Socioeconomic Background Characteristics Research Articles

Prenatal counseling and maternal health behavior: The case of Ramadan fasting during pregnancy

Abstract Background Ramadan during pregnancy has been found to be associated with various adverse health effects in the offspring, which are largely attributed to maternal intermittent fasting. At the same time, many pregnant Muslims decide to fast during Ramadan. With a growing Muslim population in Europe, Ramadan fasting during pregnancy may become an even more prominent issue in the future. Since pregnant women regularly exchange with healthcare professionals, it is pivotal to evaluate the role of prenatal consultation on Ramadan for the maternal fasting decision. Methods This study uses survey data on pregnant Muslims from Mainz, Germany (N = 326). Data on fasting during pregnancy, consultation with healthcare professionals on fasting during pregnancy, as well as a rich set of socio-economic background characteristics were collected. We estimate the effect of prenatal consultation on the number of days fasted using a log-normal hurdle model. To test whether our controlled estimates might be biased by unobservable confounders, we use the Oster (2019) method. Results The share of women who fasted at least one day was 36.5% (mean: 17 fasted days). Among these women, receiving prenatal consultation on fasting during pregnancy reduced the number of fasted days by 10.8 days (95% CI: -19.03, -2.56). Results from the Oster method show that this result is not biased by unobservable confounders. Conclusions This study shows that prenatal consultation on Ramadan fasting reduces the number of fasted days among pregnant Muslims who intend to fast during pregnancy. These findings imply that prenatal caregivers should be encouraged to discuss Ramadan fasting with their Muslim patients. Further research is needed to develop guidelines for prenatal advice on Ramadan during pregnancy in a framework of shared decision-making. Key messages • Controlled effect estimates show that potentially harmful maternal Ramadan fasting behavior during pregnancy can be mitigated by prenatal caregivers. • This study demonstrates a novel way to exploit real-world data in the absence of randomization by quantitatively assessing the impact of unobservable confounders.

An evaluation of self-reported material well-being using latent Markov models with covariates.

A household's financial satisfaction is one of the most significant factors driving subjective well-being. However, Poland ranks close to the lowest position, 22nd out of the 28 EU members, in self-reported financial status. The paper investigates the problem of determining patterns of Polish households' behaviour and shows the evolution of the subjective assessment of financial situation based on the eight waves of the Polish Household panel data. The analysis is carried out on the basis of latent Markov (LM) models, which allow for socio-economic features affecting the parameters of the latent process. We compare different types of LM models considering: (1) different numbers of latent structures; (2) different types of the latent process constraints; (3) socio-economic background characteristics; and (4) survey weights (being excluded in most of the empirical analyses). The final model identifies three latent states, specifies common initial and transition probabilities over a 15-year period and, as a result, enables us to better characterise the families likely to change their position, especially families reporting worsening in their financial situation. To show the main direction of self-reporting financial condition, we present the predicted path for respondents characterised by the selected socio-economic features, relying on algorithm maximising posterior probabilities of the selected LM model.

Predicting stable employment trajectories among young people with disabilities

ABSTRACT Research aiming to explain disabled people’s inequalities in the labour market has primarily focused on transitional factors between school and work, wage gaps, or socioeconomic background characteristics as explanations for (no-)entry in the labour market. There is a lack of longitudinal studies that map how disabled people fare in the labour market over time. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to identify, describe and predict stable employment paths of long-term disabled people. Our study employs detailed longitudinal data with total coverage of the Norwegian population – we focus on 11 birth cohorts (1973–83) of disabled individuals and we follow their employment trajectories between the ages 20 and 34. To describe employment trajectories and create a typology of longitudinal labour market attachments, we employ sequence analysis and subsequently linear probability models to analyse the association between the disability’s severity, gender, educational enrolment, early-work experience and employment trajectories. We identify four main types of trajectories: permanently work-disabled, stable employment, early marginalisation, and unstable employment. Our findings indicate that men are more likely than women to have stable employment trajectories. Starting higher education, as well as parental higher education, is linked with the likelihood of stable employment.

Alcohol and tobacco influencing prevalence of hypertension among 15–54 years old Indian men: An application of discriminant analysis using National Family Health Survey (NFHS), 2015–16

BackgroundHypertension has been described as an “iceberg disease” as those who suffer are usually unaware and hence usually seek healthcare services at a very late stage. It is estimated that more than two million Indians are suffering from hypertensive heart diseases that contributed to above 0.13 million deaths in 2016. ObjectivesThe present study aims to know the prevalence of Hypertension in India and its variation by socioeconomic backgrounds, and to find out risk factors discriminating hypertension with special emphasis on tobacco and alcohol consumption among men aged 15–54 years in India. MethodsIn this study, NFHS (2015–16) data were analyzed by applying binary logistic regression and discriminant analysis in the attempt to find significant predictors and discriminants of interest. ResultsThe prevalence of hypertension was 16.5% in the study population. The results suggested that the consumption of alcohol and tobacco are significant discriminant characteristics associated with hypertension irrespective of the socioeconomic background characteristics of the respondents. Hypertension is a chronic disease and is itself a causative factor for several other diseases like renal impairment, other cardiovascular diseases, and stroke. ConclusionsThe findings are expected to have direct implications on public health interventions and policy formulation to reduce diseases caused by tobacco and alcohol, particularly hypertension among men in the potential economically productive age group in India and similar settings.

The Effects of Students’ Socio-Economic Background Characteristics on Admission to Privileged Universities through the Early Admission Process

The Effects of Students’ Socio-Economic Background Characteristics on Admission to Privileged Universities through the Early Admission Process

Resilient learners in schools serving poor communities

Introduction. Through the the education for all initiative, a number of education systems have been able to provide access to their students at the basic education level. The major challenge is that most of these learners, especially, those from poor families who attend schools with limited resources are often not successful. However, in South Africa, quite a few of these learners succeed against all odds. We characterized these students as resilient and wonder what drives their success.Method. Our analysis employed the South Africa 2011 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and simple descriptive statistics to profile these resilient students. TIMSS was conducted by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA). The TIMSS data included information on learners’ socioeconomic background characteristics, their mathematics and science achievement, and their schooling characteristics. Using these data, we were able to estimate learners’ socioeconomic status that was used as a proxy of poverty. We used a crosstabulation to identify poor learners in poor schools who were successful learning mathematics and developed the characteristics of these learners.Results. Our profile indicates that a typical resilient learner is a girl who does not speak the language of classroom instruction at home. This learner tends to not only value and like mathematics but also expressed confidence about her ability to learn mathematics.Discussion and Conclusion. The current South Africa policy to improve learning outcome for the poor tend to emphasise improvement of resources in schools serving the poor. Our findings demonstrate the importance of non-cognitive skills in developing resilience and the need to include professional development initiatives for teachers to develop capabilities to help learners to develop these skills.

What would it take to prevent stunted growth in children in sub-Saharan Africa?

There is increasing agreement among the nutrition community about the use of length/height-for-age as the indicator to monitor the long-term impact of chronic nutritional deficiencies. Stunting, an indicator of linear growth failure, has both long- and short-term consequences affecting growth and development and adult work potential. The number of stunted children in sub-Saharan Africa is expected to increase by 2025 if the current trends remain. Stunting among African children peaks during the complementary feeding period, which coincides with the period when children are no longer on exclusive breastfeeding and infections are frequent. Addressing stunting has become the focus of global efforts. The World Health Assembly in 2012 set a 40 % reduction in the number of stunted children by 2025. To effectively address the issues of stunting in sub-Saharan Africa is it appropriate to examine the issue of what it takes. The WHO Multicentre Growth Reference Study (MGRS) conducted in several regions of the world, including Africa has lessons on what it would take to prevent in African children. The children in the MGRS had good socioeconomic background characteristics reflected by years of maternal education and availability of basic amenities, such as potable water and sanitary conditions. The prescription of exclusive breastfeeding, high-quality diversified diets and attention to care were critical factors contributing to healthy growth for the African children. Preventing stunting in sub-Saharan Africa is possible. It requires governments to put in place policies that would create the conducive environment needed. The complex and multiple causes of stunting offer the opportunity to address stunting in a multisectoral and within a food systems approach. The global resolve to make food systems deliver on healthy diet requires all stakeholders to work together to achieve the global goal of reducing stunting. This review highlights the key elements contributing to adequate growth in the Africa cohort of the WHO-MGRS and how these provide lessons for addressing stunting in children in sub-Saharan Africa.

Alcohol Use Among Young Adolescents in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Austria: The Effects of Type of Education

The present study elucidates the association between students’ education type and alcohol use, controlling for other socio-economic background characteristics. A subsample of data from the second International Self-Reported Delinquency Study was used (N= 10,525), collected among adolescents in the seventh to ninth grades of secondary school in four Western European countries (Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Austria). Data were analyzed with multilevel logistic regression techniques. There is an indication that type of education affects prevalence rates of drunkenness and heavy episodic drinking; these effects prove robust for differences in socio-economic backgrounds. The results of this study support the literature regarding the role of the educational system in the reproduction of health inequalities and underscore the finding that students from education types of lower status are at greater risk than those from higher status types.

The Involvement of Different Ethnic Groups in Various Types of Crime in the Netherlands

Various studies have shown that registered crime among non-western immigrant groups in the Netherlands is higher than among the average Dutch population. Little is known however concerning the differences in the nature of crime. The authors studied the degree to which various ethnic groups are represented in various types of officially registered criminal offenses and the degree to which the chance of being a suspect in specific types of crimes can be explained by demographic and socio-economic background characteristics of the person in question. The results show that there are clear differences among ethnic groups with respect to the relative share of various types of criminal offenses. Only a small part of the differences relate to ethnic origin; demographic and socio-economic background characteristics play a more important role. A large part of the explanation might be found in personal factors, coincidental circumstances or background characteristics not included in the model.

Individual Determinants of Work Attendance: Evidence on the Role of Personality

We investigate the influence of personality as measured by the Big Five personality scale on absenteeism using representative data for Germany. In particular, the 2005 wave of the German Socio-Economic Panel provides detailed information on socio-economic background characteristics along with a Big Five personality scale. Estimates of a Logit model and of count data regression are used to analyze an empirical model based on the theory of hedonic labour market outcomes. These estimates allow us to test hypotheses on the influence of the Big Five personality traits on work attendance. We find clear negative correlations between the probability to be absent and Conscientiousness as well as Agreeableness. We find a strong positive impact of Neuroticism on work attendance decisions in general and clues for a positive impact of Extraversion among men. When looking at the length of absence occurrences the personality dimensions of Neuroticism and Agreeableness are found to significantly influence male absenteeism. Implications of our results are discussed.

FERTILITY DESIRES OF YORUBA COUPLES OF SOUTH-WESTERN NIGERIA

Using the matched wife-husband (763) sample from the data collected from Ogbomoso and Iseyin towns in Oyo State, Nigeria, this paper examines factors associated with couples' fertility intention. The analysis used logistic regression models for predicting the effects of selected socioeconomic background characteristics on a couple's fertility intention. Results indicate high levels of concurrence among husbands and wives on fertility intention. Where differences exist, husbands are more pronatalists than their wives. About 87% of pairs of partners reported similar fertility preferences. Of these couples, 59.5% wanted more children while only 27.8% reported otherwise. The logistic regression models indicated that a couple's fertility intention was associated with age, education, place of residence, frequency of television-watching and number of living children. Therefore, programme interventions aimed at promoting fertility reduction in Nigeria should convey fertility regulation messages to both husbands and wives.

Determinants of condom use among monogamous men in Ondo State, Nigeria.

This study examined the factors that influence condom use among monogamous men in Ondo State, Nigeria. Such information can help improve the design of male-involvement interventions in reproductive health and campaigns to reduce the spread of HIV among the general population. Overall, analysis was restricted to 394 men who were in their first union and reported a monogamous marriage at the time of interview. The analysis used logistic regression models for predicting the effects of selected socioeconomic background characteristics on ever-use of a condom and reasons for its use. Findings showed that 30% of monogamous men had ever used a condom, while about 15% of men were currently using the method. The findings further showed that prevention of pregnancy was a concern among monogamous men, much more than prevention of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV/AIDS. The logistic regression models indicated that ever-use of a condom was associated with age, education, and having been counselled on family planning, while place of residence, frequency of television-watching, and exposure to family-planning counselling were factors associated with motivation for condom use. Although prevention of pregnancy is a major motivation for condom use, many men would use a condom for protection against STIs and prevention of pregnancy simultaneously. Therefore, programme interventions aimed at promoting the use of condoms among men should convey both pregnancy and STIs/HIV/AIDS-prevention messages in one programme.

Teacher Effects and Teacher Effectiveness: A Validity Investigation of the Tennessee Value Added Assessment System

This article addresses the validity of teacher evaluation measures produced by the Tennessee Value Added Assessment System (TVAAS). The system analyzes student test score data and estimates the effects of individual teachers on score gains. These effects are used to construct teacher value-added measures of teaching effectiveness. We describe the process of generating teacher effectiveness estimates in TVAAS and discuss policy implications of using these estimates for accountability purposes. Specifically, the article examines the TVAAS definition of teacher effectiveness, the mechanism employed in calculating numerical estimates of teacher effectiveness, and the relationships between these estimates and student ability and socioeconomic background characteristics. Our validity analyses point to several logical and empirical weaknesses of the system, and underscore the need for a strong validation research program on TVAAS.

The onset of a fertility decline in Nepal?

The Nepal Fertility and Family Planning Survey (NFFS) 1986 is the most recent nationally representative demographic sample survey of Nepal. It collected information on all births and pregnancies; demographic and socio-economic background characteristics of respondents and their spouses; knowledge, availability, accessibility and use of contraceptives; and fertility motivation and breast-feeding. The NFFS was conducted for assessing the current status of the family planning programme and to monitor changes since the 1976 Nepal Fertility Survey (NFS) and the 1981 Nepal Contraceptive Prevalence Survey (NCPS).

Timing of the Transition to Parenthood: A Multidimensional Birth-Interval Approach

A conceptual framework for analyzing 1st-birth timing is outlined and potential determinants are examined using an appropriate multivariate methodology and data from the 1973 US National Survey of Family Growth. More specifically the impact of 3 dimensions on birth timing are tested for: historical time individual or couple time and socioeconomic background characteristics. Utilizing a birth-interval approach the socioeconomic characteristics considered refer to both husbands and wives. All analyses are conducted separately for whites and blacks. Women are observed beginning at their marriages and are followed until the date of survey noting the occurrence of live births. A discrete-time least-squares approximation is used. Life-table results indicate that historical time is significant for whites only. There appears to be a quickening and then a slowing of 1st-birth timing over the 1950s and 1960s that cannot be explained by compositional variables on the predictive variables used. This is not the case with blacks for whom historical time seems to be unimportant. This may be due to the unique minority position of blacks in US society. For both races couple time was an important factor with the conditional probability of having a birth declining with increased time from 1st marriage. In terms of background characteristics of substantive importance in determining 1st-birth timing age at marriage and working in the interval are common to both blacks and whites. Working in the 1st-birth interval evidences the strongest impact on birth timing with work acting to delay entry into parenthood. A comparison of husbands and wives background characteristics indicated that the former has little to no impact on 1st-birth timing. Of some note is the fact that couple time does not interact with other variables contrary to findings of other studies. It remains that factors influencing births occurring before marriage are different from those reported here or that they exert an influence through marital timing. A full understanding of all elements of the transition to parenthood will require consideration of these points.

System Identification of Learning Disabled Children: Implications for Research Sampling

System identification of learning disabled (LD) children is discussed in terms of its effect on sampling for research purposes. The identification process that takes place in most schools involves numerous procedures which allow for variability in the way in which children are identified for learning disability services and end up serving as populations for research efforts. The sources of variability are discussed along with recent research supporting the existence of such variability. Variation sources include teacher bias, peer tolerance, socioeconomic background characteristics, prereferral efforts, assessment variability, uncertainty in definitions and criteria for diagnosis, and placement decision-making variability. Implications for sampling system-identified learning disabled populations are discussed in terms of problems related to the use and interpretation of group designs and description of samples. Suggestions are given for reading and interpreting research given existing sampling problems.