Socioeconomic Status and Mobility during the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Analysis of Eight Large Latin American Cities

This study analyzes mobility patterns during the COVID-19 pandemic for eight large Latin American cities. Indicators of mobility by socioeconomic status (SES) are generated by combining georeferenced mobile phone information with granular census data. Before the pandemic, a strong positive association between SES and mobility is documented. With the arrival of the pandemic, in most cases, a negative association between mobility and SES emerges. This new pattern is explained by a notably stronger reduction in mobility by high-SES individuals. A comparison of mobility for SES decile 1 vs decile 10 shows that, on average, the reduction is 75% larger in the case of decile 10. According to estimated lasso models, an indicator of government restrictions provides a parsimonious description of these heterogeneous responses. These estimations point to noticeable similarities in the patterns observed across cities. We also explore how the median distance traveled changed for individuals that travel at least 1 km (the intensive margin). We find that the reduction in mobility in this indicator was larger for high-SES individuals compared to low-SES individuals in six out of eight cities analyzed. The evidence is consistent with asymmetries in the feasibility of working from home and in the ability to smooth consumption under temporary income shocks.

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Uneven Neighborhood Recovery: Hurricane Damage and Neighborhood Change in the Houston–Galveston Region since 1970

City and Community ◽

10.1111/cico.12390 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 18 (2) ◽

pp. 689-709 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Christopher K. Wyczalkowski ◽

Eric J. van Holm ◽

Ann–Margaret Esnard ◽

Betty S. Lai

Keyword(s):

Socioeconomic Status ◽

Low Socioeconomic Status ◽

Low Income ◽

Fixed Effects ◽

Natural Hazard ◽

Census Data ◽

Neighborhood Change ◽

Low Ses ◽

The Impact ◽

Rent Gap Theory

Despite the growing number of natural disasters around the globe, limited research exists on post–disaster patterns of neighborhood change. In this paper, we test two theories of neighborhood change, the “recovery machine” and “rent gap,” which predict opposing effects for low socioeconomic status (SES) neighborhoods following damage from hurricanes, tropical storms, and other natural hazard events. The recovery machine theory posits that after natural hazard events, local communities experience patterns of recovery based on their pre–disaster SES and access to resources, suggesting that wealthier neighborhoods will recover robustly while lower status neighborhoods languish. In contrast, the rent gap theory suggests that developers will identify a profit opportunity in the depressed values created by damage from natural hazard events, and seek to redevelop low SES areas. We use fixed effects models with census data from 1970 to 2015 to test the impact of damage from natural hazards on neighborhood change. We find substantial recovery and change in low–income neighborhoods, but not in the high–income neighborhoods supporting the rent gap theory. We conclude that natural hazard events resulting in damage produce uneven recovery by socioeconomic status of neighborhoods, potentially leading to displacement of low SES groups.

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Socioeconomic Status Impact on Diet Quality and Body Mass Index in Eight Latin American Countries: ELANS Study Results

Nutrients ◽

10.3390/nu13072404 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (7) ◽

pp. 2404

Author(s):

Georgina Gómez ◽

Irina Kovalskys ◽

Ana Leme ◽

Dayana Quesada ◽

Attilio Rigotti ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Body Mass Index ◽

Socioeconomic Status ◽

Body Mass ◽

Latin American ◽

Diet Quality ◽

Dietary Diversity ◽

Quality Level ◽

Low Ses ◽

Study Results ◽

The Impact

Poor health and diet quality are associated with living within a low socioeconomic status (SES). This study aimed to investigate the impact of SES on diet quality and body mass index in Latin America. Data from the “Latin American Health and Nutrition Study (ELANS)”, a multi-country, population-based study of 9218 participants, were used. Dietary intake was collected through two 24 h recalls from participants of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela. Diet quality was assessed using the dietary quality score (DQS), the dietary diversity score (DDS) and the nutrients adequacy ratio (NAR). Chi-squared and multivariate-variance analyses were used to estimate possible associations. We found that participants from the low SES consumed less fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fiber and fish and seafood and more legumes than those in the high SES. Also, the diet quality level, assessed by DQS, DDS and NAR mean, increased with SES. Women in the low SES also showed a larger prevalence of abdominal obesity and excess weight than those in the middle and high SES. Health policies and behavioral-change strategies should be addressed to reduce the impact of socioeconomic factors on diet quality and body weight, with gender as an additional level of vulnerability.

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Effects of socioeconomic status on the obesity knowledge of adolescents from six Latin American cities

International Journal of Obesity ◽

10.1038/sj.ijo.0801674 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 25 (8) ◽

pp. 1262-1268 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

L McArthur ◽

M Peña ◽

D Holbert

Keyword(s):

Socioeconomic Status ◽

Latin American ◽

American Cities

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The Impact of Socioeconomic Status on Time to Decannulation Among Children With Tracheostomies

Otolaryngology ◽

10.1177/0194599820988501 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 019459982098850

Author(s):

Matthew M. Smith ◽

Catherine K. Hart ◽

Dan T. Benscoter ◽

Madison Epperson ◽

Alessandro de Alarcon ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Socioeconomic Status ◽

Health Care Disparities ◽

Census Data ◽

Medical Center ◽

Case Series ◽

Independent Effect ◽

Categorical Variables ◽

Low Ses ◽

Significant Difference ◽

The Impact

Objective To determine if time to tracheostomy decannulation differs among children by socioeconomic status. Study Design Case series with chart review Setting Tertiary pediatric medical center. Methods Patients (≤21 years old) who underwent tracheostomy from January 1, 2011, to December 31, 2016. Patients were divided into 2 groups based on their socioeconomic status (SES), low SES and high SES. Principal components analysis was used to create an index for SES using census data obtained by the US Census Bureau’s American Community Survey 5 year data profile from 2013 to 2017. Statistical analysis was performed using a χ2 for categorical variables and Wilcoxon rank-sum test for continuous variables. A general linear model was constructed to control for clinical factors to understand the independent effect of SES on time to decannulation. Results In total, 215 patients were included; of these patients, 111 patients (52%) were included in the high-SES group and 104 patients (48%) were included in the low-SES group. There was a significant difference in the time to decannulation for children based on SES status, with those children in the low-SES group taking on average 10 months longer to decannulate (38.7 vs 28.0 months, P = .0007). Median follow-up was 44.1 months (interquartile range, 29.6-61.3 months). Conclusion Health care disparities appear to exist among children undergoing decannulation of their tracheostomy tube. Patients with lower SES had a significantly longer time to decannulation than those with higher SES.

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Religious affiliation and the intention to choose psychiatry as a specialty among physicians in training from 11 Latin American countries

Transcultural Psychiatry ◽

10.1177/1363461518794012 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 56 (6) ◽

pp. 1237-1254 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Carlo Calizaya-Gallegos ◽

Percy Mayta-Tristán ◽

Reneé Pereyra-Elías ◽

Juan José Montenegro-Idrogo ◽

Johana Avila-Figueroa ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Medical Students ◽

Latin American ◽

Longitudinal Research ◽

Religious Affiliation ◽

Positive Association ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Factors Associated ◽

Country Study ◽

Strong Positive Association ◽

Latin American Countries

The worldwide scarcity of psychiatrists makes the identification of the factors associated with the intention to choose this specialty an important issue. This study aims to evaluate the association between religious affiliation and the intention to choose psychiatry as a specialty among medical students from 11 Latin American countries. We conducted a cross-sectional, multi-country study that included first- and fifth-year students of 63 medical schools in 11 Latin-American countries between 2011 and 2012. The main outcome and measures were the intention to pursue psychiatry as a specialty over other specialties (yes/no) and religious affiliation (without: atheist/agnostic; with: any religion). A total of 8308 participants were included; 53.6% were women, and the average age was 20.4 (SD = 2.9) years. About 36% were fifth-year students, and 11.8% were not affiliated with any religion. Only 2.6% had the intention to choose psychiatry; the highest proportion of students with the intention to choose psychiatry was among students in Chile (8.1%) and the lowest among students in Mexico (1.1%). After adjusting for demographic, family, academic as well as personal and professional projection variable, we found that those who had no religious affiliation were more likely to report the intention to become a psychiatrist [OR: 2.92 (95%CI: 2.14-4.00)]. There is a strong positive association between not having a religious affiliation and the intention to become a psychiatrist. The possible factors that influence this phenomenon must be evaluated in greater depth, ideally through longitudinal research.

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Socioeconomic Residential Segregation and Income Inequality in Bogotá: An Analysis Based on Census Data of 2005

The Urban Book Series - Urban Socio-Economic Segregation and Income Inequality ◽

10.1007/978-3-030-64569-4_22 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 433-450

Author(s):

Alexandra López Martínez ◽

Owen Eli Ceballos Mina

Keyword(s):

Income Inequality ◽

Latin American ◽

Residential Segregation ◽

Census Data ◽

Urban Transformations ◽

Socioeconomic Segregation ◽

Per Capita ◽

The Relationship ◽

American Cities ◽

The City

AbstractResidential segregation is both a cause and consequence of socioeconomic inequalities. Since the 1990s, segregation patterns in Latin American cities have changed significantly. This is related to major urban transformations caused by privatization policies related to urban development, commercialization, and real estate activity. The main purpose of this chapter is to study residential socioeconomic segregation in the city of Bogotá, Colombia in 2005, using educational attainment as an indicator of socioeconomic status while considering the drivers of segregation during the 1990s. We also introduce a brief analysis of the relationship between residential segregation and inequality based on a model that allows replicating the income distribution of the population using census variables. This chapter shows that residential segregation in Bogotá is related to per capita income inequality, however, segregation may be caused by the dynamics of land and housing markets rather than inequality.

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Latin American cities with higher socioeconomic status are greening from a lower baseline: evidence from the SALURBAL project

Environmental Research Letters ◽

10.1088/1748-9326/ac2a63 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Yang Ju ◽

Mika Moran ◽

Xize Wang ◽

Ione Avila-Palencia ◽

Andrea Cortinez-O'Ryan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Socioeconomic Status ◽

Latin American ◽

Lower Baseline ◽

American Cities

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Socioeconomic Status Moderates Age Differences in Empathic Concern

The Journals of Gerontology Series B ◽

10.1093/geronb/gbz079 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Tianyuan Li ◽

Pok-Man Siu

Keyword(s):

Socioeconomic Status ◽

Age Differences ◽

Positive Association ◽

Empathic Concern ◽

Hong Kong Chinese ◽

Background Information ◽

Low Ses ◽

Age Related ◽

Prosocial Tendencies ◽

The Relationship

Abstract Objectives Older age has been found to relate to a higher level of empathic concern and prosocial tendencies in many studies, but there are also studies that found contradictory results. To fully understand the phenomenon, we propose that socioeconomic status (SES) is an important factor to consider when examining differences in empathic concern and prosocial tendencies. Method Two studies with Hong Kong Chinese participants were conducted to test the moderating effect of SES on the relationship between age and empathic concern. Both studies assessed participants’ age, SES, empathic concern, and background information, while Study 2 also examined different indicators of prosocial tendencies. Results SES consistently moderated age differences in empathic concern in the two studies. The positive association between age and empathic concern was only significant for individuals with low SES, but not for those with high SES. Study 2 further revealed that the positive indirect effects from age to prosocial tendencies through a higher level of empathic concern were only significant for individuals with low SES as well. Discussion The results highlighted the importance to consider contextual factors when studying age-related differences.

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