Effect of household structure on female reproductive strategies in a Caribbean village

Household structure may have strong effects on reproduction. This study uses household demographic data for 59 women in a Caribbean village to test evolutionary hypotheses concerning variation in reproductive strategies. Father-absence during childhood, current household composition, and household economic status are predicted to influence age at first birth, number of mates, reproductive success, and pair-bond stability. Criterion variables did not associate in a manner indicative of r- and K-strategies. Father-absence in early childhood had little influence on subsequent reproduction. Household wealth and alloparenting were positively associated with age at first birth. Alloparenting was negatively associated with reproductive success. Women in long-term conjugal unions had higher reproductive success than did single women. Number of adult male kin resident in the household was negatively associated with women’s number of mates. This research was funded by NSF grants (BNS 8920569 and SBR 9205373) to Mark Flinn and an Earthwatch Center for Field Research grant to Mark Flinn, Robert Quinlan, and Marsha Quinlan. Robert Quinlan is currently an assistant researcher at the Research Corporation of the University of Hawai’i. He has a Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Missouri. His research interests include human evolutionary ecology, household demography, and biomedical anthropology.     

Analysis and evaluation of ecosystem resilience: an economic perspective with an application to the Venice lagoon

This paper focuses on the analysis and evaluation of resilience anchored in an economic perspective. Resilience, as well as most of the benefits provided by ecosystems, is not priced on current markets. However, this does not mean that resilience is of no value for humans. On the contrary, the interest of using an economic perspective, and the respective scientific methodology, will be put forward in terms of resilience relevance for ecosystem functioning, and its impact on human welfare. The economic perspective is anchored in an anthropocentric analysis evaluating resilience in terms of provision of natural capital benefits. These in turn are interpreted as insurance against the risk of ecosystem malfunctioning and the consequent interruption of the provision of goods and services to humans. For this analysis, we make use of a conceptual framework that identifies and describes the different value components of resilience. Finally, we present an illustration that discusses the economic analysis of resilience benefits in the context of the Venice Lagoon.     

Stochastic epidemic models: A survey

This paper is a survey paper on stochastic epidemic models. A simple stochastic epidemic model is defined and exact and asymptotic (relying on a large community) properties are presented. The purpose of modelling is illustrated by studying effects of vaccination and also in terms of inference procedures for important parameters, such as the basic reproduction number and the critical vaccination coverage. Several generalizations towards realism, e.g. multitype and household epidemic models, are also presented, as is a model for endemic diseases.     

Ethnobotanical Knowledge and Crop Diversity in Swidden Fields: A Study in a Native Amazonian Society

Crop diversity protects food consumption in poor households within developing nations. Here we estimate the association between crop diversity on swidden fields and ethnobotanical knowledge. We conducted research among 215 male household heads from a native Amazonian society. Using multivariate regressions, we found higher crop diversity among households that depend on agricultural production for household consumption. We also found a statistically significant and positive, but low, association between the ethnobotanical knowledge of the male household head and crop diversity. Doubling the stock of ethnobotanical knowledge of the male household head is associated with a 9% increase in the number of crops sown by a household. The association remained after we controlled for the household level of market exposure, but vanished after we controlled for the social capital of the male household head. Future research should compare the association between ethnobotanical knowledge and crop diversity across different agricultural systems (i.e., home gardens, fallow fields).     

Are stunted child – overweight mother pairs a real defined entity or a statistical artifact?

In a methodological contribution, Dieffenbach & Stein (DS) (The Journal of Nutrition, 142(4), 771–773.) concluded that the double burden of malnutrition (DBM), represented by stunted child – overweight mother pairs (SCOM), is a statistical artifact, meaning that SCOM does not describe a unique phenomenon because the observed rates of SCOM across a number of countries were not strongly different from the product of observed rates of maternal overweight (OM) and child stunting (SC), which DS referred to as the expected rate of SCOM. However, a growing literature continues to use SCOM as an indicator of the DBM. This study shows that the analysis by DS is not sufficient to conclude that SCOM can be explained by the co-occurrence of OM and SC due to chance alone because the analysis by DS was conducted at the country level, but applied to SCOM, which is a household-level variable. Using Demographic and Health Surveys data from 202 country-year data sets, we do not confirm important implicit assumptions that are required for the claim by DS to be supported. We also outline that comparing the expected to the observed rate of SCOM is primarily informative when putting it in relation to factors that influence the supply and demand of food consumed by households. When considering these factors, we find further evidence that it is misleading to consider SCOM as a statistical artifact, as the difference between the observed and the expected rate of SCOM significantly differs by household wealth. Recognizing that SCOM is a distinct phenomenon is important for policymakers who develop double-duty strategies that address malnutrition, and for researchers who need useful indicators to study the determinants of malnutrition at the household level.     

Capitalizing on nature: how to implement an ecosystem approach

The Natural Capital Initiative (www.naturalcapitalinitiative.org.uk) held its first conference ‘Valuing our life support systems’ at Savoy Place, London, from 29 April to 1 May 2009. The aim of the conference was to discuss different perspectives on, and solutions to, the conservation and sustainable use of ecosystem services. It particularly focused on the link between the environment and the economy, and how to implement an ecosystem approach to environmental management. This event brought together scientists across the natural and social sciences, alongside representatives from government, non-governmental organizations, business and industry.     

The shape of things to come? household dependency ratio and adolescent nutritional status in rural and urban Ethiopia

Several related demographic trends are occurring in developing countries: youth comprise a large portion of populations, fertility rates are declining, and urban dwellers are increasing. As fertility rates decline and populations age, the decline in the ratio of young dependents to working age adults is expected to free up household resources, which can be invested in human capital, including youth nutritional wellbeing. We test this hypothesis in a sample of youth (n = 1,934) in Southwestern Ethiopia. Multiple measures of achieved growth and nutritional status are explored (weight, height, mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC), body mass index (BMI) and body mass index for age z-score (BMIZ), weight for age z-score (WAZ), and height for age z-score (HAZ)). In multivariable models controlling for the effects of income, age, gender, and youth workloads, youth living in rural settings had significantly lower weight (1.24 kg lighter), MUAC (0.67 cm lower), BMI (0.45 BMI lower), BMIZ (0.27 lower), HAZ (0.14 HAZ lower), and WAZ (0.3 WAZ lower) than urban youth (all P < 0.01). Compared with youth in the lowest dependency ratio households, results show that youth in households with the highest dependency ratios were estimated to be 1.3 kg lighter, have 0.67 cm smaller MUAC, and BMI that was 0.59 lower (all P<0.01). Similar results were found for WAZ (0.21 lower) and BMIZ (0.36 lower). Youth height and HAZ were not associated with household dependency. These results may point toward increasing levels of human capital investments in Ethiopian youth as fertility levels decline and populations urbanize.     

Focus: Health Equity: Predictors of Depressive Symptoms Based on the Human Capital Model Approach: Findings From the Indonesia Family Life Survey

Depression is the leading factor of disability and the overall global burden of diseases. The human capital model provides an appropriate conceptual model for managing human health. This study aimed to determine the association between human capital (including social, emotional, physical, financial, and intellectual capital) and depressive symptoms among productive age groups in Indonesia. A cross-sectional study was conducted by analyzing data of 9,858 respondents aged 15-59 years that were obtained from the Indonesia Family Life Survey 5 (IFLS 5). Multivariate logistic regression was used to assess the association between human capital components and depressive symptoms. Among respondents, 23.65% had higher depressive symptoms. Social trust and social networks (part of social capital) were significantly related to depressive symptoms. Self-reported satisfaction (part of emotional capital) were also related to depressive symptoms, as well as self-rated health, sleep quality, a number of chronic disease, body mass index (BMI), and physical functioning (part of physical capital). Log income (part of financial capital) and education level (part of intellectual capital) were related to depressive symptoms after controlling for other variables. Of all the components of human capital, physical capital has the most attributes associated with the risk of depressive symptoms. Therefore, depression prevention programs can be prioritized on attributes related to physical capital.