Abstract Purpose The objective of this study was to compare two salient neonatal outcomes—respiratory disorders and hyperbilirubinemia—between late-preterm (34–36 weeks) and full-term (37–41 weeks) ...singleton infants both at the population level and within families. Methods Analyses were based on natality data on all births in the state of New Jersey from 1996 to 2006 linked to newborn hospital discharge records. For population-level models, logistic regression analyses were conducted to estimate unadjusted and adjusted differences in outcomes by gestational age. For within-family analyses, unadjusted and adjusted logistic fixed-effects models were estimated with the latter including factors that differed across births to the same mother. Results Late-preterm birth increased the odds of a neonatal respiratory condition by more than fourfold (odds ratio, 4.08–4.53) and of neonatal hyperbilirubinemia by more than fivefold (odds ratio, 5.11–5.93) even when comparing births to the same mother and controlling for demographic and economic, behavioral, and obstetric factors that may have changed across pregnancies. Conclusions Based on population-level and within-family models, this study provides the strongest evidence to date that late-preterm birth is an important risk factor for adverse neonatal outcomes that other studies have found are associated with cognitive and behavioral disorders in childhood.
Full text
Available for:
GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
In current economic theory and popular culture, it is widely thought that a person’s ”character” is a major basis for status attainment, their ”entrepreneurialism” will affect their earnings, and ...their ”work on” their selves will determine their mental, and financial, health. This dissertation asks not only critically where these ideas come from, but empirically: are they true? It finds they are—partially—true. The ideas are, in a certain sense, subjectively held—and, on certain scales, objectively true. Children’s concept of their self, as well as teacher’s assessment of their self-control, does affect their occupational attainment. Yet, it does so largely through its association with intelligence tests, and to reproduce class inequality. Employees’ self-mastery and sense of control over their future is associated with higher earnings. Yet, it is so only at the margins within occupations, and not over-time, within individuals. Therapy clients do connect their practice of self to their economic lives and conditions. Yet, this connection itself appears to be a common cause of distress. The focus on the human, social-psychological or non-cognitive, elements of human capital, I argue, does not simply justify but generates inequality and mental ill-health. It is an example of how culture works with meritocratic and market forms of stratification, and to foster not only personal and social order, but disorder. I conclude by discussing the implications of these findings for social theories of the economy, and the human.
For egalitarians, families are part of the problem. By bringing together advantages and passing on to their children, families redouble and (literally) reproduce inequalities. And, by cordoning off a ...private sphere into which government cannot roam, the family marks the limits of any progressive agenda. But defending families should be part of any answer to social injustice. Family relationships should be seen as a primary good: we need close, caring committed relationships no matter what else we want in life. Families are also increasingly important to one's chances in life. The gulf is widening between those rich and those poor in family life. This should worry egalitarians because lacking good, stable family relationships is a major disadvantage, and one that holds back progress towards other aspects of social justice.
Full text
Available for:
BFBNIB, DOBA, FZAB, GIS, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, ODKLJ, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
A growing literature connects childhood socio-emotional skills to adult socio-economic outcomes. But what explains differing levels of socio-emotional skills? Current theories consider parental ...investment and socialisation, but neglect the emotional and relational aspects of parenting. Attachment theory offers a model of the micro-level mechanisms that connect parenting processes and socio-emotional development intergenerationally. It has, however, tended to de-emphasise macro, contextual socio-economic factors. Through an extensive, integrative review of the empirical literature on the effects and antecedents of parent-child attachment, we argue that attachment is a mechanism through which socio-emotional - and socio-economic - (dis)advantages persist.
Personal budgets involve funding allocated specifically to meet an individual's needs and either held on a persons behalf or given as a direct payment. In the social care system, local authorities ...have just been given a major grant to bring in personal support, including personal budgets, to adults, over the next three years. In the health service, under Lord Darzi's reforms, people with long-term conditions have been promised personal care plans. Early trials of personal budgets are promising. The evaluation of 17 local authority pilots, by Demos and Chris Hatton of Lancashire University, found positive results across all kinds of care needs in adults and the range of established social care measures. More than 80% of the budget recipients changed the services they used, and only 1% reported a worse quality of life compared with standard forms of care support. With skilled, empowered personal advisers, more flexible use of budgets could smooth support from different services, as people go from benefits into work, and enable them to take greater personal responsibility in relation to their services. Professional support, collectively accountable and funded services, and market management will become even more important if personal budgets are to achieve their goal. But personal approaches could allow services and professionals to focus more on the individuals that services are intended for.
Anderson Elizabeth., Private Government. How Employers Rule Our Lives (and Why We Don’t Talk About It) (Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press, 2017)
Full text
Available for:
BFBNIB, CEKLJ, NMLJ, NUK, PNG, UL, UM, UPUK
PDF
