scholarly journals Why is the American South Poorer?

Social Forces ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 99 (1) ◽  
pp. 126-154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Regina S Baker
Keyword(s):  
Multilevel Models ◽  
Economic Structure ◽  
Influential Factor ◽  
The South ◽  
Probability Models ◽  
Current Population Survey Data ◽  
Power Resources ◽  
Binary Decomposition ◽  
Resource Hypothesis ◽  
Linear Probability

ABSTRACT While American poverty research has devoted greater attention to poverty in the Northeast and Midwest, poverty has been persistently higher in the U.S. South than in the other regions. Thus, this study investigates the enduring question of why poverty is higher in the South. Specifically, it demonstrates the role of power resources as an explanation for this regional disparity, yet also considers family demography, economic structure, and racial/ethnic heterogeneity. Using six waves (2000–2016) of U.S. Census Current Population Survey data from the Luxembourg Income Study (N = 1,157,914), this study employs a triangulation of analytic techniques: (1) tests of means and proportion differences, (2) multilevel linear probability models of poverty, and (3) binary decomposition of the South/non-South poverty gap. The comparison of means associated with the power resource hypothesis yields the largest substantive differences between the South and the non-South. In the multilevel models, adjusting for power resources yields the largest declines in the South coefficient. Binary decomposition results indicate power resources are the second most influential factor explaining the South/non-South poverty gap. Overall, power resources are an important source of the South/non-South poverty gap, though economic structure and other factors certainly also play a role. Results also suggest an important interplay between power resources and race. Altogether, these results underscore the importance of macrolevel characteristics of places, including political and economic contexts, in shaping individual poverty and overall patterns of inequality.

scholarly journals Why is syphilis rising in Europe? Multi-level modelling of alternative hypotheses in 31 countries

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
A Mendez-Lopez ◽  
D Stuckler ◽  
T Noori ◽  
J C Semenza
Keyword(s):  
Risky Sexual Behavior ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Internet Survey ◽  
Probability Models ◽  
Syphilis Infection ◽  
Detection Rates ◽  
Substantial Impact ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
Sex With Men ◽  
Linear Probability

Abstract Background Syphilis transmission has increased markedly over the past two decades in Europe, concentrated in men who have sex with men. We test alternative potential social and behavioral individual- and population-level determinants of this resurgence. Methods Two rounds of the cross-sectional European Men who have sex with men Internet Survey (EMIS 2010 and 2017, n = 272,902) were used to fit multi-level linear probability models to evaluate determinants of the incidence of self-reported syphilis, capturing risky sexual behaviours and pre-exposure prophylaxis use, among others, adjusting for potential sociodemographic confounders. Results Self-reported syphilis incidence rates rose by about 1.8 percentage points (within the last 12 months) and 3.9 (within the last 5 years) between the 2010 and 2017 waves, after adjusting for sociodemographic factors. HIV status was a major risk factor for syphilis infection (27.6 ppt higher incident rate, 95%CI: 24.7 to 30.5). A dose-response relationship was observed between greater numbers of condomless non-steady partners and syphilis infection, with more than 10 partners estimating increases in the probability of diagnosis of over 25 ppt (11-20 partners vs none: 24.5 ppt, 95%CI: 20.5 to 28.5); further, we observed evidence of mediation for number of condomless non-steady partners, which attenuated the estimated rise in 2017 vs 2010 by about 35%. STI testing uptake also accounted for a substantial increase in syphilis incidence signaling higher detection rates over time. While country-level PrEP use was linked to greater number of condomless partners, there was no substantial impact of population-wide factors, including GDP and PrEP use, on overall syphilis trends. Conclusions Risky sexual behavior changes, particularly condomless sex with non-steady partners, appears to be a major contributing factor to rising syphilis incidence. Further research is needed to understand what accounts for this substantial behavior change. Key messages Increased number of condomless non-steady partners accounts for a substantial rise in syphilis trends. Population-level PrEP use was linked to increasing numbers of condomless non-steady partners but had no substantial impact on overall syphilis trends.

scholarly journals A community intervention to reduce alcohol consumption and drunkenness among adolescents in Sweden: a quasi-experiment

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Svensson ◽  
Björn Johnson ◽  
Karl Kronkvist
Keyword(s):  
Alcohol Consumption ◽  
Community Intervention ◽  
Parental Attitudes ◽  
Compulsory Education ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Probability Models ◽  
Drinking Habits ◽  
Adolescent Drinking ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
Linear Probability

Abstract Background Several studies have examined the effect of community interventions on youth alcohol consumption, and the results have often been mixed. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a community intervention known as the Öckerö Method on adolescent alcohol consumption and perceived parental attitudes towards adolescent drinking. Method The study is based on a quasi-experimental design, using matched controls. Self-report studies were conducted among adolescents in grades 7–9 of compulsory education in four control and four intervention communities in the south of Sweden in 2016–2018. Baseline measures were collected in autumn 2016 before the intervention was implemented in the intervention communities. Outcomes were the adolescents’ alcohol consumption, past-year drunkenness, past-month drunkenness and perceived parental attitudes towards alcohol. Results Estimating Difference-in-Difference models using Linear Probability Models, we found no empirical evidence that the intervention has any effect on adolescents’ drinking habits, or on their perceptions of their parents’ attitudes towards adolescent drinking. Conclusion This is the first evaluation of this method, and we found no evidence that the intervention had any effect on the level of either young people’s alcohol consumption or their past-year or past-month drunkenness, nor on their parents’ perceived attitudes toward adolescent drinking. A further improvement would be to employ a follow-up period that is longer than the three-year period employed in this study. Trial registration ISRCTN registry: Study ID: 51635778, 31th March 2021 (Retrospectively registered).

scholarly journals Excellent Self-Rated Health among Swedish Boys and Girls and Its Relationship with Working Conditions in School: A Cross-Sectional Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 1310
Author(s):  
Sara Brolin Låftman ◽  
Maria Granvik Saminathen ◽  
Bitte Modin ◽  
Petra Löfstedt
Keyword(s):  
Academic Success ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Probability Models ◽  
Positive Health ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
School Aged Children ◽  
Self Rated Health ◽  
Linear Probability ◽  
Classmate Support

The aim of this study was to investigate the extent to which school demands, teacher support, and classmate support were associated with excellent self-rated health among students, and to examine if any such statistical predictions differed by gender. Data were drawn from the Swedish Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study of 2017/18, performed among adolescents in grades five, seven, and nine (n = 3701). Linear probability models showed that school demands were negatively associated with excellent self-rated health, whereas teacher and classmate support showed positive associations. The link with school demands was stronger for girls than boys, driven by the finding that in grades five and nine, school demands were associated with excellent self-rated health only among girls. In conclusion, the study suggests that working conditions in school in terms of manageable school demands and strong teacher and classmate support may benefit adolescents’ positive health. The finding that the link between school demands and excellent self-rated health was more evident among girls than among boys may be interpreted in light of girls’ on average stronger focus on schoolwork and academic success. The study contributes with to knowledge about how working conditions in school may impede or promote students’ positive health.

Mechanizing the Cotton Harvest in the Nineteenth-Century South

1965 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 704-706 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heywood Fleisig
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Economic History ◽  
Economic Structure ◽  
Cotton Production ◽  
The South ◽  
Persistent Problem

A persistent problem in American economic history is the explanation of the failure of the South to mechanize cotton production. Summarily, the following argues that the failure to mechanize was due to a southern economic structure which operated to reduce the effectiveness of the factors in society conducive to invention and innovation.

scholarly journals Contributing Factors to Forest Loss in Conterminous U.S. for the 1990s and 2000s

2021 ◽  
Vol 02 (04) ◽  
pp. 1-1
Author(s):  
Giorgos Mountrakis ◽  
◽  
Sheng Yang ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Forest Cover ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
National Level ◽  
Influential Factor ◽  
Local Context ◽  
Forest Loss ◽  
The South ◽  
Contributing Factors ◽  
Spatial Error ◽  
Forested Areas

While numerous studies have considered forest loss factors at local scales, there is a gap of comparative quantitative regional modeling at the U.S. national level. Here, we investigated statistical relationships between gross forest cover loss (GFCL) and numerous socioeconomic, biophysical and ownership variables between two decades, the 1990s and the 2000s. A spatial error model was employed to compensate for spatial autocorrelation effects. Models from the 2000s had stronger explanatory power than the 1990s models, especially in the Northeast and the South (R<sup>2</sup> of 0.89 and 0.87 respectively). The amount of forested areas in low slopes was a highly influential factor for high GFCL, followed by urban area cover and mill density. On the other hand, agricultural cover was negatively correlated with GFCL acting as a stabilizing factor in the South and Midwest regions. Our study offers an important insight in regional drivers of GFCL, drivers that should be further examined in the local context to gather better understanding of their contributions.

Evaluation of Labor Agency Strategy: The Case of a Strike at a South African Opencast Mine in 2012

2019 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 351-369
Author(s):  
John Mashayamombe
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
The South ◽  
Mining Sector ◽  
Opencast Mine ◽  
Power Resources ◽  
Platinum Belt ◽  
Wildcat Strike ◽  
Power And Agency ◽  
Labor Conflicts

The South African mining sector has experienced labor conflicts characterized by militancy and violence. Militancy and violence was evident along South Africa’s platinum belt between 2012 and 2014. In the case of Huntington mine, about three hundred workers managed to pull a spectacular strike action when they captured mine equipment and threatened to destroy it if their demands were not met. Drawing together concepts of space, power, and agency, it is argued that the wildcat strike was a failure because power resources were not consolidated and used effectively. As a result, their demands were not met, and they lost their jobs at Huntington mine.

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