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Article
Publication date: 28 August 2009

Ana Maria Hermeto and André Junqueira Caetano

The purpose of this paper is to shed some light on the large differences between poor and rich Brazilian households regarding children's outcomes; that is, understanding…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to shed some light on the large differences between poor and rich Brazilian households regarding children's outcomes; that is, understanding inequality in health outcomes in the childhood in Brazil, examining the link between the health of Brazilian children and a variety of socioeconomic factors.

Design/methodology/approach

Logit models for some measures of child health (poor health, chronic diseases, hospitalization and visits to doctors and dentists). Individuals are grouped according to their income decile. Independent variables comprise indicators of socioeconomic status and demographic variables, primarily related to the family structure.

Findings

Results suggest that the true effect of family structure is more complex than the biological relationship of parents to children. There are large effects of family income distribution on child health indicators. When control variables are included, the magnitude of these effects changes. The addition of mothers' educational attainment to the set of controls reduces the estimated income effects. Also, the gradient in the health‐income relationship is a little steeper for older children.

Originality/value

Although there are numerous studies investigating the impact of family resources on health outcomes, whether income and family structure truly matters is still a debated issue. Brazil presents a huge level of income and until recently there has been little data with which to assess the nature and magnitude of the role, which socioeconomic factors play in the incidence and severity of health problems. The authors originally attempt to understand what it means to talk about inequality in health, and whether health inequality in Brazil is linked to income inequality.

Details

International Journal of Social Economics, vol. 36 no. 10
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0306-8293

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 20 October 2014

Hanna Jokinen-Gordon

Though it is one of the strongest predictors of vaccine initiation, few studies have examined the social correlates of health care professional (HCP) recommendations of the human…

Abstract

Purpose

Though it is one of the strongest predictors of vaccine initiation, few studies have examined the social correlates of health care professional (HCP) recommendations of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination. This study employs a “fundamental causes” framework to examine whether family socioeconomic status is associated with parent reports of HPV vaccine uptake and HCP recommendation of the vaccine among female youth aged 12–17.

Methodology

Using the 2007 National Survey of Children’s Health, a nationally representative sample of parents in the United States, this study documents a clear socioeconomic gradient in HCP recommendation of the HPV vaccine.

Findings

Results from a set of logistic regression models demonstrate that lower income families have significantly lower odds of vaccine initiation; however, the effect of household income is mediated by HCP recommendation. Further analyses reveal that lower income and poor families have reduced odds of receiving a HCP recommendation even when other health care related factors such as insurance status, annual preventive care, and a usual source of care are controlled.

Originality/value

The findings suggest that low income and poor families are less likely to receive needed health information regarding the HPV vaccine, thereby reducing the likelihood of vaccine uptake.

Details

Family and Health: Evolving Needs, Responsibilities, and Experiences
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78441-126-8

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 29 June 2017

Brea L. Perry and Jessica McCrory Calarco

Only a handful of studies have examined social interactions between parents and children around food choice, though these have important implications for health. Moreover, we know…

Abstract

Purpose

Only a handful of studies have examined social interactions between parents and children around food choice, though these have important implications for health. Moreover, we know very little about how socioeconomic status might influence these exchanges, including the nature and outcomes of children’s requests for specific foods and drinks.

Methodology/approach

Data are from a survey of 401 families with children ages 2-17. Using formal mediation models to decompose direct and indirect effects, we test three potential mechanisms of socioeconomic differences in caregivers’ propensity to indulge children’s requests for specific foods or drinks: (1) Children’s food-seeking behaviors; (2) Caregivers’ nutritional attitudes and values; and (3) Caregiver social control and monitoring of children’s diets. We also present a symbolic indulgence explanation, which is not empirically testable using our data, but is consistent with qualitative evidence (Pugh, 2009).

Findings

We find significant SES differences in the frequency and nature of children’s requests for foods, nutritional attitudes and values, and opportunities for caregiver monitoring of children’s eating habits, but these mechanisms explain little of the association between socioeconomic status and caregiver responses.

Research Limitations/implications

Limitations of this study include the non-probability sample and the inability to demonstrate the meaning and intention underlying SES effects. Nonetheless, our findings provide information about how SES does and does not influence parent-child interactions around food choice, which has important implications for developing effective policies and interventions for improving children’s diets.

Originality/value

In light of null findings regarding alternative explanations, children’s requests for unhealthy food and parents’ willingness to grant them may be related to cultural practices around parenting that differ by social class. Consequently, culture may be an important yet under-emphasized mechanism contributing to socioeconomic disparities in children’s dietary habits and health.

Details

Food Systems and Health
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78635-092-3

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 10 April 2017

Md. Emaj Uddin

Structural sociological framework suggests that sociopolitical and economic factors exert independent effects on variations in family status attainment (FSA) across the…

Abstract

Purpose

Structural sociological framework suggests that sociopolitical and economic factors exert independent effects on variations in family status attainment (FSA) across the social/ethnic groups. The purpose of this paper is to analyze and predict how social-political-economic factors exert effects on disparity in FSA between the majority and minority ethnic groups in Bangladesh.

Design/methodology/approach

This study used the cross-cultural survey design to analyze the research objective. In doing so, 585 men (Muslim n=150, Hindu n=145, Santal n=145, and Oraon n=145) who were randomly selected through cluster sampling from the Rasulpur union of Bangladesh were interviewed with a semi-structured questionnaire.

Findings

The results of Pearson’s χ2 test have shown that FSA was significantly different (p<0.01) associated with social-political-economic factors between the majority and minority groups. The results of the linear regression analysis (coefficients of β) suggested that social, political, and economic factors were the best predictors (significant at p<0.01 level) to perpetuate disparity in FSA between the majority and minority ethnic groups in Bangladesh. In addition, the results of coefficients of determination (R2) suggested that unequal distribution of social-political-economic resources perpetuates 10-14 percent disparities in FSA between the majority and minority groups in Bangladesh.

Research limitations/implications

Although the findings of the study are suggestive to understand the disparity in FSA associated with social-political-economic factors, further cross-cultural research is needed on how the social psychological factor affects variations in FSA between the groups in Bangladesh. In spite of the limitation, social policymakers may apply the findings with caution to design social policy and practice to reduce the disparity in FSA between the majority and minority ethnic groups in Bangladesh.

Originality/value

The cross-cultural findings are original in linking structural sociological theory and comparative family welfare policy to reduce the disparity in FSA between the majority and minority groups in Bangladesh.

Details

International Journal of Social Economics, vol. 44 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0306-8293

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 December 1996

Maximiliane Szinovacz

This study, based on data from the National Survey of Families and Households, confirms normative preference for nuclear households across all cohorts and racial/ethnic groups…

Abstract

This study, based on data from the National Survey of Families and Households, confirms normative preference for nuclear households across all cohorts and racial/ethnic groups throughout this century. However, a noteworthy minority (about 30%) did live with grandparents at some time during their childhood. Living with grandparents as well as having a grandparent live in one's parental household were somewhat more prevalent during the 30's and 40's, indicating that extended households may have been formed in response to the Depression and especially World War II. There also is a significant effect of nuclear family structure: living arrangements with grandparents predominate among those who did not live with both parents at some time during their childhood. The data also suggest that it is important to differentiate between grandparental living arrangements that are oriented toward the care of the grandchildren and those arrangements that imply care for the grandparent: the former arrangement predominates among Blacks, whereas the latter is more common among Whites. During the past decade there has been increased interest in extended family living arrangements and particularly in households including grandparents and/or grandchildren. This interest reflects several demographic trends during the latter part of this century, especially increases in divorce and in parental problems (drugs, AIDS) that preclude parents from taking care of their own children as well as increases in longevity and in the survival of frail elderly, many of whom come to live with their adult children. Census data offer information on the prevalence of extended family arrangements at any one point in time, but they are insufficient to estimate a person's lifetime “risk” of living with grandparents and provide only limited information on the duration of such living arrangements. Data from the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH) include information not only on whether individuals ever lived with their grandparents but also on the type and the duration of such arrangements. Based on this data set, this article assesses trends in living arrangements with grandparents, and variations in these trends by race and childhood family structure.

Details

International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, vol. 16 no. 12
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-333X

Book part
Publication date: 21 September 2006

Hyunjoon Park and Gary D. Sandefur

Using the data from PISA (Program for International Student Assessment), we compare the ways in which families and schools influence educational achievement among 15-year-olds…

Abstract

Using the data from PISA (Program for International Student Assessment), we compare the ways in which families and schools influence educational achievement among 15-year-olds between four Asian countries (Hong Kong, Korea, Indonesia, and Thailand) and four Latin American countries (Argentina, Chile, Mexico, and Peru). We find that family socioeconomic status (SES) affects student achievement considerably more in Latin America than in Asia. Compared to the relatively weak impacts of family SES in Asian countries, however, parental communication with children plays an important role in fostering achievement. The most evident difference between the two regions is the extent of school differentiation along family socioeconomic backgrounds. The extent to which students’ individual and family characteristics account for between-school variance in student performance is substantially larger in Latin America than in Asia. Although the overall degree of students’ sense of belonging at their school is significantly associated with increased student achievement in all eight countries, school climate factors are more relevant for student learning in Asian education than in Latin American education.

Details

Children's Lives and Schooling across Societies
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-84950-400-3

Book part
Publication date: 15 November 2018

Taura Taylor

Current data suggest that the homeschooling community is a diverse and growing social movement, varying demographically in terms of race, religion, socioeconomic status, and…

Abstract

Current data suggest that the homeschooling community is a diverse and growing social movement, varying demographically in terms of race, religion, socioeconomic status, and political beliefs. However, with over 68% of the homeschooling population being non-Hispanic White – a group not accustomed to systemic oppression and racial marginalization – the homeschooling narrative reflected in research is often skewed by the socioeconomic status, political power, and cultural interests of White, two-parent, middle-class homeschooling households. Amidst increasingly amiable responses toward homeschooling, Black families of varying socioeconomic backgrounds have shown interest in becoming home educators. Included in this chapter are their lesser-told accounts – narratives from the primary homeschooling parent – Black mothers. Relying on 20 in-depth interviews, this study utilizes the theoretical frames of systemic gendered racism, intersectionality, and the coding procedures of grounded theory methods to analyze the narratives of Black homeschooling mothers. Overlooking the experiences and concerns of marginally represented homeschooling families such as Black homeschoolers can haphazardly reproduce social inequalities and/or fracture the homeschooling movement along stratified categories. Findings underscore homeschooling as a classed and gendered process and draw attention to the specific racialized boundaries and indignities that obstruct Black mothers’ educational and parenting goals. The author explains how Black women navigate systemic marginalization while homeschooling.

Details

Marginalized Mothers, Mothering from the Margins
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78756-400-8

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 30 December 2011

Yuping Zhang

It has long been established in educational stratification research that teachers play an important role in shaping children's school experience, which is closely associated with…

Abstract

It has long been established in educational stratification research that teachers play an important role in shaping children's school experience, which is closely associated with children's educational outcomes. Children's family background has been considered as one of the factors that may influence how teachers form their evaluations of children's behavior and academic competence, and their educational expectations for children. Going beyond the conventional modeling of using measures of the family's socioeconomic situation alone, this chapter incorporates the teachers' perceptions of the importance of children's family background into the examination of teachers' evaluations and expectations. Using a unique data from northwest China, this study provides a case study to highlight the importance of bringing teachers' perspectives into examining the relationship between children's family background and their educational outcomes. The analysis results reveal that teachers' perceptions of the importance of children's family background, above and beyond children's previous academic achievement and their family's actual socioeconomic situations, are closely associated with teachers' evaluations and expectations. Teachers' expectations at early time point help to predict children's later school persistence.

Details

The Impact and Transformation of Education Policy in China
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78052-186-2

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 23 August 2019

Juan A. Correa, Pablo Gutiérrez, Miguel Lorca, Raúl Morales and Francisco Parro

This paper aims to study the effect of family socioeconomic status (SES) on academic and labor market outcomes.

3136

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to study the effect of family socioeconomic status (SES) on academic and labor market outcomes.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors used a rich data set of administrative records for test scores, individual background and adult earnings of a cohort of agents, covering a period spanning the agents' upper-secondary education and their early years in the labor market.

Findings

The authors find that students with the highest SES obtained a 1.5 standard deviations higher score in the college admission test than students who had the same academic outcomes in the eighth grade test but belong to the lowest SES. Similarly, among students that obtained the same scores in the college admission test, those with the highest SES earned monthly wages 0.7 standard deviations higher than those with the lowest SES.

Originality/value

The findings highlight that family socioeconomic background continues to influence outcomes during individuals’ upper secondary education and early years in the labor market.

Details

Applied Economic Analysis, vol. 27 no. 79
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2632-7627

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 7 November 2016

Elissa Chin Lu

As students increasingly incur debt to finance their undergraduate education, there is heightened concern about the long-term implications of loans on borrowers, especially…

Abstract

As students increasingly incur debt to finance their undergraduate education, there is heightened concern about the long-term implications of loans on borrowers, especially borrowers from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Drawing upon the concepts of cultural capital and habitus (Bourdieu & Passeron, 1977), this research explores how student debt and social class intersect and affect individuals’ trajectory into adulthood. Based on 50 interviews with young adults who incurred $30,000–180,000 in undergraduate debt and who were from varying social classes, the findings are presented in terms of a categorization schema (income level by level of cultural capital) and a conceptual model of borrowing. The results illustrate the inequitable payoff that college and debt can have for borrowers with varying levels of cultural resources, with borrowers from low-income, low cultural capital backgrounds more likely to struggle throughout and after college with their loans.

Details

Paradoxes of the Democratization of Higher Education
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78635-234-7

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