Effects of income and financial strain on risky social behaviour in the COVID-19 era: a comparison of the US and Canada

Author(s):  
Michael Frechette ◽  
Timothy Reilly
Author(s):  
Samuel K. Cohn, Jr.

This chapter examines evidence principally from the US that the Great Influenza provoked profiteering by landlords, undertakers, vendors of fruit, pharmacists, and doctors, but shows that such complaints were rare and confined mostly to large cities on the East Coast. It then investigates anti-social advice and repressive decrees on the part of municipalities, backed by advice from the US Surgeon General and prominent physicians attacking ‘spitters, coughers, and sneezers’, which included state and municipal ordinances against kissing and even ‘big talkers’. It then surveys legislation on compulsory and recommended mask wearing. Yet this chapter finds no protest or collective violence against the diseased victims or any other ‘others’ suspected of disseminating the virus. Despite physicians’ and lawmakers’ encouragement of anti-social behaviour, mass volunteerism and abnegation instead unfolded to an extent never before witnessed in the world history of disease.


2020 ◽  
pp. 073346482097113
Author(s):  
Kristin Litzelman ◽  
Autumn Harnish

Policymakers and community organizations have implemented numerous programs and services to support the more than 40 million family caregivers in the United States. However, the existence of such services is not sufficient to ensure equitable and optimal access and utilization. Using data from the Caregiving in the US study (2015; n = 1,185), we estimated that nearly one in five family caregivers do not meet broad eligibility criteria for support services. This resource gap was particularly likely to affect high-priority populations such as those caring for someone with a mental health problem. Furthermore, ineligible caregivers had lower service utilization and increased financial strain. The findings highlight a pattern of vulnerability among caregivers who do not meet broad eligibility criteria for financial support resources. Careful policy consideration is needed to determine how support services should be allocated to maximize caregiver and care recipient outcomes at the population level.


Significance The global oil price crash has been particularly brutal to Canada's oil sands which have some of the highest costs in the industry. While existing projects are going ahead, the pipeline of new projects is emptying fast. Impacts The plunging oil price and contraction in industry activity could tip Canada into a recession in 2016. Despite strengthening this week, the Canadian dollar will remain relatively weak against the US dollar as long as the oil price is low. Job losses and financial strain on oil provinces will encourage deficit-financed stimulus spending in the upcoming federal budget.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S389-S389
Author(s):  
Stacy L Andersen ◽  
Walter Boot ◽  
Jeffrey Kaye

Abstract One in eight older adults in the US has Alzheimer’s disease or a related dementia, which are characterized by progressive cognitive and physical declines. The impact of dementia also goes beyond the individual since 92% of persons with dementia receive functional and emotional support from family members and other informal caregivers. The time demands, financial strain, and emotional toll of caregiving are known to cause increased stress and health problems. Therefore, there is a wealth of opportunities to develop new ways to intervene in the progressive loss of function among persons with dementia and ways to support them and their caregivers. Co-sponsored by the Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias and Technology and Aging Interest Groups, this symposium addresses innovations in the implementation of new and existing technologies in the dementia care continuum. We will discuss the development and testing of a new mobile application designed to integrate both physical activity and cognitive training. Then we will discuss results from a virtual support group intervention to provide disease education, care planning, and emotional and social support among persons newly diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and living alone. Next we will share results from a study using customized voice-assisted technologies to enable individuals with memory impairment to maintain independence and quality of life and reduce caregiver burden. Finally, we will present findings regarding the validity and accuracy of a wearable sensor-based device that measures skin conductivity and heart rate variability to monitor stress level among caregivers of persons with dementia.


Author(s):  
Nimrod Hertz-Palmor ◽  
Tyler M Moore ◽  
Doron Gothelf ◽  
Grace E DiDomenico ◽  
Idit Dekel ◽  
...  

Background. The COVID-19 pandemic has major ramifications for global health and the economy, with growing concerns about economic recession and implications for mental health. Here we investigated the associations between COVID-19 pandemic-related income loss with financial strain and mental health trajectories over a 1-month course. Methods. Two independent studies were conducted in the U.S and in Israel at the beginning of the outbreak (March-April 2020, T1; N = 4 171) and at a 1-month follow-up (T2; N = 1 559). Mixed-effects models were applied to assess associations among COVID-19-related income loss, financial strain, and pandemic-related worries about health, with anxiety and depression, controlling for multiple covariates including pre-COVID-19 income. Findings. In both studies, income loss and financial strain were associated with greater depressive symptoms at T1, above and beyond T1 anxiety, worries about health, and pre-COVID-19 income. Worsening of income loss was associated with exacerbation of depression at T2 in both studies. Worsening of subjective financial strain was associated with exacerbation of depression at T2 in one study (US). Interpretation. Income loss and financial strain were uniquely associated with depressive symptoms and the exacerbation of symptoms over time, above and beyond pandemic-related anxiety. Considering the painful dilemma of lockdown versus reopening, with the tradeoff between public health and economic wellbeing, our findings provide evidence that the economic impact of COVID-19 has negative implications for mental health. Funding. This study was supported by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health, the US-Israel Binational Science Foundation, Foundation Dora and Kirsh Foundation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julian Kiverstein ◽  
Erik Rietveld

Abstract Veissière and colleagues make a valiant attempt at reconciling an internalist account of implicit cultural learning with an externalist account that understands social behaviour in terms of its environment-involving dynamics. However, unfortunately the author's attempt to forge a middle way between internalism and externalism fails. We argue their failure stems from the overly individualistic understanding of the perception of cultural affordances they propose.


2004 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 181-184
Author(s):  
Amy Garrigues

On September 15, 2003, the US. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit held that agreements between pharmaceutical and generic companies not to compete are not per se unlawful if these agreements do not expand the existing exclusionary right of a patent. The Valley DrugCo.v.Geneva Pharmaceuticals decision emphasizes that the nature of a patent gives the patent holder exclusive rights, and if an agreement merely confirms that exclusivity, then it is not per se unlawful. With this holding, the appeals court reversed the decision of the trial court, which held that agreements under which competitors are paid to stay out of the market are per se violations of the antitrust laws. An examination of the Valley Drugtrial and appeals court decisions sheds light on the two sides of an emerging legal debate concerning the validity of pay-not-to-compete agreements, and more broadly, on the appropriate balance between the seemingly competing interests of patent and antitrust laws.


2000 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 107-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louis M. Hsu ◽  
Judy Hayman ◽  
Judith Koch ◽  
Debbie Mandell

Summary: In the United States' normative population for the WAIS-R, differences (Ds) between persons' verbal and performance IQs (VIQs and PIQs) tend to increase with an increase in full scale IQs (FSIQs). This suggests that norm-referenced interpretations of Ds should take FSIQs into account. Two new graphs are presented to facilitate this type of interpretation. One of these graphs estimates the mean of absolute values of D (called typical D) at each FSIQ level of the US normative population. The other graph estimates the absolute value of D that is exceeded only 5% of the time (called abnormal D) at each FSIQ level of this population. A graph for the identification of conventional “statistically significant Ds” (also called “reliable Ds”) is also presented. A reliable D is defined in the context of classical true score theory as an absolute D that is unlikely (p < .05) to be exceeded by a person whose true VIQ and PIQ are equal. As conventionally defined reliable Ds do not depend on the FSIQ. The graphs of typical and abnormal Ds are based on quadratic models of the relation of sizes of Ds to FSIQs. These models are generalizations of models described in Hsu (1996) . The new graphical method of identifying Abnormal Ds is compared to the conventional Payne-Jones method of identifying these Ds. Implications of the three juxtaposed graphs for the interpretation of VIQ-PIQ differences are discussed.


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