Evidence of Church Unity for Global Health

This issue completes eight years of publishing the Christian Journal for Global Health. At the beginning hardly anyone would have predicted that global health would become first in the minds of the majority of the earth’s population or that an infectious calamity would become the focus of global attention. In fact, health in a global sense is testimony to the unity of the human race at a time when fractionation is a strategy for political hegemony. The Christian understanding of humans, made in the image of God and called to steward the creation, is a fundamental basis for this unity. The editors see the journal as a way to join this understanding with a vision of health for all nations. The journal editors have issued a call for papers on Vaccinations and Christian Social Responsibility which we anticipate publishing early in 2022. As a foretaste of that, this end-of-year issue has a commentary by Professor Steffen Flessa on Vaccination Against COVID-19 as a Christian Duty? A Risk-Analytic Approach He analyzes the decision-making process for getting vaccinated, a process that involves probabilities and risk-analysis, as well as consideration of the greater good. Two original research articles are included in this issue. Jorge de Andres-Sanchez with his colleagues from Universitat Rovira i Virgili in Catalonia, Spain, find that belonging to a religious community together with an intact family structure afford protection against unhealthy tobacco and cannabis use. Syeda Saniya Zehra and Elizabeth Schwaiger from Forman Christian College in Lahore, Pakistan, provide evidence of a unique advantages of attachment to God and a collectivist family culture on reducing perceived stress, among Christians who are a minority of the country’s population. Personal travel gives me opportunity for access to Wi-Fi networks in homes of family and friends and thus acquaintance with creative SSID labels. One of the more meaningful ones was “readmorebooks”. In pursuance of that advice, this issue has two book reviews that we think deserve the attention of readers. The first is a review by Arnold Gorske of a two-volume handbook entitled Health Promoting Churches, published by the World Council of Churches and authored and edited by Dr. Mwai Makoka. As Dr. Gorske comments, these books, “have more lifesaving, health and healing potential than anything else I have read,” except the Bible. The second is Dr. William Newbrander’s review of All Creation Groans: Toward a Theology of Disease and Global Health, edited by Daniel O’Neill and Beth Snodderly. The essays included in this book create a comprehensive multidisciplinary survey of the theological grounds for church involvement in global health and the spiritual and behavioral aspects of disease origins. Dr. Newbrander’s review provides a helpful introduction to these important and often unexplored issues. The editors are pleased to receive poetry submissions from time to time and we are grateful for our poetry reviewer to help us evaluate them. I Will Never See a Full Moon the Same is a moving reflection on the death of a young patient, but death with a perspective of hope. As of the middle of this December, the coronavirus pandemic is still very much with us with surges in case numbers in a variety of countries, and with several variant strains. The deployment of vaccines, their future development and the means to expedite their uptake around the world continue to be fertile subjects for research, policy, ethics and theology. We urge and look forward to publishing other submissions in response to this call for papers and other subject early in the new year. The glory the angels revealed to the shepherds at the birth of Christ, He has given to His people, whom He desires to be unified to reflect that glory (John 17:22). For those strengthened by beholding each other’s work and faith, may your communities experience a very merry Christmas and peaceful new year.

Family Structure in Association with Alcohol Use Among Adolescents: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Context: It is proposed that family structure influences adolescent alcohol use; however, the findings are mixed, and no systematic review has been conducted to summarize the evidence. Objectives: We aimed to identify the association between family structures and adolescent alcohol consumption through a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies. Evidence Acquisition: PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar were searched until June 2017 for observational studies, which examined the relationship between family structure and adolescent alcohol use. A random-effects model was used to derive the overall odds ratio (OR) for the likelihood of alcohol use in different non-intact families compared with intact families (adolescents growing up with both biological parents). Results: Fifty-seven articles met the eligibility criteria for the systematic review, and 29 were included in the meta-analysis. The meta-analysis revealed a significant increase in alcohol use among adolescents with non-intact families (OR = 1.27, 95% confidence interval: 1.19, 1.36) compared with adolescents with intact families in which both biological parents were present. Living with one biological parent, living in a divorced family, loss of parents, and other types of the non-intact family also significantly increased the odds of alcohol use in adolescents (P < 0.05). Conclusions: All types of the non-intact family were linked to adolescents' alcohol use. The family structure could have an essential role in reducing high-risk behaviors, including alcohol use and its consequences in adolescents.

Effect of Covid-19 related Stress on Marital Quality during Covid-19 Pandemic

This research aimed to understand the effect of stress during the pandemic on marital quality in Bali. This research used a quantitative approach. Subjects involved in this research were 242 people who had been married for at least five years, with intact family conditions, and lived in Denpasar City, Bali. The instruments in this research were the COVID Stress Scale from Taylor (2020) and the Marital Quality scale arranged by Nurhayati (2017). The validity of this research used content validity by expert judgment. Reliability in the scale of this research used the Cronbach Alpha reliability coefficient. The COVID stress variable has a reliability of 0.934, while the variable of marital quality has a reliability of 0.889. As for the data analysis, descriptive analysis and simple linear regression analysis were used. Based on the data analysis, the regression coefficient was 0.028 and sig. 0.307, with the value of R square = 0.004. The results showed that COVID stress does not affect the marital quality in Bali.

The The Correlation between Family Characteristics and Husband and Wife Interaction during the Covid-19 Pandemic

Pandemics not only can facilitate a special space for husband-wife and child relationships but also a significant stressor for most husbands and wives and children. This study aimed to analyze the relationship between family characteristics and husband-wife interactions during the Covid-19 pandemic. This study used a cross-sectional study design and conducted in June-November 2020. The respondent in this study was a wife from an intact family who has elementary school–senior high school-age children (SD-SMA). The number of respondents in this study was 452 respondents. Data collection in this study was carried out using google form. Based on the research result, the highest means of index owned by the love dimension and the smallest index owned by respect's dimension. There are significant differences between HEL wife and LEL wife in love dimension, respect dimensions, and a total of husband-wife interaction. The correlation test shows that there is a significant negative correlation between husband's age, wife's age, and the number of children with husband-wife interaction. Furthermore, the correlation test also shows that the husband's income positively correlates with husband-wife interaction. This study concludes that women's higher education and husband's high income can make husband and wife interaction better.

Family structure and affluence in adolescent eating behaviour: a cross-national study in forty-one countries

Objective: To investigate the family structure and affluence-related inequality in adolescent eating behaviour. Design: Multivariate binary logistic regression and path analyses were employed to evaluate the impact of family structure and affluence on the consumption of fruits, vegetables, sweets and soft drinks among adolescents. Setting: The cross-national Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study in 2013/2014 across forty-one countries. Participants: Adolescents aged 11–15 years old (n 192 755). Results: Adolescents from a non-intact family were less likely to eat daily fruits (OR 0·82; 95 % CI 0·80, 0·84), vegetables (OR 0·91; 95 % CI 0·89, 0·93) and sweets (OR 0·96; 95 % CI 0·94, 0·99), but were more likely to consume soft drinks (OR 1·14; 95 % CI 1·11, 1·17), compared with their counterparts from an intact family. Adolescents who had the lowest family affluence scores (FAS) were less likely to eat daily fruits (OR 0·51; 95 % CI 0·49, 0·53), vegetables (OR 0·58; 95 % CI 0·56, 0·60) and sweets (OR 0·94; 95 % CI 0·90, 0·97), but were more likely to consume soft drinks (OR 1·25; 95 % CI 1·20, 1·30), compared with their counterparts who had the highest FAS. Across countries, a wide range of social inequality in daily consumption of foods was observed. Conclusions: Among adolescents in Europe, Canada and Israel, there was a high level of family structure and family affluence inequalities in daily food consumption. Different aspects of family socio-economic circumstances should be considered at the national level designing effective interventions to promote healthy eating among adolescents.

Single-parenting influence on child’s academic performances at MutareJunior School, Zimbabwe

The economic hardship that has plagued Zimbabwe has led to a shift from the traditionally intact family to a single-parenthood family. Many factors lead to single parenthood including divorce, separation of all kinds and deaths. Single parenthood negatively impacts on students’ academic development. The researcher explored influences of Single-Parenthood to Academic-Performances (AP) of Grade 6 and 7 students at Mutare Junior School in the Manical and Region of Zimbabwe. The researcher used ‘cross-sectional study design’ to collect data using criterion attainment tests, ‘the Wide Range Achievement Test Level 1 (WRAT-1)’ on 80 students under controlled situations having 40 Single-Parent-Homes (SPH)and 40Double-Parent-Homes (DPH)students. School-established examinations complemented data from theWRAT-1 outcome. Tables and ‘T-tests’ were used for analysis of data. Results revealed children from DPH performing statistically better on the criterion test than those from SPH (t = −4.928, significance value 0.05). The results also indicated males performing better than females both from SPH on the criterion test (t = −4.196, significance value 0.05). In future, research should focus on different single-parent homes to AP. Keywords: Academic performance, influence, pupils, school, single parenting.

Family Type Predicts Mental Health Problems in Young Adults: A Survey of Students at a University in Botswana

In Africa, the structure of the family is changing rapidly. The effects of this change on mental health remain unknown. This study investigated the extent to which different family types (intact, single-mother, and multiple) predict mental health problems in young adults in Botswana (N = 264, mean age = 21.31, SD = 2.40). In a cross-sectional design, the study sampled students registered at various faculties at the University of Botswana. The revised symptoms checklist (SCL-90-R) was used to assess symptoms of mental health problems (depression, anxiety and hostility). Binary logistic regression analyses were performed to obtain odds ratios (ORs) and 95 per cent confidence intervals (CIs) of mental health problems for mother-only and multiple family types relative to the intact family type. Compared to the intact family type, single-mother (OR = 2.34; 95% CI: 1.21, 4.51) and multiple family types (OR = 1.56; CI: 0.88, 2.78) were associated with an increased risk of depression. For anxiety, the ORs were 2.27 (CI: 1.18, 4.38) and 1.10 (CI: 0.56, 1.82) for single-mother and multiple family types respectively. For hostility, the ORs were 2.60 (CI: 1.34, 5.04), and 0.79 (CI: 0.44, 1.42) for single-mother and multiple family types, respectively. Family types predict mental health problems in young adults and therefore the interventions to mitigate the effects should consider family backgrounds and the ramifications of family types for treatment and care.

Persistence and Remission of Depressive Symptoms and Psycho-Social Correlates in Chinese Early Adolescents

Background: This study aimed to investigate a one-year course of persistent/remitted depressive symptoms and associated demographic and psychosocial factors that predict persistent/remitted depressive symptoms in Chinese high school students.Methods: 1,544 Grade 7 students provided data for the first wave. Of the initially recruited students, 483 who were classified as depressed (CESD score ≥ 16) at baseline were then tracked and invited to fill in the questionnaire for a second time (Grade 8) after one year. Finally, 435 of them were successfully matched.Results: 202 (46.4%) of the subset categorized as depressed in the first survey (N=435) remained with depressive symptoms, while 233 (53.6%) recovered from depression one year later. Having siblings, a lower level of positive youth development, non-intact family status, and poor family functioning at baseline significantly predicted a higher likelihood of persistent depression, while those with fathers having higher educational qualifications (bachelor’s degree or higher) at baseline showed a significantly higher probability of remitting from depression.Limitations: This study used the self-reporting approach without tracking the long-term developmental trajectories of adolescent depressive symptoms. Conclusion: The findings indicated that the prevalence of persistent depressive symptoms was generally high, and promoting aspects of positive youth development and family functioning for adolescents could be promising in preventing or reducing these symptoms.

Child Involvement in Family Financial Management and Subjective Well-Being of Children from the Intact and Non-Intact Families

The purpose of this research is to analyze the influence of child involvement in family financial management and material well-being on children’s subjective well-being among children from intact families and non-intact families. Fifty students from intact families and fifty students from the non-intact family have participated in this research. The students were selected using stratified random sampling techniques from junior high schools in Bogor Regency. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire and were followed with in-depth interviews with some students. The result of this research showed that child involvement, material well-being, and subjective well-being were categorized as medium. The result of the independent sample T-test showed that there were no significant differences between students from intact families and students from non-intact families in terms of their involvement in family financial management, material well-being, and subjective well-being. The result of the multiple linear regression test showed that child involvement in family financial management significantly positively affected their subjective well-being. Thus, the higher the children involved in family financial management, the better their subjective well-being.