Household Assets (household + asset)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


How does economic empowerment affect women's risk of intimate partner violence in low and middle income countries?

JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, Issue 5 2009
A systematic review of published evidence
Abstract Objectives To identify whether individual and household economic empowerment is associated with lower intimate partner violence in low and middle income country settings. Methods Systematic PubMed and internet searches. Results Published data from 41 sites were reviewed. Household assets and women's higher education were generally protective. Evidence about women's involvement in income generation and experience of past year violence was mixed, with five finding a protective association and six documenting a risk association. Conclusion At an individual and household level, economic development and poverty reduction may have protective impacts on IPV. Context specific factors influence whether financial autonomy is protective or associated with increased risk. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. This article was published online on 6 October 2008. Errors were subsequently identified. This notice is included in the online and print versions to indicate that both have been corrected [17 April 2009]. [source]


War, Livelihoods and Vulnerability in Sri Lanka

DEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE, Issue 2 2004
Benedikt Korf
As the number of de-stabilized regions of warfare or post-war conditions worldwide continues to grow, this article investigates how civilians survive in the context of a civil war. It analyses livelihood strategies of farmers in the war-torn areas of Sri Lanka, using an analytical framework based on a revised form of DFID's sustainable rural livelihoods approach, placing particular attention on the institutional reproduction of household capital assets in the war economy. The author delineates a three pillar model of household livelihood strategies focusing on how households (1) cope with the increased level of risk and uncertainty; (2) adjust their economic and social household assets for economic survival; and (3) use their social and political assets as livelihood strategies. Empirical evidence comes from four case study villages in the east of Sri Lanka. Although the four case studies were very close together geographically, their livelihood outcomes differed considerably depending on the very specific local political geography. The role of social and political assets is essential: while social assets (extended family networks) were important to absorb migrants, political assets (alliances with power holders) were instrumental in enabling individuals, households or economic actors to stabilize or even expand their livelihood options and opportunities. The author concludes that civilians in conflict situations are not all victims (some may also be culprits in the political economy of warfare), and that war can be both a threat and an opportunity, often at the same time. [source]


Regional Inequalities and Civil Conflict in Sub-Saharan Africa,

INTERNATIONAL STUDIES QUARTERLY, Issue 2 2009
Gudrun ØStby
The case study literature is ripe with examples of a positive association between inequality and civil war, but systematic country-level studies have largely failed to find a significant relationship. One reason for this discrepancy may be that large-N studies tend to ignore spatial variations in group welfare within countries, although civil wars often take place within limited areas. We address this gap in the literature by applying GIS operations to Demographic and Health Surveys to construct new disaggregated data on welfare and socioeconomic inequalities between and within subnational regions in 22 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. These measures are coupled with geographical data on the location of conflict zones for the period 1986,2004. We find that conflict onsets are more likely in regions with (1) low levels of education; (2) strong relative deprivation regarding household assets; (3) strong intraregional inequalities; and (4) combined presence of natural resources and relative deprivation. [source]


Labour migration and change in older people's living arrangements: the case of Kanchanaburi Demographic Surveillance System (KDSS), Thailand

POPULATION, SPACE AND PLACE (PREVIOUSLY:-INT JOURNAL OF POPULATION GEOGRAPHY), Issue 5 2008
Min Qin
Abstract This study involves an investigation of changes in older people's living arrangements in the context of a 4-round panel design from the Kanchanaburi Demographic Surveillance System (KDSS), Thailand. The respondents were 2320 persons aged 60 and above, who were co-residing with family members in addition to, or other than, their spouse at the time of the first round of the census. Survival analysis is used to interpret the data. Results indicate that labour migration plays an important role in changes in the living arrangements of older people. Migration increases the risk of living alone. Other demographic and socio-economic factors of importance include the marital status of older people, economic security, household assets, household size, and household members living nearby. The paper concludes by discussing policy implications of the findings. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Weight gain in childhood and blood lipids in adolescence

ACTA PAEDIATRICA, Issue 6 2009
Bernardo L Horta
Abstract Aim: To assess the effect of weight gain in childhood on blood lipid levels in adolescence. Methods: A population-based birth cohort carried out in Pelotas, Southern Brazil. All newborns in the city's hospitals were enrolled in 1982. The subjects have been followed up for several times in childhood. At age 18, 79% of all males were followed, and 2083 blood samples were available. Adjusted analyses controlled for household assets index, family income, parental schooling at birth, maternal smoking during pregnancy and breastfeeding duration. Results: Birth weight for gestational age and weight gain in the first 20 months was not associated with blood lipid levels in adolescence. On the other hand, those subjects whose weight gain from 20 to 42 months of age was faster than that predicted from birth weight and weight-for-age z-score at the mean age of 20 months had lower high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL) cholesterol [,0.78 (95% confidence interval: ,1.28; ,0.29)] and higher very low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (VLDL) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL)/HDL ratio in adolescence. After controlling for current body mass index (BMI), the regression coefficient for HDL cholesterol decreased from ,0.78 mg/dL to ,0.29 mg/dL (95% confidence interval: ,1.00 to 0.05). Conclusion: Weight gain from 2 to 4 years is related to an atherogenic lipid profile in adolescence and this association is mediated by current BMI. [source]


Breastfeeding and school achievement in Brazilian adolescents

ACTA PAEDIATRICA, Issue 11 2005
CESAR G. VICTORA
Abstract Aim: To assess the effect of breastfeeding duration on school achievement in a Brazilian cohort. Methods: In a population-based birth cohort, we analysed the highest grade achieved in school of over 2000 male 18-y-olds relative to breastfeeding information collected in early life. Analyses were adjusted for birthweight, family income, maternal and paternal schooling, household assets, number of siblings, social class, maternal smoking during pregnancy, and ethnicity. Results: After adjustment for confounding variables, there was a highly significant trend in school achievement with increasing breastfeeding duration. Those breastfed for 9 mo or more were ahead by 0.5,0.8 school grades, relative to those breastfed for less than 1 mo. Data from a cross-sectional survey in the same population suggest that such a difference corresponds to a 10,15% difference in adult income levels. The duration of exclusive or predominant breastfeeding was also positively associated with schooling. Conclusion: Unlike studies from developed countries, there was no clear association between breastfeeding duration and either the family's socio-economic level or parental schooling in our sample and therefore residual confounding is improbable. These results suggest that the impact of breastfeeding on intellectual development may lead to sizeable differences in adult education and wage-earning performance. [source]