Old‐age Poverty in Indonesia: Measurement Issues and Living Arrangements

Drawing on several rounds of nationally representative household survey data for Indonesia, this article shows that poverty rates among the elderly are substantially higher than those of the rest of the population. Using sensitivity checks on adult equivalence scales and economies of scale, the author demonstrates that the gap in poverty rates between the elderly and non‐elderly population would increase even further if moderate changes to the per‐consumption expenditure assumption were made. Additional panel data evidence reveals that about one‐third of the elderly population is currently vulnerable to poverty. While the findings do not show gender differences in old‐age poverty rates, they do highlight important differences in living arrangements across gender, with the majority of elderly women being widows while the majority of men are still married at all ages.     

The effect of ethnicity and economy upon intergenerational coresidence: northern Norway during the last part of the nineteenth century

During the last part of the nineteenth century, Finnmark province and the northern part of Troms experienced a decline in intergenerational coresidence. This article discusses what impact ethnic affiliation and economic activity had on the living arrangements of the elderly, and what contributed to the change. Logistic regression shows that ethnicity played a role but its effect disappears after controlling for economic activity. Intergenerational coresidence was positively associated with being a married Sámi male with an occupation in farming or combined fishing and farming. As such a person grew older, he was increasingly likely to live separately from an own adult child. This pattern changed toward the end of nineteenth century. By the close of the century, ethnic differences had disappeared, and headship position, irrespective of marital status, was strongly related to coresidence.     

INTERGENERATIONAL PROXIMITY AND THE FERTILITY INTENTIONS OF MARRIED WOMEN

Explanations for very low fertility in ‘strong family’ countries emphasise the relatively high costs of childrearing but pay little attention to the potentially offsetting influences of distinctive living arrangements. In this paper, we use data from nationally representative surveys of married women of reproductive age in Japan and Italy to demonstrate that intergenerational co-residence and residential proximity to parents(-in-law) are positively associated with fertility intentions. We also examine ways in which relationships between living arrangements and fertility intentions may depend on family circumstances associated with the opportunity costs, psychological costs and economic costs of childrearing. Contrary to expectations, we find no evidence that intergenerational residential proximity is associated with higher fertility intentions among women for whom the opportunity costs of childrearing are thought to be the greatest. However, there is some relatively limited support for hypothesised moderating influences of the psychological and economic costs of childrearing.     

INTERGENERATIONAL TIME AND MONETARY SUPPORT AMONG URBAN INDIAN FAMILIES

Intra-household time transfer is an important intergenerational support, less emphasised but more prominent than monetary transfers in the Indian family system. This paper attempts to study, empirically, the nature and pattern of time transfers between co-residing and non-co-residing parents and their adult married children in an urban setting in India. From the analysis of 673 representative sampled households, we have found that reciprocative time transfers between adult children and their parents constitute a central feature of the intergenerational support system, regardless of co-residency status. Significant correlates of time transfers to elderly parents are age, presence of other siblings in the household, headship status, and monetary support received from and made to parents. However, there is no evidence of inter-substitution between time and money between the two generations, i.e. married adult children and their parents. Time support is more frequent and intense when parents reside in the same city, whereas monetary transfers dominate when parents reside in a distant city or village.     

MARITAL UNIONS AND UNMARRIED COHABITATION IN BANGKOK,THAILAND

Cohabitation has been understudied in the Thai context where national data on the complex forms of contemporary unions remain extremely rare. This paper uses data of the National Survey on HIV/AIDS Risk Behaviours and ART Knowledge in Thailand (NSBS), 2006 to understand the issue of cohabitation in contemporary Thailand. The data were collected from 6048 individuals aged 18–59, among whom about half were aged 18–24. In general, cohabitation is still uncommon in Thailand, accounting for only 2.4 per cent of 18–59-year-old individuals. The multivariate analysis of the study sample in Bangkok, where cohabitation is most common, suggests that married individuals and cohabiters are significantly different in terms of geographical area, age, education, religion, religiosity and work. Results reveal both consistent and different effects across genders. Further research on family formation in Thailand should acknowledge the complex forms of sexual unions and explore how differentials in background characteristics between married persons and cohabiters affect other aspects of family processes such as the well-being of couples and children.     

Elderly widowhood in China

As population ageing accelerates in China, the number of elderly widowed individuals are expected to increase. Using 2010 census data we estimate widowhood indices for rural and urban areas, and for men and women in China. The indices show that the probability of elderly widowhood to be higher for females (0.68) than males (0.32)—with no rural and urban difference. An average marriage in China lasts about 47 years. After the death of a spouse, the average duration of widowhood is about 11 years for males and about 15 years for females. Spousal age difference has a significant impact on widowhood indices. Rural populations have the shortest marriage duration and the youngest widowhood age, and longer widowhood duration.     

HEALTH OF HOME-BASED SEX WORKERS AND THEIR CHILDREN IN RURAL ANDHRA PRADESH,INDIA

This study uses secondary data from 2006 to assess the physical and mental health of rural, home-based sex workers and their young children in rural Andhra Pradesh state of India. The analyses of survey and clinical data show a high level of morbidity amongst sex worker women and their children. Women show high levels of nutritional deficiencies, anaemia, weight loss and hospitalisation. Women's mental health is particularly serious, with 92 per cent being depressed and 57 per cent having attempted suicide. The majority have experienced domestic and work-related violence, including rape. Clinical assessments of sex workers’ children show that most have received vaccinations, but almost half have parasites, dental problems and nutritional deficiencies. Both the physical and mental health of sex worker mothers are associated with the health of their children. Therefore, health interventions focusing on sex worker mothers have the potential to improve the health of their children.     

Joint Effects of Personal Factors and Ecological Variables on the Interprovincial Migration Pattern of Young Adults in Canada: A Nested Logit Analysis

This paper applies a nested logit model to the 1981 census micro data to study the joint effects of personal factors (sex, mother tongue, nativity, education, and marital status) and ecological variables on the 1976–1981 interprovincial migration pattern of young adults in Canada. In multivariate contexts, personal factors not only are of paramount importance in explaining the departure process but also have significant interactions with ecological variables in determining the destination choice pattern.     

Changing trends in international marriages between Korean men and Southeast Asian women, 1993–2013

Korea witnessed a large increase in the fraction of men marrying spouses from Southeast Asia. In the 1990s, about one per cent of Korean men’s new marriages were to Southeast Asian women but by 2005, this increased to over nine per cent with even higher rates in rural areas. With the use of a logit model and Marriage Register data from 1993–2013, the determinants of international marriages are explored using a more rigorous approach and over a longer period of observation compared to previous studies. Older Korean men with lower socioeconomic status were more likely to marry a woman from Southeast Asia (compared to a fellow Korean). The predictors of international marriage differed depending on the wife’s birth country: if the wife had some college education there was a higher probability of marriage to a Filipino woman, but less likely to a woman from China or Vietnam, compared to marriage to a Korean woman. Finally, over the past two decades the education level, age at marriage, and country of origin of the foreign wives have changed substantially. The data shows fewer women migrating from China (of which about 70% are ethnically Korean), and a rising number from Vietnam. This ‘marriage migration’ has implications for the demographics, ethnicity, and occupational composition of those living in Korea.     

Socio-demographic differences of disability prevalence among the population aged 60 years and over in Bangladesh

This study aims to delineate the sociodemographic differences in disability prevalence across the population aged 60 years and over in Bangladesh, and to investigate the association of factors with reporting disability in later life. A microdata sample for those aged 60 years or over from the Census of Bangladesh 2011 was used where disability was assessed with a self-reported single response question. Logistic regression models were performed separately for men and women. Results reveal that the disability prevalence rate increased sharply with age, and it was higher among older women (5.2 per cent) compared to men (4.8 per cent). Physical and vision disabilities were the two categories with the highest prevalence of reported disabilities, with a higher prevalence of physical disability among men and vision disability among women. Being older, female, currently not in marital partnership, and having a lower educational attainment, not being employed, living alone, and residing in the rural areas were significantly associated with reporting disability in later life. The higher prevalence of disability among older women, those who are illiterate, and those residing in rural areas highlights the need for policies prioritising these groups. Special attention should also be given to those who are currently not in marital partnership, particularly women who are living alone.     

Changing intergenerational contracts: gender,cohorts and elder care in central rural China, 2005–2013

In the absence of stable pension systems, elder care arrangements in rural China depend on intergenerational contracts. The existing scholarship on elder care in rural China tends to treat the elderly as a homogeneous group and depict them mainly as ‘care recipients’. Based on a diachronic qualitative study in central rural China between 2005 and 2013, this research examines the changing intergenerational contracts between two cohorts of rural elderly and their adult children. These cohorts hold different positions in terms of family structure, number and sex composition of adult children, living arrangement, physical situation, economic standing and appreciation of intergenerational exchange. These differences further produce different social exchange patterns and disparate elder care modalities between genders and cohorts. Drawing upon insights from gender theory on social gerontology, this research identifies the ‘agency’ of older rural women and explores ageing issues among older rural men. This study also presents policy implications by identifying the most disadvantaged group in terms of elder care support.     

LIFECYCLE DEFICIT,INTERGENERATIONAL PUBLIC AND FAMILIAL SUPPORT SYSTEM IN INDIA

The old and young consume public and private goods and services in excess of their labour income and incur lifecycle deficit (LCD). The share of the benefits received by the elderly 65 years and above and children below 20 years are, respectively, 6.3 and 42.1 per cent of the total familial in-transfer. The elderly themselves contribute to support, particularly for education of grandchildren, and their contribution is more than the benefit they receive from intra-household transfers. Contrary to the belief that in India, children provide old-age security, the elderly do not gain from the intra-household familial support. It is found that in India, there is a shortage of public funding to meet a greater share of the LCD of the population of children and the aged, and they would not have been able to consume essential goods and services if not for asset-based consumption and familial support.     

Trends in the residential mobility of seniors in Canada, 1961–2006

This article examines residential mobility for seniors 65 years of age and older in Canada using census data from 1961–2006. We addressed three questions. First, have seniors been increasingly likely to change their residential location within Canada or alternatively become increasingly likely to age‐in‐place? Second, has the in‐migration of seniors to Canada from other countries become more pronounced over the years? Third, does the residential mobility of seniors vary by age and sex? We used census data to calculate the percentages of seniors who changed their residence in the five‐year periods prior to each of the 1961–2006 censuses and the percentages of seniors who moved in the previous year for the 1991–2006 censuses. We calculated the percentages of seniors making local moves, longer distance moves within the same province, moves from one province to another, and moves to Canada from another country. We found that rates of residential mobility for seniors tended to increase in the 1961–1981 period but have been lower and relatively consistent from 1986–2006. We found no evidence to suggest a pattern of sustained increase in residential mobility of seniors. We conclude that Canadian seniors tend to age‐in‐place and that when seniors do change residence, the likelihood of residential mobility decreases with the distance of the move and decreases with age. Nevertheless, the likelihood of changing residence may increase for seniors 75+ years of age who need assistance and are at risk of institutionalization. We found that senior women were more likely to change residence locally than senior men. Finally, we found that from 1961 to 2006 between 0.8 percent and 1.4 percent of seniors had migrated to Canada in the five years prior to each census from other countries and that this pattern has fluctuated over the past half century with no clear trend.     

Mortality differences according to marital status among men and women in Kuwait

Higher mortality among unmarried persons compared with currently married ones has been reported in many previous studies. There is paucity of such studies in developing countries. We analysed the association between marital status and mortality in Kuwait, an oil-rich Gulf Muslim country. Data were obtained from the Public Authority for Civil Information that has maintained a linked record database of population characteristics with death notifications since 2005. Deaths during 2005–2010 were aggregated for the analysis. Age-specific death rates and standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) were calculated according to marital status (married, never married, divorced and widowed), age (15–49, 50–64 and 65+), gender, and nationality (Kuwaiti vs. non-Kuwaiti). Among Kuwaiti nationals, the SMRs for widowed, divorced, and never married were 1.75, 1.68 and 1.15 compared to the married. Higher mortality was found among unmarried men and women at almost all ages. These findings may be indicative of considerable public health problems such as higher disability and depression among the unmarried.     

Factors Associated with Married Iranian Women's Contraceptive Use in Turku,Finland

Iranians are one of Finland's major immigrant groups. Like other asylum seekers in Finland, the Iranians brought with them their own cultural practices, attitudes and beliefs regarding marriage and family structure. The aim of this research was to study factors associated with married Iranian women's contraceptive use in Finland. A total of 120 married women with more than one child were interviewed in Turku, a costal city situated about 200km from Helsinki, the capital of Finland. The questionnaires gathered information about the respondents' socio-demographic status, knowledge and use of contraception, number of children, length of time in Finland, education level and other social characteristics. Our research shows that the social factors that are associated with the Iranian women's contraceptive use are mainly due to changes in their conditions of life and adaptation to the Finnish society.     

Migration and left-behind parents and children of migrants in Cambodia: a look at household composition and the economic situation

ABSTRACT

This paper examines composition of households formed after the outmigration of a household member in rural Cambodian and correlates household types with indicators of economic condition. The paper focuses on households containing left-behind parents and the children of migrants. Excess mortality in the 1970s due to war suggests the association between migration and economic condition may be gendered. This could be exacerbated when migration leads to a skip-generation household containing a left-behind parent and a child of migrant without an own parent of the child present. Data come from the Cambodian Rural-Urban Migration Project (CRUMP), a project designed to study migration in rural Cambodia. Most households formed after a migration contain a left-behind parent of migrant. While about 22 per cent of these households contain a left-behind child of migrant, the per cent is over 60 per cent when the migrant is themselves a parent. The economic situation tends to be worst for left behind solo mothers (mothers of migrants who do not live with a spouse) and best for left-behind coupled parents of migrants. There is evidence that the combination of left-behind solo mothers living with children of migrants in a skip-generation situation is the most disadvantaged.     

Spatial variation in cervical cancer screening participation and outcomes among Indigenous and non‐Indigenous Australians in Queensland

Indigenous women continue to experience a disproportionately higher burden of cervical cancer than non‐Indigenous women in Australia. The National Indigenous Cervical Screening Project used probabilistic record linkage to combine population‐based administrative databases and identify Indigenous women on Pap Smear Registers. This study aimed to quantify the spatial variation by local government areas (LGAs) for Indigenous and non‐Indigenous women in Queensland in cervical screening participation rates and related outcomes. Empirical Bayes local geostatistical smoothing was performed to reduce the likelihood of spurious variation between small areas. The cohort included 1,091,260 women (2 per cent Indigenous) aged 20 to 69 with 2,393,708 Pap smears between 2006 and 2011. Indigenous women had smoothed LGA‐specific 5‐year participation rates (interquartile range (IQR) 38.9–53.3 per 100 eligible women) consistently lower than non‐Indigenous women (IQR 80.7–85.3). The non‐overlapping confidence intervals of these rates suggest that the Indigenous differential was significant. Compared with Indigenous women, non‐Indigenous women had consistently lower and more stable prevalence rates of histologically confirmed high grade abnormalities (IQR 8.0–10.1 versus 15.0–21.3 per 1,000 screened women). Although the LGA‐specific rates also suggest that a higher proportion of non‐Indigenous women were followed‐up within two months of an abnormal screening result, the wide confidence intervals for these estimates limit our ability to draw definitive conclusions about spatial patterns for this outcome. These findings highlight the importance of continued monitoring and ongoing efforts to identify drivers of these patterns and develop effective strategies to improve participation and potentially reduce the cervical cancer burden among Indigenous women.     

The Future Population of Australia's Coastal Lands

In 1986 about 26 per cent of the Australian population lived in the country's coastal fringe. In recent decades coastal fringe population has increased at the same rate as the population elsewhere and, if this proportion holds as total population grows towards a projected level of 27 million by 2051, plausibly there could be another three million people living in the coastal fringe by then. This paper examines, in synoptic fashion, and within the limits of available data, the capacity of the coastal fringe to absorb such population increments.     

Health hazards and socio-economic status: a neighbourhood cohort approach, Vancouver, 1976–2001

This paper lays the foundation for a research program concerned with the geographical patterning of environmental and population health at the urban neighbourhood scale. Based on the Vancouver metropolitan region, the aim is to better understand the role of neighbourhoods as epidemiological spaces where environmental and social characteristics combine as health processes and outcomes at the community and individual levels. With respect to procedure, this paper builds a cohort of commensurate neighbourhoods across all six census periods from 1976 to 2001, assembles neighbourhood air pollution (total particles) data, and provides an initial analysis to demonstrate how air pollution systematically and consistently maps onto neighbourhood socio-economic markers, specifically education and family status. We conclude with a discussion of how the neighbourhood cohort can be further developed to address emergent priorities in the population and environmental health literatures, namely the need for temporally matched data, a life-course approach and analyses that control for spatial scale effects.     

An elasticity analysis of the effectiveness of pronatalist measures in Taiwan

The total fertility rate (TFR) of Taiwan has remained below the replacement level 2.1 for past thirty years. Currently, 16 of its 22 counties and cities have TFRs below 1.3, with TFRs in middle and southern Taiwan even below 1. In the recent decade, various pronatalist policies have been adopted in Taiwan to cope with the low fertility issue. However, little is known about the effectiveness of these policies. In order to identify the group(s) of women that should be targeted to increase the TFR effectively, we have constructed a stochastic model to perform an elasticity analysis. The results show that changes in marriage rates among women aged 25–29 years would have the largest impact on the TFR, with an elasticity value of 0.32. This means that every 1 per cent increase in the marriage rate of women aged 25–29 may increase the TFR by about 0.32 per cent (i.e. an increase of about 2.6 children per 1000 women). The TFR is also very sensitive in responding to changes in the marriage rate and parity-1 fertility rate of 30–34-year-old women, with elasticities of 0.19 and 0.16 respectively. The divorce rate has a small but negative impact on the TFR. Also, the possible contribution of third- and higher-order births is insignificant. These findings suggest that policies aimed at increasing the marriage rate among women in their late twenties and early thirties, and supporting first births of women in their early thirties, are likely to raise Taiwan’s fertility rate effectively.