Parental Socioeconomic Characteristics Research Articles

Data-driven prediction of early language delay at Youth Health Care Services in the Netherlands

Abstract Introduction Language development in early childhood significantly impacts future academic success, social interaction, and emotional well-being. This study aimed to develop and evaluate a prediction model using data on developmental milestones and parents’ socio-economic background known at age 2, and translate the results into an interactive digital dashboard and pilot it with Youth Health Care (YHC) professionals and parents. Methods A mixed-method study on retrospective cohort of children attending YHC at age 2, followed up until age 4. Data on language development, gender, parental education, and home language environment were obtained from YHC digital dossiers and linked to parental socio-economic status characteristics, and perinatal outcomes and healthcare costs using a secure remote access environment of Statistics Netherlands. Random forest and logistic regression models were computed with language development at age 4 as an outcome, initially using all available data at age 2 as predictors and then with a restricted model using variables readily available in YHC settings. Models performance was assessed using sensitivity, specificity, and AUC value. Results were visualized through an interactive dashboard and pilot-tested in simulated consultations. Results Among 9,148 children, 13.2% had language development delay at age 4. The full model had an AUC of 0.78, while the restricted model (gender, parental education, language environment, and language development), achieved an AUC of 0.77. YHC professionals and parents recognized the value of individualized, data-driven risk assessment for potential language delay to stimulate the discussion of preventive interventions. Conclusions A good quality prediction model for language development at age 4 can be derived from just a few background characteristics of the child and parents at age 2. The digital dashboard presents a practical approach of integrating prediction model results into daily YHC practice. Key messages • Language development at age of 4 can be predicted as early as age of 2 using just a few background characteristics of child and parents, which presents a window of opportunity for prevention. • The digital dashboard presents a practical approach of integrating prediction model results into preventive care practice.

Uptake of cash benefits among children with a disability in Norway: The role of parental socioeconomic characteristics and immigrant background

AbstractCaring for a disabled child involves both indirect and direct economic costs, which in turn may create a financial burden for the family. Using Norway as a case, we examine if public compensatory measures reach those most in need, by assessing whether socioeconomic disadvantages and immigrant background impact adversely on the uptake of a nationally available cash benefits eligible for parents caring for a child with a disability. We take advantage of national administrative register data on children with a selection of well‐defined diagnoses born between 2009 and 2017 (N = 14,469). Our results show nonnegligible, but relatively minor, social inequalities in the uptake of cash benefits related to socioeconomic and immigrant background. Our findings indicate that this state's financial support seems to reach those most in need. However, it is essential to deepen our understanding of how socioeconomic and immigrant backgrounds influence access to and utilization of municipal healthcare services. Notably, the application process for these services often involves a greater degree of discretion on the part of welfare professionals. Further research is needed to illuminate the nuanced dynamics of these factors in the context of accessing healthcare services at the local level.

Parents’ financial socialization or socioeconomic characteristics: which has more influence on Gen-Z’s financial wellbeing?

This research aims to explore the effectiveness of various approaches for promoting financial wellbeing among Gen-Z, with a particular focus on the parental role in shaping financial attitudes and behavior, using the theoretical lens of family financial socialization theory. The study utilized a mixed-methods approach to obtain in-depth findings on parental financial socialization and parental socioeconomic characteristics for Gen-Zs’ financial wellbeing. The qualitative findings revealed that parents use different strategies to financially socialize children by involving them in savings, financial decisions, and household and personal finances. Furthermore, it is found that parents are more inclined to teach daughters than sons about finances because of the expectations that females handle the household finances. Likewise, quantitative findings revealed that the father’s education level negatively influences Gen-Z’s financial attitude. This study strengthens the concept of family socialization and establishes a ground to explore potential mechanisms of action and implications for future research and practice.

Transformations of Parental Socio-economic Characteristics into the Married Couple in Rural Nepal

This study is about the attributes of different households which together come into the married couples to unite into their wedlock. The purpose of the study was to trace out the carry-over of the wife and husband side parental attributes into the household socio-economic situation of married couples. A total of seventy-five married couples and their either side parents’ (wife side and husband side) socio-economic and demographic information were taken using a semi-structured questionnaire. Data were collected in Thakre Rural Municipality of Dhading district of Nepal from February to April of 2022 from the conveniently selected respondents using face-to-face interviews. The data were analyzed in terms of frequency, mean and other descriptive statistics. The study revealed that there is a growing trend of inter-caste marriage and love marriage in the younger generations compared to their parents, however, inter-religious marriages are still very few in Nepalese rural society. Findings of the study also revealed that the male counterparts were older in age structures on all three sides while the wife side parents were better off in terms of level of wealth and income. The study further unveiled that the husbands have been able to marry with the wives whose parents have higher economic status than their parents. This finding is useful in understanding the current pattern of marriage as well as the socio-economic transfer brought together by the married couple as a carryover from their respective parental houses.

Factors influencing parental acceptance toward the use of passive immobilisation as behaviour guidance in children during dental treatment: a scoping review.

Exploring parental opinions regarding the use of passive immobilisation during dental treatment is critical when identifying behaviour guidance application priorities. Instead of being dismissed as an inappropriate and less favourable option, this article aims to systematically evaluate factors affecting parental acceptance toward the use of passive immobilisation as behaviour guidance among children during dental treatment in various populations and regions. This research follows Arksey and O'Malley framework and updated by Joanna Briggs Institute Framework for Scoping Reviews methodology to summarise 40 research papers from 1984 to 2022 in PubMed, Web of Science, Science Direct, EBSCO Host, Scopus, grey literature and Google search outlining the research trend of parental acceptance toward passive immobilisation as behaviour guidance. Factors influencing parental acceptance toward the use of passive immobilisation were classified into parental socio-economic and demographic characteristics, exposure method of the devices to the parents, type of dental procedures, and children's cooperation and cognitive level. In conclusion, the current explorative review of the parental perspective toward passive immobilisation proposed a recommendation and facilitate the dentist to consider this technique as an alternative option for behaviour guidance in paediatric dentistry.

The Influence of Parental Socioeconomic Status Characteristics on Children’s Educational Outcomes in Kazakhstan

This paper reviews the findings on relations between parents' socioeconomic status and children’s educational outcomes in existing literature as well as assesses the validity of literature that analyzes Kazakhstan's case in this field. We examine and summarize the findings, measurements, data sources, and areas of similarity in the process of finding the relationship between parental socioeconomic status (SES) characteristics and children's academic outcomes in the available literature from around the world. As the paper will show, the available literature demonstrates a strong correlation between parental socioeconomic status (SES) factors and children’s educational outcomes. Surprisingly, the available literature on Kazakhstan contradicts these claims. Therefore, this paper will analyze the validity of papers that assess the case of Kazakhstan and propose possible amendments in methodology, as well as suggest the reasons why the results are different from everywhere else.

Effects of cultural origin on entrepreneurship

This paper investigates the effects of cultural origin on entrepreneurship. Using Swedish registry data on second-generation immigrants and risk appetite measures from the Global Preference Survey (GPS), we investigate whether risk preferences in parents’ home countries affect entrepreneurship. We find that children of immigrants from more risk-loving cultures are more likely to start up a business, although of poorer quality. We also find that entrepreneurs with parents from cultures with higher risk appetite earn a lower personal income. Our analysis demonstrates that culturally transmitted risk appetite has significant effects beyond individual and parental socioeconomic characteristics.

Association between Socioeconomic Status and Healthcare Utilization for Children with Allergic Diseases: Korean National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey (2015-2019).

This study aimed to investigate the association between socioeconomic status (SES) and healthcare utilization by children with allergic diseases. We determined SES based on parental occupation and household income. A cross-sectional study was conducted using the Korean National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey (KNHANES) between 2015 and 2019 with participants who were under 18 years of age. The presence of allergic conditions was determined by a self-reported survey of parental response and healthcare utilization data (such as inpatient and outpatient visits). Moreover, we categorized SES into four quantiles (Q1-Q4) based on household income per annum. Then, the data were analyzed using chi-square tests and multivariate logistic regression analysis with confidence intervals (CIs) of 95%, and p < 0.05 was considered significant. A total of 3250 participants were involved in this study. The percentage of allergic diseases was 67.9% for allergic asthma and 32.1% for atopic dermatitis. It was found that the participants who were over 13 years old had atopic dermatitis and were more likely to visit the hospital than younger children. Additionally, the highest SES group in Q4 demonstrated higher healthcare utilization (OR = 1.58; 95% CI, 1.14-1.76) than other SES groups. Our study reveals that parental socioeconomic characteristics are related to the use of healthcare services for children with allergic disorders in Korea. These results highlight the need for public health actions and research to overcome the SES gap among children with allergic diseases.

Neuropsychological effects in children exposed to anticonvulsant monotherapy during gestation: Phenobarbital, carbamazepine, and phenytoin

ObjectiveUsage during pregnancy of the antiseizure medication (ASM), phenobarbital (PB), carbamazepine (CBZ), and phenytoin (PHT), has been associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes. While morphological effects on offspring are well-documented, inconsistent findings have been reported on neuropsychological development, possibly due to differences in attention to maternal demographics, and other design characteristics. Herein, we report the results of a carefully designed protocol used to examine the effects of gestational monotherapy with PB, CBZ, or PHT upon children’s general mental abilities, when compared to age- and gender- matched children born to unexposed women of similar age, education, and socioeconomic status. MethodsFor each ASM, we selected qualifying cases from children born to PB, CBZ, or PHT monotherapy-exposed and unexposed women. Following the application of inclusion, exclusion, and matching criteria, our sample included 34 PB-exposed, 40 PHT-exposed, and 41 CBZ-exposed children along with matched unexposed children for each drug group. Criteria were applied through examination of maternal medical and educational histories, parental socioeconomic characteristics, and child’s age and gender. Each child’s physical and neuropsychological characteristics were examined, using standardized protocols. We report on the cognitive performance of the children as assessed by the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children – III (WISC-III), the leading measure of mental ability in the U.S. ResultsAn overall mixed model ANOVA of the adjusted performance of the children across all groups controlling for maternal IQ revealed significant effects on verbal IQ, but not full-scale IQ or performance IQ. In the individual drug and unexposed group comparisons, only reduced verbal and full-scale IQ scores in PB-exposed versus matched unexposed children were found. Comparisons between drug groups revealed a significant reduction in verbal IQ and full-scale IQ in PB-exposed versus PHT-exposed children, but not in other drug–drug comparisons. SignificanceThese results demonstrate effects on children’s mental ability due to prenatal PB exposure, such that analyses adjusted for maternal IQ scores, revealed reduced verbal mental abilities and reduced full-scale IQ scores when scores in exposed children were compared to scores from children of the same age and sex born to demographically similar, healthy unexposed women. When comparisons were made between drug groups, children exposed prenatally to PB performed significantly worse than prenatally PHT-exposed children, but CBZ-exposed children’s scores were not significantly different from those of PB or PHT-exposed groups. In light of shared effects on structural teratogenicity, these findings suggest that use of PB monotherapy for the management of seizures during pregnancy may be associated with increased risk in comparison to PHT when neurobehavioral functioning is considered, and that only PB-exposed children have reduced performance compared to matched controls. Attention to these effects is critical in the developing world where use of these older medications remains predominant, and prudent choices can be made to reduce impact on cognitive development.

Education in the times of a pandemic: parental socioeconomic characteristics and time spent educating children

PurposeThis research explores the impact of parental educational attainment, race, ethnicity, gender and employment on the time parents spend educating their children during the COVID-19 pandemic.Design/methodology/approachSchool closures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 have affected billions of students worldwide, and have had an impact on the economy and the society. With classes being cancelled or taught remotely, the importance of parental intervention in children's education has accelerated.FindingsThe authors find that more educated parents allocate more time on child education, while higher income and employment have an adverse effect. Fathers are likely to spend more time than mothers in teaching and educating their children during COVID-19.Practical implicationsThe findings have implications in identifying children whose education suffers the most in times of a pandemic and determining the main target group of policies designed to train children, encourage parental involvement and support children's educational development.Originality/valueThis is the first paper that examines the variations in parental time with children across social and economic subgroups during the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors also focus on the time parents spend educating their children rather than just supervising them. The authors additionally examine the determinants of the time children study on their own. Finally, the analysis is novel because it is based on the newest available data collected to examine the trends and experiences of individuals in the United States triggered by COVID-19.

Is it (dis)Advantageous to Have Mixed Parentage? Exploring Education and Work Characteristics of Children of Interethnic Unions in Britain

Extant studies commonly claim that mixed ethnic children face difficulties inaffiliating with either of the parental ethnic group, which consequently negatively affectstheir identity development. However, the majority of the existing literature is based onclinical evidence of small highly self-selected samples of those seeking psychologicalassistance. This paper aims to investigate the socioeconomic outcomes of mixed ethnicchildren using the Office for National Statistics Longitudinal Study data (N=35,302) whichis a nationally representative 1% sample of the population in England and Wales. Wehypothesise that an interethnic union between one immigrant parent and one parent from amajority population could promote integration of an offspring. Here educational attainmentand employment status are used as indicators of socioeconomic integration. Logisticregression is employed to estimate the probabilities of having a degree qualification andbeing in employment of mixed ethnic individuals comparing to children of two ethnicminority parents and native children of two native white parents.Controlling for parental demographic and socio-economic characteristics as well asneighbourhood characteristics, the results suggest that having one native white parentbring children of immigrants closer to the characteristics of the majority population,signalling better integration of children with mixed parentage compared to theircounterparts whose both parents are from minority ethnic group.

Determination of saliva epigenetic age in infancy, and its association with parental socio-economic characteristics and pregnancy outcomes.

Epigenetic age acceleration (AA) has been associated with adverse environmental exposures and many chronic conditions. We estimated, in the NINFEA birth cohort, infant saliva epigenetic age, and investigated whether parental socio-economic position (SEP) and pregnancy outcomes are associated with infant epigenetic AA. A total of 139 saliva samples collected at on average 10.8 (range 7-17) months were used to estimate Horvath's DNA methylation age. Epigenetic AA was defined as the residual from a linear regression of epigenetic age on chronological age. Linear regression models were used to test the associations of parental SEP and pregnancy outcomes with saliva epigenetic AA. A moderate positive association was found between DNA methylation age and chronological age, with the median absolute difference of 6.8 months (standard deviation [SD] 3.9). The evidence of the association between the indicators of low SEP and epigenetic AA was weak; infants born to unemployed mothers or with low education had on average 1 month higher epigenetic age than infants of mothers with high education and employment (coefficient 0.78 months, 95% confidence intervals [CIs]: -0.79 to 2.34 for low/medium education; 0.96, 95% CI: -1.81 to 3.73 for unemployment). There was no evidence for association of gestational age, birthweight or caesarean section with infant epigenetic AA. Using the Horvath's method, DNA methylation age can be fairly accurately predicted from saliva samples already in the first months of life. This study did not reveal clear associations between either pregnancy outcomes or parental socio-economic characteristics and infant saliva epigenetic AA.

The Victorian Intergenerational Health Cohort Study (VIHCS): Study design of a preconception cohort from parent adolescence to offspring childhood.

There is increasing evidence that parental determinants of offspring early life development begin well before pregnancy. We established the Victorian Intergenerational Health Cohort Study (VIHCS) to examine the contributions of parental mental health, substance use, and socio-economic characteristics before pregnancy to child emotional, physical, social, and cognitive development. Men and women were recruited from the Victorian Adolescent Health Cohort (VAHCS), an existing cohort study beginning in 1992 that assessed a representative sample of 1943 secondary school students in Victoria, Australia, repeatedly from adolescence (wave 1, mean age 14years) to adulthood (wave 10, mean age 35years). Victorian Adolescent Health Cohort participants with children born between 2006 and 2013 were recruited to VIHCS and invited to participate during trimester three, at 2months postpartum, and 1year postpartum. Parental mental health, substance use and socio-economic characteristics were assessed repeatedly throughout; infant characteristics were assessed postnatally and in infancy. Data will be supplemented by linkage to routine datasets. A further follow-up is underway as children reach 8years of age. Of the 1307 infants born to VAHCS participants between 2006 and 2013, 1030 were recruited to VIHCS. At VIHCS study entry, 18% of recruited parents had preconception common mental disorder in adolescence and young adulthood, 18% smoked daily in adolescence and young adulthood, and 6% had not completed high school. Half of VIHCS infants were female (48%), 4% were from multiple births, and 7% were preterm (<37weeks' gestation). Victorian Intergenerational Health Cohort Study is a prospective cohort of 1030 children with up to nine waves of preconception parental data and three waves of perinatal parental and infant data. These will allow examination of continuities of parental health and health risks from the decades before pregnancy to offspring childhood, and the contributions of exposures before pregnancy to offspring outcomes in childhood.

Inequalities in the transition to homeownership among young people in Scotland

Homeownership levels among young adults in the UK are declining. This paper compares youth transitions to homeownership in Scotland during the 1990s and 2000s by examining the roles of both personal and parental socio-economic characteristics and local house prices. It demonstrates demographic diversity among young people, with gender and partnership status interacting to shape their transitions to homeownership. The findings reveal that, although single women are less likely than single men to become homeowners, women are more likely to make the transition if they live with a partner. For all young adults, patterns of advantage and disadvantage are defined by personal resources and parental background. While many of these inequalities have persisted over time, the distance between the most and least advantaged has widened, new inequalities have emerged and local housing markets have come to play a greater role for some.

The psychosocial health of children born after medically assisted reproduction: Evidence from the UK Millennium Cohort Study

The increasing number of children conceived through medically assisted reproduction (MAR, including IVF/ICSI, intrauterine insemination and ovulation induction) has led to concerns about the potential negative effects of fertility treatments on children’s psychosocial health. Some studies suggest that MAR children might be at higher risk of developing psychosocial problems when they enter adolescence. However, very few studies have examined the development of MAR children after childhood. Moreover, even though parental socio-economic characteristics are known to be highly correlated with children’s psychosocial development, most existing studies on the outcomes of MAR children did not take into account the selective characteristics of the couples who accessed fertility treatments. Using data from waves 1–6 of the UK Millennium Cohort Study, we compare the psychosocial health, as measured by the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, of MAR children to that of naturally-conceived (NC) children, up to and including the age of 14. We control for a wide range of time-constant child and parental characteristics that might confound the association between MAR and the psychosocial health of children. Results from multilevel random intercept models that do not account for parental characteristics show that MAR children have a lower incidence of psychosocial problems than NC children. In models that control for parental characteristics, MAR children are found to have a higher incidence of psychosocial problems than NC children at age three, which suggests that high parental resource levels both explain the advantage of MAR children in unadjusted models, and mask the potentially adverse effects of MAR at young ages. However, in the fully adjusted models in which MAR children have more psychosocial problems at young age, the differences with respect to NC children decrease with age and become statistically and substantively negligible by end of follow-up at age 14. This result suggests that the use of MAR does not increase children’s risk of having psychosocial problems at the onset of adolescence.

Expectations for family transitions in young adulthood among the UK second generation

ABSTRACTThis paper explores whether family transitions among descendants of post second-world-war immigrants are converging towards those of white British young adults by examining family formation expectations among 16–21 year-olds collected within the 2009–2015 waves of Understanding Society. The paper asks: Do current adolescents’ cohabitation, marriage and parenthood expectations differ by ethnic group? Are differences similar for men and women? Are ethnic differences mediated by individual or parental socio-economic characteristics? We find that expectations for marriage and parenthood are unanimously high, but that there is greater uncertainty among white British and black Caribbean adolescents as to the age at which these transitions will occur. We find large ethnic differences in expectations for cohabitation, especially for women. There is evidence for a divergence in expectations within the south-Asian community. Second-generation Indians have lower expectations for marriage and higher expectations for cohabitation than second-generation Bangladeshis or Pakistanis. Ethnic group differences remain when religiosity, parental background and individual characteristics are controlled. Further research is required regarding the mechanisms which underlie the differential transmission of family formation attitudes across ethnic minority groups.

The Role of Parental Socioeconomic Characteristics on Young Adults’ Debts

The Role of Parental Socioeconomic Characteristics on Young Adults’ Debts

Mortality after the death of a parent in adulthood: a register-based comparison of two ethno-linguistic groups.

BackgroundMost research on parental bereavement and health have analysed health consequences of parental loss in childhood, while collateral health in adulthood has been less studied.MethodsUsing register-based population data from Finland, we analyse adult offspring aged 18–50 years with discrete-time hazard models that adjust for offspring and parental socioeconomic and demographic characteristics. In focus are adult children whose parents were alive and lived together at the beginning of the observation period. We compare two culturally distinct but otherwise similar ethno-linguistic groups, Finnish speakers and Swedish speakers.ResultsThe results suggest that bereaved men have an approximately 30% higher death risk than non-bereaved men, while there is practically no difference in women. Associations between parental and child deaths are, as expected, stronger for concordant causes of death than for discordant causes of death. However, some associations for discordant causes of death remain, which may indicate causality. Among Swedish speakers, who have notably higher family stability than Finnish speakers, the death of one or both parents shows a stronger association with own mortality.ConclusionsThe estimated associations found are generally larger than in the neighbouring country Sweden, which may be due to a stronger obedience to traditional family values and patriarchal family roles in Finland. These findings suggest that the association between parental death and mortality in adult offspring may depend on the societal context as well as on cultural practices. These factors should be increasingly acknowledged in future studies on collateral health.

Paternal age and the risk of low birth weight and preterm delivery: a Finnish register-based study

BackgroundBased on existing studies, there is no conclusive evidence as to whether and why paternal age matters for birth outcomes.MethodsWe used Finnish population registers on 106 652 children born 1987–2000....

Socioeconomic predictors of referral to a diagnostic centre on suspected adverse events following HPV vaccination.

In Denmark, the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines have been suspected of adverse events since 2014. However, as no causal associations between the HPV vaccines and numerous diseases have been demonstrated, factors prior to vaccination may influence the risk of suspecting the HPV vaccines of causing symptoms. We studied the associations between individual and parental socioeconomic characteristics and the risk of referral to a diagnostic centre in a female population aged 11-29 years with a first HPV vaccination in January 2008 to June 2015. Individual and parental data from national registries were linked using the unique personal identification number. Logistic regression analyses were used to estimate crude and adjusted odds ratio's according to each individual and parental socioeconomic factor with two-sided 95% 95% CI. The cohort consisted of 453 216 individuals of which 1316 (0.29%) were referred to a diagnostic centre in 2015. Having a mother outside the workforce or an unemployed mother was associated with an increased risk of referral, while girls and women who had fathers with a higher educational level were less likely to be referred. In addition, women aged 20-29 years who were unemployed or outside the workforce prior to vaccination had increased odds of being referred to a diagnostic centre. We found social inequality in the referral to a diagnostic centre following HPV vaccination. This might be explained by an increased morbidity in girls and women of lower socioeconomic status.