The Impact of Poverty on Children and Young People’s Use of Services

This article describes a qualitative study exploring the impact of poverty on children’s access to and use of services, which took a comparative approach to gather the views of children from more and less affluent households. Findings suggest affordability and related factors including limited mobility constrained service use for less affluent children, resulting in cumulative missed opportunities. However, extended family, friends and agencies facilitated service access, mitigating the impact of poverty on service use to some extent. Research implications include the importance of listening to and taking account of the views of children from lower income families in service planning.     

The Perspectives of Young Men and Their Teenage Partners on Maternity and Health Services During Pregnancy and Early Parenthood

This study discusses young couples’ interactions with maternity and health services paying particular attention to men’s perspectives. Findings are based on research conducted in Scotland with men (aged 16–25) and their teenage partners (aged 16–19). Most young men were very involved in their child’s life and provided support and care to their partner during pregnancy and in early parenthood. Men often felt excluded or judged when accessing services, although positive experiences were reported too. The study discusses ways in which maternity and health services can be better attuned to meet the needs of young couples and be inclusive of men.     

Experiencing emerging adulthood in the Netherlands

Emerging adulthood is recognized as a recent and developmentally distinct phase in the life-course, characterized as a period of identity exploration, of instability, being self-focused, feeling in-between, and an age of possibilities. To measure the subjective experience of emerging adulthood Reifman, Arnett, and Colwell developed the Inventory of the Dimensions of Emerging Adulthood (IDEA). While a series of studies demonstrated the applicability of the five dimensions of emerging adulthood and effectiveness of IDEA for measuring these in US samples, results from non-US samples revealed important cultural differences in how emerging adulthood is experienced. The current study tests the extent to which emerging adulthood is experienced by Dutch young people, and the relevance and validity of the IDEA for a general urban population sample from the Netherlands. We examined differences between socioeconomic and ethnic groups within this population. The results revealed that certain aspects of the Dutch emerging adulthood experience are different from the USA. In addition, there are small but significant differences between Dutch socioeconomic and ethnic groups in how this period of life is experienced. Economic and cultural explanations for these differences are discussed.     

Welfare as Maternity Leave? Exemptions from Welfare Work Requirements and Maternal Employment

In some states, the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program offers the equivalent of paid maternity leave without job protection to low-income, single mothers of infants. Age-of-youngest-child (AYC) exemptions waive work requirements for TANF recipients after the birth of a child, generally for 3-12 months, depending on the state. This study uses data from the Current Population Survey (1998-2008) to examine whether the availability and length of AYC exemptions are predictive of rates of employment, work, and full-time work among low-educated single mothers with infants. The analysis uses the difference-in-differences (DD) technique, a comparison of outcomes under different policy treatments and between treatment and comparison groups. The results suggest that AYC exemptions are not related to employment or work rates but that living in a state with no AYC exemption is strongly and positively associated with rates of full-time work among low-educated mothers with infants.     

Approximations for Estimating Change in Life Expectancy Attributable to Air Pollution in Relation to Multiple Causes of Death Using a Cause Modified Life Table

There is considerable debate as to the most appropriate metric for characterizing the mortality impacts of air pollution. Life expectancy has been advocated as an informative measure. Although the life‐table calculus is relatively straightforward, it becomes increasingly cumbersome when repeated over large numbers of geographic areas and for multiple causes of death. Two simplifying assumptions were evaluated: linearity of the relation between excess rate ratio and change in life expectancy, and additivity of cause‐specific life‐table calculations. We employed excess rate ratios linking PM_2.5 and mortality from cerebrovascular disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, ischemic heart disease, and lung cancer derived from a meta‐analysis of worldwide cohort studies. As a sensitivity analysis, we employed an integrated exposure response function based on the observed risk of PM_2.5 over a wide range of concentrations from ambient exposure, indoor exposure, second‐hand smoke, and personal smoking. Impacts were estimated in relation to a change in PM_2.5 from 19.5 μg/m³ estimated for Toronto to an estimated natural background concentration of 1.8 μg/m³. Estimated changes in life expectancy varied linearly with excess rate ratios, but at higher values the relationship was more accurately represented as a nonlinear function. Changes in life expectancy attributed to specific causes of death were additive with maximum error of 10%. Results were sensitive to assumptions about the air pollution concentration below which effects on mortality were not quantified. We have demonstrated valid approximations comprising expression of change in life expectancy as a function of excess mortality and summation across multiple causes of death.     

Forced Migration and Under-five Mortality: A Comparison of Refugees and Hosts in North-western Uganda and Southern Sudan

Millions of people around the world live as displaced persons, often for lengthy periods of time. Little, however, is known about the correlates of health outcomes in displaced populations. This research article used data from north-western Uganda and southern Sudan to understand if and how forced migration and resulting residential arrangements impact under-five mortality for long-term displaced and corresponding host populations. Multivariate logistic regression revealed that over the long-run forced migration and residential arrangement did not significantly impact under-five mortality.