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AbstractInvestigations into changes in household formations across lower‐ and middle‐income countries (LMICs) rarely consider skip‐generation households. Yet, demographic, social, and economic forces increasingly encourage skip‐generation household formations. We examine trends and changes in the prevalence of skip‐generation households from 1990 to 2016, examining households, adults aged 60+, and children under 15, across 49 countries using household roster data from Demographic and Health Surveys. Analysis takes place in stages, first describing trends in skip‐generation households across countries and next providing explanatory analyses using multilevel modeling to assess whether, and the degree to which, country‐level characteristics like AIDS mortality and female labor force participation explain trends in the probability that a household is, or that an individual resides in, a skip‐generation household. Results indicate extensive increases in skip‐generation households in many LMICs, although there is also variation. The increases and variations are not well‐explained by the country‐level characteristics in our models, suggesting other underlying reasons for the rise and prominence of skip‐generation households across LMICs.

In this study we integrated the modernization and dependency theories of development to suggest the ways whereby militarization can affect development. We examined the effects of three components of militarization highlighted in these theories on the social development of ninety-two developing countries. Overall, our findings support the dependency theory's emphasis on the detrimental impact of international trade on disadvantaged nations. There is a significant negative correlation between arms import and social development. Arms export and indigenous spending are correlated with social development in the expected directions but their beta coefficients are not significant. The diverse ways these three aspects of militarization have been shown to affect social development help to explain some of the conflicting findings in the literature and point to the need to study these variables in their disaggregated form.

AbstractObjectivesIn a longitudinal design, the objective is to investigate the association between transitions in living arrangements and life satisfaction with special consideration for preferred living arrangement, and to assess whether such associations are moderated by age among Chinese older adults.MethodsData were from 4 waves of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey, 2005–2014. Living arrangement transitions (N = 12,654) distinguished coresidence with children and non-coresidence and matched preference. Random effect ordinal logistic models predicted life satisfaction by transitions in living arrangements between baseline and follow-up, transitions in matched living arrangement preferences between baseline and follow-up, and these transitions interacted with age at baseline, adjusting for life satisfaction at baseline. Predicted probabilities for the highest level of life satisfaction for several transition combinations were calculated and the difference was tested for significance.ResultsAlthough matching actual and preferred living arrangement transition is an important factor in determining life satisfaction, actual coresidence with children remains positively significant. Moreover, results show significant interaction effects of the two transitions with age: while the association of life satisfaction with consistent matching gradually declines into older ages, the association of life satisfaction with consistent coresidence increases with age.DiscussionWhile preference-matched living arrangement is critical for life satisfaction, especially for the young-old, the role of coresidence becomes more prominent at very old ages when various needs are likely to arise. It is too early to dismiss the role of coresidence with children in the Chinese context.

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.