Theoretical development and social capital measurement

Chapter 4, by Sarah Hean and colleagues, highlights the importance of theory development in making the concept useful to the practice of public health. The authors present an innovative way of thinking about the different facets of social capital, describe the development of a survey instrument that attempts to make explicit the inputs and outputs of social capital and describe how these can be operationalised in a practice setting. The survey tool takes account of the dynamic nature of social capital and offers a useful way of evaluating community projects

The relative income hypothesis: does it exist over time? Evidence from the BHPS

The relative income hypothesis suggests that income inequality has a detrimental affect on people´s health. This previously well accepted relationship has recently come under scrutiny. Some claim it is a statistical artefact, while others argue that aggregate level data are not sophisticated enough to adequately test for its existence. This paper adds to the debate by estimating the relationship between income inequality and health using panel data. A random effects ordered probit is used to estimate the relationship between net household income, regional income inequality and self-reported health, for 3736 individuals over 9 years, while controlling for individual socioeconomic characteristics like gender, social class and age. Significant differences in income inequality across regions and considerable changes in health are found across years, however, the panel data estimating regressions find no significant association between any of the measures of income inequality and self-reported health. Therefore, it would appear that the relative income hypothesis does not exist over time and does not exist within Britain. Keywords: Self rated health, income inequalities, random effects ordered probit, BHPS

The relative income hypothesis: does it exist over time? Evidence from the BHPS.

The relative income hypothesis suggests that income inequality has a detrimental affect on people’s health. This previously well accepted relationship has recently come under scrutiny. Some claim it is a statistical artefact, while others argue that aggregate level data are not sophisticated enough to adequately test for its existence. This paper adds to the debate by estimating the relationship between income inequality and health using panel data. A random effects ordered probit is used to estimate the relationship between net household income, regional income inequality and self-reported health, for 3736 individuals over 9 years, while controlling for individual socioeconomic characteristics like gender, social class and age. Significant differences in income inequality across regions and considerable changes in health are found across years, however, the panel data estimating regressions find no significant association between any of the measures of income inequality and self-reported health. Therefore, it would appear that the relative income hypothesis does not exist over time and does not exist within Britain.

POSITIVE EXTERNALITIES OF CONGESTION ON HEALTH: A CASE STUDY OF CHRONIC ILLNESS IN JAPAN FOR THE PERIOD 1988– 2009.

This paper explores, using Japanese panel data for the years 1988–2009, how externalities from congestion and human capital influence deaths caused by chronic llnesses. Major findings through fixed effects 2SLS estimation were as follows: (1) during the first-half period 1988-98, the number of deaths was proportionally smaller in areas where social capital was larger. Population density and human capital, however, did not affect number of deaths; (2) during the second-half period 1999–2009, the number of deaths was proportionally smaller in more densely populated areas. In addition, human capital contributed to decease the number of deaths. Social capital, on the other hand, did not influence number of deaths. These findings suggest that human capital and positive externalities stemming from congestion make greater contributions to improving lifestyle when chronic illness increases.population density, education, chronic illness.

Globalisation, Inequality and Health

As we suggested in a previous work (Borghesi and Vercelli, Sustainable globalisation, Ecological Economics, vol.44, n.1, 2003), the process of globalisation affects the sustainability of development mainly through three channels: economic growth, inequality and environmental degradation. This conceptual framework may help us to understand also the causal influence of globalisation on health that represents a fundamental dimension of the quality of life enjoyed by the people and of sustainability. For this purpose, the present paper aims to investigate both the direct and the indirect effects of post-war globalisation, with particular attention to the role played by inequality in the globalisation-health relationship. A few policy implications emerging from the analysis are also discussed, suggesting a policy strategy that can at the same time improve health and make the current globalisation process more compatible with sustainable development.globalisation, inequality, health, sustainable development

Public Health Burden of Chronic Stress in a Transforming Society

In this paper chronic stress is proposed as an integrating model that can be applied to the explanation of the suddenly changing patterns of premature mortality rates in transforming societies of Central-Eastern-Europe, especially in Hungary. The temporal factor in existing stress models is often neglected. Chronic stress has been shown to lead to typical pathogenetic results in animal experiments. Literature and the different models in the field of psychology, behavioural sciences, and epidemiology are reviewed in terms of the chronic stress theory. There are several conceptual bridges between psychological alterations and the risks, onset and prognosis of chronic disorders of great epidemiological significance. Depending on the field of research there are several parallel concepts which analyse practically the same phenomena. These are the stress theories in physiology, learned helplessness and control theory in psychology, depression research in psychiatry, the concept of vital exhaustion and the psychosocial risk research in sociology. Because chronic stress results in adverse health effects through biological, social and behavioural pathways, this theory might also have the best explanatory power to understand the premature male morbidity and mortality crisis in Central and Eastern Europe in the last decades. The special features of premature mortality and morbidity crisis in Hungary might be regarded as an experimental model to understand better the human consequences of chronic stress and those processes where psychology meets physiology

Educational inequalities in women\u27s depressive symptoms : the mediating role of perceived neighbourhood characteristics

Socio-economically disadvantaged (e.g., less educated) women are at a greater risk of depression compared to less disadvantaged women. However, little is known regarding the factors that may explain socioeconomic inequalities in risk of depression. This study aimed to investigate the contribution of perceived neighbourhood factors in mediating the relationship between education and women&rsquo;s risk of depression. Cross-sectional data were provided by 4,065 women (aged 18&ndash;45). Women self-reported their education level, depressive symptoms (CES-D 10), as well as four neighbourhood factors (i.e., interpersonal trust, social cohesion, neighbourhood safety, and aesthetics). Single and multiple mediating analyses were conducted. Clustering by neighbourhood of residence was adjusted by using a robust estimator of variance. Multiple mediating analyses revealed that interpersonal trust was the only neighbourhood characteristic found to partly explain the educational inequalities in women&rsquo;s depressive symptoms. Social cohesion, neighbourhood aesthetics and safety were not found to mediate this relationship. Acknowledging the cross-sectional nature of this study, findings suggest that strategies to promote interpersonal trust within socioeconomically disadvantaged neighbourhoods may help to reduce the educational inequalities in risk of depression amongst women. Further longitudinal and intervention studies are needed to confirm these findings.<br /

Determinants of the choice of health care facility utilised by individuals in HIV/AIDS-affected households in the Free State province of South Africa

This paper analyses differences in the choice of health care facility by individuals in HIV/AIDS-affected households in the Free State province of South Africa. Illness is more prevalent and severe amongst poorer affected households. The probability that individuals seek private versus public health care conditional on individual and household specific socio-economic variables is investigated. Significant determinants of choice of health care facility are income, severity of illness, the burden of illness and death in the household, the number of people in the household with access to medical aid, and secondary education. The demand for private health care over public health care is sensitive to income, with those from the lowest income quintile on average being less likely to switch to private health care than those in the highest income quintile. The planned roll-out of anti-retroviral treatment in public health care facilities in South Africa therefore will be crucial in enabling infected persons from poor households access to treatment. The provision of free treatment at public facilities may also see health care shift from private to public providers in the longer term.

Implications of Trauma among Male and Female Offenders

Criminal behaviour is believed to arise from a multiplicity of factors, including unemployment and poverty [1,2], low self-control [3], psychological issues [4,5], early conduct problems [6], childhood physical and sexual abuse disorder [5], and social bonding in child- and adulthood [7]. Social-structural influences like family conflict/disruption, financial resources, child-parent and school/peer attachment and abuse and neglect in childhood have lasting impressions, leading to multiple problems including delinquency and later criminal activity, substance use/abuse, mental illness and poor self-rated health [8-12]. The consequences of such behaviour include financial losses, injury, and death that together have significant personal and societal costs. Society also bears the burden of incarcerating and rehabilitating offenders; a burden that is not trivial. Direct costs of imprisonment in Canada approach $3.5 billion annually; in the US the cost is substantially higher, approaching$74 billion [13]. [...

GLOBAL HEALTH

The process of globalisation affects more and more the life quality of people around the world. In particular it impinges in different ways upon their health. In its turn the health of people affects the demographic and economic growth as well as their sustainability. However, notwithstanding the fundamental importance of this feedback, the nexus between globalisation, sustainable development and health has been insufficiently analysed. This paper aims to explore the main channels of influence through which the recent process of globalisation has affected the health of people, exerting an important influence on the sustainability of world development. To this end we try to identify the principal, direct and indirect, empirical correlations between the main features of globalisation and different indices of health; we proceed then to a preliminary discussion of their causal contents. The indirect correlations run in both directions. This feature turns out to be particularly important since the feed-back between the main intermediate variables (income growth, income inequality and environmental degradation) and different aspects of health plays a crucial role in determining the sustainability of world development.globalisation; inequality; environmental degradation; economic growth;