scholarly journals Wealth Inequality as a Predictor of Subjective Health, Happiness and Life Satisfaction among Nepalese Women

Author(s):  
Zhifei He ◽  
Zhaohui Cheng ◽  
Ghose Bishwajit ◽  
Dongsheng Zou

Socioeconomic status has shown to be associated with subjective health, well-being, satisfaction with overall life and estimation of happiness. The body of research concerning the question of whether higher economic status leads to better health and well-being are mostly from developed countries. The present study was therefore conducted among women in Nepal with an aim to investigate whether household wealth status is associated with satisfaction about (1) self-reported health, (2) happiness, and (3) life overall. Methods: Subjects were 5226 Nepalese women aged between 15 and 24 years. Cross-sectional data were extracted from round 5 of the Nepal Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (NMICS), conducted in 2014, and analyzed using chi-square tests of association, bivariate and multivariable regression methods. Results: Wealth status was significantly associated with satisfaction about health, estimation of happiness and satisfaction. Compared with women in the poorest households, the odds of positive estimation about overall happiness were respectively 30% higher for poorer (p < 0.0001; 95% CI = 1.653–3.190), 80% higher for middle (p = 0.001; 95% CI = 1.294–2.522), 64% higher for richer (p = 0.006; 95% CI = 1.155–2.326), and 40% higher for richest households. The odds of reporting satisfaction about life were respectively 97% higher for poorer (p < 0.0001; 95% CI = 1.680–2.317), 41% higher for middle (p < 0.0001; 95% CI = 1.165–1.715), 62% higher for richer (p < 0.0001; 95% CI = 1.313–2.003), and 31% higher for richest households (p = 0.043; 95% CI = 1.008–1.700). Conclusion: Our results conclude that women in households with lower wealth status report poorer subjective health, quality of life and happiness. However, the findings need to be interpreted in light of the existing sociocultural conditions mediating the role of household wealth status on women’s lives.

2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fei Yu ◽  
Ziqi Yan ◽  
Run Pu ◽  
Shangfeng Tang ◽  
Bishwajit Ghose ◽  
...  

Background. This study aimed to explore whether or not mothers with higher educational and wealth status report lower rate of child mortality compared to those with less advantageous socioeconomic situation. Methods. Data used were cross-sectional and collected from Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey in Kazakhstan conducted in 2015. Subjects experiencing childbirth were 9278 women aging between 15 and 49 years. The associations between maternal education and household wealth status with child mortality were examined by multivariate analytical methods. Results. The overall prevalence of child mortality was 6.7%, with noticeable variations across the different regions. Compared with women who had the highest educational status, those with upper and lower secondary were 1.47 and 1.89 times more likely to experience child death. Women in the lowest and second lowest wealth quintile had 2.74 and 2.68 times higher odds of experiencing child death compared with those in the richest wealth status households. Conclusions. Policy makers pay special attention to improving socioeconomic status of the mothers in an effort to reduce child mortality in the country. Women living in the disadvantaged regions with poor access to quality health care services should be regarded as a top priority.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 961-961
Author(s):  
Anna Kornadt ◽  
Martine Hoffmann ◽  
Elke Murdock ◽  
Josepha Nell ◽  
Isabelle Albert

Abstract During the Covid-Crisis, stereotypes of older adults as helpless and vulnerable were spread, and intergenerational conflict was stirred more or less openly. We thus focused on perceived ageism during the crisis and its effects on well-being and health of older adults. Since views on aging are multifaceted and can be both, risk and resource for individual development, we assessed people’s self-perceptions of aging (SPA) as social loss, continued growth and physical decline and subjective age (SA). We hypothesized that people with SPA of social loss and physical decline would be more susceptible to negative effects of perceived ageism, whereas those with SPA of continued growth and younger SA would be less affected. NT1 = 611 community-dwelling adults aged 60 – 98 (Mage = 69.92 years) were recruited in June 2020 online and via phone in Luxembourg. In September 2020, participants will be contacted again for a follow-up. Analyses with cross-sectional data show that participants who felt more discriminated reported lower life satisfaction after the onset of the crisis (r = -.35) and worse subjective health (r = -.14). SPA of social loss and higher SA increased the negative effect of ageism on well-being (beta = -.57) and subjective health (beta = -.53), respectively. Our results point to mid- and long-term consequences of age discriminatory and stereotype-based crisis communication for the well-being of older adults and the importance of individual SPA in critical situations.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huan Qian ◽  
Yuxiao Ling ◽  
Chen Wang ◽  
Cameron Lenahan ◽  
Mengwen Zhang ◽  
...  

Background: Cosmetic treatment was closely associated with beauty seekers' psychological well-being. Patients who seek cosmetic surgery often show anxiety. Nevertheless, not much is known regarding how personality traits relate to the selection of body parts that receive cosmetic treatment.Aims: This study aims to investigate the correlation between personality traits and various selection sites for cosmetic treatment via Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ).Methods: A cross-sectional approach was adopted to randomly recruited patients from a general hospital planning to undergo cosmetic treatments. All respondents completed the EPQ and provided their demographic information. The EPQ involves four scales: the extraversion (E), neuroticism (N), psychoticism (P), and lying scales (L). Psychological scales were evaluated to verify that people who selected different body sites for cosmetic intervention possessed different personality portraits.Results: A total of 426 patients with an average age of 32.14 ± 8.06 were enrolled. Among them, 384 were females, accounting for more than 90% of patients. Five treatment sites were analyzed, including the body, eye, face contour, nose, and skin. Comparatively, patients with neuroticism were more likely to undergo and demand rhinoplasty (OR 1.15, 95% CI 1.07–1.24, P &lt; 0.001). Face contour treatment was commonly associated with extraversion (OR 1.05, 95% CI 1.00–1.11, P = 0.044), psychoticism (OR 1.13, CI 1.03–1.25, P = 0.013), and neuroticism (OR 1.05, CI 1.01–1.10, P = 0.019).Conclusions: This novel study attempted to determine the personality profiles of beauty seekers. The corresponding assessments may provide references for clinical treatment options and enhance postoperative satisfaction for both practitioners and patients.


Author(s):  
Santosh D. Patil ◽  
Ravindranath A. Bhovi

Background: Nutritional anaemia is defined as a condition in which the haemoglobin content of the blood is lower than normal as a result of deficiency of one or more essential nutrients. Anaemia is the late manifestation of deficiency of nutrient(s) needed for haemoglobin synthesis. The prevalence of anaemia in developing countries is estimated to be 43% and that of developed countries is 9%. Anaemia is estimated to contribute to more than 115000 maternal deaths and 591000 prenatal deaths globally per year. The objectives of the present study were to determine the prevalence of anaemia among the pregnant women and lactating mothers and to explore the associated factors with anaemia.Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted among pregnant and lactating women in Ukkali a rural field practice area Shri B. M. Patil Medical College, Vijayapur. Criteria for inclusion were pregnant women- current pregnancy of more than 6 months and lactating mother with child aged up to 6 months of age. Estimation of haemoglobin was carried by standard Sahlis pipette method. Anaemia was classified according to WHO grading criteria.Results: The maximum number of pregnant women (85.71%) in the age group of 35-49 years was anaemic followed by those who were in the age group of 20-34 years (61.54%). Prevalence of anaemia was 72 % in women of less than 20 years, whereas it was as high as 80% among lactating women of 35-49 years age group.Conclusions: Anaemia continues to be a problem with the existing health care resources. Socio-economic status, literacy of women and awareness related to health concerns are the major determinants that contribute to the problem of anaemia.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nigusie Birhan Tebeje ◽  
Gashaw Andargie Biks ◽  
Solomon Mekonnen Abebe ◽  
Melike Endris Yesuf

Background. The magnitude of food insecurity in Ethiopia ranges from 38.7% to 82.3% among the general population. Children under the age of five years were more prone to food insecurity and its serious consequences like anemia, low bone density, frequent episodes of common cold, stomachache, poor educational performance, and dental carries in developing countries like Ethiopia. However, there is no any research finding that documented the magnitude of child food insecurity, coping strategies, and associated factors in the study area. Therefore, the aim of this study was estimating the magnitude of child food insecurity, major coping strategies, and factors associated with child food insecurity in the study area. Methods. A community-based cross-sectional survey has been conducted in Dabat demographic and health surveillance site among 7152 mothers/caretakers of children under the age of five years. Data were collected by experienced data collectors working for the demographic and health surveillance site, and the collected data were entered into EpiData template and then transported to Stata 14 software for data cleaning and analysis. The ordinal logistic regression model was fitted to identify predictors for child food insecurity. Results. About 21.42% of children under the age of five years were food insecure in Dabat district of whom 57.8%, 38.6%, and 3.6% had experienced mild, moderate, and severe levels of child food insecurity, respectively. All most all 1391 (92%) of the mothers/caretakers of food insecure children had practiced food insecurity coping strategies. More than half (57%) of mothers/caretakers reduces the size of child meal as insecurity coping strategy. Child food insecurity was associated with household wealth status, parent’s education status, and maternal and child health service utilization and child feeding practices. Conclusion. A large segment of under-five children had experienced food insecurity in Dabat district, and the major coping strategy for child food insecurity was reducing meal size. Therefore, working on household wealth improvement and expansion of basic health services would improve child food security.


2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-36
Author(s):  
Bhim Bahadur Subba ◽  
Nirmal Rimal

  The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) pandemic disproportionate affects especially less developed countries and underprivileged communities. HIV weakens immune system of infected individuals and making them more susceptible to tuberculosis (TB) infection. Both HIV and TB disease are supposed to fuel each other socially and biologically and it is further fuelled by such as poor accessibility to services, illiteracy, stigma and discrimination all these factors have pushed Nepal into more vulnerability. This article aimed to find out the availability and accessibility to the HIV/TB services in relation to socio-economic status of respondents. A cross sectional study was conducted at four HIV care and prevention centers of different non-governmental organizations (NGOs) of Nepal. In the study, 51 samples were selected using random sampling procedures who gave consent to the interview. A pre-tested semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect data. Confidentiality was highly maintained and data were analyzed. The result showed mean age of respondents’ was 36.38 years. The pre-dominant 96.1 percent of respondents were from 18-54 years of age. Respondents from all socio-economic status almost two-third indented to use government hospital than private HIV/TB services. The majority 98.0 percent of HIV infected respondents belonged to destitute to better off economic status and they were further disadvantaged by lack of knowledge and information of HIV/TB services such cluster of differentiation 4 (CD4) and viral load service.


2009 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 1229-1236 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colette Kelly ◽  
Michal Molcho ◽  
Saoirse Nic Gabhainn

AbstractObjectiveTo investigate the relationships between weight reduction behaviour among non-overweight schoolchildren and dietary habits, perception of health, well-being and health complaints.DesignAnalysis of the 2006 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children survey, a cross-sectional study involving schoolchildren aged 10–17 years.SettingSchools in the Republic of Ireland.ResultsThe proportion of children (n3599) engaged in weight reduction behaviour (‘dieting’ among non-overweight students) was 10·3 %. Older children, females and those from higher social classes (SC) were more likely to report such behaviour. Non-overweight schoolchildren who reported weight reduction behaviour were less likely than those not engaged in such behaviour to frequently consume sweets, soft drinks, crisps and chips/fried potatoes (OR from 0·39 (95 % CI 0·17, 0·89) to 0·72 (95 % CI 0·53, 0·99)); were more likely to consume diet soft drinks (OR 1·50 (95 % CI 1·03, 2·18); and were more likely to miss breakfast during the week (OR 0·62 (95 % CI 0·48, 0·80). The risk of subjective health complaints increased (OR from 1·47 (95 % CI 1·13, 1·91) to 1·92 (95 % CI 1·48, 2·49)); as did body dissatisfaction (OR 9·17 (95 % CI 6·99, 12·02)), while perception of health and well-being decreased (OR 0·47 (95 % CI 0·36, 0·61)) to 0·54 (95 % CI 0·41, 0·70)). All analyses were controlled for age, gender and SC.ConclusionsWeight reduction behaviour among non-overweight schoolchildren is associated with considerable risk to physical health and emotional well-being. Since the risks associated with such behaviour varies by weight status, health professionals and researchers need to consider these issues in parallel.


2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 498-521 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Pawlowski ◽  
Ute Schüttoff ◽  
Paul Downward ◽  
Michael Lechner

In contrast to the popular policy claim that sport might serve as vehicle to meet the Millennium Development Goals, empirical evidence based on large-scale survey data is largely missing. We use panel data based on a cohort of children and employ propensity score matching to identify the effects of sports participation on child development in Peru. Our findings suggest that participation in a sports group has positive impacts on subjective health and a measure of social capital. However, and in contrast to developed countries, we find no statistically significant effects on well-being and human capital formation.


BMJ Open ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (11) ◽  
pp. e014710 ◽  
Author(s):  
Md Khalequzzaman ◽  
Chifa Chiang ◽  
Sohel Reza Choudhury ◽  
Hiroshi Yatsuya ◽  
Mohammad Abdullah Al-Mamun ◽  
...  

ObjectivesThis study aims to describe the prevalence of non-communicable disease (NCD) risk factors among the urban poor in Bangladesh.DesignWe conducted a community-based cross-sectional epidemiological study.SettingThe study was conducted in a shantytown in the city of Dhaka. There were 8604 households with 34 170 residents in the community. Those households were categorised into two wealth strata based on the housing structure.ParticipantsThe study targeted residents aged 18–64 years. A total of 2986 eligible households with one eligible individual were selected by simple random sampling stratified by household wealth status. A total of 2551 residents completed the questionnaire survey, and 2009 participated in the subsequent physical and biochemical measurements.Outcome measuresA modified WHO survey instrument was used for assessing behavioural risk factors and physical and biochemical measurements, including glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c). The prevalence of NCD risk factors, such as tobacco use, fruit and vegetable intake, overweight/obesity, hypertension, diabetes (HbA1c ≥6.5%) and dyslipidaemia, was described according to household wealth status and gender differences.ResultsThe prevalence of current tobacco use was 60.4% in men and 23.5% in women. Most of them (90.8%) consumed more than 1 serving of fruits and vegetables per day; however, only 2.1% consumed more than 5 servings. Overweight/obesity was more common in women (39.2%) than in men (18.9%), while underweight was more common in men (21.0%) than in women (7.1%). The prevalence of hypertension was 18.6% in men and 20.7% in women. The prevalence of diabetes was 15.6% in men and 22.5% in women, which was much higher than the estimated national prevalence (7%). The prevalence of raised total cholesterol (≥190 mg/dL) was 25.7% in men and 34.0% in women.ConclusionThe study identified that tobacco use, both overweight and underweight, diabetes, hypertension and dyslipidaemia were prevalent among the urban poor in Bangladesh.


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