Function Of Socioeconomic Status Research Articles

Examining Mathematics Learning Abilities as a Function of Socioeconomic Status, Achievement and Anxiety

Examining Mathematics Learning Abilities as a Function of Socioeconomic Status, Achievement and Anxiety

31-LB: The Relationship between Improvements in Glycemic Control following a Digital Health Intervention and the Food Environment in a Medicare Advantage Population

Diabetes is a complex disease that is influenced by social determinants of health (SDOH). An inadequate food environment, as a function of socioeconomic status and proximity to food retailers, has been associated with both increased prevalence of diabetes and barriers to diabetes self-management. This work examined the relationship between improvements in glycemic control as a result of a digital health intervention and the food environment in Medicare Advantage members at risk for diabetes-related complications (hemoglobin A1c [A1c] ≥ 8%). Participants enrolled in the Vida Health Diabetes Management program as part of their medical insurance benefit and utilized remote sessions with Registered Dietitians and Certified Diabetes Care and Education Specialists as well as content related to goal-setting to account for SDOH factors. The 2010 USDA Food Access Research Atlas was used to identify areas of low income and the absence of a food retailer within 0.5 or 1 urban and 10 rural miles (LILA). Participants were included if they had a laboratory A1c between -365 to -1 and 60 to 365-days of enrollment. Participants with baseline A1c ≥ 8.0 (n=430, 229 F, 68.9 y) demonstrated a decrease of -0.90 points (SD 1.71, p<0.001). Thirty-five percent resided in LILA areas at the 0.5, and twenty percent at 1 mile distance. Participants who resided in LILA areas had higher baseline A1c (0.5 difference: 0.37 (p=0.02), 1 difference: 0.51 (p=0.005)). Those with baseline A1c ≥ 9.0 (n=216, 120 F, 67.8 y) demonstrated a decrease of -1.38 points (SD 1.96, p<0.001). Thirty-nine percent resided in LILA areas at the 0.5, and twenty-three percent at 1 mile distance. Baseline A1c differences were not observed. Differences in improvements in A1c based on LILA were not observed (p’s > 0.05). Irrespective of LILA residence, the Vida Health program demonstrated significant improvements in glycemic control within 1 year in a high-risk Medicare Advantage population. Disclosure C. Edwards: Employee; Vida Health. L. Voelker: Employee; Vida Health. G. Zimmermann: Employee; Vida Health. K. Rawlings: Employee; Vida Health. A. Venkatesan: Employee; Vida Health. Funding Vida Health

Comparing food consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic: analysis of household income and expenditure survey data in Iran

BackgroundOn March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the outbreak of the infectious disease COVID-19 as a pandemic. The health strategies of nations lead to possible changes in lifestyle and increase poor eating habits. Hence, the purpose of this study is to compare food consumption during COVID-19 pandemic in Iran.MethodsThis cross-sectional study used secondary data from the Households Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) conducted annually by the Statistical Centre of Iran. Food cost data of HIES included the amount of all food items in household food baskets during the last month. Then, they were classified into six food groups to evaluate their energy intake. The consequence of food consumption was analyzed as a function of socioeconomic status (SES) variables and residence pre- and post-COVID-19 pandemic.ResultsIn total, 75,885 households (83.5% male) were included in the study. Among the population of urban and rural areas as well as in different SES categories, people tended to increase the consumption of meat (P < 0.05) and fresh foods, especially vegetable groups (P < 0.001) and decrease the consumption of fruit (P < 0.001), fat and sweets groups (P < 0.05) and also in energy intake (P < 0.05). Macronutrient changes were different in the category of SES, urban and rural.ConclusionOur study indicated that the COVID-19 pandemic had different effects on food groups, energy and macronutrients consumption, which could be due to possible changes in food patterns as a result of the pandemic.

Diabetes Technology and Therapy in the Pediatric Age Group.

Diabetes Technology and Therapy in the Pediatric Age Group.

How does money make life meaningful? Socioeconomic status, financial self-efficacy, and meaning in life

ABSTRACT Four experiments (N = 1,064) examined how primes enhancing the cognitive accessibility of money influence meaning in life (MIL) as a function of socioeconomic status (SES) and current financial self-efficacy. Study 1 demonstrated that financial self-efficacy mediated the association between SES and MIL following a prime of gaining money. In the control condition, SES was unrelated to financial self-efficacy, but following the prime of gaining money, SES was positively linked with financial self-efficacy, which in turn predicted enhanced meaning. Studies 2, 3a, and 3b demonstrated that primes of losing money similarly enhanced MIL as a function of SES and financial self-efficacy. Extending these results, exploratory analyses in Studies 3a and 3b suggested that money priming may influence occupational choices differently as a function of SES via MIL and financial self-efficacy. Reminders of money amplify the link between SES and financial self-efficacy, which bolsters MIL and can guide occupational preferences.

Relationships among age, socioeconomic status, and distractibility in preschoolers as assessed by the Competitive Attention Test

In children, the ability to attend to relevant auditory information and ignore distracting information is crucial for learning and educational achievement. Distractibility, the propensity to pay attention to irrelevant information, depends on multiple components of cognition (voluntary attention orienting, sustained attention, distraction resulting from the capture of attention by a distractor, phasic arousal, impulsivity, and motor control) that may mature at different ages. Here, we used the Competitive Attention Test (CAT) to measure these components in children aged 3 to 5 years. Our goal was to characterize changes in the efficiency of attention during the preschool period and to determine whether distractibility varies as a function of socioeconomic status (SES). All 3-year-olds (n = 14) and some 4- and 5-year-olds (n = 21) needed to be excluded from the sample due to noncompliance with instructions, suggesting that the CAT might not be suitable for children with poorly developed skills in sustained attention. Among 4- and 5-year-olds who completed the CAT (n = 71), sustained attention improved with age, whereas voluntary attention orienting remained immature. Independent of age, task-irrelevant sounds induced distraction, phasic arousal, and impulsivity. There was no relationship between SES and children’s distraction. Finally, children from lower SES backgrounds showed reduced sustained attention abilities and increased impulsivity. Taken together, these findings suggest that distractibility is still developing during the preschool period and is likely to vary depending on the SES background of a child’s family.

Socioeconomic status differences in children's affective decision-making: The role of awareness in the Children's Gambling Task.

Future-oriented decision-making is an important adaptive behavior. In the present study, we examined whether decision-making varies as a function of socioeconomic status (SES) using the Children's Gambling task (CGT). We administered the CGT to 227 children (49% female, 48% low SES) between the ages of 5 and 7 years. After completing the CGT, we assessed children's knowledge of the reward/loss contingencies. Data analysis was conducted through multilevel modeling. Fluid intelligence, as measured by the Test of Nonverbal Intelligence, was included as a covariate in the analysis. Overall performance differed between SES groups. Children from middle/high-SES backgrounds learned to choose more from the deck with higher future reward. In contrast, children in the low-SES group did not act in a full future-oriented manner. No differences were found in the level of explicit understanding of the task reached by the two SES groups. Whereas middle/high-SES children with higher knowledge of the game performed better on the last blocks of the task in comparison with their same-SES peers with no understanding, low-SES children with higher explicit knowledge did not exhibit an improvement in their decision-making strategy in comparison with their same-SES low-awareness counterparts. Fluid intelligence did not predict CGT performance, suggesting that SES differences were not mediated by reasoning capabilities. The finding that children from low-SES families continued exhibiting an immediate reward-oriented strategy despite being aware of deck contingencies fits with (although speculatively) the evolutionary-developmental framework. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Does socioeconomic status impact the relationship between school absence and outcomes?

Absence from school, especially frequent or prolonged absence, is acknowledged as a potential factor in school dropout and suboptimal academic achievement. The issue of absence from school took on added significance in 2020 with the onset of the COVID-19 crisis, which resulted in schooling interruptions in several jurisdictions. However, there is little agreement in the literature on the exact relationship between absence and school outcomes as a function of socioeconomic status (SES). Using nationally representative pre-COVID longitudinal data of young Australians aged 12–13 and 14–15, this paper examines the relationship between absence from school on the one hand and school belonging and academic achievement (numeracy and reading test scores) on the other. The paper also examines whether SES intersects this relationship. Controlling for gender, prior educational achievement, computer access, and time spent doing homework, the study finds that absence impacts belonging, but that SES does not significantly influence this relationship. The effect of absence on reading is not significant either. However, absence is associated with numeracy outcomes, with the strongest associations among low SES young people at age 14. Policy implications of these findings are discussed.

P401. Developmental Changes in Network-Level and Subcortical Participation Coefficient: The Moderating Role of Socioeconomic Status

Characterizing normative developmental changes in network integration is critical for understanding typical and atypical development. Additionally, examining these changes as a function of socioeconomic status (SES) offers insight into how inequalities affect brain function. Using a sample from the Lifespan Human Connectome Project in Development (HCP-D), we investigated age-related changes in network-level and subcortical participation coefficient (PC; degree of intra-community segregation vs inter-community integration) and the moderating role of SES.

Race, Ethnicity, and the Scarr-Rowe Hypothesis: A Cautionary Example of Fringe Science Entering the Mainstream

In 2020, Pesta et al. published an article entitled “Racial and Ethnic Group Differences in the Heritability of Intelligence: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis” in the journal Intelligence. The authors framed their analysis as an examination of the Scarr-Rowe hypothesis, which holds that the heritability of intelligence varies as a function of socioeconomic status. Pesta et al. concluded that the heritability of intelligence does not differ across racial and ethnic groups in the United States. They claimed their results challenge the Scarr-Rowe hypothesis and support the hereditarian position that mean differences in IQ among racial and ethnic groups are attributable to genetic differences rather than environmental disparities. In this commentary, we outline severe theoretical, methodological, and rhetorical flaws in every step of Pesta et al.’s meta-analysis. The most reliable finding from Pesta et al. is consistent with the Scarr-Rowe hypothesis and directly contradicts a hereditarian understanding of group differences in intelligence. Finally, we suggest that Pesta et al. serves as an example of how racially motivated and poorly executed work can find its way into a mainstream scientific journal, underscoring the importance of robust peer review and rigorous editorial judgment in the open-science era.

The burden of climate action: How environmental responsibility is impacted by socioeconomic status

As climate change increasingly wreaks havoc, sustainability is becoming a moral imperative. Yet, the strength of individuals' moral obligations to engage in sustainable actions may vary in accordance with their societal positions. In three studies (total N = 614), we investigated how moral obligations vary as a function of socioeconomic status (SES). Participants evaluated their own and others' obligations to engage in sustainable behaviors through vignettes that varied the cost of these behaviors and the SES of the characters who were engaged in these behaviors. Results showed that perceived moral responsibility was diminished in cases when sustainability required monetary sacrifice, particularly when the people being evaluated were individuals of low SES. The increase in moral obligation associated with elevated SES of the characters in the vignettes was fully mediated by perceptions of greater affordability and by perceptions of greater culpability for contributing to climate change. However, we did not find strong evidence that participants’ own SES had an effect on their judgments. Overall, rather than sustainability being considered a blanket obligation that is applicable across people and contexts, people typically ascribe more moral responsibility when sustainability is not financially burdensome.

Socioeconomic status differences in the linguistic environment: a study with Spanish-speaking populations in Argentina

ABSTRACT Evidence shows individual variation in lexical acquisition as a function of socioeconomic status and linguistic input. Research has primarily involved English-speaking populations and considered only mothers’ child-directed speech. This study analyzes the effects of socioeconomic status on quantitative and qualitative properties of linguistic input – child-directed and overheard – to Argentinean children, an understudied population. The data consists of 54 hours of audio recording during home observations of 27 Spanish-learning infants (8–18 months old) from low- and middle-socioeconomic households. Results show the different impact of socioeconomic status on quantitative and qualitative input properties according to the definition of input (child-directed and overheard input from all participants, child-directed from the primary caregiver) adopted in this study.

Socioeconomic Disparities in Positive Airway Pressure Adherence: An Integrative Review.

Nonadherence with positive airway pressure (PAP) therapy impedes the effectiveness of treatment and increases risk of mortality. Disparities in PAP adherence as a function of socioeconomic status (SES) are not well understood. A literature search identified 16 original publications meeting inclusion criteria that described effects of SES factors on objective PAP adherence; 69% of these articles found evidence of lower adherence as a function of SES. This integrative review provides a structured summary of the findings, highlights factors that may contribute to disparities among adult PAP users, and identifies future directions to improve equity in the management of OSA.

Differential manifestation of COVID-19 anxiety and adherence to precautionary measures as a function of socioeconomic status: A longitudinal study in coastal Andhra Pradesh

Introduction: There is a possibility that the coronavirus disease (COVID-19)-related anxiety may differ between people from varied socioeconomic status for a variety of reasons. Furthermore, the adherence to COVID-19 precautionary measures could be different between socioeconomic strata in light of the differences in opportunities to more effectively follow these measures for people from different socioeconomic status. Aim and Objectives: The aim of this study was to check the differences in COVID-19 anxiety and precautionary measure adherence between subjects from different socioeconomic strata and to conduct a stratified analysis of the association between anxiety and adherence based on socioeconomic status of the participants. Materials and Methods: This longitudinal study was conducted in the months of July and November 2020 among 648 subjects belonging to the coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh. The COVID-19 Anxiety Scale (CAS) was used to assess the disease-related anxiety among the study participants, and self-reported adherence (SRA) scores were collected to document the adherence of the study subjects to COVID-19 precautionary measures. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS version 20 software. Results: Significant differences were found in the CAS scores between subjects from different socioeconomic strata in the month of July, while no such observations were made in November. For the outcome of SRA scores, there were significant differences between socioeconomic strata at both the study time points. Overall, the mean CAS and SRA scores decreased from July (20.35 ± 5.54 and 14.48 ± 3.45, respectively) to November (15.96 ± 5.67 and 12.57 ± 4.17, respectively). Conclusion: The study results highlight the need to reinforce the necessity and importance of adhering to COVID-19 precautionary measures in light of the potential danger of the second wave of COVID-19 in the country.

Absenteeism in the First Decade of Education Forecasts Civic Engagement and Educational and Socioeconomic Prospects in Young Adulthood.

Much has been established about the short-term consequences of missing school, yet little is known about the longer-term outcomes of absenteeism. To address this gap in knowledge, the current study considered the consequences of school absenteeism between kindergarten and eighth grade for the behavioral, economic, and educational outcomes of young adults. Participants were drawn from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (age 22-23; 54% female and 86% White, n = 648). The findings indicated that individuals who were more regularly absent from school were not more frequently engaged in risky, deviant, or criminal behaviors in young adulthood. However, those who were more regularly absent described being less likely to be politically engaged, reported themselves as experiencing greater economic difficulties, with less optimal educational outcomes, and as marginally more likely to have a child. The outcomes of absenteeism were largely cumulative and there was little evidence to suggest that the outcomes of absenteeism varied across urban and rural communities or as a function of socioeconomic status. Taken together, this study provides new insight into the long-term consequences of missing school and points to the importance of addressing absenteeism in the first ten years of students' educational careers.

SES Differences in Children's Argumentative Production.

Recent studies have examined the argumentative strategies used by young children in everyday situations as well as in experimental settings. However, differences in argumentative production as a function of Socio-Economic Status (SES) have been minimally explored. This study aims to analyze eventual differences regarding social group in the use of argumentative strategies and connectors marking causal and adversative relationships within these strategies. The corpus is 615 disputes occurred during play situations in the homes of 39 4-year old children living in Buenos Aires, Argentina: 453 of mid SES children and 162 of low SES. Argumentative strategies were codified using a system of inductively derived categories: a) the reiteration of the child’s point of view; b) the narration of previous experiences; c) the anticipation of courses of action; d) generalization; e) the description of the characteristics of an object, event or internal state; f) referencing authority; g) the mitigation of the point of view; h) providing an alternative proposal. Results show that in both social groups the use of an argumentative strategy to sustain the point of view predominates over merely stating the point of view. Additionally, we found significant differences in a) Reiteration strategy, with the low SES group showing a greater use of this strategy and b) Generalization and Description strategies, with the mid SES children employing these ones more frequently. Regarding the connectors, significant differences were only detected in the use of consecutive and adversative markers. The mid SES group showed a greater use of these particular connectors.

Cognitive Stimulation as a Mechanism Linking Socioeconomic Status With Executive Function: A Longitudinal Investigation.

Executive functions (EF), including working memory, inhibition, and cognitive flexibility, vary as a function of socioeconomic status (SES), with children from economically disadvantaged backgrounds having poorer performance than their higher SES peers. Using observational methods, we investigated cognitive stimulation in the home as a mechanism linking SES with EF. In a sample of 101 children aged 60-75months, cognitive stimulation fully mediated SES-related differences in EF. Critically, cognitive stimulation was positively associated with the development of inhibition and cognitive flexibility across an 18-month follow-up period. Furthermore, EF at T1 explained SES-related differences in academic achievement at T2. Early cognitive stimulation-a modifiable factor-may be a desirable target for interventions designed to ameliorate SES-related differences in cognitive development and academic achievement.

Psychosocial Mediators between Socioeconomic Status and Dietary Restrictions among Patients Receiving Hemodialysis in Japan.

The generalizability of differences in dietary restrictions (DRs) as function of socioeconomic status (SES) and the pathways of the associations between SES and DRs remain unclear. Therefore, we aimed to explore SES differences in DRs and psychosocial mediators between SES and DRs in Japanese patients receiving hemodialysis. This study was a cross-sectional survey of 6,644 outpatients (average age = 66.5 years; 65% males) of hemodialysis facilities across Japan. DRs were assessed by self-reported and objective measures, and SES was assessed based on education and income. Three psychosocial mediators were used: self-efficacy, control expectancy, and social support. Indirect influences of SES through the mediators were evaluated with a multiple mediator model. Although higher education was significantly associated with higher self-reported DRs, higher income was significantly associated with lower self-reported DRs. Significant SES differences in objective DRs were not observed. The relationships between education and self-reported DRs and objective DRs were significantly mediated by self-efficacy and/or control expectancy. The influences of income were mediated by social support. It becomes possible to design interventions targeting modifiable psychosocial factors including self-efficacy, control expectancy, and social support in order to reduce SES inequalities in DRs.

The centrality of health behaviours: A network analytic approach.

Since behavioural risk factors are the foremost causes of disability and premature mortality, developing new perspectives for understanding them is of utmost importance. This paper describes an innovative approach that conceptualizes health-related behaviours as nodes in a weighted network. Using self-reported data from a representative sample (n=374), a network of 37 health behaviours was analysed, with the aim of identifying 'central' nodes, that is, behaviours that are likely to co-occur with others and potentially influence them. In line with conservation of resources theory, the analysis indicated that behaviours related to basic physiological needs (nutrition and sleep) were most central. Behaviour centrality also varied across subpopulations: Periodic medical examinations, eating meals regularly, and sleep hygiene were more central among high- compared to low-socio-economic status participants; behaviours related to supportive social relationships and sun protection were more central among women compared to men. By emphasizing behavioural connectivity, the approach applied herein has identified core health behaviours with potentially high impact on healthy lifestyle behaviours. Statement of Contribution What is already known on this subject? Many health behaviours are related to each other. Engagement in one health behaviour can affect engagement in other behaviours. What does this study add? Health behaviour can be viewed and analysed as a network. Sleep and nutrition behaviours are the most central behaviours in the network. Centrality varies as a function of socio-economic status and gender.

Mental Health as a Function of Socio-Economic Status

Mental Health as a Function of Socio-Economic Status