Social determinants of malnutrition in Chilean children aged up to five

Background This study aimed to ascertain the Social Determinants (SDs) of malnutrition (over and undernutrition) of Chilean children aged up to five. Methods The study was carried out using a sample of children from zero to five years old (n = 1,270,485; 52.2% female) from the National Socioeconomic Characterization Survey (CASEN) 2017. A multinomial logistic regression model was used, where the “child nutritional status” outcome variable assumed three possible values: normal nutrition, overnutrition, and undernutrition, while taking those variables reported in previous literature as independent variables. Results The model, by default, set normal nutrition as the reference group, Count R2 = 0.81. Results show a higher likelihood of both overnutrition and undernutrition among male children from the lowest quintiles, with native ethnic backgrounds, reporting health problems, having public health insurance, and who attend kindergarten. Additionally, higher probabilities of undernutrition in younger than two and living in the north of the country, while overnutrition is more likely in the south. Conclusions Socioeconomic variables are fundamentally related to both over and undernutrition; the current single schema program to prevent malnutrition should consider SDs such as ethnicity and geographical location, among others; moreover, successful nutritional programs—which focused on the lowest quintiles, need to be expanded to other vulnerable groups and pay more attention to overnutrition.

Reaction or anticipation? Resilience in small- and medium-sized enterprises

PurposeBuilding on the recent capability-based conceptualisation of resilience, this paper aims to explore whether the experience of a previous crisis and entrepreneur resilience are associated with Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs') adoption of different anticipation strategies for adversities.Design/methodology/approachUsing original survey data on 959 Italian and German SMEs, the research uses a multinomial logistic regression model in order to test the influence of the prior experience of a crisis and the entrepreneur resilience on the likelihood of adopting different anticipation strategies.FindingsThe paper shows that the previous experience of a crisis increases the likelihood of regularly adopting proactive but non-formalised anticipation actions while decreasing the likelihood of adopting a pure reactive strategy to adversities; in addition, entrepreneur resilience is nonlinearly associated with anticipation strategies.Originality/valueThe main originalities rely on eschewing a pure binary view in relation to the organisational choice of adopting a reactive or a proactive approach towards adversities and on considering the entrepreneur resilience as a factor with both “bright” and “dark” side effects in relation to the anticipation of adversities.

Intention of Parents to Immunize Children against SARS-CoV-2 in Italy

Several countries have targeted adolescents for immunization against SARS-CoV-2 to mitigate COVID-19 spread. In Italy, immunization for children ≥ 12 years has been available starting from June 2021. We conducted a cross-sectional study to investigate the knowledge, attitude and intention to vaccinate children < 18 years in Italian families. We used a multinomial logistic regression model to investigate factors associated with intention to vaccinate. We collected a total of 1696 responses. Among the 491 families of children ≥ 12 years, 41.2% would not vaccinate their children and 21.2% were uncertain, while among the 1205 families of children < 12 years, 36.1% would not vaccinate and 33.8% were uncertain. Determinants of intention to vaccinate both age groups were perceived safety and efficacy of vaccines and perceived risk of transmitting infection to adults. For children < 12 years, additional determinants were perceived risk of being infected and being hospitalized because of COVID-19. In view of the expanding strategy to vaccinate adolescents and the availability of immunization for children < 12 years, our results call for a communication strategy targeted at families of children focused on the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccine in children and on the dynamics of infection spread across different age groups. As perceptions in families are volatile and may change rapidly over time, repeated surveys for measuring attitudes to vaccinate would be advisable.

The Centrality of Education for Indigenous Income Mobility in Canada

In this article, we employ a multinomial logistic regression model to determine which factors predict middle- and upper income class belonging among Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. We examine the impact of identity, education, occupation, and urbanization on income status. The positive impact of higher education is captured by the model; however, post-secondary education has a greater impact on some Indigenous groups than others. We present interaction terms between education and identity to show that investment in higher education is crucial to Indigenous people’s income attainment; however, some identity groups benefit more than others.

Multinomial Logistic Regression Model for Assessing Factors Associated with Junk Food Consumption of Secondary Level Students

Background: Globalization, economic progress, urbanization, and industrialization have ushered in considerable changes in lifestyles and diet regimes. Consumption of junk food has surged at a rapid pace nowadays. In Nepal, there is a lack of sufficient research regarding junk food practices and persuading factors for its consumption, among teenage students. It is a global concern and has threatened the health of many people. Objective: This research aims to explore the factors associated with junk food consumption among students of secondary level in Ratnanagar Municipality of Chitwan. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional research design consisting of 371 secondary level students, and selection based on primary data collection method by the researchers was used in this study. The data was analyzed using descriptive as well as an inferential statistical method. To find the association of different factors with junk food consumption levels (Low, Moderate, and High) multinomial logistic regression model (MLRM) was used, and the goodness of fit of the model was assessed. Results: The fitted MLRM satisfied the criteria of the diagnostic test including a test of goodness of fit, multi-collinearity test, and minimum criteria of the model utilization with the classification accuracy of 55%. The variables like family monthly income (OR=1.000011, C.I=1.000001 - 1.000020), students’ daily pocket money (OR=1.02, C.I=1.007 - 1.033), gender (OR=0.354, C.I= 0.179 - 0.7), knowledge regarding junk food consumption (OR=2.744, C.I=1.366 - 5.511), attitude towards food choice (OR=2.487, C.I=1.288 – 4.803), friend’s encouragement for junk food consumption (OR=0.178, C.I=0.045 – 0.701), and occupation of father (business) (OR=2.867, C.I=1.084 – 7.581) are seen to be significant to the model High versus Low consumption. Students’ daily pocket money (OR=1.012, C.I=1.002 – 1.023), knowledge regarding junk food consumption (OR=2.427, C.I=1.293 – 4.553), restrictive food parenting practice (OR=2.228, C.I=0.945 – 5.253), friend’s encouragement for junk food consumption (OR=0.252, C.I=0.067 – 0.944), recognition of marketing promotion strategy (OR=0.523, C.I=0.295 – 0.928), educational level of mother (lower secondary level) (OR=5.465, C.I=1.069 – 27.952), occupation of father (business) (OR=2.47, C.I=1.056 – 5.777) are seen to be significant to the model Moderate versus Low consumption. Conclusion: Study revealed that more than one-fourth of the sampled students were high consumers of junk foods. Many factors are associated with the consumption of junk foods. Thus, addressing the issue of increasing consumption, developing strategies & conducting different research in this field is the must. Concerned authorities should also pay special attention to this subject matter.

The Individual Differences in the Perception of Oral Chemesthesis Are Linked to Taste Sensitivity

Chemesthesis is a part of the flavor experience of foods. Chemesthetic perception is studied to understand its effect on food-related behavior and health. Thus, the objective of this research was to study individual differences in chemesthetic perception. Our study involved sensory tests of three chemesthetic modalities (astringency, pungency, and cooling). Participants (N = 196) evaluated the intensity of samples in different concentrations using a line scale under sensory laboratory conditions. Aluminum ammonium sulfate, capsaicin, and menthol were used as the prototypic chemesthetic compounds. The participants were divided into sensitivity groups in different chemesthetic modalities by hierarchical clustering based on their intensity ratings. In addition, an oral chemesthesis sensitivity score was determined to represent the generalized chemesthesis sensitivity. The results showed that people can perceive chemesthesis on different intensity levels. There were significantly positive correlations between (1) sensitivity scores for oral chemesthesis and taste as well as (2) each chemesthesis and taste modalities. Moreover, based on the multinomial logistic regression model, significant interactions between oral chemesthesis and taste sensitivity were discovered. Our findings showed that people can be classified into different oral chemesthesis sensitivity groups. The methods and results of this study can be utilized to investigate associations with food-related behavior and health.

Factors influencing sustainability of open defecation free (ODF) status in rural India: A cross sectional study

Tackling a simple and sensitive concern of ‘Open Defecation (OD)’ is such a compounded and righteous challenge that enormous efforts and resources are needed to bring in the desired changes in the villages. Towards this, attaining open defecation free (ODF) status by providing toilet facilities to every household is the foremost step in rural sanitation programme under Swachh Bharat Mission – Gramin (SBM –G) being implemented by the Government of India. The present paper aims to examine the factors that have influence in attaining ODF status in rural areas. In this study, various parameters that contribute to attaining ODF status in the villages were identified and an extensive primary survey was conducted in 32,390 households across 686 rural villages in Krishna District of Andhra Pradesh, India. The empirical analysis of the data using a multinomial logistic regression model revealed that the factors such as water availability, safe excreta disposal, technology used for toilet construction and awareness on Swachh Bharat have an influence in achieving the open defecation free status in the villages to a greater extent.

Assessing the joint adoption and complementarity between in-field conservation practices of Kansas farmers

Agricultural conservation systems consist of a myriad of conservation practices. The mix and intensity of conservation practices adopted can benefit farmers and affect the entire production system in addition to soil and water conservation. The purpose of this study is to examine and analyze farmer adoption of and complementarity between conservation practices from a joint and conditional probabilistic perspective using Kansas as a case study. We develop a modeling framework that can analyze and examine farmers’ joint and conditional adoption decisions using a multinomial logistic regression model. This framework is used to estimate conditional probabilities of adopting conservation practices given adoption of other practices to better capture the complementarity between different conservation practices. These estimates allow for an assessment of linkages between adoption of different conservation practices and the socioeconomic factors that affect the likelihood of adopting conservation practices given other conservation practices have already been adopted on-farm. The results can help guide policy and outreach efforts to promote further intensification of adoption by farmers.

Social Determinants of Malnutrition in Chilean Children Aged Under Five

Background: This study aimed to ascertain the Social Determinants (SDs) of malnutrition (over and undernutrition) of Chilean children aged under five.Methods: The study was carried out using a sample of children from zero to five years old (n = 1,270,485; 52.2% female) from the National Socioeconomic Characterization Survey (CASEN) 2017. A multinomial logistic regression model was used, where the "child nutritional status" dependent variable assumed three possible values: normal nutrition, overnutrition, and undernutrition, while taking those variables reported in previous literature as control variables.Results: The model, by default, set normal nutrition as the reference group, Count R2 = 0.81. Results show a higher likelihood of both overnutrition and undernutrition among male children from the lowest quintiles, with native ethnic backgrounds, reporting health problems, having public health insurance, and who attend kindergarten. Additionally, higher probabilities of undernutrition in younger than two and living in the north of the country, while overnutrition is more likely in the south.Conclusions: Socioeconomic variables are fundamentally related to both over and undernutrition; the current single schema program to prevent malnutrition should consider SDs such as ethnicity and geographical location, among others; moreover, successful nutritional programs—which focused on the lowest quintiles, need to be expanded to other vulnerable groups and pay more attention to overnutrition.