Journal of economics and public finance最新文献

Aim: We compared the effects of parental education and household income on children's body mass index (BMI) in Hispanic White (HW) and non-Hispanic White (NHW) families.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we borrowed data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study and analyzed data of 5100 children between the ages of 9 and 10. The independent variables were parental education and household income. The primary outcome was BMI value. Ethnicity was the moderating variable. Confounders were age, sex, and family structure. Three mixed-effects regression models were used for data analysis.

Results: Overall, higher parental education and household income were associated with lower BMI levels in children. While an interaction was found between ethnicity and parental education, no interaction was noted between ethnicity and household income regarding BMI. The interaction indicated weaker protective effects of high parental education on BMI in HW children than NHW children. Household income showed similar protective effects on children's BMI in HW and NHW families.

Conclusion: Parental education but not household income loses some of its protective effects on childhood BMI among HW families compared to NHW families. Distal social determinants of health may be more vulnerable to the MDRs (minorities' diminished returns) than proximal ones. As a result, closing the income gap may be a good strategy towards closing the childhood BMI gap between highly educated HW and NHW families. Policies that raise the minimum wage and those that help HW families save money (e.g., earned income tax policies) maybe more promising strategies to eliminate the ethnic gap in BMI than increasing the education level of ethnic minority families.

Background: To investigate ethnic differences in the protective effects of family income against youth social, emotional, and behavioral problems in the US. As proposed by the Marginalization-related Diminished Returns (MDRs), family income may generate fewer tangible outcomes for ethnic minority compared to NHW families. Our existing knowledge is minimal about diminished returns of family income on parental reports of youth social, emotional, and behavioral outcomes.

Aim: To compare ethnic groups for the effects of family income on parental reports of youth social, emotional, and behavioral problems.

Materials and methods: In this cross-sectional study, data from wave 1 of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study were included. The ABCD, an ongoing national cohort of American youth brain development, included 10,762 American youth between ages 8 and 11 years old. The independent variable was family income. The primary outcomes were 1) anxious and depressed mood, 2) withdrawn and depressed affect, 3) somatic complaints, 4) social and interpersonal problems, 5) thought problems, 6) rule-breaking behaviors, 7) attention problems, and 8) violent and aggressive behaviors. These outcomes were generated based on parent-reported behavioral problems measured using the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL).

Results: Overall, high family income was associated with lower levels of parental reports of youth social, emotional, and behavioral problems across all domains (p <0.05 for all beta coefficients across multivariable regression models). Ethnicity showed statistically significant interactions with family income on youth fewer social, emotional, and behavioral problems (all domains), net of all confounders (p <0.05 for all beta coefficients that reflected interaction terms across multivariable regression models), indicating smaller tangible gains from their family income for NHB and HW compared to NHW youth.

Conclusion: The protective effects of family income against behavioral problems are systematically diminished for HW and NHB youth compared to NHW youth. To minimize the ethnic gap in youth social, behavioral, and emotional problems, diminished returns of family income should be addressed. There is a need for programs and interventions that equalize not only SES but also the marginal returns of SES for ethnic groups. Such efforts require addressing structural and societal barriers that hinder HW and NHB families from translating their SES resources into tangible outcomes. There is a need for studies that can minimize MDRs for NHB and HW families. Thus, SES can similarly secure tangible outcomes in the presence of SES resources.

Introduction: Considerable research has established a link between socioeconomic status (SES) and brain function. While studies have shown a link between poverty status and amygdala response to negative stimuli, a paucity of knowledge exists on whether neighborhood poverty is also independently associated with amygdala hyperactive response to negative stimuli.

Purpose: Using functional brain imaging data, this study tested the association between neighborhood SES and the amygdala's response to negative stimuli. Considering race as a sociological rather than a biological construct, we also explored racial heterogeneity in this association between non-Hispanic Black and non-Hispanic White youth.

Methods: We borrowed the functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) data of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study. The sample was 2,490 nine to ten year old non-Hispanic Black and non-Hispanic White adolescents. The independent variable was neighborhood income which was treated as a continuous measure. The primary outcomes were the right and left amygdala response to negative face during an N-Back task. Age, sex, race, marital status, and family SES were the covariates. To analyze the data, we used linear regression models.

Results: Low neighborhood income was independently associated with a higher level of amygdala response to negative face. Similar results were seen for the right and left amygdala. These effects were significant net of race, age, sex, marital status, and family SES. An association between low neighborhood SES and higher left but not right amygdala response to negative face could be observed for non-Hispanic Black youth. No association between neighborhood SES and left or right amygdala response to negative face could be observed for non-Hispanic White youth.

Conclusions: For American youth, particularly non-Hispanic Black youth, living in a poor neighborhood predicts the left amygdala reaction to negative face. This result suggested that Black youth who live in poor neighborhoods are at a high risk of poor emotion regulation. This finding has implications for policy making to reduce inequalities in undesired behavioral and emotional outcomes. Policy solutions to health inequalities should address inequalities in neighborhood SES.