This paper reports on a study of trends in marital age homogamy in China from 1960 to 2005 that uses data from the China 2005 1% Population Inter-census Survey. Instead of a consistent increase in age homogamy, results show an inverted U-shaped trend. One plausible explanation is that intensified economic pressure, rising consumerism, and a shrinking gender gap in education during the post-1990...

Children's early language environments are critical for their cognitive development, school readiness, and ultimate educational attainment. Significant disparities exist in these environments, with profound and lasting impacts upon children's ultimate outcomes. Children from backgrounds of low socioeconomic status experience diminished language inputs and enter school at a disadvantage, with di...

We use an exploratory agent-based model of adults' walking behavior within a city to examine the possible impact of interventions on socioeconomic differences in walking. Simulated results show that for persons of low socioeconomic status, increases in walking resulting from increases in their positive attitude towards walking may diminish over time if other features of the environment are not ...

INTRODUCTION This study investigated the effect of an access-enhanced intervention on hypertension screening and management, as well as on health behaviours among newly diagnosed hypertensives, in a multi-ethnic low socioeconomic status (SES) community. Factors associated with hypertension screening, treatment, and control in the community were also determined. MATERIALS AND METHODS The study...

Reproductive tourism, or "cross-border reproductive care", is the phenomenon of people crossing international borders to access reproductive technologies. One of the fastest-growing categories of cross-border reproductive care is international surrogacy, the act of infertile clients traveling internationally to engage the paid services of foreign surrogates to carry their babies to term. It is ...

Major initiatives by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as well as the World Health Organization have produced a large and compelling body of evidence on how to reduce health disparities, which entails having a clear understanding of how social factors shape health and healthcare outcomes. Specifically, there is a need for healthcare professionals to understand social determinants...

Babies born in Britain to women of South Asian ethnic origin are lighter on average than the offspring of women of European origin. The causes have been incompletely elucidated but nutritional factors, low socioeconomic status and maternal pre-pregnancy weight have been implicated. This health inequality has received little policy prioritization in Britain. As further research clarifies reasons...

This longitudinal study examined the protective influence of psychological and family factors on academic achievement in 123 Latino college (101 Mexican American, 14 Central American, 8 mixed Mexican/Central American) students. Three cultural resources--ethnic identity, family interdependence, and parental support--were hypothesized as protective factors that modify the effects of socioeconomic...

Structural barriers constrain marginalized youths' development of work salience and vocational expectations. Sociopolitical development (SPD), the consciousness of, and motivation to reduce, sociopolitical inequality, may facilitate the negotiation of structural constraints. A structural model of SPD's impact on work salience and vocational expectations was proposed and its generalizability tes...

Racial or ethnic minority groups and low-income communities have poorer health outcomes than others. They are more frequently exposed to multiple environmental hazards and social stressors, including poverty, poor housing quality, and social inequality. Researchers are grappling with how best to characterize the cumulative effects of these hazards and stressors in order to help regulators and d...