Family Functioning and Life Satisfaction and Happiness in South African Households

Families form an integral part of society and in fostering individual well-being. Despite the acknowledged importance of family, the association between family functioning and individual well-being outcomes have remained unexplored in the current body of knowledge. This paper explores the association between family functioning and reported levels of life satisfaction and happiness in South Africa. The paper employs the Family Attachment and Changeability Index (FACI8) to measure family functioning, using data from the 2011 South African Social Attitudes Survey. Four measures of family functioning are utilised, namely the aggregate FACI8 scale, the attachment and changeability sub-scales, and family functioning type. Improvements in the level of family functioning as well as in the levels of attachment and changeability are positively associated with life satisfaction and happiness. In addition, individuals living in midrange or balanced family functioning types are more satisfied with life and happier compared to persons living in extremely or moderately dysfunctional families. The findings highlight the importance of supportive intra-family dynamics in fostering greater individual well-being. This in turn places emphasis on the investigation of likely correlates of family functioning and impact evaluations of family-focused social work interventions’ impact on family functioning as areas for future research.     

计生家庭状况及其生育补偿研究

通过大量的调查数据,本文重点考察、分析了我国计生家庭和计生父母面临的问题以及获得的救助、补偿等生育补偿情况,最后从转变生育补偿观念、改进生育补偿方法和加大生育补偿力度等方面提出相应的对策研究。     

Family size and schooling in sub-Saharan African settings: A reexamination

Contrary to theory and evidence from many other regions, previous studies in sub-Saharan Africa have found surprisingly weak associations between family size and schooling. It is unclear; however, whether these weak results reflect (spurious) limitations in methodology or (real) differences in context. This study uses schooling histories from Cameroon to test four contending methodological and contextual explanations for these weak results: measurement bias, statistical estimation bias, family buffering, and socioeconomic context. We find the strongest support for the last explanation: the relationship between family size and schooling varies with spatial and historical context. This relationship has strengthened within the country over time, and this raises concern about the implications of current demographic transitions on inequality among children.     

Social and Territorial Cohesion in Spain: Relevance of the Socioeconomic Context

Social Indicators Research - Exclusion processes are shaped through the accumulation of social disadvantages in seven life dimensions: income, employment, education, health, housing, social and...     

Youth and Well-Being: A South African Case Study

This paper was a result of an analysis from various data sources with a purpose to develop a better understanding of the level of socio-economic well being of young people in South Africa. Such understanding is aimed at enabling government to plan and implement well-structured and integrated development programmes that are relevant to the socio-economic needs of the youth and that will enable them to fully participate in all aspects of society. Two main sources of data were used for this analysis. The first is the Status of the Youth (SYR) data set. The second data set used in this study is the South African Social Attitudes Survey (SASAS) which is a national representative sample of 5,000 households. The study shows that the quality of life among majority of young people remains low, reflecting the historical racial cleavages of South African society. This is mainly due to the emergence of the AIDS pandemic in South Africa, and the fact that many young people remain outside the labour market.     

South African quality of life: A research note

A nation-wide survey (n=5587) was conducted in 1982/83 with a view to developing a reliable cross-cultural index of quality of life for South Africa. Findings confirmed the known under-privileged position of blacks relative to other groups in terms of some 60 objective and subjective indicators. Contrary to expectations the results of factor and regression analyses indicated that the linear additive model of quality of life-as-a-whole cannot account for its full complexity. The possibility is considered that more broadly symbolic factors related to relative deprivation may make an independent contribution to perceived overall well-being. In conclusion, a single cross-cultural albeit multi-item measure of South African quality of life is recommended.     

Childhood Circumstances and the Intergenerational Transmission of Socioeconomic Status

A large literature has documented the intergenerational transmission of socioeconomic status (SES). However, the mechanisms by which SES transmits across generations are still little understood. This article investigates whether characteristics determined in childhood play an important role in the intergenerational transmission. Using data from the Cebu Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Survey, I document the extent to which childhood human capital accounts for the intergenerational SES correlation. My results imply that childhood health and nutrition, cognitive and noncognitive abilities, and early schooling account for between one-third and one-half of the relationship between parents' SES and their offspring's SES.     

家庭规模缩小对家庭经济保障能力的影响:苏南实例

本文通过实验设计方法 ,并利用苏南农村居民的数据资料 ,分析实证了在有收入积累的前提下 ,家庭规模缩小不仅不会弱化家庭保障能力 ,而且会强化家庭保障能力。不同规模家庭保障能力差别 ,随时间推移和在家庭生命周期的不同阶段具有波动性。家庭保障能力会因家庭规模的大小、消费和积累模式的差异和在家庭生命周期中的不同阶段而不同 ,并可能发生相互转换。     

Child Obesity and the Interaction of Family and Neighborhood Socioeconomic Context

Population Research and Policy Review - The literature on neighborhoods and child obesity links contextual conditions to risk, assuming that if place matters, it matters in a similar way for...     

Delayed Graduation and Overeducation in Italy: A Test of the Human Capital Model Versus the Screening Hypothesis

Social Indicators Research - Exploiting the human capital versus screening hypothesis frameworks, this paper studies the link between delayed graduation and overeducation, and their effect on...     

Health Implications of Socioeconomic Characteristics,Subjective Social Status,and Perceptions of Inequality: An Empirical Study of China

This study explores how health is associated with socioeconomic status, subjective social status, and perceptions of inequality simultaneously. Two health outcomes (self-reported health and psychological distress) are examined, and the subtlety of their relationships with each of the three dimensions of inequality is probed. Data used come from a nationally representative sample survey conducted in China. Several findings emerge from empirical analyses: (1) Overall, the three dimensions of social inequality are associated with self-reported health and psychological distress net of each other and other control variables; (2) among focal socioeconomic characteristics, income and Chinese Communist Party membership are significantly associated with both health outcomes, education exhibits a robust effect on self-reported health, and rural and migrant statuses are linked to less distress; (3) subjective social status in comparisons with both socially proximal and broad referents is associated with both health outcomes, and the association with downward comparisons is more salient than with upward comparisons; and (4) perceived degree and perceived sources of inequality in society show varying relationships with the two health outcomes. These findings add to our understanding of the multidimensionality and complexity of social inequality in relation to health.     

自愿不育的人口社会学视角

文章通过对目前人口形势和不育群体现状的分析 ,从人口学和社会学的角度对不育文化作了论述 ,最后分析了几个值得深入探讨的社会问题     

Marital Status and Reproductive Performance in Kipsigis Women: Re-evaluating the Polygyny-Fertility Hypothesis

The effects of marital status on fertility and offspring survivorship are examined with data on six marriage cohorts of Kipsigis women, agro-pastoralists of south western Kenya. Neither marriage order, nor the average number of co-wives married to a man during a woman's reproductive years, is associated with completed family size, nor with any of the components of reproductive performance. The mechanisms whereby polygyny might potentially lower the reproductive performance of polygynously married women in the Kipsigis and other populations are discussed in some detail, with particular reference to resource shortages, sexual and economic favouritism, the observance of post partum taboos, disease, husband's age, co-wife co-operation, education, sterility, and age at menarche and marriage.     

女性权益、社会地位与生育选择:相关文献评述

近年来随着发达国家及部分发展中国家生育水平的持续下降,女性社会地位对生育行为的影响得到越来越多的关注。本文旨在从五个方面(子女数量、生育意愿、性别偏好、生育间隔和堕胎)对近几十年来国外人口学领域有关女性权益和社会地位对生育选择影响的研究进行系统的梳理和评述,以廓清女性社会地位的概念、测度方法和现有实证研究的主要发现,从而为该领域下一步的研究尤其是探讨中国背景下女性社会地位对生育行为的影响提供文献上的借鉴。通过文献服务检索系统、数据库和科学网站进行文献检索,列出文献清单,对研究设计、研究数据、女性社会地位测量、自变量、因变量以及结果进行审查编辑,排除写作质量不高、研究不规范的论文,通过逐层筛选最终确定了68篇文章。基本结论是:生育选择是个人偏好和社会结构性影响共同作用的结果,女性的社会地位会同时影响女性生育意愿、生育性别偏好以及最终的生育决策。女性社会地位越高,子女数量越少,在生育决策方面越具有话语权,生育意愿越低。社会地位较高的女性一般会拥有更好的避孕意识,农村地区的女性生育意愿要显著高于城市地区的女性;女性社会地位越低,生育间隔就越长,越偏向于生育男孩,越容易发生堕胎。     

人口和计划生育统计公报2007年第1号 2006年农村部分计划生育家庭奖励扶助制度基本情况统计公报

2006年,农村部分计划生育家庭奖励扶助制度（以下简称奖励扶助制度）进入全面实施的新阶段,受益人数大幅增加。 一、奖励扶助制度实施范围 2004年奖励扶助制度在5个西部省（市）和10个地市开展试点工作,     

Socioeconomic Status,Income Inequality,and Health Complaints: A Basic Psychological Needs Perspective

Socioeconomic status (SES) and income inequality are now recognized as important determinants of health, and there is growing interest in uncovering the intermediary psychosocial pathways through which the socioeconomic context affects physical well-being (Marmot in The status syndrome: how social standing affects our health and longevity, Henry Holt, New York, 2004; Wilkinson and Pickett in The Spirit Level: why more equal societies almost always do better, Allen Lane, London, 2009). We adopted the applied framework of self-determination theory (SDT; Deci and Ryan in Psychol Inq 11:227–268, 2000) and hypothesized that fulfillment of the basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness would mediate the relationships that SES and income inequality have to self-rated health. An online community sample of American participants (N = 1,139) completed a detailed demographic survey and provided self-reports of need fulfillment and health complaints. Structural equation models controlled for impression management and self-deceptive enhancement. Controlling for sex and age, need fulfillment was predicted positively by subjective SES and objective household income and negatively by state-level income inequality; in turn, need fulfillment predicted lower levels of health complaints. These findings suggest that SDT provides a useful framework for the study of SES, income inequality, and health, and that basic psychological needs are an important mechanism through which socioeconomic contexts influence health.     

An Analysis of Fertility Differentials by Religion in Kerala State: A Test of the Interaction Hypothesis

In a revelation of overall decline to below replacement fertility in the Kerala state of India, it was generally found that fertility among Muslims is higher and contraceptive prevalence lower than among Hindus and Christians. This paper examines the interaction between religion and other socioeconomic factors, that is, whether the effect of religion on fertility remains constant across other factors. The analysis is based on the data from the National Family Health Survey-1 in Kerala. The analysis found that large Hindu-Muslim fertility differences at a low level of education do not persist at higher levels. For contraceptive use, wider gaps are found at a middle level of education and at a medium level of standard of living than at lower and higher levels. This indicates that couples at different socioeconomic settings make different decisions in spite of belonging to the same religion. The fact that fertility of Muslims at higher levels of socioeconomic status is low, and not much different than the fertility of other religions, suggests that the observed fertility gap between Hindus/Christians and Muslims is a passing phenomenon.     

中国贫困地区农村老年人家庭贫困-富裕度研究

中国已经进入老龄化社会,而中国的社会保障体系处于初级水平,养老保障制度尚未完善,在贫困地区大多数老年人由于缺乏收入和服务保障使他们的生活陷入困境,因此他们是当前最需要关注的群体。然而,了解贫困地区老年人家庭的贫困状况和致贫原因是解决问题的第一步。为此,文章利用"河北省贫困地区人口抽样调查"数据,对老年人家庭的贫困状况进行对比分析,并对老年人家庭的致贫原因进行Ordinal回归分析。研究发现,家庭成员的健康状况、第一经济来源以及家庭规模等因素对贫困地区农村老年人家庭的贫困-富裕度有显著影响。     

Parental Status and Biological Functioning: Findings from the Nashville Stress and Health Study

Population Research and Policy Review - Does childrearing affect the biological functioning of parents? To address this question, we analyze cross-sectional survey and biomarker data from...     

地方人口与计划生育条例有关奖励优待和社会保障规定分析

2001年11月29日,《中华人民共和国人口与计划生育法》颁布后,全国除西藏外的30个省(区、市,以下简称省)均对本省《人口与计划生育条例》(以下简称《条例》)进行了修改或修订。本文主要对修改或修订后的各省《条例》中关于对实行计划生育的家庭和个人的奖励优待和社会保障规定部分进行汇总分析。1概述计划生育奖励优待和社会保障是指国家机关、企事业单位、团体为了鼓励在计划生育方面做出成绩的单位和个人而给予其荣誉、财物和基本的社会保险等措施,帮助实行计划生育的家庭和个人提高生产、生活水平和有关的社会福利,使实行计划生育的家庭得…