Household Configuration Research Articles

“Since the market is closed, there is no more money, there is nothing we can do”: Voices of adolescent girls in Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone on poverty and COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic is expected to widen inequalities and hamper the SDG commitments of gender equality and poverty reduction. In Africa, it is feared that the social consequences of the pandemic will undo the progress in gender equality achieved over the last two decades. Through in-depth qualitative telephone interviews with 37 adolescent girls in Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone this paper sheds light on the economic consequences of the pandemic on girls. Adolescent girls' experience of the pandemic is strongly mediated by their household configuration, resources and geographical context. Our data identifies three groups: i) sheltered from the economic impact of the pandemic, ii) coping or adjusting, and iii) severely affected. We also identify a fourth group of girls, found only in Burkina Faso, whose lives have been affected by conflict and who perceive the impact of the pandemic to be minor compared to enduring violence and trauma. Our analysis shows the unequal impact of COVID-19 and the measures implemented to contain it is likely to increase economic inequality, particularly in areas with longer-lasting restrictions, as coping mechanisms erode over time. Furthermore, the pandemic is likely to accelerate marriages and the end of schooling thus increasing gender inequality. Such effects are also mediated by resources girls have access to. We argue that achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) ideals requires innovative, appropriate and sustainable solutions with the combined effort of governments and the development community that respond to the lived experiences of adolescent girls. Finally, necessary attention to the consequences of the pandemic should not detract from addressing ongoing issues affecting adolescent girls, including poverty and conflict.

Gender inequalities at work in Southern Europe

Despite a long-term trend towards reduction, the gender gap in employment keeps standing in Southern Europe. Numerous potential causes have been individuated, such as the household configuration, women’s human capital, or the institutions that regulate the labour market. Less is known about the role of the locality. This paper explores what covariates influence women’s access to labour markets, and whether it is unevenly distributed across different countries and regions in Southern Europe. The analysis is based on the dataset round 9 (2018) from the European Social Survey. We focus on the following countries available in the dataset: Cyprus, Italy, Spain and Portugal. Italy and Spain are further differentiated into vulnerable and affluent regions according to the regional GDP in 2018. We apply a regression model for the binary response that is the indicator of having been doing paid work for the last 7 days of each individual in the sample. We adopt the Bayesian approach, to derive conclusions via a whole probability distribution, i.e., the posterior of all parameters, given data. The statistical goal is the selection of the most important covariates for access to the labour market, focusing on gender differences. Our analysis finds out that individual characteristics are mediated by household composition. Even though higher education increases women’s employment, the presence of children and having an employed partner reduce such involvement. Moreover, a larger gender gap is detected in vulnerable regions rather than affluent ones, especially in Italy.

The protective role of caretakers in the delinquency of detained youth in São Paulo, Brazil

BackgroundBrazil is one of the world’s most violent countries, and much of that violence is perpetrated by juveniles. A common judicial sanction for the riskiest delinquents is commitment to facilities which perform the dual role of caring for and incapacitating these youth. ObjectiveOur study describes the disadvantages to which detained youths are exposed and investigates the association between these youth’s household configuration and their prior delinquency history. Participants and SettingWe analyze novel survey data of 281 juveniles who are detained in facilities throughout São Paulo—the most populous state of Brazil. MethodsWe use negative binomial regression models to estimate the association between youth’s household configuration and the (1) frequency, (2) severity, and (3) duration of their delinquency history. ResultsThe presence of any caretaker is a key protective factor against delinquency. Fathers are a rare element in delinquents’ households, but their presence has a strong negative effect on delinquency. We also found similar effects for the presence of extended family and of configurations that do not involve a family member. However, single mothers and stepparents are less protective for reasons described in the literature. ConclusionsFindings highlight the importance of the presence of a caretaker, but show that the specific configuration through which this guardianship operates (whether by a parent, grandparent, or other) carries less importance. Implications are discussed.

How do suburban residents organize their daily lives? A behavioural time–space analysis in Beijing, China

ABSTRACT Rapid suburbanization in China is dramatically reshaping the daily life of urban residents. In China, long-distance commuting, traffic congestion, spatial mismatch and the low quality of life resulting from residential suburbanization are causing widespread concern. This paper compares the changes in time allocation from a time-use perspective, based on two activity-travel survey datasets collected in suburban Beijing in respectively 2007 and 2017. Travelling time to work has increased substantially between 2007 and 2017 and particularly impacted non-working activities. Working and commuting showed to have the greatest impact on time allocated to non-work activities, both in home and out of home, both maintenance and discretionary activities. Furthermore, residents’ allocation of time to non-work activities shows to be influenced too by their socioeconomic attributes, such as gender, marital status and household configuration (e.g. extended family). We found that the space–time constraints imposed by household responsibilities leads to greater gender differences in time allocation. This paper provides insight into how urban residents reallocate their time as a result of increasing suburbanization.

Effects of Media Exposure to COVID-19 Information on Consumer Perceived Threats and Risk Mitigation Behaviors towards Dining-out: Moderating Roles of Household Configuration

본 연구에서는 COVID-19 관련 미디어 노출이 코로나 감염에 관한 지각된 위협, 외식 관련 위험 완화 행동에 미치는 영향을 파악하고, 가구 유형에 따른 조절효과를 검증하였다. 본 연구를 위해 총 389명의 고객들을 대상으로 설문 조사를 실시하였고 연구 결과 COVID-19 관련 미디어 노출은 코로나 감염에 관한 지각된 위협에 유의한 영향을 미친다는 것을 알아내었다. 또한 코로나 감염에 관한 지각된 위협은 외식 관련 위험 완화 행동을 낮추는 것으로 나타났다. 가구 유형의 조절효과를 살펴본 결과 다인 가구가 1인 가구보다 코로나 감염에 관한 지각된 위협을 더 높게 인지하는 것으로 나타났다. 이에 외식 산업에서는 1인 가구에 초점을 맞춘 적절한 전략을 세워야 할 것이다. 본 연구의 결과는 실무자들에게 유용한 의미가 될 수 있다.This study was designed to examine how media exposure to COVID-19 information influences customer perceived threats and their risk reduction behaviors towards dining-out. Results showed that media exposure to COVID-19 information increased perceived threats and also the negative relationship affected risk mitigation dining-out behaviors. Also the negative relationship between perceived threats and risk mitigation dining-out behaviors was found. The effect of media exposure to COVID-19 information on consumer perceived threats was significantly stronger in the multi-person household group than in the single-person household group. Further the negative effect of perceived threats on risk mitigation dining-out behaviors was stronger in the multi-person household group than in the single-person household group.

A New Methodological Approach to Study Household Structure From Census and Survey Data

How household-level data from censuses and surveys are analyzed to study household structure is an issue that has received little attention. The present study proposes a new methodological approach to address this gap. Specifically, we introduce the idea of the household configuration as a mathematical representation of observations from the household roster that uses the tools of sequence analysis to study relationships between household members. This “household configuration approach” is statistically efficient, captures the heterogeneity of family forms in a population, and is computationally simple. An application to Canadian census data for Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples shows that our approach can yield interesting insights into household structure, otherwise not readily obtained.

Home chef meal kits: Product attributes, perceived value and repurchasing intentions the moderating effects of household configuration

Considering the growing popularity meal kits are undergoing in today's grocery sales market, and also with respect to barriers presented for restaurant dining due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it is essential to obtain more knowledge surrounding those product and service attributes pertaining to consumers and meal kits. Thus, this study was designed to investigate meal kits' essential attributes representing food quality, menu variety, health-oriented, convenience and price in association with their effects upon users' perceived value, and intention to continuously use. Two attributes representing high quality food dishes and menu variety were found to be the most important meal kit attributes because they both strongly improved hedonic and functional value for consumers. Results identified meal kit food quality as having more positive effects upon perceived value for the multi-person household segment when compared with the single-person household group. Comparatively, the effects of menu variety upon perceived value were more positive in the single-person household group than in the multi-person household group. Based on our findings, theoretical, managerial implications, limitations and recommendations for future research are provided.

Intergenerational Consequences of Births to Unmarried Women

Births to unmarried women have increased 10-fold, from about four percent in 1960 to 40 percent in 2018. Apart from teenagers, women of every age, race and ethnic group, and education level have contributed to this trend. A substantial literature reveals that children raised in two parent households fare better in life than those in any other household configuration. Many unmarried mothers inadvertently raise disadvantaged children, which is partly the product of low income that is common in non-traditional households. Exacerbating the effects of low income for these households are problems associated with family stress, household instability, and fewer parenting resources. The result is a tragedy for the children which also imposes high social costs. In 2020 about 20 percent of the prime age labor force, aged 25-54, was born to an unmarried woman. By 2050 it will be almost 40 percent. Their lower productivity undermines the social safety net that supports older Americans and is likely to increase the poverty rate when they retire even if Social Security benefits are sustained at the current level. High quality pre-school education programs that might improve the life chances of these children are explored as are vocational education and apprenticeship programs that target teens and young adults. Improving the marriage market might reduce the incidence of births to unmarried women. The corona-19 pandemic revealed how widespread economic insecurity is in the United States. Institutional reform that guarantees medical care, standard housing, and high quality day care for all citizens could relieve this insecurity with substantial benefits to children raised in non-traditional households.

Family Context and Adolescent Risky Sexual Behavior: an Examination of the Influence of Family Structure, Family Transitions and Parenting.

Considerable research has been devoted to understanding the influence of the family on adolescents' risky sexual behavior, with primary focus being given to family structure, family transitions, or parenting. Using longitudinal data from the Family and Community Health Study (n = 550, 54% female, age 10.5 years at Wave 1), an African American sample, the current study goes beyond past research to examine the combined influence of all of these factors while also assessing a wider and more culturally sensitive array of family structures, family transitions, and mediators. Results demonstrated that while continuously married mother-father households were most efficacious in reducing risky sexual behavior for both males and females, mother-relative households, a common household configuration among African American families, were also beneficial for females compared to single-mother, mother-stepfather, and mother-cohabiting partner households. With regard to family transitions, mothers' number of divorces as well as her number of cohabiting breakups were associated with an increase in adolescents' risky sex. Family structure and family transition effects were partially mediated by hostile parenting, as well as adolescents' sexual attitudes and affiliation with sexually active peers. Even after accounting for the impact of these mediators, however, family structure and transitions at age 13 continued to have an effect on participation in risky sex when adolescents were 18 years of age. These results indicate that an array of family factors combine to influence the probability of adolescent participation in risky sex over time.

SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19): What Do We Know About Children? A Systematic Review

Background: Few paediatric cases of COVID-19 have been reported and we know little about the epidemiology in children. We have synthesised what is known globally about SARS-CoV-2 in children, including infection rate, clinical presentation, clinical outcomes and transmission dynamics. We discuss in the context of data relating to two other novel coronaviruses (SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV) in paediatric populations that were also reviewed. We aim to inform clinical and public health measures relating to children affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: We undertook a rapid systematic review and narrative synthesis of all literature relating to SARs-CoV-2 in paediatric populations. The search terms also included SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV, to inform the discussion. We searched three databases and hand searched the COVID-19 resource centres of eleven major journals and publishers for all studies addressing the research questions. English abstracts of Chinese language papers were included. Data were extracted and narrative syntheses conducted. Findings: 24 studies relating to COVID-19 were included in the review. The quality of the literature is generally poor, and the majority is from China. Children appear to be less affected by the COVID-19 outbreak than adults by observed rate of cases in large epidemiological studies. Limited data on attack rate indicate that children are just as susceptible to infection. Data on clinical outcomes are scarce but include several reports of asymptomatic infection and a milder course of disease in young children. Radiological abnormalities are noted in both groups. Severe cases are not reported in detail and there has been one reported death. There is one reported case of transmission from a child to an adult and no further data relating to transmission from children. Interpretation: There is an emerging discrepancy between observed case rate of COVID-19 (lower) and infection rate of SARS-CoV-2 (higher) in children in China. Children may be asymptomatic or too mildly infected to draw medical attention, be tested and counted in observed cases of COVID-19. Household configuration in China (as a legacy of the ‘one-child’ policy) may mean the Chinese experience of paediatric case rates will not prove to be typical. There are inadequate data on transmissibility of SARS-CoV-2 from children. To our knowledge this is the most comprehensive review of evidence on paediatric COVID-19 to date. It highlights gaps in knowledge that demonstrate the importance of evidence generation in paediatric populations, equivalent to that in adults, as part of the current pandemic response. Funding Statement: Oliver Mytton’s salary is funded through an NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer award. Edward Mullin’s salary is funded through an NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer award. Declaration of Interest: Dr. Mullins reports other from Department for Health and Social Care, during the conduct of the study. All remaining authors declare no conflict of interest. Ethics Approval Statement: This study utilized PRISMA.

Smart Appliances for Efficient Integration of Solar Energy: A Dutch Case Study of a Residential Smart Grid Pilot

This paper analyzes the use patterns of a residential smart grid pilot in the Netherlands, called PowerMatching City. The analysis is based on detailed monitoring data measured at 5-min intervals for the year 2012, originating from this pilot which was realized in 2007 in Groningen, Netherlands. In this pilot, smart appliances, heat pumps, micro-combined heat and power (µ-CHP), and solar photovoltaic (PV) systems have been installed to evaluate their efficiency, their ability to reduce peak electricity purchase, and their effects on self-sufficiency and on the local use of solar electricity. As a result of the evaluation, diverse yearly and weekly indicators have been determined, such as electricity purchase and delivery, solar production, flexible generation, and load. Depending on the household configuration, up to 40% of self-sufficiency is achieved on an annual average basis, and 14.4% of the total consumption were flexible. In general, we can conclude that micro-CHP contributed to keep purchase from the grid relatively constant throughout the seasons. Adding to that, smart appliances significantly contributed to load shifting in peak times. It is recommended that similar evaluations will be conducted in other smart grid pilots to statistically enhance insights in the functioning of residential smart grids.

An Employee’s Living Wage and Their Quality of Work Life: How Important Are Household Size and Household Income?

Living Wage (LW) campaigns normally assume a prototype household configuration in setting their LW rate, comprised of number of dependent householders and the number of incomes. This information is used to calculate the hourly pay rate required to sustain their quality of life and work life. Real households are nonetheless diverse in terms of number of householders and incomes, rendering the living wage conceptually more of a continuous variable than a single constant, across a wage spectrum. We explored this spectrum and its links to job attitudes with a nationally representative sample of N = 1011 low-waged New Zealanders. We measured each participant’s: hourly pay rate, number of household dependents and total household income, alongside individual job attitudes indicative of quality of work life (job satisfaction, work engagement, career satisfaction, meaningful empowerment, affective commitment, organizational citizenship behaviours and work-life balance). As a set, job attitudes consistently pivoted upwards into positive values approximating the campaign LW rate in New Zealand, regardless of either number of household dependents or household income (net of personal wage). However household income net of personal wage (unlike number of household dependents) buffered the gradient of the pivot upwards. The gradient was steeper (more clearly transformational and binary) among lowest-waged workers, in single-income households. To the extent that job attitudes as a set are already widely linked to individual and unit-level productivity, paying at or above the living wage threshold may bring productivity gains and thereby contribute toward decent work and economic development combined.

New Social Program Participation During the Great Recession: The Case of SNAP*

ObjectivesIt is unknown if the explosion in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) usage during the Great Recession was due to an inflow of new participants or instead because former participants cycled back into the program. It is also unknown if the profiles of new and return participants differed on a set of core demographic characteristics, including race/ethnicity, gender, education, age, household configuration, and location.MethodsI examine the complete adult SNAP participation histories for a nationally representative cross‐section of 7,680 individuals at the end of the Great Recession. Data are from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics with observations spanning the period 1968–2010.ResultsA large number of adult SNAP participants used the program for the first time during the Great Recession. New participants were not solely young adults and often originated from groups not typically associated with social program participation, such as: whites, suburbanites, and the highly educated. Repeat participants had varying program histories prior to the recession. Some spent a substantial portion of adulthood receiving program benefits while most others were only sporadic participants.ConclusionsThe findings demonstrate that SNAP was very successful in reaching the many new types of people who were exposed to the risk of poverty as a result of the economic downturn.

The influence of design and everyday practices on individual heating and cooling behaviour in residential homes

Emerging results from practice-based research demonstrate that energy efficient houses often do not meet theoretical energy use based on the current standards of residential buildings. A factor influencing this inconsistency is related to user behaviour and everyday practices. The objective of this research is to uncover some of the complexities associated with the practices of heating and cooling in the home, which are influenced by motivations, knowledge and technologies, including the use of photovoltaic panels. For this purpose, ten Australian houses were established as embedded Living Labs and monitored for over a year. The results confirm the variation of energy use in houses; in this case, similar designs vary by up to 33%. The type of heating and cooling systems that houses rely on through the year was found to be a major determinant in energy use. However, energy variation between houses is also linked to intra-home practices and behaviours. This research found that individuals living in the same house may have different motivations and/or heating and cooling practices, affecting the overall energy use. For instance, one individual who is motivated to save on energy bills might turn on appliances during the day to make the most of solar panels or use the heater for brief periods of time, whilst another inhabitant of the same house might turn on the heater for extended periods out of habit or to achieve a hedonic experience. The adoption of an explanatory design mixed-method approach to study everyday practices in the home showed that the routines, household configuration, technology and varied occupant motivations impact on the practice of ambient heating and cooling, impacting its regularity, duration, time of the day and intensity.

A quantitative framework for assessing public investment in tourism – An application to Haiti

This study develops a linked regional computable general equilibrium and micro-simulation (RCGE-MS) model to assess the regional economy-wide and poverty impacts of a US$36 million investment in tourism in the south of Haiti. The first social accounting matrix for Haiti with a base year of 2012/2013 was constructed to calibrate the model. This research addresses three key gaps identified in the tourism impact assessment literature. First, a destination-specific tourism demand and value chain analysis was used to calibrate the shocks implemented in the model. Second, the RCGE-MS approach moves beyond the representative household configuration to enable more robust analysis of tourism investment impacts on poverty and income inequality. Third, results of this modeling were used to inform a social cost-benefit analysis to provide greater transparency in the evaluation of trade-offs between investment alternatives. Results of this analysis showed a positive impact on sectoral activity, especially for the hotel and restaurant sector (182.1% in 2040) and a 2.0% increase in Gross Regional Product by 2040. The South's exports fell 4.7% below baseline and imports were 6.1% higher due to the inflow of foreign exchange, the appreciation of the regional real exchange rate, increased demand for most goods and services, and limited regional productive capacity. The rate of unemployment fell from 26% to 23%. The investment helped lift some of the region's poorest out of poverty, reducing the poverty headcount by 1.6 percentage points. Driving this result was an increase in employment, wages and non-labor income. The linked RCGE-MS approach proves to be a powerful tool for assessing how tourism investments affect regional economic activity and revealing the mechanisms through which tourism can contribute to increased employment opportunities and poverty reduction.

A highly resolved modeling technique to simulate residential power demand

This paper presents a model to simulate the electricity demand of a single household consisting of multiple individuals. The total consumption is divided into four main categories, namely cold appliances, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning, lighting, and energy consumed by household members’ activities. The first three components are modeled using engineering physically-based models, while the activity patterns of individuals are modeled using a heterogeneous Markov chain. Using data collected by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, a case study for an average American household is developed. The data are used to conduct an in-sample validation of the modeled activities and a rigorous statistical validation of the predicted electricity demand against metered data is provided. The results show highly realistic patterns that capture annual and diurnal variations, load fluctuations, and diversity between household configuration, location, and size.

A Demographic Survey of Learning Behaviors Among American Students

A nationally representative survey of students' learning behaviors observed by classroom teachers of 1,500 school-aged American youth is presented. Participants comprised the standardization cohort of the Learning Behaviors Scale (McDermott, Green, Francis, & Stott, 1999) stratified according to the U.S. Census. Base rates of learning behaviors are analyzed for both rank-order precedence and overall prevalence across demographic categories of sex, ethnicity, age group, parent education, residence location, household configuration, and special education status. Correlations detected minimal variability in behavioral item rankings across demographic groups. In contrast, multiple ordinal logistic regression demonstrated considerably increased odds of maladaptive learning behaviors among males and students in special education. Moderate differences were found for age, ethnicity, and low parent educational level, whereas few differences were associated with location of residence or family constellation.

Impact of Small-Group Decision Making in Reducing Stress Conditions

Employing a theoretical framework based on the prehistoric American Southwest, the impact on survival probability of a small group from environmental stress and household configuration is evaluated using stochastic simulation techniques. Several models were developed based upon a schema which includes population demographics, food procurement strategies, and resource response to varying environmental conditions. We address (1) strategic exploitation of the total range of food resources (wild and cultigens), (2) amelioration of alternative buffering strategies, and (3) impact of household size and composition. These are examined within the context of the cumulative impact of recurrent multiyear stress. The postulated buffering strategies which demonstrated higher probability of success are in agreement with ethnographic descriptions. It is shown that under proper planning assumptions, the impact of ephemeral aberrations in precipitation and household composition should have a minimum influence upon abandonment of small sites.

Turning Points in the Development of Blended Families

A modified retrospective interview technique (RIT) was employed with members of 53 blended families to determine the types of turning points they reported experiencing and the developmental trajectories of their respective blended family’s first 4 years. Findings revealed 15 primary types of turning points, of which ‘Changes in Household Configuration’, ‘Conflict’, ‘Holidays/Special Events’, ‘Quality Time’ and ‘Family Crisis’ were the most frequent. A cluster analysis revealed five basic trajectories of development for the first 48 months of family development: Accelerated, Prolonged, Stagnating, Declining and High-amplitude Turbulent. The trajectories differed in the overall positive-to-negative valence ratio, the frequency of conflict related events, the average amplitude of change in feeling like a family, and the current reported level of feeling like a family.

Family context as a moderator of program effects in prenatal and early childhood home visitation

Typically research addressing minority family issues focuses on broad cultural differences between majority and minority families, and ignores or minimizes the diversity among families in the minority population. In this article, we address this diversity, specifically the influence of household configuration on the quality of the caregiving environment, and the ability of a nurse home-visitation program for first-time mothers and their infants to affect changes in the environment. Mothers who live with husbands or boyfriends have the best care-giving environments, and mothers who live alone make the greatest improvements. These results are discussed in the context of the nature of the relationship the home visitor is able to establish with key members of the household. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.