Mapping inequalities in school attendance:The relationship between dimensions of socioeconomic status and forms of school absence

In this article, we investigated whether and to what extent various dimensions of socioeconomic background (parental education, parental class, free school meal registration, housing status, and neighborhood deprivation) predict overall school absences and different reasons for absenteeism (truancy, sickness, family holidays and temporary exclusion) among 4,620 secondary school pupils in Scotland. Students were drawn from a sample of the Scottish Longitudinal Study comprising linked Census data and administrative school records. Using fractional logit models and logistic regressions, we found that all dimensions of socioeconomic background were uniquely linked to overall absences. Multiple measures of socioeconomic background were also associated with truancy, sickness-related absence, and temporary exclusion. Social housing and parental education had the most pervasive associations with school absences across all forms of absenteeism. Our findings highlight the need to consider the multidimensionality of socioeconomic background in policy and research decisions on school absenteeism. A more explicit focus on narrowing the socioeconomic gap in absenteeism is required to close the inequality gap in educational and post-school outcomes

Poverty, Material Hardship, and Children’s Outcomes: A Nuanced Understanding of Material Hardship in Childhood

There are four distinct, related types of material hardship—basic expense hardship, food insecurity, housing hardship, and medical hardship. Extant research has not sufficiently accounted for the complex relationships between these different types of material hardship. Using 1997 and 2002 data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics Child Development Study on a national sample of 3- to 17-year-old children (N = 3563), this study describes the prevalence of each type of material hardship, their relative correlations, and their associations with children’s behavior problems, and reading and math scores. Material hardship is more prevalent than income poverty and the four types of material hardship were only moderately correlated with each other. Only basic expense hardship, food security, and one type of medical hardship were associated with increased behavior problems. Only housing hardship was associated with lower math and reading scores. These findings highlight the need to more carefully investigate the distinctions between material hardship types in childhood and the importance of a diversified set of policy responses to protect children from the possible effects of distinct, but interrelated experiences of material hardship

Many kinds of poverty: Three dimensions of economic hardship, their combinations, and children’s behavior problems

Income poverty, material deprivation, and subjective financial stress are three distinct dimensions of economic hardship. The majority of the theoretical and empirical literature on the effects of economic hardship on children has treated material deprivation and subjective financial stress as only mediators of the effects of income poverty, not considering the independent effects of each dimension or the effects of their combinations. Using nationally representative, longitudinal data from the Millennium Cohort Study on more than 18,000 families in the United Kingdom, we propose seven distinct experiences of economic hardship, based on the possible combinations of income poverty, material deprivation, and subjective financial stress. We use mixed- and fixed-effects linear regression models to identify whether these different economic hardship combinations are differentially associated with children’s behavior problems between ages 3 and 7. We find that all economic hardship combinations, including those without income poverty, are associated with higher levels of children’s behavior problems. The combination of material deprivation and subjective financial stress and the combination of all three dimensions of economic hardship are associated with the highest levels of behavior problems. Based on these findings, we argue that income poverty is an important but insufficient measure of economic hardship for children and that theory and research on the effects of economic hardship on children should consider the multidimensional nature of economic stressors for families

Poverty, Material Hardship, and Children’s Outcomes: A Nuanced Understanding of Material Hardship in Childhood

There are four distinct, related types of material hardship—basic expense hardship, food insecurity, housing hardship, and medical hardship. Extant research has not sufficiently accounted for the complex relationships between these different types of material hardship. Using 1997 and 2002 data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics Child Development Study on a national sample of 3- to 17-year-old children (N = 3563), this study describes the prevalence of each type of material hardship, their relative correlations, and their associations with children’s behavior problems, and reading and math scores. Material hardship is more prevalent than income poverty and the four types of material hardship were only moderately correlated with each other. Only basic expense hardship, food security, and one type of medical hardship were associated with increased behavior problems. Only housing hardship was associated with lower math and reading scores. These findings highlight the need to more carefully investigate the distinctions between material hardship types in childhood and the importance of a diversified set of policy responses to protect children from the possible effects of distinct, but interrelated experiences of material hardship

Ein erweitertes Konzept für die Messung von Armut in der Bildungsforschung im Nationalen Bildungspanel (NEPS)

Dieses Papier stellt mit dem Verwirklichungschancenansatz von Amartya Sen einen umfassenden theoretischen Rahmen für eine multidimensionale Messung von Armut im Nationalen Bildungspanel (NEPS) vor. Es wird aufgezeigt, wie diese erweiterte Betrachtung von Armut genutzt werden kann um die Auswirkungen von Armut auf die individuelle Bildung aber auch den Einfluss von Bildung auf Armutslagen im Rahmen eines Multi-Kohorten- Sequenz-Designs zu untersuchen. Neben einem Überblick über den Ansatz sowie einer Aufarbeitung der bildungsbezogenen Forschungen stellt dieses Papier die bereits bestehende Operationalisierung von relevanten Konstrukten im NEPS sowie einen Vorschlag zur Erweiterung der erfassten Dimensionen um die verschiedenen Facetten individueller Verwirklichungschancen für verschiedene Befragungsgruppen dar. Es erarbeitet somit eine Grundlage, um erweiterte Aspekte von Armut zukünftig im Rahmen des NEPS besser abzubildenThis paper provides a comprehensive theoretical framework for a multidimensional measurement of poverty in the National Education Panel Study (NEPS), based on Amartya Sen's capability approach. It shows how the extended view of poverty can serve to examine the impact of poverty on an individual's education as well as the influence of education on poverty levels in a multicohort-sequence design. The paper provides an overview of the approach as well as a review of education-related research, an overview of the operationalization of relevant constructs in the NEPS, and a proposal to extend the dimensions measured up to now in order to better reflect the different facets of individual realization opportunities for different types of respondents. It thus provides a framework for better measuring different aspects of poverty in the NEPS in the futur

Family planning and resilience: Associations found in a Population, Health, and Environment (PHE) project in Western Tanzania

Using 2016 household survey data from Tanzania, we define and measure resilience within the context of Population, Health, and Environment programming and quantify the link between resilience and family planning. We created a multicomponent model using confirmatory factor analysis in a structural equation modeling context. Factor loadings for eight defined latent factors of resilience were statistically significant (p \u3c 0.001). We created a factor called “FP-MCH” reflecting awareness, attitudes, and access to family planning (FP) and health care services and use of maternal and child health care (MCH) facilities. Analysis, with controls, shows that a 1 standard deviation (SD) increase in FP/MCH was associated with a 0.68 SD increase in resilience (p \u3c 0.01), suggesting that the association between FP/MCH and resilience is robust across a range of factors. Analyses showed that the association between FP/MCH is broadly related to the construct of resilience and not through any single component. This study supports the importance of including FP/MCH as part of integrated projects to enhance resilience

Association of systemic secondary brain insults and outcome in patients with convulsive status epilepticus: A post hoc study of a randomized controlled trial

International audienceOBJECTIVE: To evaluate the association between systemic factors (mean arterial blood pressure, arterial partial pressures of carbon dioxide and oxygen, body temperature, natremia, and glycemia) on day 1 and neurologic outcomes 90 days after convulsive status epilepticus. METHODS: This was a post hoc analysis of the Evaluation of Therapeutic Hypothermia in Convulsive Status Epilepticus in Adults in Intensive Care (HYBERNATUS) multicenter open-label controlled trial, which randomized 270 critically ill patients with convulsive status epilepticus requiring mechanical ventilation to therapeutic hypothermia (32°C-34°C for 24 hours) plus standard care or standard care alone between March 2011 and January 2015. The primary endpoint was a Glasgow Outcome Scale score of 5, defining a favorable outcome, 90 days after convulsive status epilepticus. RESULTS: The 172 men and 93 women had a median age of 57 years (45-68 years). Among them, 130 (49%) had a history of epilepsy, and 59 (29%) had a primary brain insult. Convulsive status epilepticus was refractory in 86 (32%) patients, and total seizure duration was 67 minutes (35-120 minutes). The 90-day outcome was unfavorable in 126 (48%) patients. In multivariate analysis, none of the systemic secondary brain insults were associated with outcome; achieving an unfavorable outcome was associated with age >65 years (odds ratio [OR] 2.17, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.20-3.85; p = 0.01), refractory convulsive status epilepticus (OR 2.00, 95% CI 1.04-3.85; p = 0.04), primary brain insult (OR 2.00, 95% CI 1.02-4.00; p = 0.047), and no bystander-witnessed seizure onset (OR 2.49, 95% CI 1.05-5.59; p = 0.04). CONCLUSIONS: In our population, systemic secondary brain insults were not associated with outcome in critically ill patients with convulsive status epilepticus. CLINICALTRIALSGOV IDENTIFIER: NCT01359332