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The purpose of this paper is to determine whether there is a difference in the development of shopping lists and use of advertisements as pre-store food-buying practices in terms of planned shopping by South African consumers who dwell in different socio-economic status (SES) areas. The paper also considers the influence of shopper and socio-demographic characteristics on pre-store food-buying practices in a developing country.

A self-administered questionnaire was used to survey 1 200 consumers in retail stores in low, middle and high SES areas in South Africa. A generalised linear model was employed for the statistical analysis of pre-store food-buying practices within the SES area groups in a developing country.

South African consumers that reside in high SES area displayed the largest of shopping list development, while consumers who dwell in low SES areas showed the highest incidence of advertisement usage. Several shopper and socio-demographic characteristics were also found to have an influence on pre-store food-buying practices in different SES areas in South Africa.

A qualitative approach would offer a deeper understanding of consumers’ pre-store food shopping predispositions as opposed to the quantitative approach, which was adopted for this study. A longitudinal design would also provide a more extensive representation of pre-store food shopping practices over a longer time frame than cross-sectional research. The survey was conducted on Saturdays, whereas consumers who shop during the week may have different shopping and socio-demographic characteristics.

Astute food brands, marketers and grocery stores could use the findings of this study to assist with their marketing efforts that they direct at consumers in different SES areas in South Africa and other developing countries.

The findings of this study may assist consumers in developing countries, especially those who reside in low SES areas, with food-buying strategies to reduce food costs, make wiser purchase decisions and reduce shopping.

No study (to the best of the researchers’ knowledge) has considered shopping list development and use of advertisements’ pre-store food-buying practices in different SES areas in a developing country. Furthermore, there is a dearth of research analysing shopper and socio-demographic characteristics in relation to pre-store food-buying practices among different SES areas in developing and developed countries.

To compare the characteristics of parents and children recruited for two randomised-controlled trials (RCTs) of parenting support in disadvantaged communities in Wales in order to explore the effects of community-based vs individual-based targeting in early prevention.

Parents from high-risk disadvantaged communities in Wales, where additional early intervention services were targeted as part of a Welsh Government early intervention strategy, were recruited to two RCTs of parenting interventions. In the first study parents of targeted three- and four-year-old children, who were screened, and deemed at risk of long-term problems, were recruited from Sure Start (SS) areas in Wales. In the second study parents of one- and two-year-old children living in disadvantaged Flying Start (FS) areas were recruited, with residence within the FS area being the only recruitment criterion.

FS areas are more strategically targeted as communities with a greater percentage of families with high levels of socio-economic disadvantage and associated risk than SS areas. Families in the toddler parenting trial based in FS areas, recruited without any additional screening, were experiencing higher levels of socio-economic deprivation, mental health problems and parenting stress as well as other known risks to child outcomes than the general population. However, when compared with the individually targeted population recruited for the SS study, they were shown to be experiencing significantly lower levels of these and other risks factors for poor child outcomes than the sample recruited for the SS trial where recruitment was based on known child risk factors. The paper discusses these findings and explores the implications of targeting by geographical area (community level targeting) alone vs targeting individual families by known risk factors. The findings suggest that screening measures would identify children at greatest risk of poor outcomes and whose families might benefit from additional targeted services. Suggestions for possible screening measures are also made.

This paper contributes to discussion about effective ways of allocating limited resources to best effect.

While parents’ influence on their children’s smoking behaviour is widely recognised, little is known about parents of four to eight year olds’ attitudes and beliefs around smoking cessation and how they communicate with their children about smoking. The purpose of this paper is to explore parents’ perceptions of quitting smoking and their beliefs and actions related to the use of parenting practices to discourage smoking by their children.

Four focus groups and 17 interviews were conducted with parents (n=46) of four to eight year old children in Perth, Western Australia.

Many parents indicated their children strongly influenced their quitting behaviours, however, some resented being made to feel guilty about their smoking because of their children. Parents were divided in their beliefs about the amount of influence they had on their children’s future smoking. Feelings of hypocrisy appear to influence the extent to which parents who smoked talked with their child about smoking. Parents recommended a variety of resource options to support quitting and talking with their child about smoking.

Interventions aimed at parents who smoke and have young children should: reinforce parents’ importance as role models; highlight the importance of talking to children about smoking when they are young and provide strategies for maintaining ongoing communication; be supportive and avoid making parents feel guilty; and emphasise that quitting smoking is the best option for their child’s health (and their own), while also providing effective harm minimisation options for parents who have not yet quit.

Parents of children of lower primary school age can be highly influential on their children’s later smoking behaviours, thus, effective interventions that address the current beliefs and practices of these parents may be particularly advantageous.

This paper makes a significant contribution to the growing field of digital inequality research by developing an operational definition of emotional costs. To examine this understudied aspect of digital inequalities, we build on Van Dijk’s concept of mental access. We define emotional costs as anxiety toward using information and communication technologies instigated by a lack of prior technology experience and limited computer access.

We examined the influence of emotional costs on lower-income students’ technology efficacy, academic efficacy, and computer application proficiency in the context of a computing intervention. Specifically, we examined the relationship between home and school computer usage with self-perceived technology efficacy, computer application proficiency, and academic efficacy. Data from surveys of 972 students were analyzed in order to better understand the importance of technology access on our outcome variables. We also investigated the possible mediation effects of emotional costs on our outcome variables.

The results revealed that home computer usage was a determinant of students’ self-perceived technology efficacy while shared school access was not. After conducting mediation tests, the results further indicated that emotional costs mediate the effects of home computer usage on technology efficacy.

We conclude that emotional costs might help explain why access inequalities lead to skill inequalities in the context of computing interventions and offer a replicable operational definition for future studies.

This paper takes a prudent approach to assessing the quality of greenspace in low- and high socio-economic status (SES) settings. Socio-economic data from deprivation indexes were used to systematically define low- and high-SES suburbs. A Geographical Information System (GIS) observation of greenspaces was used to score spaces according to a scoring criterion contingent on six quality facets. Statistics were then synthesised, producing a Cohen effect score highlighting disparities in each criterion between the two SES groups.

As the phenomena of locational prejudice and meritocratic inequality continue to garner global attention, this paper extrapolates this to a world-renown metropolis, Melbourne. This paper endeavours to provide invaluable insights into the environmental injustice paradigm within greenspace and its respective quality.

Conclusive results affirmed a concerning disparity in the quality of greenspace between Melbourne's low- and high-SES settings. Cohen's effect size found that on average, there was a “medium” distinction between the spaces, whilst an individual focus on the quality facets concluded diverse findings.

The core of study adopted a meticulous virtual assessment to critique the quality of selected greenspaces opposed to an in-person-real world assessment which could garner more nuanced findings.

Existing literature on Melbourne has prioritised distribution, proximity and accessibility domains when assessing inequitable greenspace and, consequently, has catalysed a research gap in greenspace quality. This is also one of the first papers to provide insight into the “Plan Melbourne” policy regarding urban regeneration and ameliorating public open spaces.

The purpose of this paper is to explore individual enrolment trajectories to fully understand the actual disparity in secondary education enrolment statuses among the different socio-economic status (SES) groups in a newly emerged nation, Myanmar.

The differences in enrolment statuses among various SES groups (high, middle and low) were examined based on enrolment trajectory diagrams and individual enrolment patterns using longitudinal data. The analyses utilised a sample of 932 students from government schools in the urban Yangon Region.

The results revealed that the ideal enrolment trajectory cases (i.e. entering secondary education at Myanmar’s official age and completing all grades without repetition) increased for the highest-SES level, whilst the cases with diverse and complex enrolment trajectories increased for the lower-SES levels. Additionally, over-aged students in the lowest-SES level (boys in particular) were more likely to demonstrate worse enrolment patterns.

By analysing disparities with enrolment trajectories rather than with the cross-sectional parity index, the findings offer clearer and more detailed evidence for the current enrolment status inequalities by SES level in Myanmar. This more complete evidence could allow for an effective accomplishment of worldwide equitable and universal secondary education.

The aim of this paper is to compare the performance of area‐based vs individual‐level measures of socioeconomic status (SES).

Using data from the longitudinal surveys of Australian youth (LSAY), a multidimensional measure of individual SES is created. This individual measure is used to benchmark the relative usefulness of socio‐economic indexes for areas (SEIFA), a geographic set of measures often used in Australia to assess the SES of individuals. Both measures are compared in terms of classification bias. The effects of using the different SES measures on participation in post‐compulsory education are examined.

SEIFA measures perform satisfactorily with regard to the aggregate measurement of SES. However, they perform poorly when their use is aimed at channelling resources toward disadvantaged individuals. It is at the individual level that the analysis reveals the shortcomings of area‐based SES measures.

While region based measures are relatively easy to collect and utilise, we suggest that they hide significant SES heterogeneity within regional districts. Hence, the misclassification resulting from the use of regional measures to direct support for low SES groups creates a risk for resource misallocations.

The finding that region‐based measures are subject to significant misclassification has important research and policy implications. Given the increasing availability of individual‐level administrative data, the paper suggests that such data be used as a substitute for geographic SES measures in categorising the SES of individuals.

The study aims to explore the effect of socio-economic status (SES) on energy balance behaviours and adherence to the Mediterranean diet (MD), in Greek adolescents.

391 students, 14-16 years old, have been recruited from two public high schools located in low SES areas of Athens and two private high schools from higher SES areas. Students completed a specifically designed energy balance behaviours questionnaire together with the Physical Activity Questionnaire for Adolescents and the KIDMED index.

Adolescents of low SES reported lower adherence to the MD (p<0.05), higher consumption of soft drinks (p<0.001), lower breakfast consumption (p<0.001), fewer meals per day consumed with parents (p<0.05), lower physical activity levels (p<0.01) and more TV viewing hours (p<0.01) compared to adolescents of higher SES.

Family annual income, an indicator of family SES, has not been recorded, since this was considered a sensitive and difficult information to be obtained by the adolescents.

This study was conducted during a period of Greek economic recession and was designed to investigate the effect of lower SES on diet quality and unhealthy behaviours in the youth. Understanding and limiting possible health inequalities in Greece, due to the economic crisis, is of paramount importance.