RETIREMENT PLANNING VERSUS FAMILY SUPPORT: WHAT DRIVES PEOPLES` DECISIONS?

A slight majority of American households headed by 55–64-year-olds do not have any savings for retirement, and those who have retirement savings have a median of around $109,000 saved, which is equivalent to an inflation-protected annuity of$405 per month (i.e., well below the official poverty level). Among the main reasons cited for the lack of retirement savings among parents is a desire to provide financial support to their young adult children. Indeed, on the whole, parents spend twice as much on financial support of their adult children as they save for retirement (Merryl Lynch, 2018). Understanding the precursors and predictors of this spending behavior may provide insight into decisions that lead to a lack of self-sufficiency in retirement, and hint at opportunities for prevention and intervention efforts aimed at bolstering retirement savings. To that end, this project was designed to examine the extent to which these financial decisions vary by context and belief systems. Specifically, three studies were developed to investigate motivation for providing support to young adult children in lieu of retirement savings. A sample of 496 respondents who were 40 years of age or older was recruited using the online Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) platform. Respondents were presented three factorial vignettes in which hypothetical parents were deciding whether to provide support to their adult child with a major expense—a car (Study 1, Chapter 2), college tuition (Study 2, Chapter 3), and a house (Study 3, Chapter 4)—and respondents were asked on a four-point Likert-type response scale whether parents should (definitely yes, probably yes, probably no, definitely no) provide financial support to their adult children in the given context, and to provide a rationale for their response. In each study, key contextual variables were randomly manipulated within the vignette across respondents (e.g., adult child’s gender [female vs. male], parents’ age [early 60s vs. late 40s], source of money [withdrawal from vs. under-contributing to retirement savings], college major [social sciences vs. business degree], and number of siblings [one vs. three]). Ordinal regression models were used to estimate the effects of the randomly manipulated variables on endorsement of parental provision of financial support to adult children, and content analysis was used to identify the most common rationales respondents provided for the beliefs they espoused in the closed-ended items. Endorsement of parental use of retirement saving for financial support varied depending on whether the stated purpose of the money was for purchasing a car (67% endorsed), paying for college tuition (34% endorsed), or paying the down payment on a house (31% endorsed). Across the three studies, only older parents (in their early 60s [Study 1]) and withdrawing money from a retirement account (Studies 2 and 3) had negative effects on endorsement of parental support; responses according to the other randomly manipulated variables did not statistically vary in these data, suggesting norms that supersede the other manipulated variables. Among respondent sociodemographic characteristics—gender, socioeconomic status, clarity of retirement goals, having adult children, and helping them with large purchases similar to situations described in the vignette—only ownership of a retirement savings account or a pension plan had a consistent negative association with endorsement of parental support across all three studies, indicating that people with retirement plans were more conservative in their attitudes about financially supporting young-adult children than were those without retirement plans. Major rationales for the provision of parental financial support included (a) responsibility for the child (i.e., a solidarity belief system), (b) a belief that children pay back their parents (i.e., a reciprocity belief system), and (c) a belief that parents should make sacrifices for their children (i.e., an altruistic belief system). Given that the majority of studies investigate retirement planning from an individual perspective, as if workers were making their decisions rationally in isolation from their family context, future studies may benefit from a more inclusive approach that takes into account the complexity of family relationships and also social perception of parental financial obligations toward their children

Effectiveness of End-of-Life Strategies to Improve Health Outcomes and Reduce Disparities in Rural Appalachia: An analytic codebook

Appalachia is one of the most medically underserved areas in the nation. The region has provider shortages and limited healthcare infrastructure. Children and adolescents in this area are in poor health and do not receive the needed quality care. Implementation of section 2302 of the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) enabled children enrolled in Medicaid/Children\u27s Health Insurance Program with a terminal illness to use hospice care while continuing treatment for their terminal illness. In addition to being more comprehensive than standard hospice care, this relatively new type of care is more culturally congruent with the end-of-life values of rural Appalachian families, who often view standard hospice as hastening death. The overall goal of this project was to investigate access to pediatric concurrent hospice care in Appalachia. Our central hypothesis was that concurrent care reduces rural/urban disparities in access to hospice care. Data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) used in this project was used and included 1,788 children who resided in the Appalachian region– from January 1, 2011, to December 31, 2013. Observations with missing birth dates, death dates, and participants older than 21 years were removed from the final sample. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) databases were created to map the boundaries of the Appalachian region, hospice locations, and driving times to them

Ukrainians in Finland who fled the war: their registration in municipalities of residence and their future plans : Survey results

The purpose of the survey was to map the plans of Ukrainian refugees who have arrived in Finland with regard to their residence in the country, applying for registration in a municipality of residence and possible return to Ukraine. The survey is based on the results of an online Webropol questionnaire for Ukrainians. The questionnaire was filled in by 1 302 Ukrainians. The survey was a follow-up to a similar study carried out in summer 2022, and it was commissioned by the Ministry of the Interior. Of the respondents, 53% had registered their municipality of residence in the population register and 28% intended to apply for registration. Only 2% of the respondents said they did not intend to apply for registration. The reasons given by respondents for not applying for registration were uncertainty about the continuation of their residence permit, lack of information about applying for registration in a municipality of residence and fear of losing services and benefits. The majority (82%) of Ukrainians who responded to the survey planned for the next six months to remain living in the same place where they were residing in Finland. Of the respondents, 12% intended to return to Ukraine once the security situation in the country has stabilised, 35% were unsure and 51% said they wanted to settle in Finland permanently. According to the survey, Ukrainians trust the information provided by the Finnish authorities more than before. Over 90% of the respondents were satisfied with their life in Finland. How long the respondents had been in Finland did not affect their level of satisfaction

The situation of Ukrainians in Finland who fled the war : Survey results

Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, Finland has accommodated about 37,500 Ukrainian citizens seeking temporary protection or asylum (as at the end of August). The number of clients receiving reception services provided by the Finnish Immigration Service is higher than ever before. The arrival of Ukrainian refugees in Finland has given rise to the need to obtain information on their situation and needs for various services. For this purpose, the Ministry of the Interior launched a survey in June, carried out as an online Webropol survey directed at Ukrainians between 15 June and 6 July 2022. In addition to the Ministry of the Interior, other parties involved in drawing up the survey included the Ministry of Education and Culture, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, the Ministry of the Environment, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, and the Finnish Immigration Service. The total number of responses was 2,136. The survey queried Ukrainians who had arrived in Finland for their background details, education, occupation, language skills and region of origin in Ukraine. It also explored their lives in Finland, their place of residence, the status of their applications for temporary protection, potential employment and studies, and children’s schooling. It further assessed how satisfied Ukrainians were with access to information and certain services provided by reception centres. It concluded with questions about their plans for the future. The respondents also had a chance to send a message to the Finnish authorities. Based on the survey, the researchers also provide recommendations for public authorities on how to develop services for Ukrainians moving forward

ЦЕНТРАЛЬНО-АЗІЙСЬКА П’ЯТІРКА У «ТИСКАХ» КОНКУРУЮЧИХ ГЕОСТРАТЕГІЙ: ХТО І ЧОГО ПРАГНЕ

Метою статті є розкриття змісту геополітичних стратегій головних гравців в Центрально- Азійському регіоні, якими на сьогодні є Росія, Китай і США. Констатується, що взаємна риторика лідерів країн і тональність документів [Стратегій] не приховує того факту, що боротьба між ними в регіоні набирає обертів по мірі зростання ваги економічної, політичної і воєнної складових безпеки. Афганська компанія США (2001-2021 рр.) переросла у стратегію присутності (2015 р.), метою якої стало закріплення присутності у ключовому регіоні «дуги нестабільності» (З.Бжезінський) багатому природними ресурсами. У першу чергу йдеться про енергоносії як нафту і газ, рідкоземельні і дорогоцінні метали та уранову руду. Неабияке значення з боку сторін конкуренції приділяється контролю над існуючою інфраструктурою і майбутнім глобальним проектом на зразок «Один пояс - Один шлях», який в Центральною Азійському регіоні прагне реалізувати Китай. Звернено увагу, що цілі нової геополітичної гри, яка розпочалася з 2015 року кожна сторона намагається обернути у більш прийнятні слогани як-то «демократія і процвітання» - США, «рівноправні відносини близьких по духу й історії народів» - Росія, «виважений діалог з країнами-партнерами» - Китай. Проте, виходячи з того що 30 літня історія незалежності принесли країнам Азійської п’ятірки - Казахстану, Киргизстану, Таджикистану, Туркменістану і Узбекистану досить скромні результати соціально-економічного і культурного розвитку, діючі лідери прагнуть позбутися помилок колишнього керівництва та розширити формат дружніх відносин за рахунок нерегіональних держав. В першу чергу йдеться про проект «тюркської спільноти». Наукова новизна дослідження полягає у розкритті онтологічних основ геополітичних стратегій, які реалізують Росія, Китай і США та можливих реакцій Азійської п’ятірки на ризики які вони можуть нести для безпеки країн і регіону в цілому. Тип статті: теоретична