scholarly journals The End of Dominance? Evaluating Measures of Socio-Economic Background in Stratification Research

2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 533-547 ◽  
Author(s):  
Max Thaning ◽  
Martin Hällsten

Abstract We analyse how to best combine information on both parents’ socio-economic status (SES) in intergenerational research. This can be done by utilizing separate measures for each parent, taking averages over parents, modelling interactions, or only using the highest value across parents—the latter commonly referred to as the dominance approach. Our brief literature review suggests that (i) the dominance tradition is widespread, although seldom theoretically or empirically justified and (ii) parental interactive models are not widely used. We assess how much of the sibling correlations in continuous measures of education, occupation, and earnings that are explained by parents’ SES in the same dimensions using the different operationalizations. The dominance approach performs poorer than other models of parental SES. For the total contribution of socio-economic background, we find a bias of about 4–6 per cent for children’s education and occupational outcomes compared with other approaches. We also conduct a separate evaluation of nominal EGP social class operationalizations and find that the dominance approach is the most suboptimal choice compared with the alternatives. In conclusion, parental averages are preferred over dominance, as an attractive and parsimonious one variable alternative, although the highest explanatory power is attributed to models using two parental measures and an interaction term.

Author(s):  
Anders Björklund ◽  
Lena Lindahl ◽  
Matthew J. Lindquist

Abstract Sibling correlations are broader measures of the impact of family and community influences on individual outcomes than intergenerational correlations. Estimates of such correlations in income show that more than half of the family and community influences that siblings share are uncorrelated with parental income. We employ a data set with rich family information to explore what factors in addition to traditional measures of parents’ socio-economic status can explain sibling similarity in long-run income. Measures of family structure and social problems account for very little of sibling similarities beyond that already accounted for by income, education and occupation. However, when we add indicators of parental involvement in schoolwork, parenting practices and maternal attitudes, the explanatory power of our variables increases from about one-quarter (using only traditional measures of parents’ socio-economic status) to nearly two-thirds.


2003 ◽  
Vol 84 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard K. Caputo

This study examined the role of assets in economic mobility within a youth cohort (N = 4,467) between 1985 and 19 97. Increasing percentages of poor and affluent youth resided in families with no change in economic status while increasing percentages of middle-class youth resided in families experiencing downward economic mobility. The rate of economic stasis of youth living in affluent families was about three times that of those in poor families. Length of time of asset ownership influenced economic mobility beyond that of background, sociodemographic, psychological, and other cumulative correlates. In particular, IRAs and tax-deferred annuities were related to positive economic mobility. Robust indicators of positive economic mobility included being a college graduate, number of siblings in family of origin, number of years of full-time employment, number of years living in households where someone received either AFDC/TANF or SSI, and locus of control. Robust indicators of downward economic mobility included age of respondent, number of years married, and being Catholic. Finally, neither sex nor race/ethnicity increased the explanatory power of positive economic mobility beyond that of other correlates regardless of asset ownership. Discussion also includes public and private initiatives to expand IRAs into Individual Development Accounts and to encourage employers to offer (and workers to take advantage of) tax-deferred annuities, particularly for low-income workers.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 124-129
Author(s):  
Björn Quanjer ◽  
Kristina Thompson

While in modern, high-income populations, obesity is associated with being from a low socio-economic background, this may not have always been the case. We test the relationship between obesity and educational level (as a proxy for socio-economic status) in a historical cohort of Dutch military conscripts, from the conscription years 1950–1979. We find that in the 1950s cohort, being in tertiary education was significantly associated with an increased likelihood of being overweight. In contrast, in the 1970s cohort, being in tertiary education was significantly associated with a decreased likelihood of being overweight. We find evidence that the prevalence of obesity remained broadly similar among more highly educated men, while it increased among men of a lower educational level. This likely contributed to the overall rise in the obesity rate. Our findings echo other studies that find a crossover in education’s relationship to BMI as populations become wealthier and obesity rates rise.


2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 392-401
Author(s):  
Hae Kyung Chang

Purpose: This study was conducted to identify the relationship of health status, aging anxiety, social networking, generativity, and happiness and to investigate the main factors influencing happiness of late middle-aged adults.Methods: The study collected data from a total of 153 middle-aged men and women aged 50 to 64 years old from a consumer panel of Macromill-Embrain, the biggest online survey provider in Korea. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlation coefficient and a stepwise multiple regression using the SPSS 22.0 program.Results: The subjects’ happiness mean score was 16.17±9.29. Statistically significant differences in happiness were found according to education (F=4.38, p=.014), economic status (t=5.13, p<.001), and religion (t=2.18, p=.031). Happiness was correlated significantly with health status (r=.41, p<.001), aging anxiety (r=-.62, p<.001), family support (r=.43, p<.001), friend support (r=.36, p<.001) and generativity (r=.63, p<.001). The factors influencing happiness of late middle-aged adults were generativity (β=.37, p<.001), aging anxiety (β=-.35, p<.001), family support (β=.20, p<.001), and economic status (β=.13, p=.033). The explanatory power of the model was 58.0%.Conclusion: This study will be used as basic data when developing a nursing intervention program for successful aging by identifying factors that affect the happiness of late middle-aged adults.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 40-47
Author(s):  
David T. Aju ◽  
Comfort M. Tyopev ◽  
Simon Ternenge Tofi

The paper examined the roles of university libraries for students of low socio-economic status in Nigeria.The authors are extremely concerned about the plight of this cluster of university students because we have travelled this road before.Concepts were identified and discusssed. University libraries from the discussion were seen as hub of academic activities of universities with a number of functions. The paper however believesthe plight of students from low socio-economic background was not properly covered by the operations of university libraries in Nigeria and as such they are disadvantaged. The authors feel this segment of students are important to be cared for because of their future survival, academic performance and achievement, they constitute the population of Nigeria and they may turnout to be leaders of tomorrow. Inview of this, the article suggested support from university libraries for the students, university libraries should engagestudents from low socio-economic statusin extra academic activities such as ICTdrill, writing competition organize seminarsessions etc.


Author(s):  
Silvia Helena Barcellos ◽  
Gema Zamarro

AbstractA large number of Americans do not have bank accounts (the ‘unbanked’) or rely on costly alternative financial services (AFS) such as payday loans (the ‘underbanked’), with implications for wealth accumulation and retirement preparedness. Using primary data, we document large racial/ethnic differences in unbanked and in frequent AFS usage rates. We study the role of socio-economic status (SES), financial literacy, trust in financial institutions, networks, and time preferences in explaining these gaps. While these variables explain a large fraction of the white-minority gaps in unbanked status the same is not true for gaps in AFS use. A Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition confirms these patterns: gaps in unbanked status are mostly explained by differences in endowments across groups, for AFS gaps differences in returns to endowments have the largest explanatory power. Our findings suggest that, while related, unbanked and underbanked are distinct concepts with different underlying causes that may require different policy responses.


1992 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 489-523 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Evandrou ◽  
Jane Falkingham ◽  
Julian Le Grand ◽  
David Winter

ABSTRACTThis paper studies equity in the distribution of primary health care and domiciliary care for elderly people. The main data source is the 1980 GHS which has been linked to local authority data. An equitably distributed service is defined as one in which only variables which measure respondent's need for the service provide a significant explanation of whether the respondent receives the service. In the case of primary health care we find that for a number of groups defined by gender and age, economic and demographic variables have significant explanatory power. For two groups (males under 41 and females between 40 and 60), need was the only significant variable. For domiciliary care not only are variables which relate to the respondent's demographic and economic status significant but also variables which are concerned with local authorities' policies concerning supply. In general neither service is distributed equitably in the sense defined.


2009 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 1587-1592 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janice C Baranowski ◽  
Tom Baranowski ◽  
Alicia Beltran ◽  
Kathy B Watson ◽  
Russell Jago ◽  
...  

AbstractObjectiveTo examine the relationship of 6-n-propylthiouracil (PROP) sensitivity to BMI while statistically controlling for demographic characteristics in two age groups of children: 9–10 years and 17–18 years (n 1551).DesignCross-sectional design with a multi-ethnic (White, African-American, Hispanic, Other) sample of 813 children aged 9–10 years and 738 children aged 17–18 years. Children were recruited from local elementary and high schools with at least 30 % minority ethnic enrolment. Children’s height, weight and waist circumference were measured along with their PROP taster status. PROP was measured using two paper discs, one impregnated with NaCl (1·0 mol/l) and the other with PROP solution (0·50 mmol/l).ResultsA significant PROP sensitivity by socio-economic status (SES) interaction term (P = 0·010) was detected wherein supertasters had the largest BMI percentile and Z-score, but only among the group with highest SES.ConclusionsThe results suggest that other factors overwhelmed the influence of PROP sensitivity on adiposity in lower-SES groups. The percentage of variance accounted for by the interaction term was about 1 %. Thus, PROP supertasters had the largest BMI percentile and Z-score, but only among the highest-SES group.


2003 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vera Mikkilä ◽  
Marjaana Lahti-Koski ◽  
Pirjo Pietinen ◽  
Suvi M Virtanen ◽  
Matti Rimpelä

AbstractObjective:We investigated behavioural and socio-economic factors associated with obesity and weight dissatisfaction among Finnish adolescents.Design:A total of 60252 Finnish adolescents aged 14 to 16 years filled in a questionnaire about their health, health behaviour and socio-economic background. Food choices were obtained by using a short food-frequency questionnaire. Obesity was defined as a weight at least 120% of the sex- and height-specific mean weight for subjects.Results:Of girls and boys, 54% and 66%, respectively, were satisfied with their weight. Among dissatisfied normal-weight adolescents, 81% of girls but only 48% of boys thought they were overweight. Of obese boys, 25% were satisfied with their weight. For both genders, obesity and weight dissatisfaction were associated with economic problems in the family. In girls, an association was also found with poor school performance, low educational level of parents and not having evening meals at home; and in boys, with physical inactivity and not eating school lunch. Smoking was more common among girls who were dissatisfied with their weight. Differences in food choices were small between different weight and weight satisfaction categories.Conclusions:Having normal weight and being satisfied with that weight are favourable for an adolescent. Obesity and weight dissatisfaction are associated mostly with disadvantageous health behaviours and low socio-economic status. Health behaviour seems to be associated more with weight satisfaction than with actual weight.


Author(s):  
John M Fitzgerald

Abstract Selective attrition potentially biases estimation of intergenerational links in health and economic status. This paper documents attrition in the PSID through 2007 for a cohort of children, and investigates attrition bias in intergenerational models predicting adult health, education and earnings, including models based on sibling differences. Although attrition affects unconditional means, the weighted PSID generally maintains its representativeness along key dimensions in comparison to the National Health Interview Survey. Using PSID, sibling correlations in outcomes and father-son correlations in earnings are not significantly affected by attrition. Models of intergenerational links with covariates yield more mixed results with females showing few robust impacts of attrition and males showing potential attrition bias for education and earnings outcomes. For adult health outcomes conditional on child background, neither gender shows significant impacts of attrition for the age ranges and models considered here. Sibling models do not produce robustly higher attrition impacts than individual models.


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