EXPRESS: Drinking through good times and bad: The role of consumer differences

2021 ◽  
pp. 002224372110174
Author(s):  
Hailey Hayeon Joo ◽  
Minki Kim ◽  
Jungmin Lee ◽  
Pradeep Chintagunta
Keyword(s):  
Alcohol Consumption ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Structural Model ◽  
Alcoholic Beverage ◽  
The United States ◽  
Vulnerable Groups ◽  
Total Consumption ◽  
Policy Simulations ◽  
Drinking Frequency

We revisit the question of alcohol consumption and public health over business cycles by decomposing overall alcohol consumption into drinking frequency and intensity in relation to consumer heterogeneity. To study this question, we use consumer-level panel data on the reported consumption (not purchases) of beer, which is the most heavily consumed alcoholic beverage and accounts for the majority of binge drinking in the United States. Leveraging the panel nature of the data, we find a negative (positive) relationship between unemployment and drinking frequency (intensity). Total consumption, which is the product of drinking frequency and intensity, is pro-cyclical. To uncover differences in behavior across consumers and to provide policy recommendations at a segment level, we present a structural model where consumers simultaneously choose the frequency and intensity of their alcohol consumption. We find differences across consumers in their behaviors; notably with respect to income and age. We conduct policy simulations to compare the effectiveness of alcohol-related policies to counter the adverse effects of recessions on the health of vulnerable groups like the low-income and elderly populations.

scholarly journals Benefits and Risks of Moderate Alcohol Consumption on Cardiovascular Disease: Current Findings and Controversies

Nutrients ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gemma Chiva-Blanch ◽  
Lina Badimon
Keyword(s):  
Cardiovascular Disease ◽  
Alcohol Consumption ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Alcoholic Beverage ◽  
Epidemiological Studies ◽  
Moderate Alcohol Consumption ◽  
Frequency Pattern ◽  
Drinking Frequency ◽  
New Evidence

Alcohol has a hormetic physiological behavior that results in either increased or decreased cardiovascular risk depending on the amount consumed, drinking frequency, pattern of consumption, and the outcomes under study or even the type of alcoholic beverage consumed. However, the vast majority of studies elucidating the role of alcohol in cardiovascular and in the global burden of disease relies on epidemiological studies of associative nature which carry several limitations. This is why the cardiovascular benefits of low–moderate alcohol consumption are being questioned and perhaps might have been overestimated. Thus, the aim of this review was to critically discuss the current knowledge on the relationship between alcohol intake and cardiovascular disease. Besides new evidence associating low and moderate alcohol consumption with decreased risk of cardiovascular disease, several questions remain unanswered related to the concrete amount of safe consumption, the type of alcoholic beverage, and the age-, sex-, and genetic/ethnical-specific differences in alcohol consumption.

scholarly journals Leprosy and the Plague: State Surveillance of Low-Income Fathers

2013 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 124-139
Author(s):  
Monika Jean Ulrich Myers ◽  
Michael Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Social Control ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Child Support ◽  
Justice System ◽  
The United States ◽  
Social Benefits ◽  
Child Support Enforcement ◽  
The Social ◽  
State Surveillance

Foucault’s theory of state social control contrasts societal responses to leprosy, where deviants are exiled from society but promised freedom from social demands, and the plague, where deviants are controlled and surveyed within society but receive some state assistance in exchange for their cooperation.In this paper, I analyze how low-income fathers in the United States simultaneously experience social control consistent with leprosy and social control consistent with the plague but do not receive the social benefits that Foucault associates with either status.Through interviews with 57 low-income fathers, I investigate the role of state surveillance in their family lives through child support enforcement, the criminal justice system, and child protective services.Because they did not receive any benefits from compliance with this surveillance, they resisted it, primarily by dropping “off the radar.”Men justified their resistance in four ways: they had their own material needs, they did not want the child, they did not want to separate from their child’s mother or compliance was unnecessary.This resistance is consistent with Foucault’s distinction between leprosy and the plague.They believed that they did not receive the social benefits accorded to plague victims, so they attempted to be treated like lepers, excluded from social benefits but with no social demands or surveillance.

scholarly journals Stress of Language Brokering and Mexican American Adolescents’ Adjustment: The Role of Cumulative Risk

2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 400-425
Author(s):  
Yishan Shen ◽  
Eunjin Seo ◽  
Dorothy Clare Walt ◽  
Su Yeong Kim
Keyword(s):  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Mexican American ◽  
Cumulative Risk ◽  
Early Adolescents ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Language Brokering ◽  
Adjustment Problems

This study focused on early adolescents’ stress of language brokering and examined the moderating role of family cumulative risk in the relation of language brokering to adjustment problems. Data came from self-reports of 604 low-income Mexican American adolescent language brokers (54% female; [Formula: see text]= 12.4; SD = 0.97; 75% born in the United States) and their parents (99% foreign-born) in central Texas. Path analyses revealed that brokering stress, but not frequency, was positively associated with adolescents’ adjustment problems, including depressive symptoms, anxiety, and delinquency. We also found that the relation between stress of brokering for mothers and adolescents’ depressive symptoms was stronger among families with a high cumulative risk. Further, with a high cumulative risk, adolescents exhibited delinquent behaviors regardless of the levels of stress from translating for fathers. Current findings underscore the importance of examining family contexts in assessing the consequences of language brokering for Mexican American early adolescents’ well-being.

scholarly journals OLD AND FORGOTTEN? CARE FOR ELDERS IN MEXICO AND THE U.S.

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S64-S65
Author(s):  
Emma Aguila ◽  
Jaqueline L Angel ◽  
Kyriakos Markides
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Health Care Financing ◽  
Safety Net ◽  
The United States ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
The Government ◽  
The U.S

Abstract The United States and Mexico differ greatly in the organization and financing of their old-age welfare states. They also differ politically and organizationally in government response at all levels to the needs of low-income and frail citizens. While both countries are aging rapidly, Mexico faces more serious challenges in old-age support that arise from a less developed old-age welfare state and economy. For Mexico, financial support and medical care for older low-income citizens are universal rights, however, limited fiscal resources for a large low-income population create inevitable competition among the old and the young alike. Although the United States has a more developed economy and well-developed Social Security and health care financing systems for the elderly, older Mexican-origin individuals in the U.S. do not necessarily benefit fully from these programs. These institutional and financial problems to aging are compounded in both countries by longer life spans, smaller families, as well as changing gender roles and cultural norms. In this interdisciplinary panel, the authors of five papers deal with the following topics: (1) an analysis of old age health and dependency conditions, the supply of aging and disability services, and related norms and policies, including the role of the government and the private sector; (2) a binational comparison of federal safety net programs for low-income elderly in U.S. and Mexico; (3) when strangers become family: the role of civil society in addressing the needs of aging populations; and (4) unmet needs for dementia care for Latinos in the Hispanic-EPESE.

Facilitating Sexual Assault Reporting on the College Campus: The Role of Procedural Justice in Bystander Decisions to Provide Police Referrals

2020 ◽  
pp. 107780122095428
Author(s):  
Tri Keah S. Henry ◽  
Travis W. Franklin ◽  
Cortney A. Franklin
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Alcohol Consumption ◽  
Procedural Justice ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Binary Logistic Regression ◽  
The United States ◽  
Logistic Regression Models ◽  
Race 2 ◽  
Sexual Assault Reporting

Using a randomly assigned 2 (victim race) × 2 (alcohol consumption) between-subjects factorial design, this study used surveys from a sample of 571 undergraduate students at a mid-sized, public university in the United States to determine the effect of procedural justice on police referral after reading a sexual assault disclosure vignette. Multivariate binary logistic regression models demonstrated that positive perceptions of procedural justice increased police referral following sexual assault disclosure. Victim alcohol consumption and rape myth acceptance decreased police referral. Victim race, victim alcohol consumption, and participant sex did not moderate the effect of procedural justice on police referral. Implications are discussed.

scholarly journals Lead and Cadmium Levels in Residential Soils of Lagos and Ibadan, Nigeria

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (13) ◽  
pp. 42-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adebola A. Adeyi ◽  
Babafemi A. Babalola
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Control Sample ◽  
Contamination Factor ◽  
The United States ◽  
Pollution Load Index ◽  
Vulnerable Groups ◽  
Pollution Load ◽  
Residential Areas ◽  
Lead And Cadmium

Background. Lead and cadmium are components of paints sold in Nigeria. These heavy metals are associated with adverse neurological, cardiovascular and other human health effects. Objectives. This study assesses the levels of lead and cadmium in topsoil of residential areas in Lagos and Ibadan potentially resulting from painting of buildings. Methods. Samples were pre-treated prior to metal determination using atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Metal speciation was determined using modified Tessier sequential extraction. Soil characteristics were determined by standard methods. Soil contamination was assessed using contamination factor, geo-accumulation and pollution load indices. The United States Environmental Protection Agency integrated exposure uptake biokinetic (IEUBK) model was used to estimate and predict children's blood lead levels (BLL). Results. Lead and cadmium concentrations in residential areas in Lagos and Ibadan ranged from 1.56–419 mg/kg and not detected–2.8 mg/kg, respectively. Metal contamination factor and pollution load index were highest at the Lagos low income settlement. Results of IEUBK modelling showed that the Lagos low income settlement had the highest probability density for children between 1–7 years of age with an estimated BLL of >10 μg/dL. This population made up less than 0.01% of those within this age range. Conclusions. Lead and cadmium concentrations in soil around the residential buildings were higher than those in the control sample. Contamination factor and pollution load index showed significant contamination in average and low income settlements. These results suggested that there was accumulation of the metals in the soil, which can persist in the environment. This may pose serious health risks, especially to vulnerable groups such as children. Competing Interests. The authors declare no competing financial interests.

The Role of Dietary Fiber in the Development and Treatment of Childhood Obesity

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 96 (5) ◽  
pp. 1010-1014
Author(s):  
Sue Y. S. Kimm
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Childhood Obesity ◽  
Dietary Fiber ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Caloric Intake ◽  
Health Benefit ◽  
Public Health Problem ◽  
The United States ◽  
Fiber Intake

Childhood obesity is viewed as a public health problem in the United States because of its assumed high prevalence and increasing secular trend. The best estimate of the genetic contribution to obesity ranges from 5% to 25%. Environmental factors play a major role in obesity development. Low income and a low level of education have been associated with obesity, particularly among white women. Caloric intake as a risk factor for obesity has not been clearly established. This lack of a clear-cut association may be attributable to the problem of accurately measuring caloric intake. Several studies have linked increased total fat intake, rather than caloric intake, with obesity. Some studies have linked television viewing to obesity in children. Obesity is rare among the populations of developing countries, where dietary fiber intake is high. Explanations for the role of dietary fiber in obesity include a reduced caloric density of the foods, a slower rate of food ingestion, and possible effects on satiety. Most studies on the role of fiber in the treatment of obesity have been somewhat limited by lack of comparison groups, inadequate sample sizes, and short durations of the observations. However, although limited, the available evidence suggests that fiber potentially could play a useful role in weight reduction. For children, fiber administration should be considered as an adjuvant therapy rather than a primary modality, because fiber might aid in promoting satiety during meals and curbing hunger between meals. More research is needed, however, to assess further the efficacy of high-fiber diets in the treatment of childhood obesity. For now, however, increasing dietary fiber as a part of a health-promoting dietary pattern presents an attractive public health possibility as a means for prevention of chronic diseases. Preventing childhood obesity could be a part of the health benefit resulting from a population-based recommendation for optimal fiber intake.

Do Disability Policies Shape How People Perceive Work Limitation? An International Perspective

2021 ◽  
pp. 104420732110101
Author(s):  
Na Yin ◽  
Frank Heiland
Keyword(s):  
Predictive Power ◽  
The United States ◽  
International Perspective ◽  
Disability Policy ◽  
Work Limitation ◽  
Reporting Heterogeneity ◽  
Policy Simulations ◽  
Cross Country ◽  
Disability Research

This study explored the role that cross-country disability policy differences play in shaping individuals’ work limitation reporting styles. We used anchoring vignettes available in comparable U.S. and European survey data to test and adjust for reporting differences in self-reported work limitation measures. We found that disability policy generosity scores showed statistically significant predictive power for respondents’ work limitation classification scales, with the association stronger and more statistically significant at the lower end and the middle of the scale. That is, respondents under more generous disability regimes tended to apply a more inclusive (i.e., lenient) scale in classifying a mild, moderate, or severe work limitation. Because there is no natural interpretation of the magnitude of the correlation, we conducted counterfactual policy simulations to illustrate the strength of the association; for example, if the United States were to adopt more generous disability policies such as those in Sweden, there might be an associated increase of more than 36 percentage points in the proportion of Americans aged 50 years and above reporting work limitation (of any severity). This research contributes to a better understanding of the role of disability policy in reporting heterogeneity in comparative disability research, an area that has been seldom studied.

Universal Basic Income in the United States and Advanced Countries

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 929-958 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hilary Hoynes ◽  
Jesse Rothstein
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Low Income ◽  
The United States ◽  
Pilot Studies ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Transfer Programs ◽  
Poor Households ◽  
Advanced Economies ◽  
Low Income Families

We discuss the potential role of universal basic incomes (UBIs) in advanced countries. A feature of advanced economies that distinguishes them from developing countries is the existence of well-developed, if often incomplete, safety nets. We develop a framework for describing transfer programs that is flexible enough to encompass most existing programs as well as UBIs, and we use this framework to compare various UBIs to the existing constellation of programs in the United States. A UBI would direct much larger shares of transfers to childless, nonelderly, nondisabled households than existing programs, and much more to middle-income rather than poor households. A UBI large enough to increase transfers to low-income families would be enormously expensive. We review the labor supply literature for evidence on the likely impacts of a UBI. We argue that the ongoing UBI pilot studies will do little to resolve the major outstanding questions.

scholarly journals The Role of Child Support Insurance in Antipoverty Policy

1985 ◽  
Vol 479 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
IRWIN GARFINKEL
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Child Support ◽  
Current System ◽  
The United States ◽  
Single Parent ◽  
Single Parent Families ◽  
Welfare Dependence ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

This article describes existing child support practice in the United States, giving attention to the establishment and enforcement of parental child support obligations as well as to publicly provided child support benefits. Effects of the current system on alleviating poverty are assessed. The article addresses several questions. Should low-income absent parents be excused from the obligation to support their children? Can child support provide more generous benefits to single-parent families while minimizing incentives for the formation of single-parent families? Should children in single-parent families be aided by a welfare program? What are the problems with the current child support system? Finally, a proposal for a new child support insurance system is described, along with estimates of the costs of the system and its effects on poverty and welfare dependence. The relationship of estimated benefits to costs is promising enough to warrant trying out the new system in selected jurisdictions.

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