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The purpose of this study is to explore rural children’s own perspectives on health, well-being, and nutrition to better understand how they approach, navigate, and make sense of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore rural children’s own perspectives on health, well-being, and nutrition to better understand how they approach, navigate, and make sense of these topics.
Methodology/Approach
This study uses a qualitative ethnographic research design theoretically informed by the “new” Sociology of Childhood and methodologically informed by constructivist grounded theory. This ongoing study with fifth-grade students in an elementary school in a small rural school district in central Illinois consists of ethnographic observations conducted at the school, in-depth interviews with students, and participatory tools that seek to involve students more fully in the process of data collection.
Findings
Preliminary findings of this pilot study suggest that many aspects often discussed in the context of childhood obesity, especially in rural settings, including knowledge or education about healthy eating, increasing physical activity levels, or access to healthy foods, are complex and multifaceted and do not easily lend themselves to standard interventions. Findings also indicate that children’s ideas about healthy eating deviate from their own eating practices.
Research Limitations/Implications
Conceptualized as a grounded theory study, the research is not intended to be generalizable or reproducible. Instead, the study seeks to develop hypotheses directly from the field and study participants’ views and voices. These perspectives will inform a more in-depth study of childhood obesity in rural settings planned for 2019.
Originality/Value of Paper
Findings from this pilot study will inform innovative, informed interventions that are guided by children’s own experiences and perspectives. Study findings will also be of benefit to practicing pediatricians and other child health professionals as they understand how to better think about and address challenges of health and weight management of patients and their families.
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Mónica Truninger and Ana Horta
Like many other countries, a reform of school meals policies has been implemented in Portugal, wherein nutritional and health criteria are considered in the design of the public…
Abstract
Like many other countries, a reform of school meals policies has been implemented in Portugal, wherein nutritional and health criteria are considered in the design of the public plate. Given that a large literature on school meals focus on cities seen as sites for promising transformation regarding health, resilience and sustainability, it is pertinent to examine how these policies are being received in rural areas. Similar to other vulnerable regions in southern Europe, rural areas in Portugal have been affected by depopulation, the re-localisation of public services (e.g. schools, health centres and courts of justice) to larger conurbations, a drastic reduction of farming areas and its reconversion from sites of production to sites of consumption that thrive on tourism. While research on children’s attitudes, experiences and practices in rural areas had picked up the attention of social scientists, research on children’s relations and engagements with school meals in these areas does not abound. This chapter addresses three issues: first, how the catering staff and health professionals experience children’s engagements with school meals after the policy reform; second, how the discourses of the school staff and parents around the rural and gastro-idylls contrast with the reported food practices and experiences of everyday life, and third, how the multiple engagements of children with animals, plants and other nature conflict with or are juxtaposed to the images of the rural idyll. Drawing from focus groups material with children aged between 7 and 9 years old living in the rural hinterland of an inland medium-size city in Portugal, focus groups with parents and interviews with stakeholders (e.g. school and kitchen staff, local authorities, nutritionists and catering firms) the chapter aims at contributing to a broader understanding of children lived experiences with food consumption in rural contexts.
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Carl Lin and Yana van der Meulen Rodgers
This study uses migrant household survey data from 2008 to 2009 to examine how parental migration decisions are associated with the nutritional status of children in rural and…
Abstract
This study uses migrant household survey data from 2008 to 2009 to examine how parental migration decisions are associated with the nutritional status of children in rural and urban China. Results from instrumental variables regressions show a substantial adverse effect of children’s exposure to parental migration on height-for-age Z scores of left-behind children relative to children who migrate with their parents. Additional results from a standard Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition, a quantile decomposition, and a counterfactual distribution analysis all confirm that children who are left behind in rural villages – usually because of the oppressive hukou system – have poorer nutritional status than children who migrate with their parents, and the gaps are biggest at lower portions of the distribution.
Alexandre Nicolella and Ana Lucia Kassouf
The purpose of this paper is to examine if child labour can have long-term consequences on children’s health status.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine if child labour can have long-term consequences on children’s health status.
Design/methodology/approach
To capture this relationship, this paper uses the Brazilian National Household Survey (PNAD) conducted in 1998, 2003 and 2008, structured as a pseudo panel and estimated using a fractional response model.
Findings
The results show that child labour is negatively associated with child’s health status, and the longer the hours worked, the worse is the child’s health status. The authors also observe that hazardous labour had a three times higher negative effect on the child’s health and those who worked in service sectors are more prone to having a worse health status.
Originality/value
The study shows that different children’s occupations may have very different impacts on children’s health and indicates that despite the fact that Brazil has a strict law prohibiting child labour, the share of children working is still high and this work has a negative impact on child’s health.
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Anil Kumar K, Reshmi R S and Hemalatha N
In India, the number of migrants to urban areas is increasing over time. Unlike in earlier years where male migration was prominent, recent trend shows an increasing trend of…
Abstract
Purpose
In India, the number of migrants to urban areas is increasing over time. Unlike in earlier years where male migration was prominent, recent trend shows an increasing trend of female and family migration. As migration and health status are highly correlated, the nature of relationship deserves greater attention from researchers. Although literature on internal migration in India is abundant, little attention is given to the research on the effect of migration on the health status of children. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
The present paper, based on National Family Health Survey 3 data, examines the health status of migrant and non-migrant children in the urban areas of India.
Findings
Distribution according to social and demographic characteristics is disadvantageous for urban children who are born to migrant women. As seen from various child health indicators, urban children’s health in general and the health situation of migrant women’s children in particular leaves much to be desired. Pattern of migration tends to have an impact on child health in urban areas; children of women who migrate from rural areas are in an adverse position. Duration of migration has a negative influence on health status of urban children. Overall, it was found that migration status of mothers has an independent effect on child health outcomes; children of migrant mothers have a lower health status.
Originality/value
This paper fulfills the need to study the health status of migrant and non-migrant children in the urban areas of India.
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Tianyuan Luo and Cesar Escalante
The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of adult children’s migration on the smoking behavior of rural parents who are left behind and raise the concern that the rural…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of adult children’s migration on the smoking behavior of rural parents who are left behind and raise the concern that the rural residents’ increasing tendency to migrate to urban areas in China nowadays could encourage such a behavior.
Design/methodology/approach
Using data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey and applying propensity score matching method and individual-level fixed effects model, this paper addresses the potential endogeneity issues that may arise between the children’s migration decisions and parental smoking behavior.
Findings
This study’s results indicate that rural parents left behind by their emigrant children indeed are more likely to sustain their smoking habit. The validated smoking effect of emigration calls for effective government programs that entail intervention to curb such potentially aggravating health risk, especially among middle-aged and older fathers.
Originality/value
This paper is the first to examine the impact of children’s migration on the smoking behavior of left-behind parents in rural households in China. Our findings call for immediate attention to the smoking behavior of older age cohort in China as the scale of rural−urban migration trend is expected to increase. Moreover, given that many countries in Asia, such as India, Vietnam and Indonesia, are confronting similar issues, our findings could provide useful implications for smoking cessation and control policies in those countries.
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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the associations of gender, ethnicity, urban‐rural residence, and poverty, on children's unpaid work. It examines whether the Nigerian…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the associations of gender, ethnicity, urban‐rural residence, and poverty, on children's unpaid work. It examines whether the Nigerian experience parallels previous research in India and Latin America, which finds an ethnic gap in children's unpaid work.
Design/methodology/approach
To achieve the stated objectives, the 2004 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey EdData Survey (2004 NDES) were analyzed.
Findings
The series of logistic regression results confirm the existence of gender, urban‐rural residence, and wealth inequalities in children's unpaid work. For example, girls, children in rural areas and poor children conduct more unpaid work than boys, urban children, and non‐poor children, respectively. In addition, the series of logistic regression results indicate that an ethnic inequality persists in children's unpaid work only when religion, parental attitude on child labor and gender bias in schooling, and region of the country in which the child resides are not controlled for in the analysis.
Originality/value
While previous research in India and Latin America finds an ethnic divide in children's unpaid work, this research contributes to knowledge by discovering that the ethnic gap in children's unpaid work that exists in Nigeria is mediated by a regional effect/variable.
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Zixuan He, Xiangming Fang, Nathan Rose, Xiaodong Zheng and Scott Rozelle
To combat poverty in China's rural areas, Chinese government has established an unconditional cash transfer program known as the Rural Minimum Living Standard Guarantee (Rural…
Abstract
Purpose
To combat poverty in China's rural areas, Chinese government has established an unconditional cash transfer program known as the Rural Minimum Living Standard Guarantee (Rural Dibao) Program. Interestingly, despite the importance of education in breaking cycles of poverty, little is known about Rural Dibao's impact on rural children's education. This study investigates Rural Dibao's impact on rural children's learning outcomes by first examining targeting issues within the program, exploring a causal relationship between Rural Dibao and learning outcomes, and then exploring potential mechanisms and heterogeneous effects.
Design/methodology/approach
Fixed effects model and propensity score weighting method and data from China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) from the years 2010 and 2014 were used.
Findings
The results suggest that the Rural Dibao program suffers from high levels of targeting error, yet is still effective (i.e., program transfers generally still go to people in need). The fixed effects and propensity score weighting models find that program participation raises rural children's standardized test scores in CFPS Chinese-language and math tests. In investigating mechanisms, increased education expenditure seems to connect Rural Dibao participation to increased learning results. The heterogeneity analysis shows that poorer, non-eastern, not left behind, younger or male children benefit from the program (while others have no effect).
Originality/value
These findings suggest that Rural Dibao participation boosts rural children's learning, which could indicate a long-term anti-poverty effect, and that if the program can resolve targeting problems, this effect could be even greater.
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This paper aims to examine how parental mediation of children's television viewing varies among urban and rural children in China.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine how parental mediation of children's television viewing varies among urban and rural children in China.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey of 1,056 children ages 6 to 14 in nine Chinese provinces was conducted. Independent sample t‐tests were performed to make rural‐urban comparisons. Correlation analyses were provided on the relationships between parental mediation styles and children's television usage, and between parental mediation styles and children's purchase request.
Findings
The paper finds that urban parents engage in more instructive mediation and restrictive mediation than rural parents. Urban parents use restrictive mediation the more often, while rural parents use co‐viewing the more frequently. Only urban children's television viewing has a significantly positive relationship with co‐viewing with their parents. In general, children's purchase request is positively related to parental mediation styles in rural and urban China (except for restrictive mediation in rural areas).
Research limitations/implications
The study is based on an analysis of secondary data. Future studies should adopt established scales of parental mediation styles for the Chinese context.
Practical implications
The findings should help public policy makers understand the dynamic parents‐children interactions with television, and help marketers find effective and efficient ways to reach young Chinese consumers.
Originality/value
The study represents a preliminary effort to examine the antecedents of television parental mediation, its occurrence, and its potential effects in the Chinese context.
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