Suchergebnisse

Since 1970, both the number and proportion of children being parented by a grandparent without the help of a parent has increased substantially. The increase in skipped-generation households has generated much concern from policy makers because such households are, on average, disadvantaged compared with most other household types. One important challenge facing grandparents with parenting responsibilities is securing health insurance for their dependent grandchildren. In this study, the authors investigate the extent to which grandparents raising their grandchildren were able to secure health insurance for their dependent grandchildren. They find that adolescents living in skipped-generation families in 1995 were more often uninsured, more often publicly insured, and less often privately insured compared with adolescents in other family types. Even after controlling for income, work status, and education, adolescents in skipped-generation families were still more likely to have public insurance and less likely to have private insurance compared with other adolescents.

For some time, Chinese government policies have treated rural and urban areas very differently, and a by-product of China's rapid development seems to be an even greater differentiation between urban and rural social and economic life. Over the next several decades, in part because of rapid fertility declines and in part as a result of mortality declines at older ages, China and other developing countries will experience enormous increases in the proportion of older adults and the proportion of the "oldest-old." It is reasonable to expect that these age structure changes will alter the provision of health care, making an understanding of the determinants of health at older ages critical for the development and implementation of policy. The analysis in this Population Council working paper describes differences in mortality and examines the extent to which variations are accounted for by socioeconomic and health-access and health-availability characteristics that are measured at individual and community levels. On the individual level, cadre status is influential and at the community level, the important measure is the number of amenities available to residents.

Purpose: The study compares life and active life expectancy estimates across indicators of socioeconomic status (SES) for a cohort of older adults in the Beijing municipality. Our aim is to determine if associations found are consistent across indicators and with those typically observed in the Western industrialized countries. Method: A multistate life table method is used to estimate expected years of total and active life, defined as life spent without limitation in functions necessary for performing daily tasks. Results: We find that men of higher status experience advantages with respect to life and active life expectancies. Among women, only active life expectancy is significantly higher for those of higher status, but the difference by income is not statistically significant. With respect to the proportion of life spent in an active state, both men and women of higher status benefit in comparison to their lower status counterparts. Finally, we find that disparities by SES generally increase with age. Conclusions: Despite several inconsistencies across SES indicators by gender, findings generally confirm inequalities within a society that is organized very differently socially, economically, and politically from the West.

This Population Council working paper compares estimates of life expectancy and active life expectancy across indicators of socioeconomic status for a cohort of older adults in Beijing Municipality. The aim is to determine whether associations are consistent across indicators and with those typically observed in Western industrialized countries. The research finds that men of higher status experience advantages with respect to life and active life expectancies. Among women, only active life expectancy is significantly greater for those of higher status, but the difference by income is not statistically significant. With respect to the proportion of life spent in an active state, both men and women of higher status benefit in comparison to their lower status counterparts. Finally, we find that disparities by socioeconomic status generally increase with age. Despite several inconsistencies across socioeconomic status indicators by sex, findings generally confirm inequalities within a society that is organized very differently socially, economically, and politically from countries in the West.