HRM PRACTICES ON FOREIGN-OWNED COMPANIES IN HUNGARY

This paper sought to answer the question of how best human resource practices can support organisations in the current phase of internationalisation while still maintaining the local standards of the hosting country? In attempting to answer this question, the paper studied the HRM practices of Foreign-Owned Companies and Hungary's Socioeconomic environment. The study revealed that the Hungarian cultural society was more independent, and power hierarchy was not entrenched in the organisational cultures, highly individualistic, masculine, intolerant towards taking risks, realistic, and culturally restrained. The paper concluded that the increased FDIs and multinational companies in Hungary posed a great challenge to employees' effective and efficient management while still maintaining the host country's local standards.

Autorytaryzm w zarządzaniu spółkami kapitałowymi

The article focuses on the validity and utility of using the term “authoritarianism” in relation to certain models of management in capital companies as well as groups of companies. The article draws attention to the risks and consequences arising from authoritative management of capital companies. The article indicates the need to introduce appropriate safeguards which will protect the socioeconomic environment from the abuse of such a style of management in capital companies.

Barriers and Determinants of Active Commuting to School in Slovenia

There is a growing body of literature reporting the health benefits of active commuting to school. This study investigated barriers and determinants of active commuting in children in Slovenia living within walking or cycling distance to school, i.e., 3 km. The sample consisted of 339 children (163 girls) aged 11–14 years who reported their mode of commuting, as well as their parents who described the socioeconomic environment of the family. Every third child in this study traveled to school exclusively by car/public transport, while every fifth participant used a passive means of transport when returning home from school. Potential household poverty, education of the mother and parental encouragement for physical activity were not associated with the commuting mode. In addition, conformist family barriers dominated among reasons for not choosing active commuting. A distance to school that was perceived to be too long was the most frequently cited barrier (72% of participants who passively commuted in both directions), followed by concern about being late for school (38% of participants who passively commute in one direction). Parents from all social strata who drive their children to school in either one or both directions while living in a walking or cycling range are a promising target population for active commuting interventions.

The Effect of China’s Compulsory Education Reforms on Physiological Health in Adulthood: A Natural Experiment

Lower education is related to higher biological risks for physiological health, but it remains unclear whether the risks can be reduced through policies aimed at increasing years of education. We utilized China’s compulsory education reforms as a unique natural experiment, which stipulates that primary and lower secondary education is mandatory and free for all school-age children. Using a regression discontinuity design (RDD), we assessed the effect of the reform eligibility on biomarkers. The reforms resulted in an increase in years of education for those from communities with the middle 1/3 per capita income (PCI) (β = 2.44, 95% CI = 0.23 – 4.64). Reform eligibility had no impact on allostatic risks for the total sample (β = 0.065, 95% CI = -0.70 – 0.83) and for those from communities with the lowest (β = 0.35, 95% CI = -0.77 – 1.47) or highest third of PCI (β = 0.68, 95% CI = -0.64 – 2.00), while it reduced the metabolic risk (β = -0.14, 95% CI = -0.26 – -0.015) and total allostatic load (β = -1.58, 95% CI = -3.00 – -0.16) among those from communities with the middle third PCI. The results were confirmed by sensitivity analyses of different placebo cutoff points and bandwidths. The reforms led to better physiological health to some extent, but the effect only manifested in people from communities with a moderate community PCI, and had little impact on affluent or disadvantaged groups. Our findings stressed that the institutional context and respondents’ socioeconomic environment must be taken into account when assessing the health impact of China’s compulsory education reforms.

Associations between indicators of socioeconomic position and DNA methylation: a scoping review

Background Socioeconomic position (SEP) is a major determinant of health across the life course. Yet, little is known about the biological mechanisms explaining this relationship. One possibility widely pursued in the scientific literature is that SEP becomes biologically embedded through epigenetic processes such as DNA methylation (DNAm), wherein the socioeconomic environment causes no alteration in the DNA sequence but modifies gene activity in ways that shape health. Methods To understand the evidence supporting a potential SEP-DNAm link, we performed a scoping review of published empirical findings on the association between SEP assessed from prenatal development to adulthood and DNAm measured across the life course, with an emphasis on exploring how the developmental timing, duration, and type of SEP exposure influenced DNAm. Results Across the 37 identified studies, we found that: (1) SEP-related DNAm signatures varied across the timing, duration, and type of SEP indicator; (2) however, longitudinal studies examining repeated SEP and DNAm measures are generally lacking; and (3) prior studies are conceptually and methodologically diverse, limiting the interpretability of findings across studies with respect to these three SEP features. Conclusions Given the complex relationship between SEP and DNAm across the lifespan, these findings underscore the importance of analyzing SEP features, including timing, duration, and type. To guide future research, we highlight additional research gaps and propose four recommendations to further unravel the relationship between SEP and DNAm.

Interaction effects of socioeconomic position in the association between eating location and diet quality in Portuguese children and adolescents: results from the National Food, Nutrition and Physical activity survey 2015-2016

This study aims to evaluate the interaction effect of socioeconomic environment (SEE) in the relationship between the eating location (EL) and diet quality, in children and adolescents. Data included children and adolescents (3-17y) from a National Dietary Survey Sample (IAN-AF 2015/2016, n=987). Dietary intake was obtained by 2-day food diaries (children) or 2-24-hour-recall (adolescents). Participants were classified into four groups of EL: “Home”, “Other homes”, “School” and “Restaurants”. Diet quality was measured as a higher adherence to a healthy eating pattern. A previous developed socioeconomic classification was used, and participants were grouped as belonging to a low socioeconomic environment (LSE) or middle-high socioeconomic environment (MHSE). Linear regression models were used to evaluate the association between EL and diet quality, stratified by the SEE. One-quarter of participants was classified in the “Home” group, 14% in “Other homes”, 17% in “Restaurants” and 45% in “School”. A statistically significant interaction effect was found (p<0.01) for the SEE in the association between eating location and diet quality. After adjustment for potential confounders, in LSE, children and adolescents belonging to “Other homes” (β̂=−2.07; 95%CI:−3.70;−0.44) and “Restaurants” (β̂=−3.31; 95%CI:−5.08;−1.54) had lower scores in the diet quality score, comparing to “Home”. In MHSE, comparing to “Home”, “Restaurants” showed lower diet quality (β̂=−1.56; 95%CI:−2.65;−0.48), while the “School” had better diet quality (β̂=0.90; 95%CI:0.16;1.64). The SEE influences the association between EL and diet quality and, belonging to more disadvantaged SEE, might represent a higher risk of unhealthy eating habits when eating out-of-home compared to when eating at home.

Influence of Educational Background, Childhood Socioeconomic Environment, and Language Use on Cognition among Spanish-Speaking Latinos Living Near the US–Mexico Border

Objectives: We investigated the impact of culturally relevant social, educational, and language factors on cognitive test performance among Spanish speakers living near the US–Mexico border. Methods: Participants included 254 healthy native Spanish speakers from the Neuropsychological Norms for the US–Mexico Border Region in Spanish (NP-NUMBRS) project (Age: M = 37.3, SD = 10.4; Education: M = 10.7, SD = 4.3; 59% Female). A comprehensive neuropsychological battery was administered in Spanish. Individual test scaled scores and T-scores (based on region-specific norms adjusted for age, education, and sex) were averaged to create Global Mean Scaled and T-scores. Measures of culturally relevant factors included a self-reported indicator of educational quality/access (proportion of education in Spanish-speaking country, quality of school/classroom setting, stopped attending school to work), childhood socioeconomic environment (parental education, proportion of time living in Spanish-speaking country, childhood socioeconomic and health status, access to basic resources, work as a child), and Spanish/English language use and fluency. Results: Several culturally relevant variables were significantly associated with unadjusted Global Scaled Scores in univariable analyses. When using demographically adjusted T-scores, fewer culturally relevant characteristics were significant. In multivariable analyses, being bilingual (p = .04) and working as a child for one’s own benefit compared to not working as a child (p = .006) were significantly associated with higher Global Mean T-score, accounting for 9% of variance. Conclusions: Demographically adjusted normative data provide a useful tool for the identification of brain dysfunction, as these account for much of the variance of sociocultural factors on cognitive test performance. Yet, certain culturally relevant variables still contributed to cognitive test performance above and beyond basic demographics, warranting further investigation.

Does Socioeconomic Environment Is A Risk Factor For Malaria In Senegal ? A DHS Data Analysis of Malaria Trends From 2010 To 2016 In Senegal

Introduction Analysis of the evolution of malaria will help address the determinants of malaria elimination in this country. The aim of this study is to analyze the evolution of malaria in Senegal from 2010 to 2016.MethodsThis article uses data from the Senegalese Demographic and Health Surveys (for 2010-2011, 2012-2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016. To assess the factors associated with the positivity of the RDT, a multivariate logistic analysis was conducted to account for the effect of confounding factors. Adjusted odds ratios were calculated with their 95% confidence intervals. The dependent variable was the result of the Malaria rapid diagnostic test. ResultsThe malaria prevalence rate varies from 3.01% in 2010 to 0.87% in 2016. The risk factors associated with the evolution of malaria were the age of the child (4 years (aOR=1.82 [1.14-2.89]) and 5 years (aOR=1.98 [1.21-3.25]). The richest wealth quintile was a protective factor against malaria with aOR=0.02 [0-0.18]. Other protective factors against malaria were the construction characteristics of the houses. These are houses with improved wall and roof materials with aOR 0.45 [0.24-0.85] and 0.48 [0.25-0.93] respectively.Conclusion Factors associated with the evolution of malaria in Senegal are children’s age, level of wealth of the household and type of dwelling in the house. It should be noted that the level of development of countries, by influencing better living conditions for communities, remains an important prerequisite for the elimination of malaria in the African sub region and in Senegal in particular.

Socioeconomic changes predict genome-wide DNA methylation in childhood

Childhood socioeconomic position (SEP) is a major determinant of health and well-being across the entire life course. To effectively prevent and reduce health risks related to SEP, it is critical to better understand when and under what circumstances socioeconomic adversity shapes biological processes. DNA methylation (DNAm) is one such mechanism for how early life adversity "gets under the skin". Using data from a large, longitudinal birth cohort, we showed that changes in the socioeconomic environment may influence DNAm at age 7. We also showed that middle childhood (ages 6-7) may be a potential sensitive period when socioeconomic instability, reflected in parental job loss, is especially important in shaping DNAm. Our findings highlight the importance of socioeconomic stability during childhood, providing biological evidence in support of public programs to help children and families experiencing socioeconomic instability and other forms of socioeconomic adversity during childhood.