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International Journal of Environmental... Apr 2022This paper proposes a novel ex ante indicator to measure the degree of household financial vulnerability by calculating the probability of falling into financial...
This paper proposes a novel ex ante indicator to measure the degree of household financial vulnerability by calculating the probability of falling into financial distress under uncertain income and medical expenditure. The advantage of this measure is that it can reflect the capacity of households to deal with income shock and medical expenditure shock and quantify the degree of financial vulnerability for households beforehand. We employ it to measure the financial vulnerability of Chinese urban and rural households separately by using data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) 2011, 2013, and 2015. Further, we analyze the potential determinants and their contributions to financial vulnerability changes. We find that rural households experience higher financial vulnerability than urban households. Furthermore, the investigation into the effects of potential determinants suggests that demographic variables (including age, gender, education, marital status, household size, labor force, and area), health-related variables (including health status, disability, and health shock), and medical insurance variables (including urban employee medical insurance and commercial medical insurance) have significant effects on the financial vulnerability of both urban and rural households. Contribution analysis of the determinants of household financial vulnerability shows that variables including disability, health shock, household size, labor force, and education contribute most to the changes in financial vulnerability.
Topics: Catastrophic Illness; Family Characteristics; Health Expenditures; Humans; Income; Longitudinal Studies; Shock
PubMed: 35457346
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph19084480 -
Health Education & Behavior : the... Feb 2017Due to shared health behaviors and disease risk, families may be more effective targets for health promotion. This study assessed whether providing family health history... (Randomized Controlled Trial)
Randomized Controlled Trial
BACKGROUND
Due to shared health behaviors and disease risk, families may be more effective targets for health promotion. This study assessed whether providing family health history (FHH)-based risk information for heart disease and diabetes affected encouragement to engage in physical activity (PA) and healthy weight (HW) maintenance and co-engagement in physical activity among 320 Mexican-origin parents and their 1,081 children.
METHOD
At baseline and 10 months, parents indicated who they encouraged and who encouraged them to engage in PA/HW, and with whom they co-engaged in PA. Households were randomized to receive FHH-based assessments either by one or all adult household members. Primary analyses consisted of regression analyses using generalized estimating equations.
RESULTS
At baseline, parents reported encouraging their child for both PA and HW in 37.6% of parent-child dyads and reported receiving children's encouragement for both in 12.1% of dyads. These increased to 56.8% and 17.5% at 10 months ( p < .001). Co-engagement in PA increased from 11.4% to 15.7% ( p < .001), with younger children (30.4%) and mother-daughter dyads (26.8%) most likely to co-engage at 10 months. Providing FHH-based risk information to all adult household members (vs. one) was associated with increased parent-to-child encouragement of PA/HW ( p = .011) at 10 months but not child-to-parent encouragement. New encouragement from parent-to-child ( p = .048) and from child-to-parent ( p = .003) predicted new 10-month PA co-engagement.
DISCUSSION
Providing FHH information on a household level can promote parental encouragement for PA/HW, which can promote greater parent-child co-engagement in PA. In this high-risk population with a cultural emphasis on family ties, using FHH-based risk information for all adult household members may be a promising avenue to promote PA.
Topics: Body Weight; Exercise; Family Characteristics; Female; Health Behavior; Humans; Male; Mexican Americans; Middle Aged; Parent-Child Relations; Parents; Young Adult
PubMed: 27198532
DOI: 10.1177/1090198116644703 -
International Journal of Environmental... Oct 2022Governments around the globe are trying to find sustainable solutions for lessening pressure on natural resources and reducing carbon emissions. Daily household...
Governments around the globe are trying to find sustainable solutions for lessening pressure on natural resources and reducing carbon emissions. Daily household consumption of food, energy, and water has an impact on stocks of natural resources, environmental quality, and climate change. Households have significant potential for increasing conservation actions for efficient use of natural resources and greenhouse gas emissions. Households could contribute to a clean and healthy environment by adopting sustainable household practices through lower per capita consumption and carbon emissions. This study explored the role of different sustainable household consumption practices in promoting a clean environment as well as the factors affecting the adoption of these practices in Pakistan. Factor analysis and an ordered probit model were used to analyze the data from 1424 participants chosen through a multistage random sampling technique. The factor analysis identified 35 sustainable household practices for sustainable consumption. These 35 practices were grouped into the underlying factors of "Food" (14 items), "Energy" (12 items), and "Water" (9 items). The results from the econometric model showed a significant relationship between gender, education, residential area, family size, and income and the adoption of sustainable household consumption practices. Statistically, higher levels of reported sustainable consumption practices were apparent among females, households living in urban areas, more educated people, individuals of large family sizes, and more affluent households. Therefore, public policies for taking care of the environment need to put households at the center while at the same time promoting mass uptake of sustainable consumption practices related to food, energy, and water. In addition, the sector-specific policies also need to be augmented through focus on household-level consumption and production dynamics for achieving the UN's SDGs.
Topics: Carbon; Environment; Family Characteristics; Female; Food; Greenhouse Gases; Humans
PubMed: 36232243
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph191912945 -
PloS One 2023Previous research has shown that woman-headed households, more than man-headed ones, experience food insecurity. The purpose of this article is to contribute on the...
Previous research has shown that woman-headed households, more than man-headed ones, experience food insecurity. The purpose of this article is to contribute on the determinants that are linked to this gender disparity. Using a nationally representative dataset from Chile, we found that food security household head gender disparity is associated with marital status (having or not a partner) and household composition (having children or seniors). In contrast, gender disparity is not strongly associated with household income and household head educational differences. In this way, we expect to bring evidence to inform new alternatives that help mitigate food security gender disparity.
Topics: Male; Child; Female; Humans; Socioeconomic Factors; Food Supply; Surveys and Questionnaires; Family Characteristics; Food Insecurity
PubMed: 37582082
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0287593 -
Proceedings of the National Academy of... Sep 2023Across many cultural contexts, the majority of women conduct the majority of their household labor. This gendered distribution of labor is often unequal, and thus...
Across many cultural contexts, the majority of women conduct the majority of their household labor. This gendered distribution of labor is often unequal, and thus represents one of the most frequently experienced forms of daily inequality because it occurs within one's own home. Young children are often passive observers of their family's distribution of labor, and yet little is known about the developmental onset of their perceptions of it. By the preschool age, children also show strong normative feelings about both equal resource distribution and gender stereotypes. To investigate the developmental onset of children's recognition of the (in)equality of household labor, we interviewed 3 to 10-y-old children in two distinct cultural contexts (US and China) and surveyed their caregivers about who does more household labor across a variety of tasks. Even at the youngest ages and in both cultural contexts, children's reports largely matched their parents', with both populations reporting that mothers do the majority of household labor. Both children and parents judged this to be generally fair, suggesting that children are observant of the gendered distribution of labor within their households, and show normalization of inequality from a young age. Our results point to preschool age as a critical developmental time period during which it is important to have parent-child discussions about structural constraints surrounding gender norms and household labor.
Topics: Child, Preschool; Female; Humans; Asian People; China; East Asian People; Emotions; Child; United States; Gender Equity; Cross-Cultural Comparison; Social Norms; Work; Household Work; Family Characteristics; Gender Role
PubMed: 37695896
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2301781120 -
Demography Apr 2022We document changes in U.S. children's family household composition from 1968 to 2017 with regard to the number and types of kin that children lived with and the...
We document changes in U.S. children's family household composition from 1968 to 2017 with regard to the number and types of kin that children lived with and the frequency of family members' household entrances and departures. Data are from the U.S. Panel Study of Income Dynamics (N = 30,412). Children experienced three decades of increasing instability and diversification in household membership, arriving at a state of "stable complexity" in the most recent decade. Stable complexity is distinguished by a decline in the number of coresident parents; a higher number of stepparents, grandparents, and other relatives in children's households; and less turnover in household membership compared with prior decades, including fewer sibling departures. College-educated households with children were consistently the most stable and least diverse. On several dimensions, household composition has become increasingly similar for non-Hispanic Black and White children. Children in Hispanic households are distinct in having larger family sizes and more expected household entrances and departures by coresident kin.
Topics: Child; Family Characteristics; Grandparents; Humans; Income; Parents; Siblings
PubMed: 35234852
DOI: 10.1215/00703370-9783507 -
Frontiers in Public Health 2022Risk attitude is a vital component of public mental health. Thus, the public should be guided to fully comprehend risks to improve public mental health. Using panel data...
Risk attitude is a vital component of public mental health. Thus, the public should be guided to fully comprehend risks to improve public mental health. Using panel data from China Household Finance Survey (CHFS) in 2017, this study examined the impact of risk attitudes on household consumption behavior by constructing a micro-econometric model. Results suggest that risk attitude can promote household consumption, with multiple robustness tests supporting this conclusion. In addition, after dividing the consumption types into subsistence consumption, development consumption, and enjoyment consumption, we show risk preference promotes all three types of consumption and has the greatest impact on enjoyment consumption. Concurrently, risk neutrality can promote household survival consumption, but its promotion effect is smaller than that of risk preference. Moreover, risk aversion has an inhibitory effect on total consumption behavior, but this inhibitory effect does not show heterogeneity for different consumption behaviors. Heterogeneity analysis found that for male households, risk attitude remains an important factor in consumption behavior. When men's risk attitude is more risk averse, it can promote more survival consumption, whereas women's risk attitude is more risk averse. With increasing age, risk attitude remains a crucial factor in the occurrence of consumer behavior. However, education level has no bearing on the effect of risk attitude on household consumption behavior. This research holds theoretical and practical significance for improving public mental health, optimizing residents' consumption structure, and achieving high-quality economic development.
Topics: Attitude; China; Consumer Behavior; Educational Status; Family Characteristics; Female; Humans; Male
PubMed: 36148355
DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.922690 -
Frontiers in Public Health 2021This paper explores the relationship of government health investment and household consumption by applying a panel fixed effects model and Sobel-Goodman mediation tests...
This paper explores the relationship of government health investment and household consumption by applying a panel fixed effects model and Sobel-Goodman mediation tests to inland Chinese provinces. The empirical results highlight that government health investment has a crowding-in effect and can thus promote household consumption. Furthermore, the promotion effect on non-medical health consumption is greater than that on medical health consumption. The promotion effect of government health investment on rural household consumption is higher than that on urban household consumption, and the promotion effect on household consumption for northern provinces is higher than that in southern provinces. This heterogeneous effect is closely related to the difference between urban and rural development; and the economic levels of the northern and South regions. The mediation tests found that government health investment mainly promotes regional economic growth, and then increases household consumption. In the economic and social development process, the government should implement more effective medical and health care measures to increase social medical and health investment to improve the consumption level of households.
Topics: Crowding; Economic Development; Family Characteristics; Government; Humans; Investments
PubMed: 34178935
DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2021.706937 -
BMC Public Health Feb 2024Severe domestic squalor occurs when a person lives in a dwelling that is significantly unclean, disorganised and unhygienic. The limited previous research has primarily... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis
BACKGROUND
Severe domestic squalor occurs when a person lives in a dwelling that is significantly unclean, disorganised and unhygienic. The limited previous research has primarily focused on the characteristics of those who live in squalor and the associated risk factors. Robust and reliable studies of squalor prevalence have not been conducted. This study sought to produce a reliable estimate of the point prevalence of squalor.
METHODS
Using data from 13-years of the English Housing Survey, N = 85,681 households were included in a prevalence meta-analysis. Squalor prevalence over time, subgroup analysis and logistic regression investigated the role played by household and community characteristics.
RESULTS
The point prevalence of squalor was estimated to be 0.85% and squalor was seen to decrease significantly over time. More significant community deprivation, a rented dwelling, lower income and high numbers of people in the home was associated with a greater risk of squalor.
CONCLUSIONS
Squalor prevalence was higher than previous estimates and supports community care services in associated service planning. The results regarding household characteristics help to inform which households and individuals may be at a higher risk of living in squalid conditions.
Topics: Humans; Prevalence; Family Characteristics; Housing
PubMed: 38360612
DOI: 10.1186/s12889-024-17983-3 -
Bulletin of the World Health... May 2022To estimate the incidence of, and trends in, catastrophic health expenditure in sub-Saharan Africa. (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis Review
OBJECTIVE
To estimate the incidence of, and trends in, catastrophic health expenditure in sub-Saharan Africa.
METHODS
We systematically reviewed the scientific and grey literature to identify population-based studies on catastrophic health expenditure in sub-Saharan Africa published between 2000 and 2021. We performed a meta-analysis using two definitions of catastrophic health expenditure: 10% of total household expenditure and 40% of household non-food expenditure. The results of individual studies were pooled by pairwise meta-analysis using the random-effects model.
FINDINGS
We identified 111 publications covering a total of 1 040 620 households across 31 sub-Saharan African countries. Overall, the pooled annual incidence of catastrophic health expenditure was 16.5% (95% confidence interval, CI: 12.9-20.4; 50 datapoints; 462 151 households; = 99.9%) for a threshold of 10% of total household expenditure and 8.7% (95% CI: 7.2-10.3; 84 datapoints; 795 355 households; = 99.8%) for a threshold of 40% of household non-food expenditure. Countries in central and southern sub-Saharan Africa had the highest and lowest incidence, respectively. A trend analysis found that, after initially declining in the 2000s, the incidence of catastrophic health expenditure in sub-Saharan Africa increased between 2010 and 2020. The incidence among people affected by specific diseases, such as noncommunicable diseases, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, was generally higher.
CONCLUSION
Although data on catastrophic health expenditure for some countries were sparse, the data available suggest that a non-negligible share of households in sub-Saharan Africa experienced catastrophic expenditure when accessing health-care services. Stronger financial protection measures are needed.
Topics: Africa South of the Sahara; Catastrophic Illness; Family Characteristics; Health Expenditures; Health Services; Humans; Incidence
PubMed: 35521041
DOI: 10.2471/BLT.21.287673