Disadvantaged Socioeconomic Background Research Articles

From Extreme Ideas to Violent and Nonviolent Outcomes: An In-Depth Analysis of Probation Files on Terrorist Suspects in the Netherlands

ABSTRACT How do individuals who commit violent terrorist crimes differ from those who commit nonviolent terrorist crimes? In this study, we compare characteristics and pathways of violent (VTS) and nonviolent (NVTS) individuals prior to being suspected or convicted of crimes with terrorist intent (e.g. planning an attack, financing terrorism) in the Netherlands through an analysis of probation files. Departing from a social control and life-course perspective, we examine possible signs and triggers leading up to the terrorist suspicion, various life domains (socio-demographic characteristics, social network, and personality related variables), mental health, criminal histories, and online activities. Findings demonstrate primarily resemblances between both groups. Nonetheless, compared to NVTS, VTS showed more indications of signs of acting in accordance with extreme ideological beliefs and feelings of injustice, had a more disadvantaged socioeconomic background, were more often involved with other radicals (e.g. in groups and/or online), had more substance abuse problems, and were more active online in relation to their terrorist suspicion. NVTS, on the other hand, had more regularly a turbulent youth, more commonly ever showed indications of aggressive behavior, had more often mental health problems, and, consequently, received more social care compared to VTS. Implications and avenues for future research are discussed.

Young Adult Carers in the UK-New Evidence from the UK Household Longitudinal Study.

Despite growing interest in young adult carers, little is known about trends in prevalence of caregiving among young adults aged 16-29. Furthermore, few studies have so far investigated demographic, health, and socioeconomic inequalities in the duration of care among young carers as well as demographic differences in caregiving characteristics. Using data from 11 waves of the nationally representative UK Household Longitudinal Study (2009-2021), we first estimated the prevalence of caregiving among 16-29 years-old adults at each wave. Results show that about 9% of those aged 16-29 provided care, and that this prevalence remained stable throughout the 2010s. Then, selecting respondents who participated for three waves of more, we assessed demographic, socioeconomic, and health characteristics associated with duration of care using ordinal regression models. Almost 52% of carers cared at two or more waves. Compared to non-carers, those who cared had more disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds, were from ethnic minorities and reported poorer health, particularly if they cared at two or more waves. Finally, focusing on carers, we tested differences by sex, age, and urbanicity in care relationships, intensity, and duration. Overall, women and those aged 25-29 cared for longer hours, for more people, and for more years than men and younger carers respectively. Put together, these findings provide an up-to-date description of young carers in the 2010s in the UK.

Exploring factors related with resilience in primary education: Evidence from European countries

This paper analyses factors associated with resilience in an educational context. In this framework, resilient students are those able to achieve excellent academic results despite their disadvantaged socioeconomic background. Over the last decade, this topic has generated a growing interest among researchers in the field of education economics. However, most efforts to date have focused on secondary education. By contrast, this study examines the main determinants of this phenomenon in primary education by exploiting the information available in the latest two waves of the TIMSS (2015) and PIRLS (2016) databases for all participating European countries (18). The results show that the skills learned by students before starting school and the socioeconomic status of their classmates are the factors that contribute most to stimulating the academic achievement of more socioeconomically disadvantaged students.

A mercenary army of the poor? Technological change and the demographic composition of the post-9/11 U.S. military

ABSTRACT We test two sets of alternative hypotheses about the demographic composition of the U.S. armed forces. We analyse individual-level data of two national representative samples covering the period 1979–2008. We find that, in contrast to the accepted wisdom, the U.S. military no longer primarily recruits individuals from the most disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds. Technological, tactical, operational and doctrinal changes have led to a change in the demand for personnel. As a result, on different metrics such as family income and family wealth as well as cognitive abilities, military personnel are on average like the average American citizen or slightly better.

Every Child Matters? Ambivalences and Convergences in Migration Management and Child Protection in Albania

ABSTRACT Research on the intersection between migration management and child protection is limited and, yet, contradictions between these two domains and ambivalence in the area of child migrants’ rights across the developed world have already been highlighted. Based on fieldwork with policymakers and service providers in Albania, a middle-to-high income country with a significant history of emigration, this paper aims to shed light on the interaction of these institutional and policy domains and the impact they have on professional practice. The State’s impact on migrant children’s rights at the domestic level is affected by the resourcefulness of its system of social and child protection. This key factor appears to affect the work of professionals on the ground and ultimately mean a variety of categories of child migrants have limited access to child protection services. Professional practice in this context highlights the need to include material dimensions—the resources needed to realise child protection on the ground—in its definition, and to consider the impact of multi-scalar influences on service providers’ work. The two domains of migration management and child protection appear to converge in the case of unaccompanied minors (UAMs). In turn, stateless, returned migrant children and those from very disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds are overlooked, giving rise to unequal access to state support. Nonetheless, an overall disjuncture appears in the context of transnational child protection, due to the rigid focus on nationality as a precondition for state support.

A cross-country panel approach to exploring the determinants of educational equity through PISA data

The main aim of the paper is to analyse the effect of country and school factors on a new measure of educational equity defined as the country proportion of resilient students, i.e. those who, despite their disadvantaged socioeconomic background, are able to obtain good educational results. We construct a cross country panel dataset by merging the five editions of OECD PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment). The panel analysis allows to exploit country and time level variation in the proportion of resilient students controlling for systematic and institutional differences. Our findings suggest that educational funding can help disadvantaged students to obtain the opportunities that they are otherwise lacking. In addition, this effect seems to be heterogeneous, and particularly driven by those countries whose economic development (in terms of per capita GDP) is lower.

The Heterogeneity of 'Private School Effect' in Italy

In this study, we have carried out an empirical investigation on the potential differences in school performance between pupils attending public schools and those attending private schools in the most densely populated region of Italy (Lombardy), employing a new dataset of about 77,000 students in the final or fifth year (grade 5) of around 1,000 schools. This is the first study to be carried out on the effects of private schooling in primary education in Italy. Our analysis uses an Instrumental Variables (IV) methodology to test the effectiveness of the voucher plan implemented by the regional government - the Region. The results show that, on average, there is no statistically significant “private school effect”. However, when exploring the potential heterogeneity of such effect, we did find that attending a private school is associated with higher performance in standardized test scores for two categories of pupils: immigrants and those from a relatively disadvantaged socio-economic background. From a policy perspective, we believe that private schools at primary level can serve disadvantaged pupils better and so help to improve equal opportunities throughout the entire educational system. These results challenge previous evidence about the role of private schooling in the Italian educational system.

The Heterogeneity of the ‘Private School Effect’ in Italian Primary Education

In this study, we have carried out an empirical investigation on the potential differences in school performance between pupils attending public schools and those attending private schools in the most densely populated region of Italy (Lombardy), employing a new data set of about 77,000 students in the final or fifth year (grade 5) of around 1000 schools. This is the first study to be carried out on the effects of private schooling in primary education in Italy. Our analysis uses an Instrumental Variables methodology to test the effectiveness of the voucher plan implemented by the regional government—the Region. The results show that, on average, there is no statistically significant ‘private school effect’. However, when exploring the potential heterogeneity of such effect, we did find that attending a private school is associated with higher performance in standardized test scores for two categories of pupils: immigrants and those from a relatively disadvantaged socio-economic background. From a policy perspective, we believe that private schools at primary level can serve disadvantaged pupils better and so help to improve equal opportunities throughout the entire educational system. These results challenge previous evidence about the role of private schooling in the Italian educational system.

Childhood Obesity and School Failure in Disadvantaged Contexts: Effect of a Multidisciplinary Intervention Program

In disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds, inequalities of opportunities are translated into deficits in several domains of human development. In developed countries, many children are exposed to multiple risk factors (such as poverty, malnutrition, poor heath, and inadequate stimulation in the home environment) that will dramatically affect motor development, cognitive and socio-emotional child, particularly younger than 5 years. Children living in disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds …

Bilingual education and at-risk students

This article reviews research that has examined the linguistic and academic outcomes of at-risk learners in bilingual/immersion programs. Specifically, we review research on at-risk students with: disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds, low levels of academic or general intellectual ability, poor first language ability, special education needs (including students at risk for or with language and/or reading impairment), and students who speak non-standard varieties of their first language and/or come from ethnically diverse backgrounds, including minority ethnic groups. We conclude by identifying topics and issues that warrant future research.

Prevalence and correlates of depersonalization in students aged 12-18 years in Germany.

Depersonalization (DP) involves unpleasant experiences of detachment from one's sense of self or unreality in the environment. DP may occur in a broad range of conditions, among healthy persons due to sleep loss, drug induced, secondary to anxiety disorders or primary in depersonalization disorder. Although DP has an early age of onset, little is known about the prevalence and correlates of DP among adolescents. Between January and June 2011, we conducted a questionnaire-based representative survey of pupils aged 12-18 years in the federal state Rhineland-Palatinate of Germany. The final sample comprised 3,809 pupils. We analyzed the prevalence of depersonalization and its correlates regarding sociodemographic characteristics, substance abuse, global mental distress and resilience factors. One-third of the sample showed severe global mental distress, and 11.9 % were in the range of clinically significant depersonalization. Depersonalized students were less often living with both parents (67.3 vs. 75.7 %), came more often from an disadvantaged socioeconomic background, had a very severe level of global mental distress (comparable to psychiatric inpatients), were more often smoking and abusing cannabis and they suffered from specific impairments regarding social insecurity, global self-efficacy and active coping abilities. Experiences of depersonalization were very common among adolescents and may indicate an increased risk for poor academic achievement and mental health in the long term. Prospective studies are needed to investigate the course and clinical relevance of depersonalization for the development of the adolescents.

Predicting academic outcomes in an Australian graduate entry medical programme

BackgroundPredictive validity studies for selection criteria into graduate entry courses in Australia have been inconsistent in their outcomes. One of the reasons for this inconsistency may have been failure to have adequately considered background disciplines of the graduates as well as other potential confounding socio-demographic variables that may influence academic performance.MethodsGraduate entrants into the MBBS at The University of Western Australia between 2005 and 2012 were studied (N = 421). They undertook a 6-month bridging course, before joining the undergraduate-entry students for Years 3 through 6 of the medical course. Students were selected using their undergraduate Grade Point Average (GPA), Graduate Australian Medical School Admissions Test scores (GAMSAT) and a score from a standardised interview. Students could apply from any background discipline and could also be selected through an alternative rural entry pathway again utilising these 3 entry scores. Entry scores, together with age, gender, discipline background, rural entry status and a socioeconomic indicator were entered into linear regression models to determine the relative influence of each predictor on subsequent academic performance in the course.ResultsBackground discipline, age, gender and selection through the rural pathway were variously related to each of the 3 entry criteria. Their subsequent inclusion in linear regression models identified GPA at entry, being from a health/allied health background and total GAMSAT score as consistent independent predictors of stronger academic performance as measured by the weighted average mark for the core units completed throughout the course. The Interview score only weakly predicted performance later in the course and mainly in clinically-based units. The association of total GAMSAT score with academic performance was predominantly dictated by the score in GAMSAT Section 3 (Reasoning in the biological and physical sciences) with Section 1 (Reasoning in the humanities and social sciences) and Section 2 (Written communication) also contributing either later or early in the course respectively. Being from a more disadvantaged socioeconomic background predicted weaker academic performance early in the course. Being an older student at entry or from a humanities background also predicted weaker academic performance.ConclusionsThis study confirms that both GPA at entry and the GAMSAT score together predict outcomes not only in the early stages of a graduate-entry medical programme but throughout the course. It also indicates that a comprehensive evaluation of the predictive validity of GAMSAT scores, interview scores and undergraduate academic performance as valid selection processes for graduate entry into medical school needs to simultaneously consider the potential confounding influence of graduate discipline background and other socio-demographic factors on both the initial selection parameters themselves as well as subsequent academic performance.

Country of birth and other factors associated with hepatitis B prevalence in a population with high levels of immigration

While hepatitis B virus (HBV) prevalence is known to vary greatly between countries, systematically collected population-level prevalence data from some countries is limited. Antenatal HBV screening programs in countries with substantial migrant populations provide the opportunity to systematically examine HBV prevalence in order to inform local and regional HBV estimates. A comprehensive register of Australian mothers giving birth from January 2000 to December 2008 was linked to a register of HBV notifications. Age-standardized prevalence of chronic HBV were calculated overall and by the mother's country of birth. Multiple logistic regression was used to investigate other factors associated with HBV prevalence. Five hundred twenty-three thousand six hundred sixty-five women were included and linked to 3861 HBV notifications. The age-standardized HBV prevalence was low (0.75%, 95% confidence interval 0.72-0.79). The highest HBV prevalence rates were observed in women born in Cambodia (8.60%), Taiwan (8.10%), Vietnam (7.49%), China (6.80%), and Tonga (6.51%). Among Australia-born women, those who smoked during pregnancy, were from a more disadvantaged socioeconomic background, and lived in remote areas were more likely to have HBV. There was also a trend suggesting a decrease in the prevalence of HBV over time. Antenatal screening for HBV can provide systematic population estimates of HBV prevalence in migrants and also identify other high prevalence groups. Longer follow-up will be required to confirm the small decrease in HBV prevalence observed in this study.