Search Results (4,167)

Aim: This study addressed two research questions. First, which sociodemographic, behavioral, and psychological factors are independently associated with elevated depressive symptoms among Korean women aged 20–59 years? Second, does subjective perception of one’s own body size retain an independent association with depressive symptoms after these factors are taken into account, and does this pattern differ between younger and midlife women? The primary outcome was elevated depressive symptoms, defined as a PHQ-9 score of 5 or above. Design: This cross-sectional study used pooled data from the four Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey cycles in which the PHQ-9 was administered (2014, 2016, 2018, and 2020). All estimates incorporate the complex survey design and therefore refer to the national population of Korean women aged 20–59 years. Methods: We analysed data from Korean women aged 20–59 years who completed the PHQ-9 (n = 7595). Elevated depressive symptoms were defined as a PHQ-9 score of 5 or above, indicating mild or greater symptomatology. Design-based multivariable logistic regression models were constructed in sequential blocks: demographic variables (Model 1); behavioural and psychological factors added (Model 2); and perceived body size, entered as indicator contrasts against average body size, added (Model 3). Analyses were stratified by age group (20–39 and 40–59 years), and age-group interaction terms were fitted in a pooled model to test formally whether associations differed across the female lifespan. Results: The weighted prevalence of elevated depressive symptoms (PHQ-9 ≥ 5) was 24.1% (95% CI 22.8–25.3). In bivariate analyses, perceived body size differed significantly between women with and without elevated depressive symptoms (p < 0.001). After adjustment for behavioural and psychological factors, neither perceived thinness nor perceived obesity was associated with depressive symptoms in either age group (20–39 years, thin: OR 1.25, 95% CI 0.92–1.69; obese: OR 1.05, 95% CI 0.85–1.30; 40–59 years, thin: OR 1.21, 95% CI 0.84–1.73; obese: OR 0.99, 95% CI 0.80–1.22), and the joint two-degree-of-freedom test was non-significant in both groups. Perceived stress (OR 5.15 and 4.93), poor subjective health (OR 2.11 and 2.55), and lifetime smoking experience (OR 1.75 and 1.79) showed the strongest and most consistent associations in both groups (all p < 0.001). Lower household income was associated with depressive symptoms among women aged 40–59 years and heavy episodic drinking among those aged 20–39 years; in formal interaction testing, household income showed only a non-significant trend towards effect modification by age (p = 0.060), so the age differences are described rather than established. Conclusions: The crude association between perceived body size and depressive symptoms did not persist after adjustment for behavioral and psychological factors. Because perceived stress and subjective health may lie on a causal pathway from body size perception to depressive symptoms, this attenuation is consistent with either confounding or an indirect pathway, and the present cross-sectional design cannot distinguish between them. Perceived stress and subjective health showed the strongest associations across age groups, while lower household income remained an independent correlate in midlife. This finding points to a material condition that individual-level screening cannot by itself address. Full article

Parenting practices involving violent discipline are a global health concern, particularly among low-income families. While the current literature offers general prevalence data, it lacks a comprehensive global perspective evaluating how diverse sociodemographic, cultural, and historical contexts intersect within disadvantaged households. This scoping review protocol aims to map the global evidence on parenting practices related to physical and psychological violence used as disciplinary practices against children within low-income contexts. Following the JBI Manual for Evidence Synthesis and PRISMA-ScR guidelines, we will conduct a comprehensive search across databases, including MEDLINE/PubMed (via the National Library of Medicine), CINAHL (EBSCO), APA PsycINFO (APA), Embase (Elsevier), ERIC, IBECS (via the VHL) and the WHO Global Index Medicus to capture global evidence published in recent years. Studies published in English, Portuguese, and Spanish between January 2015 and June 2026 that report violent disciplinary practices by parents or caregivers of children aged 1–8 years will be included. Rayyan software will assist with study selection. Mapping these practices across diverse socioeconomic settings may clarify current research gaps and synthesize the characteristics of families globally, shifting the interpretation of violent discipline from isolated parental choices to broader understanding of its social determinants and providing a clearer baseline to support future child protection research. Full article

Urban air pollution has become a critical governance challenge for many developing cities, where sustained air quality improvement depends not only on pollution-control capacity but also on durable public participation and financial support. Building on Cultural Additivity Theory (CAT), this study employs Bayesian Mindsponge Framework (BMF) analytics with a Bayesian cumulative ordinal logistic specification to investigate how environmental perceptions, adaptive behavior, and household financial capacity are associated with household willingness to pay (WTP) for urban air quality improvement, using survey data from 604 households in Hanoi, Vietnam. The results show that household income, perceived pollution urgency, perceived pollution impact, and avoidance behavior are positively associated with higher WTP. More importantly, the positive associations of perceived pollution urgency and avoidance behavior with WTP are more pronounced at higher household income levels, indicating that these environmental orientations are more closely associated with higher contribution preferences at greater levels of financial capacity. These findings suggest that household WTP reflects a differentiated decision process in which environmental engagement and material circumstances jointly correspond to stated financial contribution rather than operating as isolated determinants. This study makes three contributions. First, it extends CAT into behavioral environmental economics by distinguishing environmental value formation from its expression in stated financial contribution and revealing within-decision differentiation across environmental attributes. Second, it extends the application of BMF analytics to payment card WTP data through a Bayesian cumulative ordinal logistic specification that supports posterior and probability-based interpretation. Third, it provides evidence for designing clean air governance that combines locally relevant risk communication and behaviorally informed public engagement with flexible participation arrangements that recognize heterogeneous household financial capacity. Full article

Background: Mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) play a central role in coordinating multidisciplinary interventions. This study examined quality of life (QoL) among Saudi mothers of children with ASD and its associations with caregiver burden, psychological distress, financial experiences, and perceived clarity of post-diagnosis service pathways. Methods: This cross-sectional quantitative survey included an exploratory free-text component. Of 109 survey submissions, 106 contained completed core survey data. Two brief open-ended questions were presented to 60 participants; 53 provided a post-diagnosis challenge response and 46 provided a general additional comment. These responses were reviewed descriptively as supplementary contextual observations. QoL was assessed using an adapted 22-item Arabic questionnaire derived from the Arabic WHOQOL-BREF source instrument and was analysed as an adapted QoL composite rather than as standard WHOQOL-BREF domain scores. Hierarchical linear regression used a fixed complete-case sample, and regression diagnostics and sensitivity analyses were conducted. Results: Ninety-nine mothers had sufficient valid responses to calculate the adapted QoL composite (mean = 50.65, SD = 17.32, on a 0–100 metric). The hierarchical regression included 82 participants and explained 59.3% of the variance in adapted QoL (R² = 0.593; adjusted R² = 0.536). Higher caregiver burden was associated with lower adapted QoL (B = −12.94, p < 0.001), whereas higher household income (B = 3.19, p = 0.040) and greater pathway clarity (B = 6.92, p = 0.005) were associated with higher adapted QoL. Psychological distress and perceived financial burden were associated with QoL in bivariate analyses but did not show statistically significant unique associations in the multivariable model. The free-text observations referred to caregiving demands, emotional adjustment, service-navigation uncertainty, and therapy affordability; they were not treated as formal qualitative findings. Conclusions: In this cross-sectional Saudi sample, caregiver burden emerged as the factor most strongly associated with lower adapted maternal QoL, whereas higher household income and clearer post-diagnosis service pathways were associated with better QoL. These findings highlight the importance of family-centred approaches that attend to caregiving demands, affordability, and access to clear post-diagnosis guidance. Prospective research using validated or fully documented measures should examine how caregiver and service-related factors can be addressed to strengthen maternal wellbeing over time. Full article

Homeownership has become increasingly difficult for many college graduates in the United States. This quantitative study examines the conditional associations among undergraduate major, post-college income, student loan debt, and homeownership using restricted data from the 2021 College and Beyond II Alumni Survey. Grounded in Human Capital Theory and informed by Status Attainment Theory as a secondary interpretive perspective, the study analyzes a sample of 2513 college graduates approximately a decade after degree completion. Logistic regression models examine differences in the conditional odds of homeownership across undergraduate major categories while accounting for post-college economics, student loans, and demographic characteristics. The findings indicate that arts and humanities graduates had lower conditional odds of homeownership than graduates did in the STEM-health, business, education, and social science fields. Higher salary and other household income were associated with higher conditional odds of homeownership, whereas student loan default and higher monthly loan payments were associated with lower conditional odds. Ever borrowing was also positively associated with homeownership, although this relationship should not be interpreted as evidence that student borrowing causes or facilitates homeownership. The findings highlight the complex relationships among educational pathways, post-college economic circumstances, student loan experiences, and homeownership and underscore the need for further research on the long-term financial outcomes associated with higher education. Full article

This study examines household electricity use patterns and stated acceptance of a voluntary renewable energy contribution among households in the city centres of six Turkish provinces (Adana, Adıyaman, Gaziantep, Mersin, Osmaniye and Şanlıurfa). A cross-sectional questionnaire was administered to 453 households between March and May 2023. The outcome conventionally labelled willingness to pay (WTP) was elicited as a single hypothetical Yes/No item (“If paying such a contribution were voluntary, would you still pay it?”), with no monetary amount, bid sequence or payment card presented; it is therefore analyzed as a binary measure of stated acceptance rather than as a monetary valuation. Descriptive statistics, bivariate tests and hierarchical binary logistic regression were used to characterize household electricity use and to identify the correlates of stated acceptance. Beyond lighting, electricity was widely used for heating, cooling, hot water and small appliances, and most respondents wanted a renewable energy contribution to be itemized clearly on the bill. Nevertheless, a majority did not accept the hypothetical voluntary payment, and stated acceptance varied significantly by province and by income category. In the fully adjusted logistic model, the preference for bill itemization, the belief that the existing bill already included a renewable component, and postsecondary/bachelor education were the strongest positive correlates of stated acceptance, whereas income, bill level, dwelling size and current household renewable energy use were not independently associated. The findings support transparent, verifiable billing practices and targeted energy literacy measures, but should not be read as a monetary WTP estimate or as causal evidence. Full article

Purpose: Young adult cancer survivors aged 20–30 years are at increased risk for chronic health conditions, influenced by modifiable lifestyle behaviors. Many do not meet the American Cancer Society’s guidelines for physical activity and healthy eating. Guided by Social Cognitive Theory, this qualitative study explored the facilitators and barriers to healthy lifestyle behaviors among a racially and ethnically diverse sample of young adult cancer survivors aged 20–30 years to inform tailored interventions. Methods: Participants were recruited through the Adolescent and Young Adult Oncology Program at Moffitt Cancer Center in Florida, USA. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and analyzed using applied thematic analysis. Transcripts were coded in NVivo 12 Plus and organized into themes reflecting Social Cognitive Theory constructs and intervention preferences. Demographic information was collected via pre-interview surveys. Results: Participants (N = 30) were an average of 26 years (SD = 2.4). Most identified as non-Hispanic (60%), White (60%), unmarried (83%), women (83%), and with annual household income ≥$40,000 (67%). The most common diagnoses were thyroid cancer (20%), lymphoid (17%), and sarcoma (13%). Interviews lasted 30–88 min (M = 52). Five themes emerged: (1) competing demands and time constraints; (2) symptom burden and desire for credible, flexible support; (3) previous habits, self-efficacy, and community building; (4) dual role of social support; and (5) cancer as a catalyst for behavior change. Conclusions: Findings identified facilitators and barriers to physical activity and healthy eating, and intervention preferences among young adult cancer survivors, which can inform the timing, content, and modality of tailored interventions. Implications for Cancer Survivors: Findings can inform tailored, survivor-centered interventions for young adult cancer survivors. Full article

Food price inflation provides an important economic context for consumer behaviour related to food; however, its impact on sustainable and responsible food consumption remains understudied. This cross-sectional study analyzed self-reported changes in food-related behaviour among Polish consumers during a period of strong upward pressure on food prices and identified demographic and socioeconomic factors associated with the intensity of these changes. In June 2023, a CAWI survey was conducted among a quota sample of 1000 adults in Poland, representative in terms of age and gender. To assess changes in the analyzed areas of food-related behaviours (food procurement, shopping planning, meal preparation, use of food service establishments, consumption of selected food products, and food waste), the Friedman test and the Wilcoxon test with Holm correction were used. To examine the relationship between the reported changes and the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of the respondents, a synthetic change-intensity index was constructed based on 52 items covering the six behavioural domains. The significance of the relationship was tested using Pearson’s chi-square test and ordinal logistic regression. Respondents reported changes in all areas analyzed. A decline in the consumption of selected food groups was observed, including fresh fruits and vegetables and fish, with the largest decline in consumption noted for alcoholic beverages. The extent of these changes varied significantly according to characteristics such as age, place of residence, employment status, source of income, and income level. The results indicate that high food price pressures were accompanied by multidimensional changes in consumer food-related behaviours, including more frugal management of food resources and reduced consumption of certain food products. These results underscore the importance of maintaining economic access to nutritionally dense foods, particularly among economically vulnerable households. Full article

Common prosperity places the distributional consequences of digitalization at the center of China’s current development agenda. This study develops a two-level analytical framework linking macro-level structures to household income positions. The empirical analysis combines a prefecture-level panel for 2009–2022 with the China Family Panel Studies to examine how city-level digital development relates to the urban–rural income gap. City-level estimates indicate that more advanced digital economies are associated with a wider urban–rural income gap during the sample period. The mechanism estimates are consistent with possible channels involving skill-biased technological progress and unequal digital access and absorptive capacity. Moderation tests indicate that interaction between an “enabling government” and an “efficient market” can mitigate this widening trend. Evidence from the Broadband China pilot further suggests that infrastructure expansion without complementary institutions may intensify polarization, highlighting the limits of policy intervention. At the micro level, digital participation exhibits an inclusive yet asymmetric pattern. Internet use is associated with lower income-based relative deprivation in both groups, with a slightly larger estimated reduction among urban households. Taken together, the evidence points to a distributional tension between digital expansion and equity and supports policies that pair connectivity with stronger capabilities and inclusive institutions. Full article

In recent years, gentrification has frequently been linked to housing inequality and mass evictions and portrayed in a negative light. This study defines gentrification in terms of neighborhood median household income, income diversity, and their level and trajectories over 14 years (2010–2023), and classifies neighborhood gentrification stages using hierarchical clustering. It then adopts a quantitative, data-driven approach to examine the pairwise statistical and geospatial relationships among gentrification stages, executed evictions (2023–2024), and other housing characteristics (rent, socioeconomic status, and demographics) across New York City neighborhoods. The results demonstrate that pre-gentrifying neighborhoods were 39.08 times more likely to have eviction rates 1.5 standard deviations above the mean, 14.19 times more likely to be geospatial eviction hotspots, and three times more likely to experience evictions per neighborhood than fully gentrified neighborhoods. Income-adjusted regression models indicate that gentrification-stage membership explains variation in eviction severity beyond median household income alone, increasing explained variance from 27.9% to 42.6%; late-stage gentrifying and stable low-change neighborhoods showed significantly lower eviction severity than fully gentrified neighborhoods at comparable income levels. Spatially, the Bronx, the most economically disadvantaged borough, contained 11 of 17 eviction-outlier NTAs and 37 of 48 geospatial eviction hotspots, making it the most eviction-concentrated area in the city. This clustering-based classification framework relies only on widely available Census and administrative data and can be applied to other metropolitan areas or adapted to related urban domains such as land-use and zoning analysis. Targeted, actionable recommendations are offered to direct eviction-prevention resources toward the most vulnerable communities. Full article

As China’s rural poverty governance shifts from eliminating absolute poverty to preventing relative poverty risks, the sustainability of rural household livelihoods increasingly depends on whether labor migration can strengthen long-term welfare resilience beyond short-term income gains. Existing studies have extensively examined the effects of migration on income, employment, and current poverty status but have paid insufficient attention to whether migration reduces households’ future exposure to poverty. This study reframes rural labor migration as a household-level risk-restructuring strategy and examines its relationship with household poverty and vulnerability. Using rural household data from the 2022 China Family Panel Studies, we construct a Vulnerability as Expected Poverty measure to estimate the probability that household income will fall below a relative poverty line. We then examine the baseline association between the migrant worker share and poverty vulnerability, its heterogeneity across household structures, and the accompanying pathways related to income composition, information access, and asset-based buffering. The results show that a higher migrant worker share is negatively associated with poverty vulnerability in the baseline sample, but this relationship is conditional rather than homogeneous. The negative association is more evident among households with lower household-head education, lighter elderly dependency burden, and moderate labor-allocation constraints. Further evidence shows that migrant households tend to have a higher wage-income share, better internet access, and greater durable asset holdings, all of which are associated with lower vulnerability. By distinguishing income improvement from poverty-risk reduction, this study advances a vulnerability-based framework for evaluating rural migration and highlights that its contribution to sustainable poverty prevention depends on households’ capacity to convert migration-related gains into stable income structures, improved information access, and stronger asset buffers. Full article

The social and economic sustainability of family farms depends partly on generational renewal and younger household members’ participation in farm operations and management. This study examines individual, household, and family governance- and succession-related factors associated with young adults’ participation in family farming. A cross-sectional survey of 329 individuals aged 19–39 years from farming households in six villages in Jambi Province, Indonesia, was conducted through face-to-face interviews and analyzed using binary logistic regression. Overall, 46.2% of respondents regularly participated in at least one operational farm activity. Participation was positively associated with being male (AOR = 2.366, p = 0.027), agricultural training (AOR = 3.212, p = 0.002), agricultural land managed by the household (AOR = 1.266, p = 0.008), family support (AOR = 2.125, p = 0.001), involvement in farm decision-making (AOR = 2.931, p < 0.001), and family succession expectations and planning (AOR = 2.393, p < 0.001). Higher educational attainment was negatively associated with participation, including senior secondary education (AOR = 0.296, p = 0.011) and tertiary education (AOR = 0.124, p < 0.001), as were household size (AOR = 0.390, p < 0.001) and household income per capita (AOR = 0.941, p = 0.029). The findings suggest that regular participation is more closely associated with access to productive resources, family support, and meaningful operational and managerial roles than with favorable attitudes or anticipated future access to farm assets. Supporting generational renewal in family farming should therefore emphasize opportunities for younger household members to use productive resources, participate in decision-making, and progressively assume meaningful farm responsibilities. Full article

Sustainable agriculture in Southeast Asia requires balancing economic viability with climate mitigation. This study investigated whether integrated intercropping can mitigate early-stage economic “dead zones” in perennial crops while simultaneously enhancing long-term carbon sequestration. A 25-year bio-economic simulation in Thailand compared three scenarios: oil palm monoculture (OPM), cassava monoculture (CM), and cassava-oil palm intercropping (COPI) during the initial 5-year establishment phase. Secondary national data were analyzed to quantify crop yields, carbon footprint, carbon sequestration, and inclusive income (incorporating crop revenues, self-employment wages, and potential carbon credits). Results demonstrate that COPI and OPM achieve identical accumulated carbon sequestration (−389.50 tCO₂eq/ha with the same number of palm plants, with carbon footprints of 65.07 and 63.57 tCO₂eq/ha, respectively (CM: 30.78 tCO₂eq/ha)). Economically, COPI successfully bridges early-stage cash deficits, achieving the highest cumulative inclusive income (2.95 × 10⁶ THB/ha) and commercial profit (2.93 ×10⁶ THB/ha), outperforming OPM (2.78 × 10⁶ THB/ha and 2.77 × 10⁶ THB/ha) and CM (2.91 × 10⁶ THB/ha for both). Although OPM yields a slightly higher net cash flow (0.77 × 10⁶ THB/ha vs. COPI’s 0.74 × 10⁶ THB/ha), COPI optimizes smallholder livelihood stability via retained household self-employment wages. Overall, integrated intercropping improves smallholder climate resilience and financial stability, providing a scalable model for sustainable tropical agriculture. Full article

This study examines the socio-economic structure of Rumnos, a village in the district of Devrek in the Ottoman province of Bolu (now in Devrek district, Zonguldak Province, Türkiye), on the basis of Temettuat Register no. 3378, dated 1844–1845. The analysis is confined to a single village and makes no comparisons, and its findings cannot be generalized to the country as a whole; nevertheless, they may provide a model for future research. According to this particular volume of the Temettuat Register, agriculture and animal husbandry were the village’s principal sources of income. The prevalence of occupations directly related to agriculture is remarkable, as it generates the majority of wealth. The types of taxes paid by the tax-liable heads of household, together with their incomes derived from their occupational activities, were identified, and their overall tax burdens were determined. An income distribution analysis using statistical methods was conducted for this study. A Lorenz curve was constructed, and the Gini coefficient was calculated as 0.33. The analysis determined that there was a moderate level of inequality in the income distribution among the households in the village of Rumnos. Full article

Background/Objectives: Maternal overweight and obesity are increasing in Libya, yet multicity evidence among pregnant women remains limited, particularly regarding central adiposity and associations with socioeconomic characteristics, unhealthy eating behaviours (UEBs), physical inactivity, and sedentary behaviour. This study estimated the prevalence of women meeting standard WHO BMI cut-offs for overweight/obesity at antenatal assessment and examined associated socioeconomic, dietary, and lifestyle characteristics among women attending participating public antenatal clinics in six Eastern Libyan cities. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 3000 pregnant women attending participating public antenatal clinics in six Eastern Libyan cities. A multistage, city-stratified sampling strategy was used. Participants completed a structured Arabic questionnaire assessing socioeconomic characteristics, dietary intake, physical inactivity, and sedentary behaviour. Trained female nurses obtained standardised anthropometric measurements during antenatal assessment using the TANITA RD-545HR Smart Segmental Body Composition Analyser. Body mass index (BMI) was evaluated as an indicator of general pregnancy-period adiposity, while WC and BIA-derived visceral fat rating (VFR) were treated as complementary epidemiological indicators rather than precise or diagnostic measures of visceral adiposity. For each participant, BMI, WC, and VFR were obtained during the same antenatal assessment; however, participants were recruited across different gestational stages. Multivariable linear regression examined associations between the specified exposures and continuous adiposity measures, while modified Poisson regression with robust variance estimated adjusted prevalence ratios (aPRs) for overweight/obesity after adjustment for age, parity, gestational stage, and relevant covariates. Results: Among the recruited antenatal clinic sample, 60.6% had BMI-defined overweight/obesity (95% CI: 58.9–62.3); using prespecified descriptive thresholds, 58.9% had WC ≥ 88 cm (95% CI: 57.1–60.7) and 52.1% had BIA-derived VFR ≥ 10 (95% CI: 50.3–53.9). Lower educational attainment (aPR = 1.24, 95% CI: 1.15–1.35, p < 0.001) and lower household income (aPR = 1.18, 95% CI: 1.09–1.27, p = 0.004) were independently associated with a higher prevalence of overweight/obesity. In the primary scale-level analyses, higher physical inactivity sedentary lifestyle scores (aPR = 1.04, 95% CI: 1.03–1.05, p < 0.001) and higher UEBs scores (aPR = 1.07, 95% CI: 1.05–1.09, p < 0.001) were associated with a higher prevalence of BMI-defined overweight/obesity. In secondary exploratory item-level analyses, prolonged mobile phone use showed the strongest lifestyle association (aPR = 1.30, 95% CI: 1.20–1.41, p < 0.001), while consuming fewer than five daily portions of fruit and vegetables demonstrated the strongest dietary association (aPR = 1.36, 95% CI: 1.24–1.49, p = 0.003). The full adjusted models accounted for 6.4–17.6% of variance in the continuous adiposity measures, indicating limited-to-modest explanatory power. Conclusions: BMI-defined weight status and elevated pregnancy-period adiposity indicators were common among women attending participating public antenatal services across six Eastern Libyan cities and were associated with socioeconomic disadvantage, sedentary behaviour, and poorer diet quality. The BMI-based classification reflects weight status at antenatal assessment and should not be interpreted as pre-pregnancy overweight/obesity prevalence. Full article