Whose education counts? The impact of grown children's education on the physical functioning of their parents in Tawian

Journal ArticleResearch has identified education as an important predictor of physical functioning in old age. Older adults in Taiwan tend to experience close ties to family members and high rates of adult child coresidence, much more so than is typical in Western cultures. These circumstances might imply additional health-related benefits stemming from the education of grown children. This association could arise in a number of ways, for instance through the sharing of health-related information between child and parent, the quality of caregiving efforts, monetary assistance for medical and other services, or through other psychosocial avenues. In this study, a nationally representative survey of older Taiwanese is employed to examine these concurrent effects. Outcome variables include the existence of any functional limitations (dichotomously measured) and the severity of functional disorders (ordinally measured). Dichotomous and ordinal logistic models are employed. Results suggest that, after adjusting for age, sex, and other factors, both child's and parent's education have an impact on the existence of physical limitations; however, the child's education is more important than the parent's in predicting severity of limitations. This finding implies that models ignoring social network characteristics in the effort to determine health outcomes of older adults may be misspecified, at least in some non-Western societies

A demographic decomposition of elderly living arrangements with a Mexican example

Population trends in developing countries raise concern about support for the elderly. The proportion of elderly living with extended kin is an indicator of support. This paper considers the analytic utility of a demographic decomposition of living arrangements of elderly Mexicans into population components which include weights for age and marital composition and corresponding rates or propensities. Separate decompositions for elderly males and females demonstrate the importance of population composition to the makeup of the elderly population who are living with extended kin. The utility of the decomposition for comparative analysis is demonstrated by decomposing gender differences in living arrangements. The higher proportion of women living with extended kin is primarily the result of gender differences in age-specific marital status and only secondarily the results of actual differences in propensities toward this type of living arrangement. The utility and limitations of this analytic tool for comparative research are discussed.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/42990/1/10823_2004_Article_BF00116824.pd

Whose education counts? The impact of grown children\u27s education on the physical functioning of their parents in Taiwan

Research has identified education as an important predictor of physical functioning in old age. Older adults in Taiwan tend to experience close ties to family members and high rates of adult child coresidence, much more so than is typical in Western cultures. These circumstances might imply additional health-related benefits stemming from the education of grown children. This association could arise in a number of ways, for instance through the sharing of health-related information between child and parent, the quality of caregiving efforts, monetary assistance for medical and other services, or through other psychosocial avenues. In this study, a nationally representative survey of older Taiwanese is employed to examine these concurrent effects. Outcome variables include the existence of any functional limitations (dichotomously measured) and the severity of functional disorders (ordinally measured). Dichotomous and ordinal logistic models are employed. Results suggest that, after adjusting for age, sex, and other factors, both child’s and parent’s education have an impact on the existence of physical limitations; however, the child’s education is more important than the parent’s in predicting severity of limitations. This finding implies that models ignoring social network characteristics in the effort to determine health outcomes of older adults may be misspecified, at least in some non-Western societies

Changes in Subjective and Objective Measures of Economic Well-Being and Their Interrelationship among the Elderly in Singapore and Taiwan

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/43698/1/11205_2004_Article_392943.pd

Diferencias regionales en preferencias de tamaño de familia en Costa Rica y sus implicaciones en la teoría de la transición

La transición de la fecundidad en Costa Rica presenta etapas bien diferenciadas. La Tasa Global de Fecundidad (TGF) descendió de 7.7 a 5.5 entre 1960 y 1968, año en que se inicio un programa nacional de planificación familiar y luego, en forma mas rápida hasta 3.7 en 1976 (United Nations, 1985). Sin embargo, entre 1976 y 1986, hubo poco cambio adicional, fluctuando la TGF alrededor de 3,7 nacimientos, y la tasa de prevalencia anticonceptiva entre mujeres casadas entre 65 y 70 por ciento (Asociación Demográfica Costarricense, 1987). A partir de 1986, parece haberse reanudado la transición de la fecundidad, la TGF descendió a 3,2 nacimientos en 1993 y la tasa de prevalencia anticonceptiva aumento a 75 por ciento (Caja Costarricense de Seguro de Social, 1994). Analizar los niveles de fecundidad deseada durante este periodo ayuda a explicar las tendencias de la fecundidad. En las encuestas de fecundidad llevadas a cabo entre los años 1960 y 1986, las mujeres costarricenses menores de 35 anos declararon un promedio de tamaño deseado de familia (TDF) entre 3,1 y 3,9 niños en áreas urbanas y entre 4,1 y 4,6 en áreas rurales (cuadro 1). Estas cifras, impresionantemente estables en las diferentes encuestas, apoyan las afirma afirmaciones de que el periodo de rápido descenso de la fecundidad en Costa Rica fue un proceso de ajuste del tamaño real al tamaño deseado de familia, y de que entre 1976 y 1986 tuvo lugar una demora en este proceso (Gendell, 1985; Bongaarts, 1986). Dado que el cambio en el TDF durante la transición de la fecundidad fue mínimo, la fuerza que motivo la disminución fue una difusión rápida del uso de anticonceptivos. En las áreas rurales, por ejemplo, aumento dramáticamente de 24% a 64% entre 1969 y 1976 (cuadro 1). Por otra parte, la ausencia de una disminución continua entre 1976 y 1986 puede atribuirse principalmente al deseo persistente de las mujeres costarricenses de tener tres o cuatro niños. Durante esta etapa, el acceso a métodos anticonceptivos no fue un factor crítico (Hermalin et al, 1986).UCR::Vicerrectoría de Investigación::Unidades de Investigación::Ciencias Sociales::Centro Centroamericano de Población (CCP

Migrant remittances and the web of family obligations: Ongoing support among spatially extended kin in North-east Thailand, 1984–94

Exchanges of money, goods, and assistance among family/kin members are influenced by the intertwined lives of individuals and their family/kin. As people pass through the young adulthood years, acquiring obligations as spouses and parents, and migrating in search of economic opportunities, tensions can arise over existing obligations. Using rich longitudinal data from Northeast Thailand, we examined the role of family networks (origin and destination) on migrants’ exchanges with family/kin. Our approach overcame many shortcomings of earlier studies, allowing us to 'see' the family social network arrayed in a broader network. We show that intra-family exchanges are influenced by marital status, the presence of children, having parents in the origin household, and having siblings depart from it. The results are stable across sensitivity tests that systematically include or exclude various familial links. And reports provided by origin households on migrant remittances are consistent with reports from migrants themselves

Spatial analysis of family planning program effects in Taiwan, 1966-72

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Family planning impact evaluation: the evolution of techniques

This paper is a slightly revised version of a paper prepared for the seminar on methods for inpact evaluation of family planning programs held in Jaco, Costa Rica, May 14-16, 1997. The seminar was sponsored by the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population (IUSSP), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Carolina Population Center of the University of North Carolina, and the Central American Population Program of the University of Costa Rica. The goal of the seminar was to look at current methodological problems facing careful evaluation of the impact of programs, to examine some of the new methods that have been developed to address persistent issues, and to assess the methodological challenges posed by the expanded goals of many programs following the 1994 Cairo International Conference on Population and Development. This paper was designed to serve as the background to discussions of current methodologies and issues by tracing the development and nature of methods for assessing impact that started soon after the first programs were initiated in the 1950s. The techniques discussed include standardization and trend analysis, the analyses of acceptor data, experimental designs, multivariate areal analysis, population-based surveys, and multilevel strategies. The intent of the program sponsors and coordinators was to publish the collected papers but various contingencies intervened to make this infeasible. A description of the seminar and many of the papers are maintained on the University of Costa Rica website:http://ccp.ucr.ac.cr/noticias/plani/iusspi.htm. As a background chapter, the original version contained references to many of the other chapters planned for the volume. As many of these papers appear on the website, relevant references are given to the authors and this website throughout the paper

Family planning impact evaluation: the evolution of techniques

This paper is a slightly revised version of a paper prepared for the seminar on methods for impact evaluation of family planning programs held in Jaco, Costa Rica, May 14-16, 1997. The seminar was sponsored by the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population (IUSSP), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Carolina Population Center of the University of North Carolina, and the Central American Population Program of the University of Costa Rica. The goal of the seminar was to look at current methodological problems facing careful evaluation of the impact of programs, to examine some of the new methods that have been developed to address persistent issues, and to assess the methodological challenges posed by the expanded goals of many programs following the 1994 Cairo International Conference on Population and Development. This paper was designed to serve as the background to discussions of current methodologies and issues by tracing the development and nature of methods for assessing impact that started soon after the first programs were initiated in the 1950s. The techniques discussed include standardization and trend analysis, the analyses of acceptor data, experimental designs, multivariate areal analysis, population-based surveys, and multilevel strategies. The intent of the program sponsors and coordinators was to publish the collected papers but various contingencies intervened to make this infeasible. A description of the seminar and many of the papers are maintained on the University of Costa Rica website: http://ccp.ucr.ac.cr/noticias/plani/iusspi.htm. As a background chapter, the original version contained references to many of the other chapters planned for the volume. As many of these papers appear on the website, relevant references are given to the authors and this website throughout the paper.Support for the seminar paper on which this report is based was provided in part through The EVALUATION PROJECT, USAID sponsored contract at the Carolina Population Center