Family Financial Situation Research Articles

Relationship of social factors including trust, control over life decisions, problems with transport and safety, to psychological distress in the community.

PurposePsychological distress encompasses anxiety and depression with the previous studies showing that psychological distress is unequally distributed across population groups. This paper explores the mechanisms and processes which may affect the distribution of psychological distress, including a range of individual and community level socioeconomic determinants.MethodsRepresentative cross-sectional data was collected for respondents aged 16+ from July 2008 to June 2009, as a part of the South Australian Monitoring and Surveillance System (SAMSS) using Computer Assisted Telephone Interviews (CATI). Univariate and multivariate analyses (n = 5,763) were conducted to investigate the variables that were associated with psychological distress.ResultsThe overall prevalence of psychological distress was 8.9%. In the multivariate model, females, those aged 16–49, respondents single with children, unable to work or unemployed, with a poorer family financial situation, earning $20,000 or less, feeling safe in their home some or none of the time, feeling as though they have less then total control over life decisions and sometimes experiencing problems with transport, were significantly more likely to experience psychological distress.ConclusionsThis paper has demonstrated the relationship between low-income, financial pressure, less than optimal safety and control, and high-psychological distress. It is important that the groups highlighted as vulnerable be targeted in policy, planning, and health promotion and prevention campaigns.

Heterogeneity in the association between socioeconomic position in early life and adult self-rated health in two birth cohorts of Spanish adults

BackgroundThe purpose of this work was to evaluate the association between socioeconomic circumstances in early life and poor self-rated health in adulthood, and to determine whether this association varies depending...

Perceived Stigma and Help-Seeking Behavior: Longitudinal Evidence From the Healthy Minds Study

Perceived Stigma and Help-Seeking Behavior: Longitudinal Evidence From the Healthy Minds Study

Consumer decision making in low‐income families: The case of conflict avoidance

Abstract This paper explores consumer decision making in low‐income families. The focus is on the issue of conflict avoidance within the family when making consumption choices. Whereas previous studies have focused on conflict resolution strategies, this paper considers the ways in which families prevent conflict from arising in the first instance. These include individual control in purchasing and budgeting decisions, giving in to the requests of children and ensuring open communication about the family's financial situation. Importantly, the connections between the poverty narrative and the family decision making narrative are considered as the decision making strategies employed are not only aimed at avoiding conflict but also making experiences of poverty more manageable. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Monitoring inequities in self-rated health over the life course in population surveillance systems.

To investigate the effect of social mobility and to assess the use of socioeconomic indicators in monitoring health inequities over time, we examined the association of self-rated health with socioeconomic position over the life course. Data came from a cross-sectional telephone survey (n = 2999) that included life-course socioeconomic indicators and from a chronic disease and risk factor surveillance system (n = 26 400). Social mobility variables, each with 4 possible intergenerational trajectories, were constructed from family financial situation and housing tenure during childhood and adulthood. Low socioeconomic position during both childhood and adulthood and improved financial situation in adulthood were associated with a reduced prevalence of excellent or very good health. Trends over time indicated that socioeconomic disadvantage in adulthood was associated with poorer self-rated health. Our results support policies aiming to improve family financial situation during childhood and housing tenure across the life course. Inclusion of life-course socioeconomic measures in surveillance systems would enable monitoring of health inequities trends among socially mobile groups.

Gambling problems in the family – A stratified probability sample study of prevalence and reported consequences

BackgroundPrior studies on the impact of problem gambling in the family mainly include help-seeking populations with small numbers of participants. The objective of the present stratified probability sample study was to explore the epidemiology of problem gambling in the family in the general population.MethodsMen and women 16–74 years-old randomly selected from the Norwegian national population database received an invitation to participate in this postal questionnaire study. The response rate was 36.1% (3,483/9,638). Given the lack of validated criteria, two survey questions ("Have you ever noticed that a close relative spent more and more money on gambling?" and "Have you ever experienced that a close relative lied to you about how much he/she gambles?") were extrapolated from the Lie/Bet Screen for pathological gambling. Respondents answering "yes" to both questions were defined as Concerned Significant Others (CSOs).ResultsOverall, 2.0% of the study population was defined as CSOs. Young age, female gender, and divorced marital status were factors positively associated with being a CSO. CSOs often reported to have experienced conflicts in the family related to gambling, worsening of the family's financial situation, and impaired mental and physical health.ConclusionProblematic gambling behaviour not only affects the gambling individual but also has a strong impact on the quality of life of family members.

Missing data on retrospective recall of early-life socio-economic position in surveillance systems: An additional disadvantage?

Inclusion of information on early-life socio-economic position (SEP) in population chronic disease and risk factor surveillance systems enables better monitoring of effects of policies and interventions on health inequities and intergenerational disadvantage. Examining data quality, in terms of item non-response, informs choices about which indicators of early-life SEP to include in surveillance questionnaires. This study examined differences in recall of indicators of early-life SEP between different socio-economic groups. Cross-sectional population survey. A representative population of people aged 18 years and over living in South Australia (n=2999) was selected at random from the electronic white pages, and a computer-assisted telephone interview was administered. Respondents with missing data on early-life SEP indicators were disadvantaged in terms of current SEP compared with those who provided this information. Among all respondents, the highest proportions of missing data were observed for maternal grandfather's main occupation (27.2%), and mother's (20.1%) and father's (19.6%) highest level of education. Family structure, housing tenure and family financial situation when the respondent was 10 years old, and mother's and father's main occupation were the indicators of early-life SEP that performed best in terms of recall. The differential response to early-life SEP questions according to current circumstances has implications for chronic disease surveillance examining the life-course impact of socio-economic disadvantage.

Wage Losses in the Year After Breast Cancer: Extent and Determinants Among Canadian Women

Wage losses after breast cancer may result in considerable financial burden. Their assessment is made more urgent because more women now participate in the workforce and because breast cancer is managed using multiple treatment modalities that could lead to long work absences. We evaluated wage losses, their determinants, and the associations between wage losses and changes for the worse in the family's financial situation among Canadian women over the first 12 months after diagnosis of early breast cancer. We conducted a prospective cohort study among women with breast cancer from eight hospitals throughout the province of Quebec. Information that permitted the calculation of wage losses and information on potential determinants of wage losses were collected by three pretested telephone interviews conducted over the year following the start of treatment. Information on medical characteristics was obtained from medical records. The main outcome was the proportion of annual wages lost because of breast cancer. Multivariable analysis of variance using the general linear model was used to identify personal, medical, and employment characteristics associated with the proportion of wages lost. All statistical tests were two-sided. Among 962 eligible breast cancer patients, 800 completed all three interviews. Of these, 459 had a paying job during the month before diagnosis. On average, these working women lost 27% of their projected usual annual wages (median = 19%) after compensation received had been taken into account. Multivariable analysis showed that a higher percentage of lost wages was statistically significantly associated with a lower level of education (P(trend) = .0018), living 50 km or more from the hospital where surgery was performed (P = .070), lower social support (P = .012), having invasive disease (P = .086), receipt of chemotherapy (P < .001), self-employment (P < .001), shorter tenure in the job (P(trend) < .001), and part-time work (P < .001). Wage losses and their effects on financial situation constitute an important adverse consequence of breast cancer in Canada.

Age and relative importance of major life domains

Based on a quality of life conceptual model which incorporates the domain comparison process postulated by the self-system perspective, this study empirically examined the relationship between age and domain comparison among adults age 50 and above. Study participants were interviewed through telephone. Domain comparison was measured by asking the participants to rank eight major life domains, based on their importance. Data were analyzed using exploded logit regression models. Among the eight domains studied, the most important was health, followed by family life, religion, friendships, financial situation, spare time, neighborhood, and work. The results indicate that age is significantly associated with domain comparison, which provides preliminary support for the domain comparison process postulated by the self-system perspective.

SES AND LIFE-STYLE PREDICTORS OF HEALTH

Background In epidemiological studies there exists the evidence of relationship between socio-economic status (SES) and health. The suspicious cause of these differences is life-style. Objectives The aim of the presented study was to identify the relationships between SES and life-style factors and health status. Methods A structured questionnaire was distributed to a random sample of population aged 25–70 and collected by postal delivery. The relationship between SES and life style factors and health status was analysed using the logistic regression. Results The total number of analysed questionnaires was 634. The lowest response-rate was in the group with the basic education. The sample was homogenous by sex and age. Significant differences were found between the group of healthy people and respondents with a chronic disease by all socio-economic factors except of family status and housing conditions. The significant differences in health status (adjusted for sex, age, education, occupation, family, economic situation, density of housing) were identified between groups by sex (women; OR = 0.54; 95%CI 0.36–0.80) by age (the number of people with a disease increased with age), by education (basic education; OR = 2.84; 95%CI 1.28–6.31; baseline university), by economic activity (non-active; OR = 1.92; 95%CI 1.17–3.15) and financial situation of family (average; OR = 0.47; 95%CI 0.28–0.76; baseline below average). Health status was significantly correlated with passivity (OR = 2.05; 95%CI 1.28–3.26), lack of psychical well-being (OR = 2.01; 95%CI 1.30–3.11), risk behaviour (OR = 0.37; 95%CI 0.24–0.57) and lack of contentment (OR = 2.92; 95%CI 1.83–4.68). Passivity (passive way of life-style) was in a significant correlation with education (basic; OR = 3.74; 95%CI 1.59–8.80; baseline university) and economical situation (average; OR = 0.54; 95%CI 0.31–0.93; baseline below average). Risk behaviour significantly decreased with age (age 51–60; OR = 0.39; 95%CI 0.17–0.90; age >61; OR = 0.16; 95%CI 0.50–0.54; baseline < 30), was higher in people living alone (OR = 3.28; 95%CI 1.77–6.05), in people living in overcrowded houses and in people economically active. Risk behaviour appeared significantly less in people with the over average economical situation of family (OR = 0.15; 95%CI 0.36–0.64) comparing with people below average. The negative impact of risk factors of life-style on health status was not confirmed in our study, the contrary in ill people risk behaviour appeared less often than in healthy people. As the study was cross-sectional one, we do not know the information of risk behaviour history. Less frequent risk behaviour in ill respondents might resulted from the change behaviour after the appearance of disease. Conclusions Overall results of the project demonstrate that health status was affected foremost by age; was better in the groups with higher education, in people with an active life-style, with the increasing economical standard of the family. Leisure time activities increased with education, but risk behaviour was in no relationship with education. Health status was more affected by active life-style than by risk behaviour. Life-style was predicted by economical situation of respondents, family and their education. Acknowledgement: This study was realised within the grant Nr. NJ/6139–3 funded by the Czech MoH.

The Relative Effect of Family Characteristics and Financial Situation on Educational Achievement

Children from poorer backgrounds are generally observed to have lower educational outcomes than other youth. However, the mechanism through which household income affects the child's outcomes remains unclear. Either, poorer families are financially constrained or some characteristics of the family make the children less likely to participate in post-compulsory education. We propose a methodology that separates financial and familial effects. As in previous studies, we find that pupils from poorer families are less likely to invest in education. However, a financial transfer would not lead to a significant increase in schooling investment, which supports the view that the family characteristic effects dominate the financial constraint effects.

Michael George Pitman 1933–2000

The Pitmans were a prolific west England family with Sir Isaac Pitman, the inventor of shorthand, the most famous member. During the 1800s four members of different branches of the family emigrated to Australia, but Michael's branch remained in Bristol. His great-grandfather Samuel William Pitman owned and operated a pork butcher's shop in Bedminster, Bristol. The eldest of his 12 children was George Pitman, Michael's grandfather. George worked first as a draper but later established his own pork butcher's shop at the other end of Bedminster. The elder of his two sons, Percy George, was Michael's father. Both sons were involved in running the shop. In 1930 Percy George married Norma Ethel Payne, who was trained and worked as a milliner. Her father (Gubby to Michael) was a skilled wood-worker who was employed as a pattern maker. Michael spent much time with Gubby and learnt from him wood-working and handyman skills. Michael, the eldest of three boys, was born on 7 February 1933 at the family home in Clift Street, Ashton. The family's financial situation became difficult and by the time the second son was born, the family had moved to cramped quarters over the shop in Bedminster. In those days a pork butcher made and cooked his own smallgoods, boiling up the pigs' cheeks and trotters and making the brawn. Each year at Christmas, Michael's mother would use the big boilers to cook batches of 20 Christmas puddings as gifts for favoured customers and business associates. Michael brought her 1932 recipe for 20�puddings to Australia, and when he was Professor of Biology at Sydney University he made small puddings for his staff in the Pitman family tradition.

What factors predict student self-rated physical health?

Data from a randomly selected sample of 840 Ontario students were used to examine factors that affect self-rated physical health. Analyses focused on demographics, family structure, family financial situation, child–parent relationship, school achievement, self-esteem, alcohol, tobacco and cannabis use as factors which directly and indirectly influence self-rated health. Specifically, higher income, good child–parent relationship, higher interest and achievement in school, high self-esteem, not smoking, and being male were all positively and directly associated with higher self-ratings of health. Family structure was mediated by income, and school achievement and child–parent relationship were mediated by tobacco use and self-esteem. Our analyses suggest that student perceptions of physical health are affected by demographic, economic, social, psychological and competency factors.

A cost analysis of a case management system for infants with chronic illnesses and developmental disabilities

Service coordination has long been a documented need of children with disabilities. The purpose of this study was to examine the costs associated with providing a comprehensive system of service coordination for hospitalized infants and toddlers with special health care needs and their families. Coordination costs were evaluated across seven functions including (a) determining eligibility for services, (b) identifying and arranging evaluations, (c) providing support to families, (d) making referrals to outside agencies, (e) exchanging information among service providers and families, (f) maintaining follow-up contact, and (g) determining discharge from the program. Results indicated that the service coordination function of providing family support was the most time-consuming task area, followed by the functions of exchanging information and maintaining follow-up contact. Costs also varied with the medical diagnosis and the child's age. Consistent with this variability, the diagnostic category and/or possibly the length of hospitalization was a better correlate of total cost of service coordination per child than was the number of months served. The complexity of the family's social and financial situation also appeared to be related to cost per month of service.

Primary Voters as Retrospective Voters

Although retrospective evaluations of the economy and other issues have been hypothesized as major determinants of vote choice in national and congressional elections, there has been little systematic analysis of retrospective voting in presidential primary elections. Using the 1980 Democratic primary, the author examines the influence of perceptions of the economy and other retrospective issues in selecting a party's nominee for the presidency. Although the voters' family financial situation was a significant determinant of vote choice, voters' perceptions of Carter's handling of the economy exhibited the greatest relative impact in the model. Retrospective evaluations of the energy crisis and foreign affairs, as well as ideological orientation (representing "prospective" evaluations), were also found to have an important impact on vote choice in the presidential primaries. In short, this study demonstrates that, when a primary is contested by an incumbent president, primary voters behave in a similar manner to general election voters.

CULTURAL MEDIATION OF POLITICAL RESPONSES TO UNEMPLOYMENT: A COMPARISON OF SPAIN AND THE UK

Should the unemployed be viewed as an underclass at the bottom of the stratification heap in modern societies? In the 1930s, the answer given by social scientists was unambiguously negative. The unemployed could not be considered as a social class; they were “a mass numerically not socially” who showed no group or class consciousness (Zawadsky and Lazarsfeld, 1935, p.2). The people who were unemployed at any one point in time, the argument ran, were a mixed collection of individuals who did not necessarily share a common view of society. The attitudes of the unemployed varied according to previous experience at work (Bakke, 1933) and individual and family financial situation (Jahoda, Lazarsfeld and Zeisel, 1932: 45). Similar arguments have been presented more recently: the responses of the unemployed to their condition depend critically on their previous political socialisation, for example, argues Bergere (1990).

The role of perception in the intention to change the family financial situation

The study investigates factors associated with the individual intentions to change the family financial situation of 337 farm respondents. The hypotheses are that intentions to change are influenced by (a) resource flexibility or constraints existing at the time of the decision situation, including off-farm employment, education, age, and household size, and (b) perceptual factors of perceived income adequacy, locus of control, degree of discrepancy between standard and level of the family financial situation, and dissatisfaction or satisfaction with the discrepancy. Older respondents and those experiencing more external control are less likely to intend to change. Younger respondents and those who perceive their incomes as more adequate are more likely to perceive that they have control over their situation. The lower the perceived income adequacy, the greater the discrepancy between standard and level of the family financial situation and the lower the satisfaction with the discrepancy. Significant indirect effects were consistent with theoretical expectations.

Mental distress and social conditions and lifestyle in northern Norway.

In a cross sectional survey of risk factors for coronary heart disease three questions about mental distress were included in a questionnaire completed by 13,704 people, 64% of the total population aged 20-54 in one municipality. Overall, 860 (12.5%) of the men and 1141 (16.8%) of the women reported having at least one symptom of mental distress. There were no distinct differences between the age groups. Single people, separated and divorced people, and those who reported that the financial situation of the family during their childhood was difficult reported more mental problems. Heavy smoking, frequent alcohol consumption, and, in men, little or no physical activity in leisure time were also associated with a high prevalence of mental distress. By multiple regression analyses, marital state, financial situation of family during childhood, and current lifestyle were found to be highly significantly associated with mental distress. Including a few questions on mental distress in health surveys provides a way to establish relations between such symptoms and social conditions and lifestyle in large numbers of subjects.

The factors affecting a family's plan to change its financial situation

This study investigates the factors involved in changing a family's financial situation for 485 Midwestern households. High income families and those with high home equity levels have a smaller gap between their standards and levels of consumption. High income families are more satisfied with their financial situations than low income families. Those families with a large gap between their standards and levels of consumption are more dissatisfied with their financial situations. Older heads of households have higher satisfaction with their financial situations and are less likely to plan to change them. Large families are less satisfied with their financial situations than small families and are more likely to plan to change them.

A. I. Denikin

Anton Ivanovich Denikin was born on December 4th, 1872.' His father, Ivan Efimovich, was born a serf. Ivan Efimovich Denikin was sent away by his lord at age twenty-seven as a recruit and spent the rest of his life in the army. He must have been a remarkable man with a strong will. He learned to read and write, and, after passing an officer's examination, he rose to the rank of major. Although it was unusual during the reign of Nicholas I for a serf to become an officer, it was not a unique event. Approximately five to seven percent of the officers joined the army as conscripts.2 The life of the average line officer in Imperial Russia was hardly a luxurious one. Pensions were especially poor. When Anton Ivanovich was born, his father was sixty-five and living in retirement. The family of five was supported on a pension of thirty-six rubles a month, a very meager sum even in those days. The family moved to a small village because life was cheaper there. Even so, toward the end of the month the retired major frequently had to borrow money from his friends. The family's financial situation further deteriorated when Ivan Efimovich died and the pension which his widow received was drastically reduced. The family lived in poverty. It is something of an irony that the last defender of Imperial Russia was born to poverty and spent most of his life as a poor man. His first memories were of a beloved old father, constantly worried about money. Surely the future leaders of the Soviet regime, Lenin and Trotsky, could not have had clearer ideas of what it meant to be poor in Russia; the Ulianov and Bronstein families were rich and comfortable compared to the Denikins. Denikin's humble background inevitably influenced his later perception of Russia, and it may have