Journal of Biosocial Science最新文献

{"title":"Composition and structure of women's family and personal networks in Ouagadougou: what are the effects on current fertility?","authors":"Sidbewendé Théodore Kaboré, Moussa Bougma","doi":"10.1017/S0021932025100424","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021932025100424","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The objective of this study is to assess the effects of the configuration, size, and density of family and personal networks on women's current fertility in Ouagadougou. The association between women's reproductive histories and their social networks was evaluated using Poisson regression models and fairly original data on these networks. The study is based on three family configurations: 'Restricted' (children and friends), 'Kinship' (blood or marital relatives), and 'Sibling' (brothers and sisters). Results show that the type of family configuration has a significant effect on current fertility. 'Kinship' and 'Sibling' configurations are associated with higher current fertility, while the 'Restricted' configuration is associated with lower fertility. Regarding the size and density of the network, the findings indicate that network size and density are negatively associated with current fertility. These results highlight the need to take social networks into account in strategies aimed at controlling fertility in the city of Ouagadougou.</p>","PeriodicalId":47742,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Biosocial Science","volume":" ","pages":"1-19"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2025-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145126210","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Birth intervals and childhood mortality in rural Tanzania.","authors":"Colin Baynes, Almamy Malick Kanté, Sigilbert Mrema, Honorati Masanja, James F Phillips","doi":"10.1017/S0021932025100412","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021932025100412","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Family planning programmes in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) often disseminate the proposition that birth spacing improves child survival. Yet, there are few examinations of this hypothesis that benefit from longitudinal data. This paper addresses this gap using 15 years of prospective data from three rural districts of Tanzania. The effect of birth interval durations on the risk of childhood mortality was estimated by fitting Weibull parametric hazard regression models with shared frailties to a dataset that comprised records of reproductive events and their succeeding survival trajectories of 25,762 mother-child dyads that lived in the sentinel areas of the Ifakara and Rufiji Health and Demographic Surveillance Systems from 2000 to 2015. The analysis was motivated by two hypotheses: First, that relatively short subsequent and preceding birth intervals would be associated with heightened risks of child mortality; however, that the effects of short subsequent birth intervals would be most pronounced among children between 12 and 59 months of age; and second, that the effects of short preceding birth intervals would be most acute during the neonatal and post-neonatal period. Results, which were adjusted for confounder effects at the individual, household, and contextual levels, demonstrated significant associations between subsequent and preceding birth interval durations and childhood mortality risk. Regarding subsequent birth intervals, relative to birth spacing of less than 18 months, durations 24-35 and ≥36 months were associated with 1-5-year-old mortality risks that were 0.29 and 0.21 times lower. Relative to preceding birth intervals of less than 18 months, those of 24-35 months were associated with a neonatal mortality risk that was 0.48 lower. Compared to the same referent group, preceding birth intervals of 18-23, 24-35, and ≥36 months were significantly associated with 12-23-month-old mortality risks that were 0.20, 0.39, and 0.33 times lower. The findings are compared with those from similar studies held in SSA, and the potential for family planning programmes to contribute to improved child survival in settings, such as Tanzania, is discussed.</p>","PeriodicalId":47742,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Biosocial Science","volume":" ","pages":"1-36"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2025-09-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145066108","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"'The new geriatric giants': how do loneliness and social isolation contribute to probable depression in older adults?","authors":"Razak M Gyasi, Simon Mariwah, Simon Boateng, Collins Adjei Mensah, Joana Kwabena-Adade, Aminu Dramani, Joseph Osafo, André Hajek, Kabila Abass, David R Phillips","doi":"10.1017/S0021932025100400","DOIUrl":"10.1017/S0021932025100400","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Social isolation and loneliness have been linked to adverse health outcomes such as depression in old age. However, limited data exist on the association of loneliness and social isolation with probable depression (PD) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), while psychosocial mediators are largely unknown. This study investigates the individual and joint associations of social isolation and loneliness with PD among older adults in Ghana. It quantifies the extent to which psychosocial factors mediate the associations. Cross-sectional data from the Aging, Health, Well-being, and Health-seeking Behaviour Study were analyzed. PD was defined as moderate to severe depressive symptoms with the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D-9) scale. Loneliness and social isolation were assessed with the University of California, Los Angeles 3-item loneliness scale and the Berkman-Syme Social Network Index, respectively. Multivariable logistic models and PROCESS macro bootstrapping mediation analyses were performed. Among the 1,201 adults aged ≥50 years (M_age = 66.1 ± 11.9 years, 63.3% women), 29.5% PD cases were found. The prevalence of social isolation and loneliness was 27.3% and 17.7%, respectively. Loneliness (OR = 3.15, 95% CI = 3.26-5.28) and social isolation (OR = 1.24, 95% CI = 1.10-1.41) were independently associated with higher odds of PD. The loneliness and PD association was modified by spatial location (<i>P</i>_interaction = 0.021); thus, the association was more pronounced in rural areas (OR = 7.06) than in urban areas (OR = 3.43). Psychosocial factors (e.g. sleep problems) mediated the loneliness/social isolation and PD association. Loneliness and social isolation were independently associated with a higher likelihood of PD, and psychosocial factors mediated the associations. Interventions to reduce PD in later life should also consider addressing loneliness and social isolation, as well as sleep problems.</p>","PeriodicalId":47742,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Biosocial Science","volume":" ","pages":"1-13"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2025-08-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144876011","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Pandemic futures, future preparedness: diverse views in the wake of Covid-19.","authors":"Hayley MacGregor, Melissa Leach, Alice Desclaux, Melissa Parker, Catherine Grant, Annie Wilkinson, Kelley Sams, Khoudia Sow","doi":"10.1017/S0021932025100369","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021932025100369","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The deliberations for the Pandemic Accord have opened an important moment of reflection on future approaches to pandemic preparedness. The concept had been increasingly prominent in global health discourse for several years before the pandemic and had concretised into a set of standardised mainstream approaches to the prediction of threats. Since 2019, the authors and the wider research team have led a research project on the meanings and practices of preparedness. At its close, the authors undertook 25 interviews to capture reflections of regional and global health actors' ideas about preparedness, and how and to what extent these were influenced by Covid-19. Here, an analysis of interview responses is presented, with attention to (dis)connections between the views of those occupying positions in regional and global institutions. The interviews revealed that preparedness means different things to different people and institutions. Analysis revealed several domains of preparedness with distinct conceptualisations of what preparedness is, its purposes, and scope. Overall, there appear to be some changes in thinking due to Covid-19, but also strong continuities, especially with respect to a technical focus and an underplaying of the inequities that became evident (in terms of biosocial vulnerabilities but also global-regional disparities) and, related to this, the importance of power and politics. Here, the analysis has revealed three elements, cutting across the domains but particularly strong within the dominant framing of preparedness, which act to sideline direct engagement with power and politics in the meanings and practices of preparedness. These are an emphasis on urgent action, a focus on universal or standardised approaches, and a resort to technical interventions as solutions. A rethinking of pandemic preparedness needs to enable better interconnections across scales and attention to financing that enables more equitable partnerships between states and regions. Such transformation in established hierarchies will require explicit attention to power dynamics and the political nature of preparedness.</p>","PeriodicalId":47742,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Biosocial Science","volume":" ","pages":"1-25"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2025-07-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144700101","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"'Fear of threats': a mixed-method study among Malaysian women with gestational diabetes mellitus.","authors":"Abd-Khalim Mohd-Adli, Abdul Jalil Rohana, Surianti Sukeri, Mohd Hanief Ahmad, Hafizuddin Awang","doi":"10.1017/S0021932025100357","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021932025100357","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a common medical condition during pregnancy and is linked to short- and long-term complications for both mothers and offspring. However, there is limited information regarding poor glycaemic control in Malaysia. This study aims to determine the predictors of poor glycaemic control among women with GDM and to explore women's perceptions and experiences in self-managing glycaemic control. An explanatory sequential mixed methods study was conducted among women with GDM in Northern Terengganu. A proportional-to-size stratified sampling method was used in quantitative research to obtain 238 samples. Logistic regression was applied to determine associations between factors and poor glycaemic control. Then, purposive sampling was done in qualitative inquiry to obtain 12 samples. Thematic analysis was applied to identify recurring themes. The data from both quantitative and qualitative inquiry were then combined to answer research questions. Dietetic counselling (AOR = 2.95; 95% CI: 1.41, 6.17; <i>p</i>-value=0.004) and diet self-efficacy (AOR = 0.78; 95% CI: 0.61, 0.98; <i>p</i>-value=0.040) were associated with poor glycaemic control. Six themes that emerged from the interviews were: fear and worry; knowledge and motivation; dietary preferences and beliefs; family factors; occupational factors; and availability and affordability. The findings provide useful evidence for healthcare providers in delivering comprehensive health education and providing care for women with GDM.</p>","PeriodicalId":47742,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Biosocial Science","volume":" ","pages":"1-19"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2025-07-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144691988","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Beyond household and individual factors: examining the association between ambient air pollution and birth outcomes in India.","authors":"Tapas Bera, Nihar Ranjan Rout, Jalandhar Pradhan","doi":"10.1017/S0021932025100370","DOIUrl":"10.1017/S0021932025100370","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Low birth weight (LBW) and preterm birth (PTB) are primary factors contributing to morbidity and mortality among children aged under 5, resulting in a range of short- and long-term health consequences worldwide. Among the various risk factors, ambient air pollution poses a significant environmental risk and is a key determinant of child health. The prevalence of LBW and PTB among under 5 children sampled from the NFHS-5, 2019-2021, was combined with monthly PM_2.5 data (2013-2021) obtained from the Atmospheric Composition Analysis Group at Washington University. Multivariable logistic regression models were used, and a stratified analysis was applied to understand the potential effect modifiers in LBW and PTB. Further, the geographical variation of LBW and PTB spatial autocorrelation (Moran's I) was used. Geographically weighted regression and ordinary least square spatial regression were used to identify the spatial heterogeneity associated with selected variables. The study comprises a total of 208,181 under 5 children. Out of these children, the LBW rate was 17.41%, and the rate of PTB was 12.42%. The in-utero exposure to the mean concentration of PM_2.5 was 56.01 μg/m³. The odds of suffering from LBW showed a non-linear shift when PM_2.5 levels rose from the first octile (<28.02 μg/m³) to the last octile (>93.84 μg/m³) (adjusted odds ratio (AOR): 1.06, 95% CI: 1.01-1.12). While comparing the first octile of exposure to PM_2.5 (>93.84 μg/m³) to the last octile, there was a 52% more likelihood of having PTB (AOR: 1.52, 95% CI: 1.43-1.61) after accounting for all relevant factors. These findings highlight the urgent need for a thorough strategy to control the air quality in India. Further, to reduce adverse birth outcomes, longitudinal studies and other co-pollutants can consider assessing the possible mechanisms mediating the relationship between maternal exposure and ambient air pollution.</p>","PeriodicalId":47742,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Biosocial Science","volume":" ","pages":"506-531"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144286834","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Trends in spousal age difference at first marriage in Sub-Saharan Africa.","authors":"Pearl S Kyei, Samuel Agyei-Mensah, John B Casterline, Ayaga A Bawah","doi":"10.1017/S0021932025100333","DOIUrl":"10.1017/S0021932025100333","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Spousal age differences are highest in Sub-Saharan Africa, where trends in age at first marriage indicate an increase for both men and women. However, the net outcome for spousal age difference is difficult to predict without explicit analysis of these distributions. This study examines differentials in spousal age for women in first union. Further, it examines differences within population sub-groups and across countries, focusing on the influence of age at marriage and educational attainment. The analysis pools 144 survey datasets from the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) and Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) conducted between 1980 and 2020 in 34 countries. OLS regression analysis was used to predict the spousal age difference at marriage with five-year cohorts used to study time trends. The analysis finds a decline of 1.7 years in the spousal age difference at first marriage between the earliest (1980-1984) and most recent (2014-2019), indicating that there has been minimal reduction in age at first marriage over four decades, despite rising ages at marriage for females. Increasing age at first marriage and educational attainment of women partly explain the decline observed over time.</p>","PeriodicalId":47742,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Biosocial Science","volume":" ","pages":"532-548"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144498427","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A post bellum paradox: net nutrition variation by socioeconomic status, gender and race using 19^th and 20^th century US prison records.","authors":"Scott Alan Carson","doi":"10.1017/S0021932025100382","DOIUrl":"10.1017/S0021932025100382","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>When traditional measures for material conditions are scarce or unreliable, body mass, height, and weight are complements to standard income and wealth measures. A persistent question in welfare studies is the 19^th century's 2^nd and 3^rd quarter's stature diminution, a pattern known as the antebellum paradox. However, the question may not be well stated nor experienced equally by women and non-white male samples. The late 19^th century's political Granger, Greenback, and Populist movements may have affected farmer and non-farmer's net nutrition. Despite 19^th and early 20^th century US political movements, farmers had greater BMIs, taller statures, and heavier weights than non-farmers. From the 1870s through 1890s, women's body mass, height, and weight increased relative to men. Individuals of African or mixed European-African descent had heavier weights and greater BMIs than their taller, European-white counterparts, indicating that the traditional antebellum paradox needs to include women and non-European males and weight measures.</p>","PeriodicalId":47742,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Biosocial Science","volume":" ","pages":"460-485"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144856761","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Self-reported health experience of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the 2021 Australian population census.","authors":"Farhat Yusuf, Stephen Leeder, Michelle Dickson, Julian de Meyrick","doi":"10.1017/S0021932025000276","DOIUrl":"10.1017/S0021932025000276","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>For the first time, a question relating to certain long-term health conditions was asked in the 2021 Australian population census. The conditions included arthritis, asthma, cancer (including remission), dementia (including Alzheimer's), diabetes (excluding gestational diabetes), heart disease (including heart attack or angina), kidney disease, lung condition (including COPD or emphysema), mental health condition (including depression or anxiety), and stroke. Respondents could indicate either none or any number of these conditions. In this paper, the data on these conditions have been analysed to compare the self-reported prevalence of diseases among the 23.4 million Australians who responded to this question (median age 39 years), of whom 3.2% were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples (median age 24 years). Standardised Morbidity Ratios for each disease were calculated for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples by using the relevant age-disease specific morbidity rates for the total population as the 'standard'. Findings of this research revealed that the prevalence of diseases was much higher among the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples compared to the total population. The only exception was cancer, where the rates for the two groups were not much different. Gaps in prevalence of diseases in the two groups generally increased with age. The higher rates among the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples emphasise the need for continued action on health equity and the development of more nuanced and focused initiatives to reduce the gaps between the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples <i>vis-à-vis</i> the total population of Australia. Findings in this paper were consistent with similar studies (albeit largely surveys) on health of the Indigenous peoples in Canada and the Maoris in New Zealand.</p>","PeriodicalId":47742,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Biosocial Science","volume":" ","pages":"449-459"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144183458","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Perceptions of preconception health messaging and responsibility: engaging with 'health helpers' in the Healthy Life Trajectories Initiative-South Africa trial.","authors":"Caitlin Victoria Gardiner, Lerato Mohlomi, Catherine E Draper, Tsakani Hlungwani, Stephen J Lye, Shane A Norris, Noreth Muller-Kluits, Neusa Torres, Daniella Watson, Michelle Pentecost","doi":"10.1017/S0021932025100345","DOIUrl":"10.1017/S0021932025100345","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Premised on the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease theory and on the limited effectiveness of antenatal interventions, interventions in the preconception period are being conducted to potentially improve intergenerational health and non-communicable disease burdens. The Healthy Life Trajectories Initiative (HeLTI) is an international health research consortium primarily investigating the intergenerational effects of behavioural interventions on obesity via a complex four-phase intervention initiated preconceptionally, through pregnancy, and into early childhood. HeLTI, in partnership with the World Health Organization, aims to generate evidence that will shape health policy focused on preconception as part of a life course approach to population health. It is necessary to ensure that a renewed public health focus on preconception prioritises justice and equity in its framing. This article presents collaborative interdisciplinary work with HeLTI-South Africa. It applies a feminist bioethics methodology, which is empirical, situated, intersectional, and fundamentally concerned with justice, to investigate what South African HeLTI community health workers, or 'Health Helpers', who deliver the complex behavioural intervention, think about preconception health and responsibility. Seven semi-structured interviews were conducted with HeLTI-SA Health Helpers, and data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Our findings show that Health Helpers' perceptions of preconception health and related responsibility were significantly gendered, heteronormative, and concerned with child-bearing intentionality and desires. These themes were inflected with Health Helpers' perceptions about how attributions of responsibility are shaped by culture, demonstrating the situated nature of epistemologies. Their ideas also highlight how preconception health knowledge can distribute responsibility unjustly. Understanding the contextual impact and relevance of values around responsibility is critical to prospectively design preconception health interventions that promote equity and fairness. This understanding can then be used for effective policy translation, with the goal that public health policy is founded upon contextual responsivity and justice for the public it aims to serve.</p>","PeriodicalId":47742,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Biosocial Science","volume":" ","pages":"486-505"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144477325","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}