Income Impairment Research Articles

Relationships between income, occupation and psychosocial health of transgender people during the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 Pandemic has widened several social inequalities, mainly in social groups that multiply vulnerable, such as the Brazilian trans and transvestite population. We aim to analyze the psychosocial and income aspects of trans people during the COVID-19 pandemic. We conduct a cross-sectional study through interviews with trans people from an outpatient clinic. Ninety-two people agreed to participate in the survey, 43 men, followed by 34 women, five non-binary people, and two travestis. Among these, 54.4% were enrolled in the Cadastro Único, and 28.6% accessed Auxílio Emergencial during the pandemic. Trans men and non-binary people availed less of some benefit (p<0.001). Sex work was reported by 14.4% of people and was related to transfeminine gender identity (p=0.011), and sex workers were the most affected by the reduction in income (p=0.003). In addition, 51.7% of the participants reported signs and symptoms of anxiety, depression, and negative thoughts that correlated with income impairment (p=0.018). Therefore, we suggested that the COVID-19 pandemic impacted income and that this was related to psychosocial conditions in trans and travestis.
 Keywords: Transgender People; COVID-19 pandemic; Income; Psychosocial.

Covid-19 in Slovakia: Economic, social and psychological factors of subjective well-being and depressive symptoms during a pandemic

Objectives and hypotheses. It was expected that income and its rate of deterioration as an economic factor, insufficient opportunities to talk to others and subjective feelings of isolation as social variables, and worries about income impairment, worries related to Covid-19, low tolerance of uncertainty, rumination, and catastrophizing as psychological variables, will reduce the frequency of positive experiencing, increase the frequency of negative experiencing and the number of depressive symptoms. On the other hand, personal belief in a just world and a positive reappraisal were expected to positively affect the research variables. Sample and settings. The online data collection was carried out at the end of April 2020 at the peak of the number of people affected by the disease in Slovakia. It was a stratified selection of N = 1108 persons, taking into account the proportional representation of persons from the territory of the whole republic. Statistical analysis. Variable relationships were tested using PLS-SEM (Partial Least Squares – SEM). This procedure was preferred for three reasons: the exploratory nature of complex models, the predictive orientation of models, and the measurement of multiple variables with one-item questioning. Results. Three predictors out of 16 tested had a positive relationship to the frequency of positive experiencing as an affective component of subjective well-being – subjectively assessed health, personal belief in a just world, and a positive reappraisal; rumination was in a negative relationship. Six predictors were related to the frequency of negative experiencing as an affective component of subjective well-being and to symptoms of depression – in addition to the four mentioned above, it was age and worries about income impairment: with higher age, the frequency of negative experiencing and the number of depressive symptoms decreased, and a positive relation had also variables: subjective assessment of health, personal belief in a just world and a positive reappraisal. Worries about income impairment and rumination had a relationship to the frequency of negative experiencing and depressive symptoms. Study limitations. Cross sectional research did not provide information on changes in the affective component of subjective well-being and depressive symptoms of the Slovak population as a result of the pandemic, as the obtained data could not be compared with the results of the same participants from the period before the pandemic. Although this research can be considered representative in several aspects, the validity of the findings is limited by the fact that no specific groups were included in the sample – e.g. the most vulnerable groups were medical staff and the elderly over 70 years of age. Also, those who were ill or suspected of having Covid-19 were excluded from the analysis. Finally, data collection via the Internet presupposes a certain standard of living of respondents.

An Analysis of the Criminogenic Effects of Terminating the Supplemental Security Income Impairment Category for Drug Addiction and Alcoholism

This study examined the criminogenic effects of terminating the Supplemental Security Income program for drug addiction and alcoholism. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to analyze self-reported crime, economic, and drug-use data collected as part of a two-year multisite study with five interview waves from 1,640 former DA&As. The primary independent variables examined included subjects’ replacement of lost SSI benefits legally or through re qualification under another disability category and their weekly use of heroin and/or cocaine. The study found that failure to replace lost cash benefits resulted in a moderate increase in crime, particularly drug and property crime, that peaked two years after loss of benefits. Heroin and cocaine use were also related to criminality, though the magnitude of this effect was greatest at six months after loss of benefits. The study also found a relationship between drug use and loss of benefits, suggesting that the federal legislation has created a crime-prone residual population of drug users with limited treatment access.

General Course and Correlates of Improvement and Decline following Termination of the Supplemental Security Income Impairment Category for Drug Addiction and Alcoholism

This paper examines the response of former SSI DA&A beneficiaries to the loss of benefits across multiple areas of functioning and across time. The main purposes of the study were to determine how termination of the DA&A program affected individuals generally, to understand the degree of variation in response to lost benefits, and to determine the individual and social correlates of improvement and decline given expected individual variations in adaptability. Self-report data collected at six-month intervals over two years at nine study sites from 1,640 former SSI DA&A recipients were analyzed to assess the overall degree of change across seven areas of functioning. Contrary to expectations, we found that the majority of subjects had maintained a constant level of functioning or were slightly improved. However, those who were among the heaviest alcohol and drug users at baseline and who were not able to substantially replace their lost disability income were the most likely to show deteriorations in functioning.