Societal Characteristics Research Articles

Variables Associated With COVID-19 Vaccination Among Israeli Adolescents and the Need for Targeted Interventions.

Background:We aimed to elucidate variables associated with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine compliance in adolescents and devise targeted interventions. Our secondary aim was to compare the rates of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection, hospitalizations and deaths between vaccinated and unvaccinated adolescents.Methods:A retrospective review of electronic medical records was performed on all adolescents 12–17 years of age registered at Clalit Health District in Israel during January 1, 2021, to November 18, 2021, with characterization by vaccination status against COVID-19. Univariate and multivariable analyses were employed to identify predictors of vaccination.Results:Of the 43,919 subjects included in the study, 28,207 (64.2%) were vaccinated. Non–ultraorthodox Jewish adolescents had a higher vaccination rate than the minorities Arabs or ultraorthodox Jews (72.5%, 66.2% and 40.5%, respectively, P < 0.001). Adolescents of high socioeconomic status had nearly 2-fold higher vaccination rates than those of low socioeconomic status (80.4% vs 42.3%; P < 0.0001). Adolescents 16–17 years old had a higher rate of COVID-19 vaccination than those 12–15 years old (72.5% vs 60.6%, P < 0.001), as were girls versus boys (64.7% vs 63.8%, P = 0.047). Multivariate analysis identified 3 independent variables that were significantly (P < 0.001) associated with low vaccination: ultraorthodox sector, Arab population, and underlying obesity (hazard rations 0.42, 0.72 and 0.84, respectively). Vaccination was significantly associated with reduced severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection, hospitalization and death (P < 0.001).Conclusion:This study highlights several pediatric populations with low COVID-19 vaccine compliance. Targeted interventions aimed at these populations are suggested with consideration of their special cultural, social and societal characteristics.

The Extent of Adoption of Agroforestry Systems and Practices and Conservation Implications in Kilombero District, Tanzania

Agroforestry systems and practices are perceived to improve livelihood and sustainable management of natural resources. However, factors influencing their adoption in various regions require further investigation as they differ in biophysical conditions and societal characteristics. This study was conducted in Kilombero district to investigate factors influencing the adoption of different agroforestry systems and practices in agro-ecosystems and farming systems. Household surveys, key informant interviews and focus group discussions were used in data collection. Descriptive statistics and Multinomial Regression Analysis in SPSS were used for data analysis. Results show that Agrosilvopasture and Agrosilviculture systems were the dominant agroforestry systems while the home garden and Mixed Intercropping were the dominant agroforestry practice. There is a potential in agroforestry systems and practices in terms of product diversification and biodiversity conservation though their adoption differed given the influence of different factors. Different factors were statistically significant as predictors of the adoption of agroforestry systems and practices. Residence period, availability of extension education/services, residence type and gender were the dominant factors influencing the adoption of agroforestry systems and practices. Farmers' oriented factors were critical in the adoption of agroforestry systems and practices. The study concludes that the practice of agroforestry will be more successful if the local priorities including socio-economic characteristics of the society are considered in designing systems and practices. Socio-economic characteristics of the communities that factor in conservation priorities should be addressed in the process of expanding the adoption of agroforestry systems and practices. Study recommends that productive systems and practices that contribute to household food and income are better adopted.

MOST COMMON MENTAL DISORDERS AFFECTED IN ADOLESCENTS DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Introduction: Since the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic, many consequences have been constantly faced by the population. The threat related to the numbers of contamination, accentuated by catastrophic reports of serious illness or death, added to the scenes shown in the media of hastily built cemeteries and crowded hospitals can have a direct effect on the mental health of the population, generating fear and insecurity. Adolescents, when infected with the coronavirus, have the same clinical symptoms as adults. In this context, when it comes to worsening health, mental health problems and domestic violence were the main predisposing factors that caused damage to well-being, societal characteristics that should influence the individual and collective health of adolescents. Therefore, knowing the relevance of this theme, this study aimed to identify in the literature the characteristics of mental disorders that affect adolescents during the pandemic. Methodology: This is a descriptive, exploratory, integrative literature review, carried out from a bibliographic survey in the following databases: Latin American and Caribbean Literature on Health Sciences (LILACS) and Scientific Electronic Online Library (SCIELO). Results and Discussions: Clinically, adolescents are proposed to develop the same symptoms of mental disorders as adults during the period of isolation. The context of the economic crisis, social isolation and the weakening of health services are related as the main factors that contributed to the development of mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety, self-mutilation and panic syndromes. Final considerations: Therefore, it became evident that the main disorders that affect young people and adolescents during the period of isolation, resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, are ansiety and depression. In addition, the main causes that trigger such problems are isolation measures and family problems.

Explaining social determinants of health from a political economy of health and ecosocial perspective

Social determinants of health (SDH) is a common term used in public health and epidemiology. Public health researchers use social determinants of health to study various inequalities associated with health. Inequities in health involve systematic differences in health across population subgroups, thus changing the focus of influences from social interactions to societal characteristics. Several epidemiologic literatures focus on the social aspects of individuals and groups that are considered to influence the health status, which is conceptualized as 'average health'. Some studies look beyond the social factors affecting health; social determinants of health as arising from a social environment structured by government policies and status hierarchies, with social inequalities in health resulting from diverse groups being differentially exposed to factors that influence health, whereby 'social determinants', such as poverty, act as the 'causes of causes'.&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;However, the most recent definitions of SDH include the factors such as political-economic systems, whereby health inequities result from the promotion of the political and economic interests of those with power and privilege and whose wealth and better health are achieved at the expense of those whom they subject to adverse living and working conditions. Hence, social determinants such as political-economic systems that prioritizes the highly concentrated accumulation of private wealth over the redistribution of power, property and privilege within and across countries constitute the 'causes of causes of causes'. In this paper, the concept of social determinants of health will be discussed in more detail, using two different theories of social epidemiology that focus on the SDH: the political economy of health and the ecosocial framework.

Religious and social narratives and crowdfunding success

In this study, we explore how the religiosity and social orientation affects crowdfunding success through the lens of the moral foundation theory. Using a sample of 17,000 crowdfunding campaigns from 91 countries hosted on the LaunchGood platform over the period 2013–2020, we find that narratives expressing religious identity and social orientation increase individual contribution, attract more crowdfunders, and increase the probability of achieving fundraising goals. We also find that this positive effect is conditional to societal cultural characteristics – stronger in individualistic, masculine, long-term oriented, and indulgent societies, but weaker in high power-distance and uncertainty avoiding societies. Our findings provide new evidence for the importance of religiosity in influencing crowdfunding behavior.

A meta-analysis of temporal shifts in environmental concern between 1994 and 2017: An examination of the new environmental paradigm

Public environmental concern is important for social transformations to sustainability . Previous findings regarding the temporal trend of environmental concern yielded inconsistent results. Their methodological divergence, however, prevented further result integration or moderation analyses. This cross-temporal meta-analysis used the New Environmental Paradigm of human thinking (reflecting the perceived relationship between humans and the environment) as an indicator of environmental concern to examine its temporal trend and the factors moderating this trend. We analyzed 184 independent study samples using the original or revised New Environmental Paradigm Scale ( n = 73,645 participants) from 47 countries/regions between 1994 and 2017. Results showed that the New Environmental Paradigm of thinking decreased over time. No reliable evidence supported that the study sample characteristics (i.e., student vs. nonstudent sample type, sample mean age, and gender ratio) or societal characteristics (i.e., geographical location, societal education, and societal wealth) moderated the declining trend. Despite limitations of including only convenience samples in the analysis, the findings imply a global decreasing trend of environmental concern. The findings highlight the urgent need for new, effective campaigns or interventions to reverse this trend. • We conducted a cross-temporal meta-analysis using 184 convenience samples. • Environmental concern, measured by the New Environmental Paradigm, decreased. • The decrease in environmental concern remained after controlling for confounders. • No significant moderator was found to influence the declining trend.

Migrants as ‘vulnerable groups’ in the COVID-19 pandemic: A critical discourse analysis of a taken-for-granted label in academic literature

The COVID-19 pandemic affects different people unequally, and migrants are frequently among the groups considered particularly vulnerable. However, conceptualizations of ‘vulnerability’ are often ambiguous and poorly defined. Using critical discourse analysis methods, this article analyses the academic use of the term ‘vulnerable’ applied to migrants in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic across public health and social science disciplines.Our findings indicate that the concept of vulnerability is frequently applied to migrants in the COVID-19 context as a descriptor with seemingly taken-for-granted applicability. Migrants are considered vulnerable for a wide variety of reasons, most commonly relating to exposure to and risk of contracting COVID-19; poverty or low socio-economic status; precarity; access to healthcare; discrimination; and language barriers. Drivers of migrants' vulnerability were frequently construed as immutable societal characteristics. Additionally, our analysis revealed widespread generalization in the use of the notion of vulnerability, with limited consideration of the heterogeneity among and between diverse groups of migrants. Conceptualizations of migrants' vulnerability in the COVID-19 pandemic were sometimes used to advance seemingly contradictory policy implications or conclusions, and migrants’ own views and lived experiences were often marginalized or excluded within these discourses.Our analysis highlights that although some definable groups of people are certainly more likely to suffer harm in crisis situations like the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of ‘vulnerable’ as a fixed descriptor has potentially negative implications. As an alternative, we suggest thinking about vulnerability as the dynamic outcome of a process of ‘vulnerabilisation’ shaped by social order and power relations.

A sociological study of patterns and determinants of farmer suicide in India

PurposeFarmer suicide as a social issue has existed in India since past three decades. Though many studies have been conducted from different perspectives to understand the causes and consequences of farmer suicide, very few studies have looked at the issue from a multidimensional perspective. By using the Durkheimian view of suicide, this paper aims to analyse the subjective meaning behind the social fact of suicide. It accesses the nature and pattern of suicide and examines the determinants of suicide from a socio-ecological paradigm.Design/methodology/approachThe present study mostly relies on National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data on “accidental deaths and suicide in India” for the year 2018, 2019 and 2020 for the analysis of pattern and determinants of farmer suicide in India. The analysis of the data has been done in Excel, and descriptive statistics have been presented through simple contingency table.FindingsThe study found that in the past ten years, there has been a steady decline in the number of farmer suicide in India; however, some states such as Maharashtra and Karnataka continue to report high incidence of farmer suicide. Using a socio-ecological paradigm, the paper found that the farmer’s social system which is constituted of individual characteristics and societal characteristics has a direct impact on the tendency of a farmer to commit suicide. It was observed that the stronger the relationship between an individual and its microsystem, there is less chance of a person to commit suicide.Originality/valueThis is an original paper based on NCRB data for the year 2018, 2019 and 2020. The data for the farmer suicide has been calculated including the suicide of the agricultural labourers and the farmers/the cultivators.

Crime, Families and the Economy: Micro-conditions as Moderator of Macro-effects

Since the early 1990s, increasing attention is being paid to the impact of life course transitions on criminal behavior. However, individuals’ life courses do not evolve in a vacuum but rather in the broad context of societal characteristics and developments. In this paper, we analyze whether there is an effect of macroeconomic circumstances on individuals’ criminal careers and whether this effect is conditional on marital status and parenthood. We employ micro-level data from a Dutch large-scale longitudinal study and enrich these with macro-level data. Using logistic panel data models for criminal behavior, we distinguish three types of effects: the macro-effect of experiencing declining economic times, the micro-effect of family composition and the interaction effect, indicating whether the effect of economic decline is differentiated by marital status and parenthood. We quantify economic decline either as an increase in the unemployment rate (objective and backward-looking measure) or as a decrease in consumer confidence (subjective and forward-looking). First, we find that an increase in the unemployment rate has no effect on criminal careers, but a decrease in the consumer confidence is associated with an increase in individual-level crime. Next, we confirm earlier results that marriage has a negative effect on crime, while parenthood has no effect. Finally, our results indicate that the detrimental effect of decreasing consumer confidence on criminal behavior is nullified for married individuals.

Rural elementary school: variability of types in a diverse countryside

The article aims to discuss conditions of spatial organization of elementary schools in the Czech countryside and to validate whether there is any relation between the different types of rural schools and the diverse types of rural areas. Usually, rural schools are perceived in contrast to urban schools as a homogenous group of institutions with common characteristics – despite their diversity. The article compares the typology of municipalities according to data about elementary schools with the typology of municipalities according to its societal and cultural characteristics. Based on three indicators describing main characteristics of the school network – the number of elementary schools in a municipality, their average utilization of the maximum reported capacity, the average extent of area serviced by the school – eleven types of municipalities were identified. Statistically significant connections were shown between the two typologies. Rural schools thus should not be assessed as internally homogenous group of institutions with broadly common characteristics. This is because problems that rural schools face during their existence reflect wider societal, cultural, and economic conditions of areas in which they are located.

Interdisciplinary Urban Tunnel Control within Smart Cities

Nowadays, urban road tunnels are considered to be independent entities within a city. Their interactions with the rest of the city and vice versa are usually not considered and, if they are, are only considered in a limited way (for example, through the nearest traffic controller). Typically, only the traffic parameters and not the environmental impacts are considered. This paper has two major objectives. First, we provide a systemic view on a road urban tunnel. The major focus is on the interfaces between the tunnel and the rest of the city and the way they will be managed. We are providing a tool to take into consideration a sustainable development of a tunnel (i.e., not only traffic flow parameters such as average speed, but also environmental and societal characteristics). This model expresses the actual traffic situation in a monetary form (i.e., cost of congestions). The second objective is to provide a new road urban tunnel control approach that follows the original methodology and systemic view described in the paper. If the tunnel is controlled autonomously, which corresponds to the current state-of-the-art in many cities, the algorithm decides to close it based on only local parameters. However, the proposed new algorithm takes into consideration not only the traffic situation in the tunnel (expressed by the parameter traffic density), but also the actual traffic situation within the city (expressed by its level of service (LOS)). This allows more environmentally, socially and economically sustainable oriented road urban tunnel management. The described algorithm is demonstrated on a specific example of the tunnel complex Blanka in Prague.

Island communities and disaster resilience: Applying the EnRiCH community resilience framework.

To explore the beliefs, attitudes, and perspectives of community resilience in St. Kitts and Nevis. Qualitative Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis using the EnRiCH Community Resilience Framework for High-Risk Populations (EnRiCH Framework) to identify factors that enhance or create barriers to community resilience to disasters in St. Kitts and Nevis. Twenty-one key informants and 23 community informants provided insight into the history of disasters. Unique strengths and barriers that significantly influenced this high-risk population's adaptive capacity were identified. A discrepancy between the way disaster preparedness was perceived by government officials and the local population was noted. Cultural factors promoted connectedness and communication and created barriers to empowerment and collaboration. Innovative strategies were suggested that could enhance upstream leadership, downstream management, and resource management during disasters. Island communities represent a unique opportunity to examine risk reduction and vulnerability within the context of community and societal characteristics. This research addresses a significant gap in the literature on interventions that utilize a strengths-based approach to building adaptive capacity and resilience to disasters among at-risk populations. The EnRiCH Framework can be used to develop an approach to strengthen adaptive capacity and improve resilience to disasters.

Games of Truth in the Age of Transparency: International Organisations and the Construction of Corruption

Corruption is one of the most intractable problems that the world is faced with and its reported impact is widespread and pervasive. Since the mid-1990s, international efforts to combat this problem expanded significantly, driven by the involvement governments, international financial institutions and non-governmental organisations. The objective of this article is to use Michel Foucault’s work in a critical analysis of the international fight against corruption. This analysis is centred on Foucault’s concept of governmentality, as well as his notions of knowledge, power and ethics. The primary focus is on the role played by the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and Transparency International in the proliferation of international anti-corruption discourse and practices. Furthermore, South Africa will be used as a case study to unpack the historical and contextual factors that play a role in the legitimisation of corruption. As will be shown in this assessment, without adequately understanding the local factors that stimulate corruption and the other societal characteristics that serve to compound its pervasiveness, internationally driven anti-corruption initiatives have limited scope for success. Corruption will persist where there is a lack of resonance between international anti-corruption ideals and local norms, values and ideologies.

A Divide between the Western European and the Central and Eastern European Countries in the Peripheral Vascular Field: A Narrative Review of the Literature.

Thirty years after the transition period, starting from 1989, Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs), representing one-fifth of the entire European population, share many historical, societal, political, economic, and cultural characteristics. Although accumulating data on coronary heart diseases and cerebrovascular diseases support these observations, in the case of peripheral arterial disease, data are scarce. The present review attempts to summarise the shreds of data that may highlight a divide in this field between CEECs and Western European countries. Disparities in risk factors and peripheral vascular care across Europe seem to be tangible and can be seen as a signal of existing differences. Improvements in research and development and the collection and cross-border share of scientific data are essential to initiate and facilitate convergence in this field.

Genome-Wide Heritability Estimates for Family Life Course Complexity.

Sequence analysis is an established method used to study the complexity of family life courses. Although individual and societal characteristics have been linked with the complexity of family trajectories, social scientists have neglected the potential role of genetic factors in explaining variation in family transitions and events across the life course. We estimate the genetic contribution to sequence complexity and a wide range of family demographic behaviors using genomic relatedness-based, restricted maximum likelihood models with data from the U.S. Health and Retirement Study. This innovative methodological approach allows us to provide the first estimates of the heritability of composite life course outcomes-that is, sequence complexity. We demonstrate that a number of family demographic indicators (e.g., the age at first birth and first marriage) are heritable and provide evidence that composite metrics can be influenced by genetic factors. For example, our results show that 11% of the total variation in the complexity of differentiated family sequences is attributable to genetic influences. Moreover, we test whether this genetic contribution varies by social environment as indexed by birth cohort over a period of rapid changes in family norms during the twentieth century. Interestingly, we find evidence that the complexity of fertility and differentiated family trajectories decreased across cohorts, but we find no evidence that the heritability of the complexity of partnership trajectories changed across cohorts. Therefore, our results do not substantiate claims that lower normative constraints on family demographic behavior increase the role of genes.

Settle in Casablanca:The Case of MoulayRachid and Anfa districts

Most of the geographical literatures of the postmodern period, which are interested on the space and Wohnen, are based on the role of qualitative and ethnographic approach in the extraction of field results, indeed, it is one of the most important methods which focuses on the relationship of the individual and society with space, and which interested on the individual's lifestyle and spatiality as it is and not as it is audible or read. This article aims to study the affective relationship between the individual and the space through the concept of Wohnen, by focusing on the individual's social representations about the space in its comprehensiveness, also by focusing on the daily life of the individual through his spatial behaviors and his Wohnen, and all that is included in the geography of the daily life of individuals. The research will focus on the analysis of the dwelling's components with its individual, societal and spatial characteristics on the one hand, on the otherhand, the highlighting of the space's influence with its political, historical, economic symbolysm on the individual, by showing the disparity between the respondents in the district of Anfa and Moulay Rashid

HIV patient access to healthcare services in post-austerity era in Greece

Purpose The ten-year economic crisis and the ensuing fiscal adjustment that Greece experienced between 2009 and 2018 has had a major impact on patient access to health-care services and resulted in an increase in unmet population health needs. The present study aims to assess the impact of economic crisis and ensuing austerity on HIV patient access to health-care services. Design/methodology/approach A cross-sectional study was carried out between February and April 2019 to assess barriers in access to HIV care faced by people living with HIV. A total of 329 HIV positive individuals participated in the study. An online, self-reporting questionnaire was developed and adapted to the specific clinical and societal characteristics of HIV. Findings A total of 94.2% of respondents were male and 67.80% lived in Athens. Most of them were diagnosed with HIV-1 10 years ago. Out of the total respondents, 37.40% reported obstacles in accessing HIV care over the past year. A total of 24.30% reported they were not tested for viral load in the past six months and received a result. Individuals, who self-evaluate their financial status as very bad or bad, were more likely to be unaware of their viral load (55.60%) than those with better financial status (33.5%) (P &lt; 0.01). Only 33.3% of uninsured participants were aware of their viral load, and this figure rose to 63.30% (P &lt;0.01) amongst insured participants. Originality/value The ten-year economic crisis that Greece experienced in the period 2009–2018 had significant effects on the quality of services of the National Health System. This study attempts to fill the research gap regarding the impact of one of the severest economic crises during the past century with complex social extensions, in one of the most vulnerable patient groups. In this context, the study assesses barriers to access to optimal care of people living with HIV in Greece after a decade of austerity and the variables that impact on such access.

Electoral politics, party performance, and governance in Greenland: Parties, personalities, and cleavages in an autonomous subnational island jurisdiction

Greenland is a strongly autonomous subnational island jurisdiction (SNIJ) within the Kingdom of Denmark. This paper takes its point of departure in studies of politics in small island territories to ask to what extent Greenland matches findings from other small island states and SNIJs in terms of personalisation of politics, party performance, and political cleavages that do not follow left-right divides. Even though Greenland possesses a strongly multiparty system, supported by elections involving party-list proportional representation within a single multimember constituency, a single political party, Siumut, has led the government for all but a brief period since the advent of Greenlandic autonomy in 1979. By considering Greenland’s political ecosystem, spatially and personally conditioned aspects of voter behaviour, and coalition-building processes, paying particular attention to the 24 April 2018 parliamentary elections, we argue that it is inappropriate to study Greenland as a monolithic political unit or to draw oversimplified analogies with party politics from large state Western liberal democracies. Instead, Greenlandic politics must be understood in relation to the island territory’s particular historical, geographical, and societal characteristics as well as its electoral system.

Temporal clustering of disorder events during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has unleashed multiple public health, socio-economic, and institutional crises. Measures taken to slow the spread of the virus have fostered significant strain between authorities and citizens, leading to waves of social unrest and anti-government demonstrations. We study the temporal nature of pandemic-related disorder events as tallied by the "COVID-19 Disorder Tracker" initiative by focusing on the three countries with the largest number of incidents, India, Israel, and Mexico. By fitting Poisson and Hawkes processes to the stream of data, we find that disorder events are inter-dependent and self-excite in all three countries. Geographic clustering confirms these features at the subnational level, indicating that nationwide disorders emerge as the convergence of meso-scale patterns of self-excitation. Considerable diversity is observed among countries when computing correlations of events between subnational clusters; these are discussed in the context of specific political, societal and geographic characteristics. Israel, the most territorially compact and where large scale protests were coordinated in response to government lockdowns, displays the largest reactivity and the shortest period of influence following an event, as well as the strongest nationwide synchrony. In Mexico, where complete lockdown orders were never mandated, reactivity and nationwide synchrony are lowest. Our work highlights the need for authorities to promote local information campaigns to ensure that livelihoods and virus containment policies are not perceived as mutually exclusive.

Geodemography, environment and societal characteristics drive the global diversity of emerging, zoonotic and human pathogens.

Understanding human disease, zoonoses and emergence is a global priority. A deep understanding of pathogen ecology and the complex inherent relationships at the agent–environment interface are essential to inform disease control and mitigation and to predict the next zoonotic pandemic. Here, we present the first analysis of social and environmental factors associated with human, zoonotic and emerging pathogen diversity at a global scale, controlling for research effort. Predictor–response associations were captured by generalized additive models. We used national level data to aid in policy development to inform control and mitigation. We show that human population density, land area, temperature and the human development index at the country level are associated with human, emerging and zoonotic pathogen diversity. Multiple models demonstrating society–agent–environment interactions demonstrate that social, environmental and geographical factors predict global pathogen diversity. The analyses demonstrate that weather variables (temperature and rainfall) have the potential to influence pathogen diversity.