. Positive relationship experiences predicted positive parental engagement over time (from child's birth-5 years of age) for both mothers and fathers. Furthermore, strength of associations between positive relationship experiences and positive parental engagement largely did not differ based on family structure, poverty, or race. These findings highlight the importance of investigating the mother-father relationship using a family systems framework to better understand positive parental engagement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

“Soothing My Child's Soul and My Own”: Dealing with Pregnancy Loss in Postcommunist Romania

AbstractIn Romania—where induced abortions were legally prohibited during communism and are now morally condemned by many—those who lose a pregnancy against their will have long been regarded with suspicion, confronted with a sense of culpability, and surrounded by silence. This ambiguity is reflected in the local terminology and the perceived etiology of loss. In this article, which is based on 15 months of fieldwork between 2012 and 2015, I illustrate the various meanings and manifestations of a silenced sense of culpability around involuntary pregnancy loss in the lives of women from Bucharest and a small town in Central Romania. I also show how many of these women attempt to break the silence around their lost fetuses and carve out a personal space of commemoration and consolation. Their informal use of forbidden religious rituals paradoxically allows them to confirm the existence of their lost little ones and to position themselves as caring, rather than culpable, mothers. [pregnancy loss, commemoration, culpability, postcommunist Romania]

Negative feelings about the timing of first sexual intercourse: findings from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study.

This study investigates the association between negative feelings about the first intercourse timing and sociodemographic and contextual factors. We hypothesized that girls and adolescents with an older first sexual partner will be more likely to report negative feelings and that prevalence of those feelings will vary across countries. Adolescents (N = 6073, mean age = 15.6 ± 0.34), from Bulgaria, France, Ireland, and Scotland, taking part in the 2013/2014 HBSC study, were asked about sexual initiation, their age and partner's age at first intercourse, and their feeling about the timing of first intercourse. One-fifth of the 1321 adolescents who had had sexual intercourse reported negative feelings about the first intercourse timing. Girls, adolescents from low affluent families, and those with an older first partner were more likely to report negative feelings. However, after adjustment for covariates, only girls and those from less affluent families had significantly higher odds of reporting negative feelings. Sexual education programmes need to explicitly address decision-making around timing of first intercourse in order to reduce negative feelings, with a special attention to gender and social inequalities.

Caries prevention in historical perspective. Social factors

At the beginning of the twentieth century, children from poor families had less caries than children from affluent families. Later this changed: as the socio-economic status of the parents was higher, the children had less dental caries. The same relationship between socio-economic status and caries prevalence was later evident in adults. Throughout the twentieth century, in individuals with a low socio-economic status more teeth were extracted than in individuals with a high socio-economic status. At the end of the twentieth century, oral health in general was much better than at the beginning. That change is partly due to increased prosperity, increasing attention to oral hygiene, the introduction of fluoride toothpaste and the strong increase in the number of professionals in oral care. Increased knowledge of the causes and prevention of caries also played a role, if a less prominent one.

Identification of Factors Responsible For Obesity in Children and Adolescents of Some Affluent Families

The present analysis was based on data regarding level of obesity of 662 children and adolescents of 560 families of students of American International University-Bangladesh...

Unani Concept of Development of Aza-E-Mufridah - A Comparative Study

The aim and objective of this article is to take the present-day person to the ancient time of Unani scholars, what they said about the embryological development of Aza-e-mufridah without modern day gadgets and laboratories and compare it with modern science. Since eternity man has always wanted to understand and probe nature from and when creation began and his purpose in this world the inquisitive man sought the help of generalizations, nature, old` manuscripts sometimes even the prophesies of saints and above all religions. In ancient time when people had no interest in inventions and discoveries except making gauntlets and swords to wage wars and few affluent families were traders in that surroundings we do not expect someone to have high tech labs and for that matter study abortion and specimens to inform mankind about the various stages of intrauterine life which modern day scientist came to know only few decades back.

Family income inequalities and trajectories through childhood and self-harm and violence in young adults: a population-based, nested case-control study

Childhood poverty is associated with elevated later risks for self-directed and externalised violence, but how risks are modified by parental socioeconomic mobility remains unclear. We investigated parental income trajectories during childhood and subsequent risks of self-harm and violent criminality in young adulthood. Using Danish national registers, we delineated a nested case-control study of Danish citizens born from Jan 1, 1982, to Dec 31, 2000, with first hospital-treated self-harm episodes and first violent crime convictions at ages 15-33 years. Each case was matched on age and gender to 25 randomly selected controls. Parental income was assessed in birth-year and at ages 5 years, 10 years, and 15 years. We considered parental age, the child's number of siblings, parental mental health, and parental education to be covariates. We estimated incidence rate ratios (IRRs) by conditional logistic regression inherently adjusted for age, gender, and calendar year; we then made additional adjustments for the covariates considered. We identified 21 267 first episodes of hospital-treated self-harm, to which we matched 531 675 controls, and 23 724 first violent crime convictions, to which we matched 593 100 controls. We observed inverse relationships between parental income and risks for the two outcomes for each of the ages parental income was measured. The longer a child lived in poorer circumstances, the higher their subsequent risks for self-harm and violent criminality, and vice versa for time spent living in affluent conditions. Associations were stronger for violent criminality than for self-harm. Compared with individuals who were born and remained in the most affluent families, all other income trajectories were associated with elevated risks for both outcomes. Those who remained in the least affluent quintile showed the highest risks for self-harm (IRR 7·2, 95% CI 6·6-7·9; 1174 [6%] cases) and for violent criminality (IRR 13·0; 95% CI 11·9-14·1; 1640 [7%] cases). The risk patterns were attenuated, but essentially persisted, after covariate adjustment. For any parental income level at birth, being upwardly mobile was associated with lower risk compared with downward mobility. Parental income represents a multitude of unmeasured familial sociodemographic indices. Tackling the causes of inequality and associated psychosocial and sociocultural challenges to enable upwards socioeconomic mobility could potentially reduce risks for self-directed and externalised violence. European Research Council.

Obesity in Children and Adolescents and the Factors Responsible for it: A Case Study among Children of Some Affluent Families

The present analysis is based on data regarding the level of obesity amongst 662 children and adolescents of 560 families. These were the families of students of American International University – Bangladesh. The children and adolescents were classified by the level of obesity which was measured by percentiles of BMI.
 It was observed, that among 662 children and adolescents 465 were in the underweight group. Obesity and severe obesity were observed among 9.1% children and adolescents. Among the obese and severe obesity group, 53.3% killed their time while watching television, which is not a scheduled healthy activity and another 26.7% utilized the time playing sports and games, which is a planned and scheduled healthy activity. Obesity and severe obesity were associated with killing time in doing unhealthy activity. Among the obese and severe obesity group of children 31.7% were diabetic patients. Diabetes and level of obesity were significantly associated [ = 8.75, p-value = 0.033]. Among obese and severe obese groups, around 42% were habituated in taking restaurant food and these two characteristics were also significantly associated with food habit of the children [ = 94, p-value = 0.000]. Some socioeconomic factors of parents, viz. parent’s education, father’s occupation, and income of the families were also associated with level of obesity.
 The logistic regression analysis showed that all the variables, except the variable mother’s occupation, were significantly related to the variation of the level of obesity of children. For underweight children family income had a significant impact on their level of obesity.

Social Inequality in Adolescent Life Satisfaction: Comparison of Measure Approaches and Correlation with Macro-level Indices in 41 Countries

Family affluence plays a crucial role in adolescent well-being and is potential source of health inequalities. There are scarce research findings in this area from a cross-national perspective. This study introduces several methods for measuring family affluence inequality in adolescent life satisfaction (LS) and assesses its relationship with macro-level indices. The data (N = 192,718) were collected in 2013/2014 in 39 European countries, Canada, and Israel, according to the methodology of the cross-national Health Behavior in School-aged Children study. The 11-, 13- and 15-year olds were surveyed by means of self-report anonymous questionnaires. Fifteen methods controlling for confounders were tested to measure social inequality in adolescent LS. In each country, all measures indicated that adolescent from more affluent families showed higher satisfaction with their life than did those from less affluent families. According to the Poisson regression estimations, for instance, the lowest inequality in LS was found among adolescents in Malta, while the highest inequality in LS was found among adolescents in Hungary. The ratio between the mean values of LS score at the extreme highest and lowest family affluence levels (Relative Index of Inequality) derived from the regression-based models distinguished for its positive correlation with the Gini index, and negative correlation with Gross National Income, Human Development Index and the mean Overall Life Satisfaction score. The measure allows in-depth exploration of the interplay between individual and macro-socioeconomic factors affecting adolescent well-being from a cross-national perspective.

International trends in 'bottom-end' inequality in adolescent physical activity and nutrition: HBSC study 2002-2014.

In spite of many positive trends that have emerged in the health of young people, adolescents from more affluent groups continue to experience more favourable health outcomes. There are no groups that are more vulnerable than those who report very poor ('bottom-end') indicators of health behaviour. The present study investigated the role of socio-economic factors as potential determinants of bottom-end health behaviours pertaining to physical activity and diet. Our analysis incorporated health data for some 700 000 15-year-old adolescents in 34 countries. The data source was four cycles of the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study (2001/2002, 2005/2006, 2009/2010 and 2013/2014). As per UNICEF precedents, adolescents whose health behaviour scores were below the mean of the lower half of the distribution fell into the 'bottom-end' on this indicator. Adolescents from less affluent families were much more likely to report being in the bottom-end of the distribution of these health indicators. Large, persistent and widespread socio-economic gradients existed for physical activity and healthy eating, while the findings were mixed for unhealthy eating. Such socio-economic inequalities were largely stable or widened for physical activity and healthy eating, while inequalities in unhealthy eating narrowed. Although it is important to continue monitoring average levels of adolescent health, national and international policies need to pay attention to the concentration of poor health outcomes among adolescents from less affluent families and to redress social inequalities in adolescent health behaviour.

Risk Factors for Cardiovascular Diseases Among Urban Schoolchildren from Affluent Families

Smoking, physical inactivity, obesity, raised blood pressure, low dietary intake of vegetables and fruits have been identified as risk factors for cardiovascular diseases. The study was aimed to find out the extent of risk factors for cardiovascular diseases among adolescent schoolchildren from affluent families of Dhaka city. This cross sectional study was done among 386 students of two English medium high schools during July 2006 to June 2007. Sixty one percent of the sample was boys. The children were of 10-18 years age group (mean=13.5 years). Half of the parents had postgraduate education, fathers mostly businessmen and service holders and mothers were housewives. Moderate physical inactivity at leisure was found among 51% of the study population. Association between moderate physical activity (MPA) at leisure and gender was statistically significant (p <0.001). Furthermore, 34% of the children spent 3 hours or more watching TV and /or using computer in a day. A little over 16% of the children were overweight and 8.5% obese. ‘Ever smoked’ were 16.5% males and 4.0% females. Association between ever smoked and gender was statistically significant (p <0.001). Moreover, 51% children took fruits and 69% took vegetables daily in their diet. Association between intake of fruits and vegetables and gender was not significant. Considering the high level of cardiovascular risk factors among adolescents, in terms of inactivity, overweight, obesity and smoking, population-wide life-style interventions specially focused on adolescents are thus recommended.

Raising Aspirations and Higher Education: Evidence from the UK’s Widening Participation Policy

This paper investigates the relationship between aspirations and inequality in higher education participation. Using a regression discontinuity design, I evaluate the impact of a nationwide UK policy aimed at raising aspirations towards college education in pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds by involving them in outreach activities. I find that the policy successfully raised the aspirations of the target students and their participation in post compulsory education. However, its final effect on college enrollment was negligible overall and appears concentrated among students from the most affluent families and those in the central part of the ability distribution.

Social determinants of health and well-being among municipal school children in Mumbai

Background: HBSC seeks to identify and explore the extent of the inequalities related to socioeconomic status (SES), age and gender among the younger age group, and highlight the need for preventive action. Hence, this study was carried out, to find out the social context as a determinant of their health and well-being. The objectives of the study were to study the socio-demographic characteristics of the students; to find the social determinants and its association with their perceived health outcomes.Methods: The study was carried out among 426 Municipal school students in Mumbai. They were enquired about their socio demographic characteristics, their personal habits and behaviour, relationship with their parents, siblings and friends, performance in school, academic pressures, and also about any health related complaints if they had. Results: The study shows less communication of students with their parents, more so with their fathers’. Students were seen to have more friends and would also spend more time with them, especially boys. Academic achievement was better among girls and those from less affluent families and it also showed a dip in the higher age groups. Regular consumption of breakfast, fruits, vegetables was seen less among girls and older students. Boys and those from less affluent families were seen to be more involved in high risk behaviour. Conclusions: All the factors mentioned in the study are shown to have adverse effects on the perceived health outcome of the students. These social factors need to be addressed to improve the health and well-being of the younger generations.

Fatherhood in the Russian Provinces: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis

Alexandra Lipasova – PhD student, Department of Sociology, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia. Email: alexandra.lipasova@gmail.com
 DOI: 10.17323/727-0634-2017-15-4-629-642
 The article explores gender contracts and fatherhood models that are present in families living in small Russian towns. Firstly, the key characteristics of the social groups in this research, 'potential middle class' and 'manual workers' are defined. This is followed by a review of two parental educational strategies: concerted cultivation and accomplishment of natural growth. Two theoretical explanations for gender imbalance in the division of unpaid family labour are offered. These are the economic/bargaining perspective and the gender perspective. Then, drawing on in-depth interviews with fathers and mothers from small Russian towns, the conclusion is reached that fathering practices in these families have situational character, defined by, in Bourdieu’s term, their 'habitus'. Many fathers still keep a 'low bar for fatherhood'. The less affluent families from Russian provinces do not rate their children’s opportunities for social mobility very highly, so they motivate them to be successful in sports, thus accomplishing a variant of the 'natural growth' educational strategy. The gender contract in these families can be characterized by distinct gender imbalance; many fathers still think that house work and childcare are a mother’s responsibility. Even the fathers who were labelled as 'involved' demonstrate rigid views on the preferred life trajectory of their daughters. It is noted that the degree of father’s involvement depends on the partners' negotiating the terms of their family gender contract. Traditional gender ideology and notions about gender inequality make parenthood the sole responsibility of mothers, and breadwinning the ultimate duty of fathers.

Low- and moderate-income families’ avenues to mobility: Overcoming threats to asset accumulation and remaining in undesirable neighborhoods

abstract Research on social mobility of low and moderate income families often uses objective measures and economic indicators of social mobility and quantitative research methods. In this paper we use a qualitative approach to understand how social mobility in terms of homeownership and desired neighborhood is pursued by 194 working families who received more than $1,000 in Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). Specifically, we use cumulative advantage and disadvantage theory to explore the pathways and threats families encounter in their attempts to achieve homeownership and residence in desired neighborhoods. We find that families use different strategies to achieve social mobility and that the most successful families follow multiple strategies that involve pathways used by more affluent families like savings and help from family and friends as well as using social and governmental program and rent-to-own agreements. We discuss the implication for families, social organizations, and policymakers.

Association between Global Life Satisfaction and Self-Rated Oral Health Conditions among Adolescents in Lithuania.

Background: This study aims to explore the extent to which the perceived oral conditions predict adolescent global life satisfaction (GLS); Methods: The sample in a cross-sectional survey consisted of 1510 Lithuanian adolescents (41.7% boys) aged 11–18. The survey was conducted by means of self-report questionnaires that were administrated in school classrooms ensuring confidentiality and anonymity of the participants. The schoolchildren rated their GLS and answered the questions about perceptions of their oral health. The relationship between GLS and oral health variables was estimated using unadjusted and adjusted binary logistic regression and nonparametric correlation analyses; Results: The research showed that the majority of adolescents rated their GLS highly; however, girls, older adolescents and adolescents from less affluent families were less likely to report high scores. GLS was significantly associated with subjective overall oral health assessment. The odds of reporting low GLS were 50% higher for adolescents with good oral health (OR = 1.51; p < 0.001; 95% CI = 1.18–1.93), and two and half time as higher for adolescents with perceived fair/poor oral health (OR = 2.78; p < 0.001; 95% CI = 1.72–4.50) compared to adolescents with subjectively excellent/very good oral health. Nonparametric correlations indicated lower GLS to be significantly associated with higher scores of Child Perceptions Questionnaire (𝜌 = −0.17/−0.30; p < 0.01); Conclusions: Adolescents with oral health impairments more likely to report lower GLS, regardless of their gender and age.

A Household's Burden – The Embodied Resource Use of Household Equipment in Germany

The paper describes patterns of resource use related to German households' equipment. Using cluster analysis and material flow accounting, data on socio-demographic characteristics, and expenditures on fuel, electricity and household equipment allow for a differentiation of seven different household types. The corresponding resource use, expressed in Material Footprint per person and year, is calculated based on cradle-to-gate material flows of average household goods and the related household energy use. Our results show that patterns of resource use are mainly driven by the use of fuel and electricity and the ownership of cars. The quantified Material Footprints correlate to social status and are also linked to city size, age and household size. Affluent, established and/or younger families living in rural areas typically show the highest amounts of durables and expenditures on non-durables, thus exhibiting the highest use of natural resources.