Welfare Inequality Research Articles

Challenges accessing physical activity from a transgender perspective: A systematic review

The gender-diverse community faces numerous barriers that make physical activity difficult to access, meaning they are less physically active than their cisgender counterparts, compounding the existing health and wellbeing inequalities experienced by this group. The current study conducted a systematic review of sporadic literature relating to trans, non-binary and intersex people’s experience of physical activity with the aim of understanding how individuals negotiate and experience physical activity environments. A systematic searching of 8 databases and screening highlighted 30 academic papers for review. A narrative synthesis of the experiences of trans, non-binary and intersex individuals formed a three-layer model of influence. The first layer encapsulated the systemic and systemic influences such as transphobia and trans-moral panic. The second layer included external influences such as others’ behaviour, gendered spaces and exclusionary policies. The third layer was made up of internal influences such as internalised transphobia and gender concealment. The focus on fitting gender non-conforming individuals into a binary system through gendered spaces, pressures to switch teams and provide ‘proof’ of gender conformity set a dangerous precedent of the physical activity space as an unwelcoming and unsafe place for those who do not conform to the gender binary. If there should be a hope to address the health inequalities faced by the trans, non-binary and intersex community, the focus must move away from conformity and the debate of ‘fairness’ towards true inclusion and creating an environment where gender minorities can feel safe to engage with physical activity.

Investigating the impact on mental wellbeing of an increase in pensions: A longitudinal analysis by area-level deprivation in England, 1998–2002

In 1997 approximately two million people aged 60 years or over were living poverty in the UK. In 1999 the UK Government raised real pension incomes of low-income pensioners by around a third through the introduction of the Minimum Income Guarantee (MIG). This study explores the implications of this change for pensioners’ mental wellbeing with a focus on differences by area level deprivation in England. We explore mental wellbeing outcomes of 205 men (750 person-year observations) and 367 women (1,336 person-year observations) of state pension age from scores on the General Health Questionnaire from the British Household Panel Survey using a panel difference-in-difference estimation procedure. We compare the mental wellbeing of pensioners receiving MIG to that of low-income pensioners not claiming MIG, from 1998 to 2002. To investigate differences by area deprivation we use quintiles of the of the distributions of the 2000 and 2019 local-authority-level English Index of Multiple Deprivation. Models controlled for age, marital status and year. Between 1998 and 2002, 136 (38%) of low-income women and 57 (28%) of low-income men in the sample were claiming MIG at any one time. Income increased by 31% for men and 22% for women. There was no change in mental wellbeing for women but we found an improvement for men overall and for men living in the most deprived areas, in the latter case with a decrease of the GHQ-12 score of 2.43 points (95% CI: −5.49, 0.02). This estimate was similar across all measures of deprivation, and across both years of IMD. This study provides tentative evidence that the increase in pension income in England for low-income pensioners contributed to a reduction of inequalities in mental wellbeing for men. This needs to be considered in terms of future state pension policies.

Inequalities in the health, nutrition, and wellbeing of Afrodescendant women and children: A cross-sectional analysis of ten Latin American and Caribbean countries

Afrodescendants are systematically affected by discrimination in the Americas and few multi-country studies addressed ethnic inequalities in health and wellbeing in the region. We aimed to investigate gaps in coverage of key health outcomes and socioeconomic inequalities between Afrodescendants and non-Afrodescendants populations in Latin American and Caribbean countries. Using national household surveys (2011-2019) from ten countries, we analyzed absolute inequalities between Afrodescendants and a comparison group that includes non-Afrodescendants and non-Indigenous individuals (henceforth non-Afrodescendants) across 17 indicators in the continuum of reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health. These include indicators of family planning, antenatal care, delivery assistance, child nutrition, immunization coverage, child protection, access to improved water, sanitation and hygiene, adolescent fertility, and early childhood mortality. Inequalities between country-specific subgroups of Afrodescendants were also explored. The slope index of inequality was used to assess wealth-based inequalities within each ethnic group. Afrodescendants represented from 2·8% (Honduras) to 59·1% (Brazil) of the national samples. Of the 128 combinations of country and indicators with data, Afrodescendants fared worse in 78 (of which 33 were significant) and performed better in 50 (15 significant). More systematic disadvantages for Afrodescendants were found for demand for family planning satisfied, early marriage, and household handwashing and sanitation facilities. In contrast, Afrodescendants tended to present lower c-section rates and lower stunting prevalence. Honduras was the only country where Afrodescendants performed better than non-Afrodescendants in several indicators. Wealth gaps among Afrodescendants were wider than those observed for non-Afrodescendants for most indicators and across all countries. Gaps in health outcomes between Afrodescendants and non-Afrodescendants were observed in most countries, with more frequent disadvantages for the former although, in many cases, the gaps were reversed. Wealth inequalities within Afrodescendants tended to be wider than for non-Afrodescendants. Pan American Health Organization, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Wellcome Trust.

ANTITRUST AND INEQUALITY

ANTITRUST AND INEQUALITY

Work as a Social Determinant of Racial Health Inequalities.

Interdisciplinary research posits that work is a social determinant of health contributing to racial inequalities in death, disease, and well-being amongst Black individuals in the United States. This study aims to advance research by integrating two theoretical frameworks (Warr’s Vitamin Model and Assari’s “differential exposure” and “differential gain” mechanisms) to investigate the role of work in eudemonic well-being. We included a nationally representative sample of adults who participated in the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) Refresher and Milwaukee Refresher projects in 2011–2014, alongside corresponding occupational information (O*NET 17.0). The results of this study indicated that three of nine studied job characteristics systematically differ by race. We found evidence of differential gain by race on psychological well-being. Job characteristics had either benign or negative associations with well-being among Black individuals but consistently positive associations with well-being among non-Black individuals. In contrast to Warr’s Vitamin Model, we found little evidence of curvilinear health effects of job characteristics (only 5.5% were statistically significant). Finally, it was found that advanced educational attainment benefited multiple dimensions of well-being among Black individuals but had benign or negative implications for non-Black individuals, after controlling for demographics. Overall, the results highlight racial inequalities in eudemonic well-being because Black individuals face challenges in obtaining jobs that are beneficial to well-being. Collectively, the results reinforce the idea that work is a social determinant of health.

The Impact of Access to Credit on Welfare Inequality in Malawi

Abstract This study evaluates the implications that access to credit has on welfare inequality in Malawi in order to address the gap left in previous studies concerning credit. The study employed data from Malawi’s Integrated Household Survey 2017 and used the propensity score analysis to examine what impact access to credit may have on the welfare of Malawian households using consumption per capita as a proxy for household welfare. The study further proceeded to use the generalized Lorenz curve, the Theil indexes as well as the Gini to examine the inequalities present in welfare among the households that access credit and those that do not. The results showed a positive impact of access to credit on welfare as households with access to credit experience lower levels of inequality than those without. However, a closer examination of the Theil’s indexes found that factors unrelated to access to credit had a stronger effect on inter-household inequalities than access to credit. The results imply that the impact that access to credit has on welfare inequality is a positive one, but its effect is substantially small. Thus, implying that policies aimed at enhancing distribution of credit should continue. Simultaneously, a more holistic approach on reducing inequality should be included at both household level and national level to achieve a desired result.

Youth Mental Well-Being Following Witnessed Police Stops.

The purpose of the present study is to investigate mental well-being among youth after witnessing police stops. A national, urban-born sample of youth in the USA from the most recent wave (2014-2017) of the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS) was employed, with a focus on youth who had not been directly stopped by police (N = 2506). We used t-tests and multivariable ordinary least squares (OLS) regression to estimate direct associations, product-term analysis to test for effect modification by gender and race/ethnicity, and the Karlson-Holm-Breen (KHB) method to assess for mediation by experiences of emotional distress during a stop. Findings indicate that youth who have witnessed police stops report significantly higher levels of depression (t = 5.93, p < 0.01) and anxiety (t = 6.57, p < 0.01) and lower levels of happiness (t = - 4.02, p < 0.01) following the stop than those who have not. Among youth witnessing stops (N = 1488), more intrusive witnessed encounters correspond to diminished mental well-being across indicators, in part due to elevated emotional distress during witnessed stops. Findings hold regardless of gender, yet vary somewhat by race and ethnicity, with youth of color reporting less anxiety than their White counterparts after witnessing an intrusive stop, but reporting greater reductions in happiness. Collectively, our findings suggest that witnessing police stops may contribute to inequities in youth mental well-being. A public health approach that combines prevention and treatment strategies may mitigate the harms of police exposure and reduce disparities in youth well-being.

On the welfare cost of business cycles: The role of labor-market heterogeneity

Are business cycles equally beneficial or harmful to consumers? Has welfare inequality increased or decreased due to rise of income/wealth inequality? By utilizing a heterogeneous agent RBC model with endogenous labor supply, this paper aims to answer these questions. We first show that while technology-driven business cycles are beneficial on average, a finding that is consistent with the recent literature, the welfare gain is not equally distributed; it is beneficial (resp. harmful) for agents who are relatively rich (resp. poor). The key to understanding the monotonic relationship between welfare gain from the business cycles and wealth level, a finding different from the previous literature that argues that there is a non-monotonic relationship between the two, is shown to be endogenous labor supply. Finally, we analyze the short run consequence of rising income/wealth inequality on welfare cost.

Push or Pull: What Drives Emigration from Lithuania?

This article investigates the main economic and non-economic determinants of population emigration from Lithuania. Our study offers a new approach for modelling the push and pull factors considering the push–pull link. We construct the relative variables and deploy mixed models for the macro data of Lithuania and 24 European destinations over 2010–2019. Our findings reveal that such economic variables as relative economic welfare, unemployment and income inequality are the key push–pull factors. The study results indicate that changes in relative welfare have the highest power to change Lithuanian emigration with the main impact recorded the same year, while changes in relative income inequality and unemployment affect fewer emigrants, and it takes one year for the effect to materialise. The obtained higher importance of relative welfare compared to the average wage suggests that the goods and services provided by the state play a role in the personal cost–benefit calculation of prospective emigrants. This study addresses the research gap on the quantitative push–pull factor evaluation, the timing of their impact, connectivity of the push–pull factors and structural changes, providing a foundation for future research on the root causes of emigration.

Early childhood circumstances and educational wellbeing inequality among tribal and non-tribal children in India: evidence from a panel study

Despite efforts towards bridging the education gap between tribal (Scheduled Tribe) and non-tribal (Non-Scheduled Tribe) children, contrasting poor-quality education questioned the tribal children’s educational wellbeing in India. Early childhood circumstances render a remarkable impact on the educational wellbeing of children in later years. This study examined the influence of early childhood circumstances (child, household and community characteristics) during 2005 on the educational wellbeing inequality (among India’s tribal and non-tribal children) during 2012 using the India Human Development Survey panel dataset of 8611 children. The Educational wellbeing score was obtained from reading, mathematical and writing test scores using Principal Component Factor Analysis. We performed the Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition of the educational wellbeing inequality among India’s tribal and non-tribal children. The ST children’s average educational wellbeing score (−0.41) was much lower than the Non-ST children (0.04). Findings from the Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition show that the household economic condition in children’s early ages contributed to 24% of educational wellbeing inequality among tribal and non-tribal children. Further, the education status of males and female adults and the sanitation condition of families considerably impacted educational wellbeing. The present study concludes that caste antagonism has not reduced with time. The missing focus on the minority groups resulted in a deteriorated educational wellbeing.

Electricity consumption as a new indicator of inequality

Inequality is a growing public concern and economic threat. The degree of which, however, varies greatly depending on the choice of indicators for measurement. In this paper, we compare the strength and weaknesses of the existing indicators such as income and wealth and propose a new measure of inequality based on household electricity consumption. We believe that our measure has the advantage of capturing both service flows and stock values of durables, embodying both the outcome and opportunity inequality, and confronting fewer measurement issues. The new inequality measure based on electricity consumption may complement the existing ones by providing a relatively complete and well-balanced picture of the overall welfare inequality.

Informality, Social Citizenship, and Wellbeing among Migrant Workers in Costa Rica in the Context of COVID-19.

Costa Rica is home to 557,000 migrants, whose disproportionate exposure to precarious, dangerous, and informal work has resulted in persistent inequities in health and wellbeing in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. We used a novel multimodal grounded approach synthesizing documentary film, experiential education, and academic research to explore socioecological wellbeing among Nicaraguan migrant workers in Costa Rica. Participants pointed to the COVID-19 pandemic as exacerbating the underlying conditions of vulnerability, such as precarity and informality, dangerous working conditions, social and systemic discrimination, and additional burdens faced by women. However, the narrative that emerged most consistently in shaping migrants’ experience of marginalization were challenges in obtaining documentation—both in the form of legal residency and health insurance coverage. Our results demonstrate that, in spite of Costa Rica’s acclaimed social welfare policies, migrant workers continue to face exclusion due to administrative, social, and financial barriers. These findings paint a rich picture of how multiple intersections of precarious, informal, and dangerous working conditions; social and systemic discrimination; gendered occupational challenges; and access to legal residency and health insurance coverage combine to prevent the full achievement of a shared minimum standard of social and economic security for migrant workers in Costa Rica.

Coping with demographic change: macroeconomic performance and welfare inequality effects of public pension reform

AbstractThis paper evaluates alternative reforms of the public pension system in an overlapping generations model for an open economy facing demographic change. We make progress compared to existing literature on pension reform by modelling individuals with heterogeneous innate ability and endogenous human capital, and by putting (the reduction of) welfare inequality effects of reform at the centre. Frequently adopted reforms such as an increase of the normal retirement age or a decrease of the pension benefit can guarantee financial sustainability, but they fail when the objective is also to avoid intergenerational or intragenerational welfare inequality. Our results prefer a reform which combines an increase of the retirement age with an intelligent linkage between the pension benefit and earlier labour earnings. First, this design conditions pension benefits on past individual labour income, with a high weight on labour income earned when older and a low weight on labour income earned when young. Second, this linkage is complemented by a strong rise in the benefit replacement rate for low ability individuals (and a reduction for high ability individuals).

Contributors

Previous articleNext article FreeContributorsPDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmailQR Code SectionsMoreRegina S. Baker is assistant professor of sociology at the University of Pennsylvania. She studies poverty and inequality. Her current work focuses on the role of structural and historical contexts in shaping socioeconomic disparities across racial groups, time, and place.Tony Cheng is assistant professor of criminology, law and society and (by courtesy) sociology at the University of California, Irvine. His research focuses on how the administration of criminal justice shapes inequality in America. He is currently working on a book project examining the strategic politics of policing and public input. He has a sociology Ph.D. from Yale University and a J.D. from New York University Law School.Hyeyoung Kwon is assistant professor of sociology at Indiana University. Her research focuses on race and ethnicity, immigration, children and youth, and social inequality, with an eye toward understanding how immigrant youth of color negotiate multiple inequalities in their daily lives.Matty Lichtenstein is a sociologist at Brown University studying social policy, health and illness, family, and inequality. Her most recent research focuses on how state and professional organizations shape gendered, racial, and socioeconomic inequalities in American maternal and child welfare. Her broader scholarly interests include the politics of the welfare state, risk discourses in social work and medicine, and cultural conceptions of parenting and health. Previous articleNext article DetailsFiguresReferencesCited by American Journal of Sociology Volume 127, Number 6May 2022 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/720758 Views: 223Total views on this site © 2022 The University of Chicago. All rights reserved.PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

A Framework for Cross-Sector Partnerships to Address Childhood Adversity and Improve Life Course Health.

Childhood adversity and its structural causes drive lifelong and intergenerational inequities in health and well-being. Health care systems increasingly understand the influence of childhood adversity on health outcomes but cannot treat these deep and complex issues alone. Cross-sector partnerships, which integrate health care, food support, legal, housing, and financial services among others, are becoming increasingly recognized as effective approaches address health inequities. What principles should guide the design of cross-sector partnerships that address childhood adversity and promote Life Course Health Development (LCHD)? The complex effects of childhood adversity on health development are explained by LCHD concepts, which serve as the foundation for a cross-sector partnership that optimizes lifelong health. We review the evolution of cross-sector partnerships in health care to inform the development of an LCHD-informed partnership framework geared to address childhood adversity and LCHD. This framework outlines guiding principles to direct partnerships toward life course-oriented action: (1) proactive, developmental, and longitudinal investment; (2) integration and codesign of care networks; (3) collective, community and systemic impact; and (4) equity in praxis and outcomes. Additionally, the framework articulates foundational structures necessary for implementation: (1) a shared cross-sector theory of change; (2) relational structures enabling shared leadership, trust, and learning; (3) linked data and communication platforms; and (4) alternative funding models for shared savings and prospective investment. The LCHD-informed cross-sector partnership framework presented here can be a guide for the design and implementation of cross-sector partnerships that effectively address childhood adversity and advance health equity through individual-, family-, community-, and system-level intervention.

Distributional issues in well-being: a case study of New Zealand

Well-being is now widely accepted as being multidimensional (OECD, 2017). New Zealand (NZ) Treasury mimics this notion and suggests that well-being indicates ‘quality of life’ and ways of facilitating individuals and society achieving a better life (McLeod, 2018). To achieve the goal of a ‘better life for all’, the NZ government has launched the first Well-being Budget worldwide in 2019 (Government of New Zealand, 2019). Still, there are some limitations in their framework. My research aims to address one of them; namely well-being inequality. By constructing a composite well-being index for a country that runs a Well-being Budget, this answers the following questions: i) which domains of well-being are most unequally distributed in NZ? ii) what are the determinants of well-being inequality? and iii) how does well-being inequality compare across gender, ethnicity, age, and geography in NZ? In this presentation, I will explain how Categorial Principal Component Analysis was used to construct NZ’s first multidimensional well-being index. Additionally, I will discuss the current well-being distribution findings. The data used comes from NZ's General Social Survey spanning the period 2014 to 2018 which includes 24,618 individuals across NZ. Both ordinal and nominal variables are included in the well-being index. To measure the inequality in well-being we deconstruct the multidimensional well-being index for various groups to determine the well-being distribution pattern in NZ. The preliminary results indicate that civic engagement and governance, and income explained the most variance; whereas cultural identity and social connection explained the least variance. In addition, females, Māori, immigrants, and those outside of the Auckland region experience greater well-being inequality than their counterparts. These results suggest that policymakers should focus on policies that could increase public trust in the government and institutions, increase employment opportunities, and provide social support for those unable to enter the employment sector as full-time employees.

Who suffered most? Parental stress and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany

Objective: This study examines gender and socioeconomic inequalities in parental psychological wellbeing (parenting stress and psychological distress) during the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany.
 Background: The dramatic shift of childcare and schooling responsibility from formal institutions to private households during the pandemic has put families under enormous stress and raised concerns about caregivers' health and wellbeing. Despite the overwhelming media attention to families’ wellbeing, to date limited research has examined parenting stress and parental psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in Germany.
 Method: We analyzed four waves of panel data (N= 1,771) from an opt-in online survey, which was conducted between March 2020 and April 2021. Multivariable OLS regressions were used to estimate variations in the pandemic's effects on parenting stress and psychological distress by various demographic and socioeconomic characteristics.
 Results: Overall, levels of parenting stress and psychological distress increased during the pandemic. During the first and third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, mothers, parents with children younger than 11 years, parents with two or more children, parents working from home as well as parents with financial insecurity experienced higher parenting stress than other sociodemographic groups. Moreover, women, respondents with lower incomes, single parents, and parents with younger children experienced higher levels of psychological distress than other groups.
 Conclusion: Gender and socioeconomic inequalities in parents' psychological wellbeing increased among the study participants during the pandemic.

Fiscal Decentralization and Income Inequality: A Prediction Using the SEM Model

Economic development in a region is not only measured by the fiscal dimension andthe economic growth but also based on the income distribution. This study aims toanalyze the effect of fiscal decentralization on investment, economic growth, economic structure, employment opportunities, and income inequality between districts/cities in East Kalimantan Province, Indonesia. This study uses panel data (2013-2019) of the amalgamation of seven districts and three cities in East Kalimantan Province, analyzed using the Structural Equation Model (SEM). The findings show that regional tax plays a crucial role in enhancing regional investment, economic growth, and employment opportunities. It is also important for reducing the economic structure imbalance and income inequality. Profit-sharing funds improve regional investment, economic growth, and employment opportunities. At the same time, special allocation increases employment opportunities and economic structure imbalance. Furthermore, regional retribution increases employment opportunities and reduces the economic structure imbalance, but it harms regional economic growth. The practical implications offer solutions to the realization of local revenue sources for economic development and alleviation of social problems, such as employment opportunities and inequality in welfare.

Single-Parent Families, Educational Gradient, and Child Deprivation: The Cases of Italy and Spain

This work examines whether the increase of single parenthood in Italy and Spain, specifically amongst women in an unfavourable socioeconomic position, has repercussions for child well-being, understood here as material deprivation. In particular, our main objective is to analyse the possible differential impact of single parenthood on children’s material deprivation in relation to mothers’ level of education. Using the 2014 EU-SILC Module on material deprivation, we identify five areas of child deprivation based on the EU-MODA approach: nutrition, clothing, education, leisure, and social life. In the case of Italy, our main results indicate that, compared to children from two-parent households, children of single mothers with a low level of education have a higher risk of nutrition and clothing deprivation. In Spain, living in a single-parent household is associated with a higher risk of deprivation in terms of social life for those children whose mothers do not have a high level of education. Therefore, the findings suggest that in both countries the growth of single parenthood amongst women with a lower educational level may have an impact on child well-being inequality. This article contributes empirical data to the growing literature on the rise of child poverty in Southern European countries.

Using body mapping to explore gender with adolescents in Uttar Pradesh

ABSTRACT Young women and girls in Uttar Pradesh (UP), India, face gender inequalities, which threaten their health and well-being. This study used body mapping, a visual participatory research method, to learn from adolescents ages 15 to 17 living in Lucknow slums about how gender norms affect their daily experiences. Forty adolescents participated in body mapping. Their body maps and narratives about those maps demonstrate that starting in adolescence, family and community members strongly enforce divergent gender norms for girls and boys. Girls face restrictions on their clothing, mobility, and education, whereas boys have comparative freedom in these domains. Girls experience persistent public harassment by boys and men, severely constraining their ability to move freely in public spaces. In contrast, the school was a setting where adolescent girls and boys experience more relaxed gender norms. Overall, this study describes the link between gender norms, health, and well-being for adolescents. It also illustrates the value of participatory and adolescent-friendly research methods for exploring gender norms among adolescent boys and girls in India. Finally, it indicates that multi-system approaches are needed to address gender-related inequalities in health and well-being.