Neighbourhood effects and demographic outcomes

In this paper, we explore the impact on mortality of income inequality in residential neighbourhoods and municipalities among elderly 65-84 years in the year 2004, using Swedish longitudinal micro-data covering the entire Swedish population for the period 1970 – 2006. Preliminary cross-sectional multi-level analyses are now complemented by longitudinal analyses of long-term residential histories with exposure to equal/unequal municipalities and neighbourhoods and the long-term impact on mortality. We investigate the association between mortality and income inequality at place of residence at different time lags and the effect of a summary measure of previous exposures to environments characterised by different inequality levels. We also compare groups that have different experiences of residential characteristics, i.e. those that have resided in unequal or equal places and those that have changed from equal to unequal residences or vice versa. Preliminary results from a cross-sectional analysis on 2006, show that income inequality in the municipality of residence had an independent effect on mortality in the age group 65-74 years

The main purpose of this paper is to explore socio-demographic differentials and peer effects on fertility among foreign wives in Korea. Attention is focused on examining the effects of the number of foreign wives and the ethnic composition of residential area on the level and tempo of fertility of foreign wives. Favorable ethnic composition of the residential area and increased accessibility to other foreign wives are likely to reduce the real or perceived social disadvantages, constraints and insecurities of foreign wives that might otherwise lead to lower fertility. Another question to be examined is whether and to what extent foreign wives show distinctive levels of fertility according to household composition. Micro-data from the 2009 Korean National Multi-culture Family Survey and Marriage and Divorce Registration Data for 2009-2011 are analyzed. Preliminary results of the analysis show that the ethnic composition environment exerts an independent effect on fertility, apart from socioeconomic and demographic variables. Propensity to have children ceteris paribus rises substantially among foreign wives who live in an area with a large population of transnational couples. Peer effects tend to be stronger when a foreign wife lives with her husband’s parents. Further evidence is found to be consistent with peer effects.

With an estimated 59,000 maternal deaths annually, Nigeria contributes about 10 percent of the world’s maternal deaths. Antenatal care is one of the major interventions recommended to reduce maternal mortality. Previous studies on antenatal care have focused on individual level determinants, but the role of community factors has been largely ignored. The study examined community contextual factors influencing the use of antenatal care in Nigeria using data from 2008 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey. We employed multilevel logistic regression techniques at the individual and community levels. Results showed that women from communities with high proportion of women that delivered in a health facility (OR=4.2, p<0.001) and high proportion of educated women (OR=3.4, p<0.001) were more likely to attend four or more antenatal care visits, and in the first trimester compared with those residing in disadvantaged communities. Neighbourhood factors also acted as moderators on the association between individual level factors and antenatal care. Findings suggest the need to tailor interventions at the community context. Specifically, interventions aimed at improving antenatal care visits and in the first trimester, should focus on increasing women’s education and health facility delivery in disadvantaged communities.

India’s National Family Health Survey datasets are hierarchical (subjects nested in groups) in nature. NFHS 3 datasets apart from providing information on Households and Individuals characteristics also gave information on couple’s characteristics. Couple’s dataset pose a particular challenge for statistical analysis as each group consists of two subjects’ male or female, or the hierarchy being couple/dyads. Challenge in analysing such data is that the variations may occur at the individual or dyadic level. Secondly the dyadic data are not independent, violating the assumption of independent observations. Also as the group size is small (male and female) it poses analytical challenges. Hierarchical Linear Models are used for analysing couples data using SAS PROC GLMMIX procedure. The challenge of correlated observations/response in couple’s dataset is taken care of using the GLMMIX procedure.

There have been significant levels of migration from the Caribbean to Europe and North America since the 1880s, and although we now know that health profiles of Caribbean migrants differ depending on the country they migrated to, whereby black Caribbean people in the US have better health than their English counterparts, there is a dearth of knowledge on how migrants shape the areas where they settle, and how these, in turn, affect their health. This study analysed two cross-sectional nationally representative surveys, in the US and in England, to contrast the association between two measures of neighbourhood residential concentration (black and Caribbean) and health and experienced racism among Caribbean people. Results of multilevel logistic regressions show that in the US increased Caribbean residential concentration was associated with improved health and decreased experienced racism, but the opposite was observed in England. On the other hand, increased black residential concentration was associated with improved health and decreased experienced racism of Caribbean English but not of Caribbean Americans. Findings show how the social construction of race and ethnicity differs depending on the country migrants arrive to, and the association that these different racialised identities have on neighbourhood effects on health.

This paper aims to deepen the link between migrant health and social context. Many
studies tried to understand migrant longevity in Western countries but not always with
satisfying results. Actually, there is an high heterogeneity among migrants which could
not be fully explained by the usual determinants of mortality. In a previous work, we
have shown the relevance of the context when trying to approach migrant’s mortality.
We suppose the local environment, the place where social and cultural interactions take
place, to be a key feature in explaining migrant inequalities in length of life.
Using census and mortality data on the foreigners living in Switzerland between
2000 and 2008, we try to assess the impact of the neighborhood on migrant health
outcomes. In a multilevel approach, we estimate the contribution of the social and
cultural context versus the individual characteristics on explaining inequalities among
migrant populations. We expect the social and cultural context to be a main component
to approach the vulnerability of migrants.

Early marriage has been identified in Southeast Asia as a determinant of lower health and social indicators than girls that marry at an older age. Early marriage can affect educational, social and economic opportunities, as well as the health status of the woman and her offspring. Bangladesh has one of the highest rates of child marriage in the world, and late marriage in Bangladesh is seen as a major pressure on families and social and cultural norms.
In Bangladesh, there have been many surveys focused on health and social indicators in Bangladesh. These surveys show differences in health indicators across Bangladesh. Eastern Bangladesh has some of the worst health indicators in the country and are worse than areas of western Bangladesh. However, eastern regions have a much higher mean age at marriage than other regions of Bangladesh. Based upon data from these surveys, early marriage is not directly related to poorer health outcomes across Bangladesh, and late or delayed marriage is not directly related to better health outcomes. This study will apply spatial regressions and spatial regime analysis, to understand the independent variables that factor into age at first marriage variation across districts and regions in Bangladesh.

Within three decades Algerian fertility dramatically fell, from 8 children per woman in the early 1970s to 2.2 in the late 1990s, before climbing up after 2000. As usual, the decline started in cities. But it could not have been so rapid at the national level without diffusing in rural world quickly. We check here such assumption by analysing data available at regional and local levels. Local data are rare and hardly accessible, except those from the 1998 census now published at the “commune” level. A special treatment of 1987 census data for the central part of the country allowed us to analyse changes occurred in the last period of sharp decline at the commune level. It is also very interesting to look at the geographical changes in age at marriage, the rise of which was the first mean of fertility reduction, and to discuss the relation between the two behaviour changes.