Household Context Research Articles

MEASURING THE ECONOMIC VALUE OF WOMEN’S HOUSEHOLD WORK

The “unpaid household work” as recognized by the society is often not considered to be a productive activity or a work having an economic value attached to it. However, Unpaid domestic work is indeed an important and an indispensable factor which contributes not only to the smooth functioning of a household, but also to the economy. The conventional economy often fails to recognize this aspect of work where women stand hidden and unacknowledged. This type of work was termed as the ‘Economy of Care’ by Elson (1995) Understanding the nature of their unpaid employment is critical, since it has a substantial influence on their economic participation rate. Due to several factors like the stereotypical gender roles, social and religious constraints, the patriarchal set up of the society and the low opportunities for women in the market, women often end up engaging in unpaid domestic work. Therefore, a broader context of household, state, market, and activity should be seen through a macro lens in order to accelerate women’s status in the economy. Women are put under the shadow of invisibility because of their predominance in household work, hence keeping them from the purview of ‘economic activities’ and outside the production boundaries and economic policies of the country. Consequently, such ignorance of their contribution to economic activity, growth and well-being creates serious macroeconomic consequences. This study project aims to address the repercussions of portraying hard working Indian women as economically ineffective and undervalued in their domestic duties. In addition, the aim of this research paper is to recognize the scope and elements that impact Indian women's status as unpaid houseworkers

Electrification of Vehicle Miles Traveled and Fuel Consumption within the Household Context: A Case Study from California, U.S.A.

Plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs), consisting of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), combined with the decarbonization of the electricity sector, can significantly help reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the transport sector. This study used empirical data from 287 households with at least one plug-in electric vehicle in California between 2016 and 2020. We estimated electric vehicle miles traveled (eVMT), fuel consumption and utility factor at the household level, i.e., taking into consideration all vehicles. We also studied the effect of household-specific factors—such as frequency of overlaps between vehicles, frequency of charging and frequency of long-distance trips—on eVMT, utility factor and fuel consumption within two-car households. Our results indicate that PHEVs with a range of at least 35 miles have the potential to electrify a similar share of total household miles as some short range BEVs, or can reach up to 70% as much electrification as some long range BEVs and, thus, can play an important role in decarbonizing the transport sector.

The Impact of Household Context on Self-Perceived Changes in Solo and Partnered Sexual Behaviors During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Findings from a U.S. Probability Survey.

To understand how household context factors impacted self-reported changes in solo and sexual behaviors in U.S. adults during early stages of the COVID- 19 pandemic, we conducted an online, nationally representative, cross-sectional survey of U.S. adults (N = 1010; aged 18-94years; 62% response rate) from April 10-20, 2020. We used weighted descriptive statistics with Wilcoxon rank sign tests to understand the population prevalence and significance of self-reported changes (five-point scale: much less to much more) in 10 solo and partnered sexual behaviors. Ordinal regression was used to assess the impact of household predictor variables-including number of children at home, number of adults in home, partnership status (unpartnered, partnered and not living together, partnered and living together) and employment status (not working, employed not as essential worker, employed as essential worker). All models were adjusted for gender, age, sexual orientation, race/ethnicity, and residence location (urban, suburban, rural).All solo and partnered sexual behaviors showed some amount of significant change-increased activity for some and decreased for others-for U.S. adults during the pandemic. Not living with a partner was broadly associated with decreased affectionate partnered sexual behaviors; unpartnered adults reported increased sexting. Individuals not employed reported increased oral sex and increased consumption of sexually explicit materials as compared to non-essential workers. Number of children at home and household size were not significantly linked to self-reported behavior change. Ongoing sexual health-focused research should continue to focus on understanding how adults manage opportunities and constraints to their sexual lives in the context of a still-going pandemic. While many aspects of social life look more "normal" (e.g., many people have returned to their in-person offices and children are largely back in school), new and more-infectious strains of COVID-19 have proven that the pandemic may still yet impact daily living. Lessons learned from COVID need to include sexual health planning both for any future strains of COVID, as well as for future public health emergencies.

Gendered dynamics of the flow and use of migrant remittances in Northern Ghana

ABSTRACT This paper draws on qualitative data to examine gendered dynamics of remitting and remittance use in households in northern Ghana. The findings indicate that remitting and remittance use are shaped by the interaction of social norms on household provisioning and agency of household members. While social norms on gender roles and conjugality tend to shape patterns of remitting, the household context and the agency of the individual household members sometimes interact to produce remitting behaviours that are not consistent with the general patterns in the community. Gender roles prescribed by the conjugal contract may change when one partner migrates.

Socioeconomic factors influencing farmers’ willingness to replant trees: evidence from smallholder rubber farming in Sri Lanka

ABSTRACT Planting trees is a source of income for many smallholders worldwide and is critical for providing a range of ecosystem services. The effectiveness of the policies and incentives to encourage tree farming by smallholder farmers depends on the socioeconomic context of the farm households. The study investigates smallholder farmers’ willingness to replant rubber after reaching its economic lifespan while also examining the impact of farm households’ socioeconomic factors on willingness to replant. Using the utility maximization theory and logit model, the paper analyses household-level data collected from 404 smallholder farmers in Sri Lanka. The empirical findings show that about 71% of farmers are willing to replant rubber. Socioeconomic characteristics of farm households are significantly associated with the willingness to replant rubber. Considering the increase in the probability of willingness, factors such as education level of household head, share-cropping, family labour, income generation from rubber farming, non-farm income, other agricultural income, farmers group participation, and institutional support, positively affect farmers’ willingness to replant rubber. The findings suggest that considering these factors in the formulation of appropriate incentives and strategies for rubber farm diversification would foster a beneficial environment for smallholder rubber farming.

Factor structure of an Italian adaptation of the Perceived Stigma Scale in Inflammatory Bowel Disease (PSS-IBD-Iv): A preliminary investigation

The article describes results of a study on the factor structure of a further Italian adaptation of the Perceived Stigma Scale in Inflammatory Bowel Disease (PSS-IBD). The scale consists of 10 items measuring general perceived stigmatization that can be declined in 5 domains of life. The translated scale was administered to a sample of 162 patients who were affected by ulcerative colitis or Crohn's disease. Explorative and confirmatory bi-factor analysis revealed that the scale adequately measured one single dimension of stigma along with 5 domain-specific scores. Perceived stigma was generally low, albeit about 20% of the sample reported moderate to strong levels stigma, especially in the domain of friendship and workplace. Levels of general stigma were influenced neither by type of disease nor by gender, although women reported higher stigmatization in the household context than men. Moreover, stigma was negatively correlated with resilience and self-esteem, thus supporting the validity of the scale. In sum, the present results seem to confirm the hypothesis that the PSS-IBD Italian version (IV) is a reliable and valid instrument to measure perceived stigma in patients with IBD. By virtue of its reduced length, PSS-IBD also appears to be an instrument that can easily be administered in diverse contexts.

Essential for society but not equally deserving of preferential treatment? A discrete-choice experiment regarding COVID-19 healthcare

Workers' risks of contracting COVID-19 vary according to individual behaviors, occupations and job characteristics. Therefore, persons may consider different groups of workers more or less deserving of COVID-19 healthcare. To evaluate such preferences, we conducted an online conjoint experiment on the precedence of ICU treatment and COVID-19 vaccination. Our results demonstrate that working in essential occupations increases the likelihood of being considered deserving of vaccination and ICU treatment. We also find differences in how essential workers are prioritized, yet these differences cannot be clearly attributed to risk exposure or occupational prestige. Furthermore, we show that age, asthma, household context and compliance with COVID-19 measures significantly affect respondents’ choices, while weight matters only for vaccination priority. Our results therefore contribute to research regarding the characteristics that are salient to fair distributions of scarce resources among workers during a health crisis.

Disability and the household context: Findings for the United States from the public Use Microdata Sample of the American Community Survey.

IntroductionBased on questions about impairments and activity limitations, the American Community Survey shows that roughly 13% of the U.S. population is experiencing disability. As most people live in households with other persons, this study explores disability at the household level. Considering the literature on household decision-making, solidarity, and capabilities in disability, this analysis of the household context of disability takes into account residential settings, household composition, and urban–rural differences.MethodThe 2015–2019 ACS Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS), which shows persons with disability (PwD) and persons without disability (PwoD), also indicates household membership, used here to separately identify PwoD as those living in households with persons with disability (PwoD_HHwD) and those in households without any household member with disability (PwoD_HHwoD). Relationship variables reveal the composition of households with and without disabilities. An adaption of Beale's rural–urban continuum code for counties is used to approximate rural–urban differences with ACS PUMS data.ResultsSolo living is two times as common among persons with disability than among persons without disability, and higher in rural than urban areas. In addition to 43 million PwD, there are another 42 million PwoD_HHwD. Two times as many persons are impacted by disability, either of their own or that of a household member, than shown by an analysis of individual-level disability. For family households, differences in the composition of households with and without disabilities are considerable with much greater complexities in the makeup of families with disability. The presence of multiple generations stands out. Adult sons or daughters without disability play an important role. Modest urban–rural differences exist in the composition of family households with disability, with a greater presence of multigenerational households in large cities.DiscussionThis research reveals the much wider scope of household-level disability than indicated by disability of individuals alone. The greater complexity and multigenerational makeup of households with disability imply intergenerational solidarity, reciprocity, and resource sharing. Household members without disability may add to the capabilities of persons with disabilities. For the sizeable share of PwD living solo, there is concern about their needs being met.

Income differences in COVID-19 incidence and severity in Finland among people with foreign and native background: A population-based cohort study of individuals nested within households.

Although intrahousehold transmission is a key source of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) infections, studies to date have not analysed socioeconomic risk factors on the household level or household clustering of severe COVID-19. We quantify household income differences and household clustering of COVID-19 incidence and severity. We used register-based cohort data with individual-level linkage across various administrative registers for the total Finnish population living in working-age private households (N = 4,315,342). Incident COVID-19 cases (N = 38,467) were identified from the National Infectious Diseases Register from 1 July 2020 to 22 February 2021. Severe cases (N = 625) were defined as having at least 3 consecutive days of inpatient care with a COVID-19 diagnosis and identified from the Care Register for Health Care between 1 July 2020 and 31 December 2020. We used 2-level logistic regression with individuals nested within households to estimate COVID-19 incidence and case severity among those infected. Adjusted for age, sex, and regional characteristics, the incidence of COVID-19 was higher (odds ratio [OR] 1.67, 95% CI 1.58 to 1.77, p < 0.001, 28.4% of infections) among individuals in the lowest household income quintile than among those in the highest quintile (18.9%). The difference attenuated (OR 1.23, 1.16 to 1.30, p < 0.001) when controlling for foreign background but not when controlling for other household-level risk factors. In fact, we found a clear income gradient in incidence only among people with foreign background but none among those with native background. The odds of severe illness among those infected were also higher in the lowest income quintile (OR 1.97, 1.52 to 2.56, p < 0.001, 28.0% versus 21.6% in the highest quintile), but this difference was fully attenuated (OR 1.08, 0.77 to 1.52, p = 0.64) when controlling for other individual-level risk factors-comorbidities, occupational status, and foreign background. Both incidence and severity were strongly clustered within households: Around 77% of the variation in incidence and 20% in severity were attributable to differences between households. The main limitation of our study was that the test uptake for COVID-19 may have differed between population subgroups. Low household income appears to be a strong risk factor for both COVID-19 incidence and case severity, but the income differences are largely driven by having foreign background. The strong household clustering of incidence and severity highlights the importance of household context in the prevention and mitigation of COVID-19 outcomes.

The Household Context of In Situ Conservation in a Center of Crop Diversity: Self-Reported Practices and Perceptions of Maize and Phaseolus Bean Farmers in Oaxaca, Mexico

Crop diversity conservation in situ is an ecosystem service with benefits at household, community, and global scales. These include risk reduction and adaptation to changing physical and sociocultural environments—both important given the accelerating changes in climate, human migration, and the industrialization of agriculture. In situ conservation typically occurs as part of small-scale, traditionally based agriculture and can support cultural identity and values. Although decisions regarding crop diversity occur at the household level, few data detail the household context of in situ crop diversity management. Our research addressed this data gap for maize and Phaseolus bean in Oaxaca, Mexico, a major center of diversity for those crops. We defined diversity as farmer-named varieties and interviewed 400 farming households across eight communities in two contrasting socioecological regions. Our research asked, “In a major center of maize and Phaseolus diversity, what are the demographic, production, and consumption characteristics of the households that are stewarding this diversity?” We describe the context of conservation and its variation within and between communities and regions and significant associations between diversity and various independent variables, including direct maize consumption, region, and marketing of crops. These results provide a benchmark for communities to understand and strengthen their maize and bean systems in ways they value and for scientists to support those communities in dynamically stewarding locally and globally significant diversity.

Do social determinants of health explain racial/ethnic disparities in COVID-19 infection?

Racial/ethnic minorities have experienced higher COVID-19 infection rates than whites, but it is unclear how individual-level housing, occupational, behavioral, and socioeconomic conditions contribute to these disparities in a nationally representative sample. In this study, we assess the extent to which social determinants of health contribute to racial/ethnic differences in COVID-19 infection. Data are from the Understanding America Study's Understanding Coronavirus in America survey (UAS COVID-19 waves 7–29). UAS COVID-19 is one of the only nationally representative longitudinal data sources that collects information on household, work, and social behavioral context during the pandemic. We analyze onset of COVID-19 cases, defined as a positive test or a diagnosis of COVID-19 from a healthcare provider since the previous survey wave, over a year of follow-up (June 2020–July 2021). We consider educational attainment, economic resources, work arrangements, household size, and social distancing as key social factors that may be structured by racism. Cox hazard models indicate that Hispanic people have 48% higher risk of experiencing a COVID-19 infection than whites after adjustment for age, sex, local infection rate, and comorbidities, but we do not observe a higher risk of COVID-19 among Black respondents. Controlling for engagement in any large or small social gathering increases the hazard ratio for Hispanics by 9%, suggesting that had Hispanics had the same social engagement patterns as whites, they may have had even higher risk of COVID-19. Other social determinants—lower educational attainment, working away from home, and number of coresidents—all independently predict higher risk of COVID-19, but do not explain why Hispanic Americans have higher COVID-19 infection risk than whites.

Association between household context and emergency hospital use in older people: a retrospective cohort study on indicators for people living alone or living with somebody with frailty, developed from routine healthcare data in England

ObjectivesTo derive two household context factors - living alone and living in a two-person household with a person who is frail - from routine administrative health data and to assess...

Inequality of Opportunity in Mexico and its Regions: A Data-Driven Approach

This research proposes a first approximation of Inequality of Opportunity (IOp) in Mexico based on a concept of ex-post compensation, fully consistent with Roemer’s approach. This framework considers the advantage reached by an individual to be determined by the circumstances and by the effort exerted. Following Brunori and Neidhöfer, we construct a data-driven procedure using regression trees to identify types based on circumstances. To identify effort, an algorithm estimates the distribution of outcome in each type based on coefficients of Bernstein polynomials. We present IOp indicators for both an ex-ante and an ex-post approach. Our results underline the differences, in terms of opportunities, faced by individuals, based on the territory in which they grew up, the household context, and personal characteristics. The education and the wealth of parents, and the area of residence at age of 14 are the principal circumstances that shape the trajectories, besides the skin tone or the region. Importantly, territorial variables are significant among the individuals in relative poor households at age of 14, but they hold less importance for the others. IOp is higher in rural areas, in the South and in the Center compared to other regions.

Does a joint United Nations microfinance ‘plus’ program empower female farmers in rural Ethiopia? Evidence using the pro-WEAI

Microfinance is thought to be an effective tool for empowering women. Yet, previous studies that evaluate microfinance programs have mixed findings. This is in part because there are large variations in the interventions that are evaluated, but also that there is not a standardized metric of empowerment that is implemented consistently throughout the literature. This study investigates the effectiveness of a joint United Nations program aimed at empowering rural women through women-run rural savings and credit cooperatives in Oromia, Ethiopia, using the project-Women’s Empowerment in Agricultural Index. Building on more than a decade of studies and validation of different versions of the Women’s Empowerment in Agricultural Index, the tool aims to provide a standardized and comparable metric of women’s empowerment that is flexible enough to measure impacts of development projects. This study finds that the program had a positive impact on intrinsic agency for the beneficiaries with continued access to credit through the RUSACCOs between the baseline and endline.For this group of beneficiaries, the program seemed to increase the trust and respect between spouses. There is a second group of beneficiaries that appeared to have dropped out at the initial stages of the program or lost access to credit, suggesting there may have been problems with the program or possible resistance by spouses or community members. The study expands our understanding of how to measure women’s empowerment impacts of development projects within the context of a smallholder agricultural households.

Representation, identity and indigeneity: changes in Māori roll choice in Aotearoa-New Zealand

ABSTRACT In New Zealand, also known by its Indigenous Māori name Aotearoa, voters of Māori descent have the choice between the Māori roll and the General roll. The boundaries of the seven dedicated Māori electoral districts are superimposed over those of the 65 General districts. Every five years, after the census, persons who have reported Māori descent have the option to change between electoral rolls. Choice of the Māori roll indicates a strong sense of Māori identity and a belief that it is important that the Māori seats remain to guarantee Parliamentary representation by Māori MPs, elected only by Māori. Using a unique dataset sampled from the electoral rolls, plus entire electoral rolls, we investigate roll locations and roll shifts of persons claiming Māori descent across age, gender, spatial location and other factors, merging in census local area census data to estimate linguistic contextual effects. We test hypotheses related to generational socialisation, speaking the Māori language, occupational mobility, household context, and the timing of enrolments. We confirm that identity as Māori, expressed most strongly through language context, has strong effects on Māori roll enrolment, but also find that other factors offset its impact on the number of Māori electorates.

Intelligent control system of smart home for context awareness

In recent years, the rapid development of Internet of Things smart hardware has increased the demand for intelligent control of devices, mainly in the smart home industry. The framework to solve the problem of equipment intelligent control is studied. The advantages and disadvantages of existing context modeling strategies are analyzed. According to the characteristics of household context activities, combined with the design principles of graph databases, a new context modeling method based on object and attribute graph is proposed, which is suitable for Internet of Things scenarios with limited resources. Rule control, mode control, and voice control approaches of smart home interaction are designed. An inference engine is used to map the data of context awareness to the Internet of Things control services that executed automatic control of the system, and a framework of smart control system based on context awareness of Internet of Things is proposed. Considering the behavior habits of users, the concept of user preference is introduced to provide more personalized services. Performance tests with simulated data show that the new context modeling method has a faster system response time than the ontology modeling control mode.

Applying a socioecological framework to chronic disease management: implications for social informatics interventions in safety-net healthcare settings.

ObjectiveVulnerable populations face numerous barriers in managing chronic disease(s). As healthcare systems work toward integrating social risk factors into electronic health records and healthcare delivery, we need better understanding of the interrelated nature of social needs within patients’ everyday lives to inform effective informatics interventions to advance health equity.Materials and MethodsWe conducted in-depth interviews, participant-led neighborhood tours, and clinic visit observations involving 10 patients with diabetes in underserved San Francisco neighborhoods and 10 community leaders serving those neighborhoods. We coded health barriers and facilitators using a socioecological framework. We also linked these qualitative data with early persona development, focusing on patients’ experiences in these communities and within the healthcare system, as a starting place for our future informatics design.ResultsWe identified social risk and protective factors across almost every socioecological domain and level—from physical disability to household context to neighborhood environment. We then detailed the complex interplay across domains and levels within two critical aspects of patients’ lives: housing and food. Finally, from these data we generated 3 personas that capture the intersectional nature of these determinants.ConclusionDrawing from different disciplines, our study provides a socioecological approach to understanding health promotion for patients with chronic disease in a safety-net healthcare system, using multiple methodologies. Future digital health research should center the lived experiences of marginalized patients to effectively design and implement informatics solutions for this audience.

Precaire tewerkstelling en het welzijn van Belgische werknemers: de rol van subjectieve materiële deprivatie op huishoudniveau en de werk-privébalans

In recent decades, labor markets of high-income countries such as Belgium, have been subject to a process of de-standardization. This meant that the number of people with standard, full-time jobs was decreasing while at the same time there was an increase in de-standardized jobs. De-standardized jobs are often associated with adverse health and well-being outcomes. The notion of ‘precariousness’, which pays attention to the quality of the working situation, tries to capture the consequences of de-standardization. Nevertheless, an approach that focuses exclusively on work-related aspects, risks losing sight of the broader social context in which workers are embedded. This study therefore investigated how the social context determines the impact of precarious jobs on well-being. More specifically, we investigated the role of the household context through subjective material deprivation and work-life balance. Regression analyses were conducted on the recently collected (2019) EPRES-be dataset (n = 2.707) with the aim of examining precarious employment in Belgium. The results showed a positive association between precarious employment and low well-being. The household context proved important in explaining that relationship. The effect of precarious employment on well-being was partly explained by subjective material deprivation and the work-life balance.

A novel tool for quality-of-life assessment in the household context

A novel tool for quality-of-life assessment in the household context

A novel tool for quality-of-life assessment in the household context

A novel tool for quality-of-life assessment in the household context