Household formation in post-apartheid South Africa, 1995-2011: Measurement and Trends

Who is in your household, what they have to share with you, and who does what, has profound implications for your welfare and well-being. Child welfare and progress through school; continued female disadvantage in the labour market and gender-based violence; livelihood strategies and physical health - these are just a few social outcomes that are fundamentally structured by the household. Change in most outcomes, therefore, cannot be abstracted from change in households. In South Africa, households have been changing in systematic ways. Between the first census of the post-apartheid period in 1996, and the latest in 2011, the number of households increased by 62% from 9 million to 14.5 million. By contrast, the population only grew by 28%, so that the average household shrank by almost a whole person. A notable aspect of this change is an extensive increase in the rate at which people live alone: the number of households that were single-person increased by 160% over the same time period. In other words, over time the South African population has been spread more thinly over fewer households, with direct implications for a sweeping set of social outcomes of importance to the post-apartheid project. A large literature on the topic of household composition exists for South Africa, and many researchers have noted the decline in average household size. Relatively fewer studies, however, aim to uncover the process by which this is happening, and those that do, mainly rely on highly localised data. Indeed, the question of why South Africans would form more and smaller households is particularly provoking given that economic circumstances have arguably been challenging in the post-apartheid period, characterised by high and persistent levels of unemployment and extreme wage inequality. As such, this thesis set out to investigate the process of household formation in the post-apartheid period, and how this aligned with known drivers of household formation in the economic literature, being aging, employment, and marriage. To do this, we construct a harmonised series of nationally-representative cross-sectional household surveys collected (almost) annually by Statistics South Africa, covering the period 1995-2011. Our first contribution is to make progress towards overcoming serious data quality issues in these surveys that undermine not only our study, but most studies seeking to relate people to households in data. We then turn towards analysing household formation, which raises the question of how to measure this process. We approach household formation from two angles: firstly, the aggregate household count by studying household heads, and secondly, the process of leaving the parental household by studying young adults. By tracing trends in household headship, we are able to describe which groups have become more or less likely to form households, and how this changed over the period between 1995 and 2011. Thanks to our attention to data quality, we are able to use the surveys to do the same for single-person households, a sub-group of special interest, in a way that is reliable for the first time. Our third contribution is to describe macro level trends in leaving the parental household, also for the first time for South Africa. Our key finding is that household formation in post-apartheid South Africa has been profoundly impacted by the steady decline of marriage over the same period. As such, household formation patterns are highly gendered, and modulated by men and women's differential access to labour market and grant income, over the life-cycle

Dietary diversity and food security in South Africa: an application using NIDS Wave 1

South Africa is food secure at the national level; however widespread food insecurity persists at the household level. To understand the dynamics of micro-level food insecurity this dissertation investigates how two different aspects of 'food access' - diet quality and diet quantity - affect two outcomes of 'food utilisation' - hunger and nutrition. Diet quantity is captured by food expenditure in Wave 1 of the National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS). To capture diet quality I use dietary diversity, which is not directly available in NIDS. I build and test a food group dietary diversity score and a food variety dietary diversity score using NIDS Wave 1. Both dietary diversity indicators are found to usefully summarise information about food security in South Africa by using methods found in the dietary diversity literature. The dissertation then turns to testing whether the theoretical differences between diet quality and quantity play out empirically in the case of nutrition (adult BMI) and hunger (self-reported household hunger). The results reveal that food variety and food quantity are complementary in explaining the chance of household hunger, with food quantity having a slightly more important effect. The pathways to BMI differ by gender. Dietary diversity and food expenditure are substitutes in the case of male BMI; however, food variety and food expenditure are complementary to explaining female BMI when food expenditure enters into the model as a quadratic. Overall, food variety proved to be a stronger and more significant correlate of both outcomes than the food group dietary diversity score

The World Is Not Flat: Conference Planning and Presentation as Part of a Multidimensional Understanding of Scholarship

Scholarship. For many academics, the word is filled with a combination of excitement, anticipation, obligation, and dread. Academics are expected to reliably produce scholarship, much like sculptors are expected to produce art, baristas cappuccinos, and stockbrokers profits. While “scholarship” has perhaps traditionally been viewed as strictly words on a page, some scholars view it to be a multidimensional enterprise, something that encompasses the many aspects of the life of a scholar. The idea of scholarship as comprising more than just the generation of a tangible written product is taken up in Maksymilian Del Mar’s Living Legal Scholarship, which asserts “five responsibilities of legal scholarship: the responsibility of reading, writing, teaching, collegiality, and engagement.” Del Mar emphasizes that “[t]he five responsibilities must be understood holistically: they work together to provide a picture of the ethical life of a legal scholar.” This article tells the story of how the authors’ journey has led them to the belief that planning and presenting at legal writing conferences is a powerful way to engage in many (and at times perhaps all?) of Del Mar’s “five responsibilities of legal scholarship.” The article concludes with practical guidance based on the authors’ experiences on how seizing the opportunity to do your own conference planning and hosting can benefit you, your school, and the broader legal writing community

What are the roles of the Internet in terrorism? Measuring online behaviours of convicted UK terrorists

Using a unique dataset of 227 convicted UK-based terrorists, this report fills a large gap in the existing literature. Using descriptive statistics, we first outline the degree to which various online activities related to radicalisation were present within the sample. The results illustrate the variance in behaviours often attributed to ‘online radicalisation’. Second, we conducted a smallest-space analysis to illustrate two clusters of commonly co-occurring behaviours that delineate behaviours from those directly associated with attack planning. Third, we conduct a series of bivariate and multivariate analyses to question whether those who interact virtually with like-minded individuals or learn online, exhibit markedly different experiences (e.g. radicalisation, event preparation, attack outcomes) than those who do not

Strategic Management

This Grants Collection for Strategic Management was created under a Round Two ALG Textbook Transformation Grant. Affordable Learning Georgia Grants Collections are intended to provide faculty with the frameworks to quickly implement or revise the same materials as a Textbook Transformation Grants team, along with the aims and lessons learned from project teams during the implementation process. Documents are in .pdf format, with a separate .docx (Word) version available for download. Each collection contains the following materials: Linked Syllabus Initial Proposal Final Reporthttps://oer.galileo.usg.edu/business-collections/1002/thumbnail.jp

Administering Cognitive Tests Through Touch Screen Tablet Devices: Potential Issues

Mobile technologies, such as tablet devices, open up new possibilities for health-related diagnosis, monitoring, and intervention for older adults and healthcare practitioners. Current evaluations of cognitive integrity typically occur within clinical settings, such as memory clinics, using pen and paper or computer-based tests. In the present study, we investigate the challenges associated with transferring such tests to touch-based, mobile technology platforms from an older adult perspective. Problems may include individual variability in technical familiarity and acceptance; various factors influencing usability; acceptability; response characteristics and thus validity per se of a given test. For the results of mobile technology-based tests of reaction time to be valid and related to disease status rather than extraneous variables, it is imperative the whole test process is investigated in order to determine potential effects before the test is fully developed. Researchers have emphasized the importance of including the ‘user’ in the evaluation of such devices; thus we performed a focus group-based qualitative assessment of the processes involved in the administration and performance of a tablet-based version of a typical test of attention and information processing speed (a multi-item localization task), to younger and older adults. We report that although the test was regarded positively, indicating that using a tablet for the delivery of such tests is feasible, it is important for developers to consider factors surrounding user expectations, performance feedback, and physical response requirements and to use this information to inform further research into such applications

The Cadet Athlete Physical Training Intervention (CAPTI): A 16-week periodized program to remediate underdeveloped tactical athletes at a senior military college

International Journal of Exercise Science 17(4): 1083-1091, 2024. Approximately half of military recruits fail the Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT), and 70% of all injuries in the US military are musculoskeletal in nature. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether underdeveloped musculoskeletal and cardiovascular fitness levels and subsequent APFT scores of senior military college cadets could be improved by a novel, evidence-based Cadet Athlete Physical Training Intervention (CAPTI) compared to the current Remedial Physical Training program (RPT). Cadets failing the APFT (total score \u3c 180, or \u3c 60 in scored sit-ups, pushups or run time, respectively) participated in a 16-week remedial training program including either CAPTI (periodized full body calisthenic and varied-technique cardiovascular training, along with mobility training and mental health and wellbeing sessions), or a traditional, event-specific remedial training program (RPT). CAPTI was randomly assigned to one of three battalions, while the others received RPT. One hundred and thirty-eight cadets (n = 70 CAPTI, n = 68 RPT) participated in the study. After training, 82.9% (n = 58) of CAPTI passed the APFT compared to 27.9% (n = 19) of RPT. Paired t-tests demonstrated significant improvement (p \u3c 0.01) for CAPTI in total APFT scores (42 ± 31.5 points), sit-ups (13.8 ± 9.4) pushups (6.5 ± 11) and run time (83 ± 123s). In RPT, significant improvements (p \u3c 0.01) were noted in total APFT scores (16 ± 27.8), sit-ups (3.3 ± 6.7) pushups (3.69 ± 8.0) and run time (43 ± 127s). Between-group analyses demonstrated CAPTI had significantly higher improvements compared to RPT in APFT total score (p \u3c 0.01) and sit-ups (p \u3c 0.01). Higher perceived program enjoyment was also demonstrated for CAPTI when compared to RPT (P \u3c 0.01). The CAPTI program could help address the military’s physical readiness and musculoskeletal injury problem by incorporating evidence-based, wellness-focused, periodized training as part of a remedial physical training model

Cardiff sciSCREEN: A model for using film screenings to engage publics in University research

Cardiff sciSCREEN is a public engagement programme that brings together local experts and publics to discuss issues raised by contemporary cinema. Since 2010, Cardiff sciSCREEN (short for science on screen) has exhibited more than 50 films alongside short talks and discussions that draw on a range of disciplinary perspectives to explore the broad repertoire of themes found within different film genres. The aim of Cardiff sciSCREEN is to increase the local community's access to university research, while enabling university staff and students to engage a variety of publics with their work. In this paper, we first describe our method of public engagement, and then draw on data from a research survey we administered to sciSCREENers to discuss the relationship between the theory and practice of public engagement. Using research from public understanding of science (PUS), public engagement with science and technology (PEST), science and technology studies (STS) and film literacy, we discuss the ways in which our flexible characterization of science has made the programme inclusive, attracting a wide and varied audience. We consider the benefits of cross-disciplinary perspectives when communicating and engaging contemporary developments in science, where the term 'science' is taken to stand for the breadth of academic research and not merely the natural sciences, as well as discussing the importance of space in public engagement events

Simon Says (Spring 2015)

In this issue: Library Instruction CSU Archives Launches Interactive Battle of Columbus Map A Student’s Perspective on Archival Processing Government Documents New Business Librarian and Government Documents Coordinator A First Look at the CSU ePress Library Forum Center of Online Learning Transformations Upcoming Library Events CSU Libraries Connectedhttps://csuepress.columbusstate.edu/library_newsletters/1016/thumbnail.jp