Parenthood and Life Satisfaction: The Role of Welfare Regimes

This study investigates the complex relationship between parenthood and life satisfaction using integrated (individual-level) data from the European Value Surveys (EVS) and the World Value Surveys (WVS), covering respondents from 102 countries from 1989 to 2020. It hypothesizes that welfare regimes influence the relationship, categorizing countries into eight welfare regimes, including social democratic, conservative, liberal, former socialist, productivist, liberal-informal, Middle East and North Africa, and insecure welfare regimes. Results suggest that, overall, parenthood is positively associated with life satisfaction. The positive relationship is more evident in countries with social democratic, productivist, and insecure welfare regimes than the others. Age and gender sub-sample analyses reveal that the association between parenthood and life satisfaction among women is more sensitive to welfare regimes than men. This study is the first to use the above welfare-regime categorization. It demonstrates that welfare policies are essential to life satisfaction and argues that they should be tailored to specific area-based needs of the target population

The dynamics of living arrangements among the elderly

Combining care arrangements and whom the elderly live with, I study the mechanisms behind changes in living arrangements. I estimate a dynamic model of living arrangements, savings, intergenerational transfers and health outcomes. I use the nonlinear discrete factor random effects estimation method to control for unobserved heterogeneity. I use the rich data available in the 1995 - 2006 waves of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and supplement them with data on Medicaid and costs of care, resulting in a unique data set. I find that living arrangements are strongly influenced by health and savings. In particular, functional health is the strongest predictor of living arrangements. Inter vivos transfers and bequest intent affect living arrangements only to the extent that they impact the distribution of unobserved heterogeneity, indicating the absence of the exchange hypothesis as far as living arrangements are concerned. Public policies have a small but significant effect in the determination of living arrangements. For example, a twofold increase in the probability of receiving nursing home benefits among Medicaid eligibles increases the use of nursing home only by a 0.1 percentage point. The effects of public policies are more pronounced among elderly individuals with poor initial health and low initial wealth

Social Participation and Disaster Risk Reduction Behaviors in Tsunami Prone Areas

This paper examines the relationships between social participation and disaster risk reduction actions. A survey of 557 households in tsunami prone areas in Phang Nga, Thailand was conducted following the 2012 Indian Ocean earthquakes. We use a multivariate probit model to jointly estimate the likelihood of undertaking three responses to earthquake and tsunami hazards (namely, (1) following disaster-related news closely, (2) preparing emergency kits and/or having a family emergency plan, and (3) having an intention to migrate) and community participation.We find that those who experienced losses from the 2004 tsunami are more likely to participate in community activities and respond to earthquake hazards. Compared to men, women are more likely to prepare emergency kits and/or have an emergency plan and have a greater intention to migrate. Living in a community with a higher proportion of women with tertiary education increases the probability of engaging in community activities and carrying out disaster risk reduction measures. Individuals who participate in village-based activities are 5.2% more likely to undertake all three risk reduction actions compared to those not engaging in community activities. This implies that encouraging participation in community activities can have positive externalities in disaster mitigation

Determinants of breastfeeding practices in Myanmar: Results from the latest nationally representative survey.

Optimal breastfeeding practices can ensure healthy growth and development of infants, which in the long term can impact the country's economic development. Nevertheless, Myanmar has yet to achieve the WHO's target of 70% for early initiation of breastfeeding, and the country's target of 90% for exclusive breastfeeding. The purpose of this study was to assess the associations between early initiation of breastfeeding and exclusive breastfeeding and bio-demographic, socio-economic and behavioral factors in Myanmar. Using the 2015-2016 Myanmar Demographic and Health Survey, the analysis of early initiation of breastfeeding was based on a sample of 1,506 under-2 children and the analysis of exclusive breastfeeding was based on a sample of 376 children aged 0-5 months. Multiple logistic modeling, with heteroskedasticity-adjusted standard errors, was used. The prevalence rates of early initiation of breastfeeding and exclusive breastfeeding in the study were 67.9% and 52.2% respectively. Having a vaginal delivery (AOR = 2.5; 95% CI = 1.7-3.7) and having frequent (≥ 4) antenatal visits (AOR = 2.4; 95% CI = 1.5-3.8) were associated with higher odds of early initiation of breastfeeding. Having a postnatal checkup (AOR = 0.5; 95% CI = 0.3-0.9) and having an infant that was perceived to be small at birth (AOR = 2.5; 95% CI = 1.1-5.7, for infants perceived to be large at birth) were significantly associated with decreased odds of exclusive breastfeeding. In order to promote optimal breastfeeding practices, this study suggested that delivery and quality of health services during pregnancy need to be strengthened in Myanmar

Descriptive statistics of the sample.

<p>Notes:</p><p>1) The reference group is represented by men aged 60 years or older, who are not currently married, have no education or lower than primary education, are economically active, reported good health, did not experience loss/injury of family members in the 2004 tsunami, live in a household with no disabled family members, have a monthly income < 10,000 THB and have a house that is not located on a coastline.</p><p>2) To convert incomes from Thai Baht (THB) into US dollars (USD), the exchange rate of 32.87 THB: 1 USD was used. The exchange rate was obtained from the Bank of Thailand as of April 30, 2015: (<a href="https://www.bot.or.th/thai/statistics/financialmarkets/exchangerate/_layouts/application/exchangerate/exchangerate.aspx" target="_blank">https://www.bot.or.th/thai/statistics/financialmarkets/exchangerate/_layouts/application/exchangerate/exchangerate.aspx</a>, retrieved on May 4, 2015)</p><p>Descriptive statistics of the sample.</p

Distribution of dependent variables.

<p>Distribution of dependent variables.</p

Conditional probabilities of risk reduction behaviors.

<p>Notes:</p><p>^a Standard deviations are given in parentheses.</p><p>^b Standard errors are provided in parentheses and they are equal to standard deviations divided by the square root of the number of observations (557).</p><p>^c<i>SOC</i> refers to “social participation”; <i>NEWS</i> refers to “following disaster-related news closely”; <i>EVAC</i> refers to “preparation of emergency kits or having family emergency plan”; and <i>MOVE</i> refers to “intention to migrate”.</p><p>*** p<0.001,</p><p>** p<0.01,</p><p>* p<0.05,</p><p>⁺ p<0.1</p><p>Conditional probabilities of risk reduction behaviors.</p

Relationships among individual and community characteristics, social participation and disaster risk reduction behaviors.

<p>Relationships among individual and community characteristics, social participation and disaster risk reduction behaviors.</p