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Socioeconomic Backgrounds (socioeconomic + background)
Kinds of Socioeconomic Backgrounds Selected AbstractsMexican-origin parents' involvement in adolescent peer relationships: A pattern analytic approachNEW DIRECTIONS FOR CHILD & ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT, Issue 116 2007Kimberly A. Updegraff The cultural backgrounds and experiences of Mexican-origin mothers and fathers (including their Anglo and Mexican cultural orientations and their familism values) and their socioeconomic background (parental education, family income, neighborhood poverty rate) are linked to the nature of their involvement in adolescent peer relationships. [source] A survey of language barriers from the perspective of pediatric oncologists, interpreters, and parentsPEDIATRIC BLOOD & CANCER, Issue 6 2006Marisa Abbe MA Abstract Background Oncologists in the US increasingly face the challenge of communicating with non-English speaking parents of children with cancer. This study explores this challenge from the perspectives of a sample of pediatric oncologists, interpreters, and Spanish-speaking parents of children with newly diagnosed leukemia. Procedure Thirty-seven oncologists and 17 professional language interpreters based at two non-profit pediatric hospitals in the US were surveyed on the topic of language barriers in pediatric care. Seventeen parents who communicated with their child's oncologist through an interpreter were also surveyed. Results All groups expressed considerable concern over the process of communicating across a language barrier. For oncologists, these concerns included the accuracy and completeness of interpretations, complexity of information, and loss of confidence and control over the communication process. For interpreters, they included complexity of information, information overload, and lack of clinician sensitivity toward the cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds of limited English proficiency (LEP) families. Parent concerns included difficulties comprehending information and anxiety over the possibility of missing out on important information. All groups provided multiple suggestions for improving communication across a language barrier. Conclusions Oncologists, interpreters, and parents expressed considerable concern over the process of communicating across a language barrier. Some of these concerns could be minimized through efforts to boost interpreter accuracy and completeness, including the use of more simple, easy to understand language. Other issues, such as differences in culture and socioeconomic background, warrant consideration of the intercultural knowledge and skills of interpreters. Pediatric Blood Cancer 2006;47:819,824. © 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Civic Knowledge of High School Students in Israel: Personal and Contextual DeterminantsPOLITICAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 4 2007Professor Orit Ichilov Past research on civic education suggests that students' performance is largely influenced by individual socioeconomic background and motivational factors. There has been little attention to the effects of school and classroom ideological and social attributes, such as the socioeconomic make-up of the school or classroom, or how interested in politics are a student's classmates. The results of the present study support the contention that contextual effects play a vital role in determining students' civic knowledge scores. Analysis of Israeli 11th graders' performance on the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) civic knowledge test shows that while individual backgrounds and motivations play a significant role, school and classroom contexts greatly contribute to civic knowledge acquisition. [source] Brief communication: Facial fluctuating asymmetry as a marker of sex differences of the response to phenotypic stressesAMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 2 2010Özener Abstract Fluctuating asymmetry (FA) is thought to increase as a result of environmental perturbations during development. A number of studies involving measures of health and developmental stability other than FA have discussed the presumed increased buffering in females relative to males. But, there is little evidence in the literature on FA to support this hypothesis. This research was conducted to determine the level of difference in terms of facial FA between sexes under different environmental conditions. Group 1 included final year students from three high schools in Yenimahalle, a slum district of Ankara (males: N = 163, mean age = 17.55, sd = 0.50; females: N = 141, mean age = 17.48, sd = 0.38). Group 2 included students with higher socioeconomic background and was composed of final year students from three different private schools located in Cankaya (N = 171, mean age = 17.44, sd = 0.26; females: N = 152, mean age = 17.38, sd = 0.31). Digital images were used to assess the degree of facial asymmetry as measured from eight paired traits and calculated as a composite score. The study shows that the male students had higher facial asymmetry than the female students. However, the present difference reaches a significant level in the low-socioeconomic status group. As a result, it could be inferred that differences in developmental stability between sexes might emerge under stressful conditions. Am J Phys Anthropol 143:321,324, 2010. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] The Methamphetamine Home: Psychological Impact on Preschoolers in Rural TennesseeTHE JOURNAL OF RURAL HEALTH, Issue 3 2008Comfort B. Asanbe PhD ABSTRACT:,Context:A growing number of children reside with methamphetamine-abusing parents in homes where the illicit drug is produced. Yet, the effects of a methamphetamine environment on psychological child outcome are still unknown. Purpose: To examine whether preschoolers who lived in methamphetamine-producing homes are at increased risk for developing psychological problems. Methods: The participants were 58 white children between the ages of 4 and 5 years; 31 with a history of living in methamphetamine-producing homes and 27 children who live in non-methamphetamine producing homes in rural Tennessee. The groups were similar in age, gender, and socioeconomic background. The groups were compared for behavioral and emotional adjustment using the behavior assessment system for children-parent rating scale-preschool (BASC-PRS-P) form. Biological or custodian parents completed a rating on their preschoolers that provided information about the children's pattern of behavior and feelings. Findings: Preschoolers from the methamphetamine-producing homes showed more externalizing problems than their peers, but were comparable on internalizing problems. On specific behaviors, the data indicate that preschoolers in the methamphetamine group showed higher aggression symptoms than their peers from non-methamphetamine-producing homes. Conclusions: These findings, if replicated, point to the need for mental health screening when a child is removed from a methamphetamine-producing home. [source] Ficolin 2 (FCN2) functional polymorphisms and the risk of rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart diseaseCLINICAL & EXPERIMENTAL IMMUNOLOGY, Issue 3 2009I. J. Messias-Reason Summary Ficolins are pattern-recognition proteins involved in innate immunity, which upon binding to their specific pathogen-associated molecular patterns on the microbial surfaces trigger the immune response either by binding to collectin cellular receptors or by initiating the complement lectin pathway. In humans, three ficolin genes have been identified, which encode ficolin-1 (M-ficolin), ficolin-2 (L-ficolin) and ficolin-3 (H-ficolin or Hakata antigen). Ficolin-2 was shown to bind to lipoteichoic acid, a cell wall constituent in all Gram-positive bacteria such as Streptococcus pyogenes, which is the aetiological agent of rheumatic fever (RF) and its most severe sequelae, chronic rheumatic heart disease (CRHD). Here we investigated polymorphisms in the promoter region of the FCN2 gene (at positions ,986/,602 and +4) in 122 patients with RF and CRHD and in 210 healthy subjects from the same geographic region and socioeconomic background. The haplotype ,986/,602/,4 G/G/A, which is related to low levels of L-ficolin, was observed more frequently in the CRHD group when compared to the healthy subjects [99/162, 61·1% versus 211/420, 50·2%, odds ratio (OR) 1·6, confidence interval (CI) 95% 1·1,2·3, P = 0·021]. The haplotype ,986/,602/,4 A/G/A was observed more frequently in the healthy group when compared to the affected (RF plus CRHD) subjects (31/420, 7·4% versus 6/244, 2·5%, OR 3·2, CI 95% 0·13,0·77, P = 0·008). Based on those findings, one can conclude that polymorphisms associated with low levels of L-ficolin level may predispose an individual to recurrent and/or more severe streptococcal infection. [source] The Effect of Anemia on Mortality in Indigent Patients With Mild-to-Moderate Chronic Heart FailureCONGESTIVE HEART FAILURE, Issue 2 2006Kathy Hebert MD Anemia has been described as an independent predictor of death in patients with chronic heart failure. Little is known, however, about the significance of anemia in heart failure patients with severely depressed socioeconomic backgrounds who receive comprehensive care in a heart failure management program. The impact of anemia on mortality was investigated in 410 indigent chronic heart failure patients, the majority of whom were in New York Heart Association functional class I,III and were treated with angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers and , blockers at maximally tolerated doses. Anemia was present in 28% of patients. In an adjusted Cox analysis, anemia was strongly associated with mortality, but only in men: hazard ratio, 2.54; 95% confidence interval, 1.31,4.93; p=0.006. The investigators conclude that anemia in this population is common and that, for men, the relative risk increase associated with anemia is high. [source] Neurocognitive correlates of socioeconomic status in kindergarten childrenDEVELOPMENTAL SCIENCE, Issue 1 2005Kimberly G. Noble Socioeconomic status (SES) is strongly associated with cognitive ability and achievement during childhood and beyond. Little is known about the developmental relationships between SES and specific brain systems or their associated cognitive functions. In this study we assessed neurocognitive functioning of kindergarteners from different socioeconomic backgrounds, using tasks drawn from the cognitive neuroscience literature in order to determine how childhood SES predicts the normal variance in performance across different neurocognitive systems. Five neurocognitive systems were examined: the occipitotemporal/visual cognition system, the parietal/spatial cognition system, the medial temporal/memory system, the left perisylvian/language system, and the prefrontal/executive system. SES was disproportionately associated with the last two, with low SES children performing worse than middle SES children on most measures of these systems. Relations among language, executive function, SES and specific aspects of early childhood experience were explored, revealing intercorrelations and a seemingly predominant role of individual differences in language ability involved in SES associations with executive function. [source] Children's Sense of Self in Relation to Clinical Processes: Portraits of Pharmaceutical TransformationETHOS, Issue 3 2009Elizabeth Carpenter-Song This article presents in-depth accounts of pharmaceutical transformation from the perspective of two children diagnosed with behavioral and emotional disorders. These portraits provide the basis for an examination of the complex interrelation between self and clinical processes. Narrative data were collected in the context of a 13-month anthropological study of the lived experiences of children diagnosed with behavioral and emotional disorders and their families living in the northeastern United States. Participating families (N=20) were from diverse racial/ethnic (African American, Euro-American, and Latino) and socioeconomic backgrounds. Psychiatric diagnoses and pharmaceuticals present tangible constraints in the lives of children that call attention to otherwise fluid and ephemeral self processes. These accounts suggest that psychiatric diagnoses and psychotropic medications present dilemmas for children's developing sense of self, revealing limitations to biopsychiatric "pharmaceutical promises." [children, self processes, subjective experience, psychiatric disorder, pharmaceuticals] [source] The mediating role of social support in the community environment,psychological distress link among low-income African American womenJOURNAL OF COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 4 2009Jielu Lin Living in a disordered community is negatively associated with psychological well-being. We investigated the role of social support in the link between community environment and psychological distress in a sample of 152 African American women from low socioeconomic backgrounds in a large metropolitan southeastern city. Structural equation modeling revealed that the association between low quality of community environment and increased psychological distress was accounted for by the mediating role of social support. Findings suggest the importance of social support in improving the mental health of African American women from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Because social support is affected by the environment in which women live, interventions should be community-focused. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] Quality of life in old age: An investigation of well older persons in Hong KongJOURNAL OF COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 3 2004Sheung-Tak Cheng What might add quality to life during the last period of the life cycle? In study I, five focus groups of elderly participants representing different ages and socioeconomic backgrounds provided descriptions of quality of life (QOL) from their own perspectives. These descriptions formed the basis of a questionnaire that was administered to a representative, random sample of older persons in Hong Kong (N = 1,616) in study II. The study II sample was further randomly split into two. Exploratory factor analysis on sample A identified four factors: generativity, interpersonal (including intergenerational) relations, physical functioning, and material life. Results of confirmatory factor analysis on sample B showed that the 4-factor QOL model provided a good fit to the data, and that the constructs measured were identical (invariant) between older men and women and between the young-old and the old-old. In study III, the findings were disseminated back to an independent sample of older persons meeting in focus groups, who provided verbal confirmations to the model. The findings shed light on possible community psychology interventions to promote wellness in the elderly. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comm Psychol 32: 309,326, 2004. [source] Irritable bowel syndrome in the 21st century: Perspectives from Asia or South-east AsiaJOURNAL OF GASTROENTEROLOGY AND HEPATOLOGY, Issue 1 2007Full-Young Chang Abstract Asian irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) studies not only confirm the truth of this functional disorder but also describe the current disease situation of this continent, with its variable socioeconomic backgrounds. Most Asian community IBS prevalence is within 5,10%, regardless of gender or ethnic character. As well as meeting the main Rome II criteria, Asian IBS subjects also have many minor symptoms. Thus this recommendation remains useful to diagnose Asian IBS. Also, female patients commonly express constipation-predominant (C-) symptoms. Extra-colonic symptoms are common in Asia, for example dyspepsia, insomnia and irritable urinary bladder. Asian IBS subjects do experience psychological disturbances including anxiety, depression, agoraphobia and neuroticism. Accordingly, their quality of life is poor and there is absenteeism leading to excessive physician visits. Abnormal gut motor and sensory functions have been indicated among the Asian IBS subjects. Now, there is evidence of altered colonic neuroimmune function leading to gut hypersensitivity and dysmotility. An Asia,Pacific trial also confirmed tegaserod efficacy on female C-IBS subjects. More than 90% of nurses have very limited IBS knowledge, and are unable even to explain it clearly. In conclusion, Western recommended criteria clearly diagnose Asian IBS and many factors are mutual leading to IBS. Current IBS treatments remain useful but additional reeducation for medical professionals appears to be needed. [source] The Menopause Experience: A Woman's PerspectiveJOURNAL OF OBSTETRIC, GYNECOLOGIC & NEONATAL NURSING, Issue 1 2002Sharon A. George PhD Objective: To understand the complexities of the experience of menopause in American women from diverse ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds. The specific aims of this phenomenologic study were to (a) examine and interpret the reality of the menopausal transition as experienced by American women and (b) identify common elements and themes that occur as a result of the complexities of this experience. Design: Data for this qualitative study were gathered through semistructured interviews with 15 women who experienced natural menopause. Participants: A multiethnic sample of 15 menopausal American women in Massachusetts was selected from a pool of voluntary participants from the Boston area. Data Analysis: The interviews were analyzed to identify themes pertinent to the personal experience of menopause. Those themes, extracted from the similarities and differences described, represent broad aspects of these women's experiences. Results: Three major themes or phases were identified: expectations and realization, sorting things out, and a new life phase. Although some women expressed similar thoughts in particular categories, no two women had the same experience of menopause. Conclusions: The data support the premise that the experience of menopause in American women is unique to each individual and that the meaning or perspective differs among women. The data revealed the complexities of this human experience by explicating personal meanings related to experiences, expectations, attitudes, and beliefs about menopause. [source] Stress, debt and undergraduate medical student performanceMEDICAL EDUCATION, Issue 6 2006Sarah Ross Introduction, Against the background of current debate over university funding and widening access, we aimed to examine the relationships between student debt, mental health and academic performance. Methods, We carried out an electronic survey of all medical undergraduate students at the University of Aberdeen during May,June 2004. The questionnaire contained items about demographics, debt, income and stress. Students were also asked for consent to access their examination results, which were correlated with their answers. Statistical analyses of the relationships between debt, performance and stress were performed. Results, The median total outstanding debt was £7300 (interquartile range 2000,14 762.50). Students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and postgraduate students had higher debts. There was no direct correlation between debt, class ranking or General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) score; however, a subgroup of 125 students (37.7%), who said that worrying about money affected their studies, did have higher debt and were ranked lower in their classes. Some of these students were also cases on the GHQ-12. Overall, however, cases on the GHQ had lower levels of debt and lower class ranking, suggesting that financial worries are only 1 cause of mental health difficulties. Discussion, Students' perceptions of their own levels of debt rather than level of debt per se relates to performance. Students who worry about money have higher debts and perform less well than their peers in degree examinations. Some students in this subgroup were also identified by the GHQ and may have mental health problems. The relationships between debt, mental health and performance in undergraduate medical students are complex but need to be appreciated by medical education policy makers. [source] Social class background and the school-to-work transitionNEW DIRECTIONS FOR CHILD & ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT, Issue 119 2008Jeremy Staff Whereas in years past, young people typically made a discrete transition from school to work, two ideal typical routes now characterize the sharing of school and work roles during adolescence and the transition to adulthood. Longitudinal data from the Youth Development Study show that one route involves less intensive employment during high school, followed by continued part-time employment and postsecondary educational investment. This pathway, more common for youth of higher-class origins, is especially beneficial for young people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. A second route is early intensive work experience during high school that is less conducive to longer-term educational and wage attainments. [source] A survey of language barriers from the perspective of pediatric oncologists, interpreters, and parentsPEDIATRIC BLOOD & CANCER, Issue 6 2006Marisa Abbe MA Abstract Background Oncologists in the US increasingly face the challenge of communicating with non-English speaking parents of children with cancer. This study explores this challenge from the perspectives of a sample of pediatric oncologists, interpreters, and Spanish-speaking parents of children with newly diagnosed leukemia. Procedure Thirty-seven oncologists and 17 professional language interpreters based at two non-profit pediatric hospitals in the US were surveyed on the topic of language barriers in pediatric care. Seventeen parents who communicated with their child's oncologist through an interpreter were also surveyed. Results All groups expressed considerable concern over the process of communicating across a language barrier. For oncologists, these concerns included the accuracy and completeness of interpretations, complexity of information, and loss of confidence and control over the communication process. For interpreters, they included complexity of information, information overload, and lack of clinician sensitivity toward the cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds of limited English proficiency (LEP) families. Parent concerns included difficulties comprehending information and anxiety over the possibility of missing out on important information. All groups provided multiple suggestions for improving communication across a language barrier. Conclusions Oncologists, interpreters, and parents expressed considerable concern over the process of communicating across a language barrier. Some of these concerns could be minimized through efforts to boost interpreter accuracy and completeness, including the use of more simple, easy to understand language. Other issues, such as differences in culture and socioeconomic background, warrant consideration of the intercultural knowledge and skills of interpreters. Pediatric Blood Cancer 2006;47:819,824. © 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Reproductive traits following a parent,child separation trauma during childhood: A natural experiment during World War IIAMERICAN JOURNAL OF HUMAN BIOLOGY, Issue 3 2008Anu-Katriina Pesonen Given the ethical limitations of exposing children to experimentally manipulated adverse experiences, evidence of the effects of childhood traumas on subsequent life history are based mostly on women's retrospective reports and animal studies. Only a few prospective studies have assessed the life-long consequences of childhood trauma. We asked whether a traumatic separation from both parents during childhood is associated with reproductive and marital traits later in life, measured by age of onset of menarche, timing of menopause, period of fertile years, age at first childbirth, birth spacing, number of children, and history of divorce. We studied members of the 1934,1944 Helsinki Birth Cohort, including 396 former war evacuees from varying socioeconomic backgrounds, who were sent unaccompanied by their parents to temporary foster families in Sweden and Denmark, and 503 participants who had no separation experiences. Data on separation experiences, number of children, and divorces experienced came from national registers, and the remaining data from a survey among the participants aged 61.6 years (SD = 2.9). Former evacuees had earlier menarche, earlier first childbirth (men), more children by late adulthood (women), and shorter interbirth intervals (men), than the non-separated. A traumatic experience in childhood is associated with significant alterations in reproductive and marital traits, which characterize both women and men. The implications are relevant to the 9.2 million child refugees living throughout the world today. Am. J. Hum. Biol., 2008. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] The effects of socioeconomic status on endochondral and appositional bone growth, and acquisition of cortical bone in children from 19th century Birmingham, EnglandAMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 3 2009Simon Mays Abstract Endochondral growth, appositional growth, and acquisition of cortical bone thickness in the femur are investigated in subadult skeletons (N = 43, dental age range birth to 12 years) from the 19th -century AD burial site of St. Martin's churchyard, Birmingham, England. Endochondral growth is monitored using diaphyseal femoral length. Appositional growth is monitored using radiographic midshaft mediolateral width and acquisition of cortical bone using combined mediolateral cortical thickness measured at the midshaft from radiographs. The methodology involves plotting these variables against dental age. Growth is compared in children of differing socioeconomic status. Higher and lower status individuals are identified in the assemblage by their burial in brick vaults in the case of the former and in earth-cut graves in the case of the latter. The relationships between bone dimensions and dental age are described using a polynomial regression procedure, and analysis of regression residuals is used to evaluate differences in bone dimension-for-dental age between the two status groups. Results show that lower socioeconomic status individuals had lower cortical thickness-for-dental age than those of higher status. This was interpreted as likely reflecting poorer nutrition in the children of lower socioeconomic backgrounds. There was no patterning with respect to socioeconomic status in femur diaphyseal length or midshaft width. The results support the idea that, for skeletal populations, growth in cortical thickness may be a more sensitive indicator of adverse conditions in childhood than growth in bone length or width. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2009. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Treatment of Breast Cancer in Medically Underserved Women: A ReviewTHE BREAST JOURNAL, Issue 1 2004Lisa C. Richardson MD Abstract: Women at risk of being undertreated for breast cancer include women who are older, from minority groups, from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, and those without health insurance or insured by Medicaid. Recent reviews of the cancer care experience of medically underserved populations indicate that breast cancer care may be even less optimal for these populations than the majority of women. These are the same women who may experience difficulty obtaining access to medical care once they are diagnosed with breast cancer. Indirect proof of problems with access is manifested as higher recurrence rates of breast cancer and differences in breast cancer-specific survival among medically underserved women. Multiple factors have been shown to affect access to medical care, and therefore quality of care, including patient-level factors, provider-level factors, and health system factors. This article reviews the current state of these factors in explaining breast cancer care in medically underserved women. [source] Parenting and Adolescents' Accuracy in Perceiving Parental ValuesCHILD DEVELOPMENT, Issue 2 2003Ariel Knafo What determines adolescents' accuracy in perceiving parental values? The current study examined potential predictors including parental value communication, family value agreement, and parenting styles. In the study, 547 Israeli adolescents (aged 16 to 18) of diverse socioeconomic backgrounds participated with their parents. Adolescents reported the values they perceive their parents want them to hold. Parents reported their socialization values. Accuracy in perceiving parents' overall value system correlated positively with parents' actual and perceived value agreement and perceived parental warmth and responsiveness, but negatively with perceived value conflict, indifferent parenting, and autocratic parenting in all gender compositions of parent,child dyads. Other associations varied by dyad type. Findings were similar for predicting accuracy in perceiving two specific values: tradition and hedonism. The article discusses implications for the processes that underlie accurate perception, gender differences, and other potential influences on accuracy in value perception. [source] ,You can do Nasty Things to your Brothers and Sisters without a Reason': Siblings' Backstage BehaviourCHILDREN & SOCIETY, Issue 5 2008Samantha Punch This article contributes to the recent, but still limited, literature on the sociology of sibship. It argues that during childhood the ambivalent love/hate nature of sibship is played out through the sharing of knowledge, time and space. It draws on the work of Goffman to illustrate that children's sibling interactions tend to consist of backstage, rather than frontstage, performances. The article is based on children's own perspectives from a sample of 90 children aged 5,17 drawn from 30 families of mixed socioeconomic backgrounds in central Scotland. [source] | |||||||||||||||||||