Suchergebnisse

▪ Abstract  Is living in a relatively poor community bad for your health; is living in a relatively affluent community good for your health; or is it only your own socioeconomic position that matters to your health no matter where you live? This article (a) presents a conceptual model suggesting the basic pathways that may link community socioeconomic context to individual health, (b) reviews recent research that has examined whether the socioeconomic context of communities impacts the health of individual residents, over and above their own socioeconomic position, (c) discusses conceptual and methodological challenges of current research, and (d) suggests new directions for future research such as the importance of more closely examining how age, race, gender, and individual socioeconomic position may moderate the impact of community socioeconomic context on individual health and mortality.

A number of social and economic indices are constructed by
utilising a total of 120 variables to compare Pakistan with 96 other
developing countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America. These countries
are ranked on scales of these indices by using the Wroclaw Taxonomic
Method and are grouped on the basis of similarities with the help of a
clustering technique. Pakistan seems to have achieved a reasonable
degree of success in both social and economic areas but her performance
in the latter is more pronounced.

Background: The aim of this research is to update the trend in overweight (including obesity) prevalence among Italian adolescents, evaluating possible differences by age and gender, and analyzing their relationships with socioeconomic status, between 2002 and 2014. Methods: The present study is based on data from the Italian HBSC study at four time points (2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014), which involved 15035 adolescents, aged 11-13-15 (7540 boys and 7495 girls)Results: Gender and age were associated with the occurrence of overweight. In all surveys, boys had a higher prevalence of excess weight compared to girls (p<0.001), but only among girls there was a significant increasing trend (from 11.2% in 2002 to 13.3% in 2014). From 2002 to 2014, the risk of being overweight was inversely associated with the economic level of the family, for both genders and all age groups. Conclusions: Data collected between 2002 and 2014 in Italy showed a low overall increase in prevalence of obesity and overweight and an inverse association between SES and obesity in all age groups and in both genders. These findings suggest that concerted, multi-sectorial, efforts are needed in Italy, in combination with a sound political will, focused on reducing social inequality associate.

AbstractWe studied the impact of an individual's family and community background on their voting propensity in the 2015 Finnish parliamentary elections by employing a sibling design on an individual-level register-based dataset. The results showed that a quarter of the total variance in voter turnout was shared between siblings. Considering the dichotomous nature of the turnout variable, this implies that background has a strong effect which is almost comparable to sibling similarity in education. Parental socioeconomic position and voting, in turn, are equally important factors by explaining one-third of this shared part of the likelihood of voting. Mothers and fathers make roughly equal contributions. The results suggest that future studies of inter-generational effects in political participation, whenever possible, should use information from both maternal and paternal characteristics and multiple indicators of parental socioeconomic position simultaneously. We conclude by underlining that as people cannot choose their background, voting propensity is strongly influenced by factors beyond an individual's own control, which is problematic for the functioning of inclusive democracy and equality of opportunity.

AbstractUsing data from national surveys, studies of gay men, and obituaries, the socio‐economic position of gay men is examined. The evidence shows that gay men have higher incomes than heterosexual men, and that they are highly concentrated in certain occupations. The difference between the occupational distribution of gay and straight men is as great as that between men and women. The economic position of gay men appears to result from several factors in addition to discrimination. Gay economic power and gay preferences for economic dealings with other gays serve to shield them from antigay bias.

<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>African Americans experience higher rates of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and lower childhood and adult socioeconomic position (SEP). Research that examines the associations of multiple measures of SEP with subclinical CVD markers among African Americans is limited. </p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Data from the Jackson Heart Study (JHS) were used to examine cross-sectional associations of childhood SEP and adult SEP with subclinical markers among 4,756 African American participants (mean age 54, 64% female), adjusting for age, health behaviors and CVD risk factors. Subclinical markers included prevalent left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), peripheral artery disease (PAD), coronary artery calcification (CAC), and carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT). </p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The prevalence of LVH, PAD and CAC was 7%, 6% and 45%, respectively. The mean CIMT was .72 ± .17 mm. In fully-adjusted models, having a college education was inversely associated with PAD (OR, .27; 95% CI .13,.56) and CIMT (β=-29.7, P&lt;.01). Income was inversely associated with LVH after adjustment for health behaviors (OR, .49 95% CI .25,.96), though associations attenuated in the fully-adjusted model. Measures of childhood SEP (material resources and mother's education) were not consistently associated with subclinical disease measures other than a positive association between material resources and CIMT. </p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Subclinical disease markers were patterned by adult SEP measures among African Americans. <em>Ethn Dis. </em>2016;26(3);355-362; doi:10.18865/ed.26.3.355 </p>

Background: Dental caries is the most common chronic disease in children. In Norway there are government sponsored programs that give all children (0-18 years) free public dental treatment. This program seems to reduce the social gap in oral health compared to countries where dental treatment is paid out-of-pocket. There are indications that not all children in Norway benefit equally good from this program. Aims: The first aim of this thesis was to assess caries experience expressed as DMFT/dmft index among children in Northern Norway (Tromsø, Storslett and Mosjøen). The second aim was to investigate the association between children´s oral health and their parents´ socioeconomic position (SEP). Materials and method: This was a cross sectional study, that included 140 children and their parents. The children in the study were between 5 and 12 years old. The sample was recruited at University Dental Clinic in Tromsø (82, 30%), public dental clinic in Storslett (19, 76%) and public dental clinic in Mosjøen (39, 83%). Data was collected using a structured questionnaire asking about the child's gender, age, living area, number of people in the household, how long the child has lived in Norway, who the child lives with, last dental visit and the reason for the visit, rating of the child's oral health, frequency of tooth brushing, help with tooth brushing, use of dental cleaning products, chronic diseases, medication, intake of sugar, parents´ age/education/occupation, household income and residence. DMFT/dmft value was measured on a routinely dental examination by a dentist or a dental hygienist. Results: The total mean caries experience was higher among older children. It was lowest for children at 5 years old (0,1 (0,4)) compared to children at 6-, 7-, 8,- 9, 11- and 12 years old ((0,4 (1,0)), (0,3 (0,7)), (0,5 (1,0)), (0,5 (0,7)), (0,6 (1,2)), (1,1 (2,0)) and (1,0 (1,4)), respectively). This difference was not statistically significance. The odds for a child to have DMFT≥1 decrease by 0,8 with each 50000NOK higher income (p=0,058). Children with a father that only had completed primary school/ high school education had 10,4 times higher odds to have DMFT≥1 (adjusted OR: 10,435; 95% CI1,461-74,513). Conclusions: According to multivariable binary logistic regression analysis, having a father with low education was associated with DMFT≥1 of the child. Even in a rich country like Norway, social inequalities in oral health based on father's education and income already at the age of 5-12 years could be observed. More studies are needed in order to investigate social inequalities among children in Northern Norway.

Several theories have suggested that Western influences would gradually alter traditional African family systems. Although the predicted convergence toward a Western type of nuclear family has not occurred, there have been important changes in African nuptiality patterns. This article examines theories stating that differentials and changes in marriage patterns are related to the relative status of women. In particular, we assess to what extent factors such as women's inheritance rights, women's involvement in trade and politics, and women's contribution to agricultural labor affect the nuptiality pattern of a society.