308 research outputs found
Explaining the Health Gap Between Canadian- and Foreign-Born Older Adults: Findings from the 2000/2001 Canadian Community Health Survey
No full textPrevious research (Gee, Kobayashi, Prus, 2004) indicates that foreign- born older adults (65 years and older) have poorer health than their Canadian-born counterparts. Using data from the 2000/2001 Canadian Community Health Survey, the current study tests two hypotheses to explain the health gap between these two groups. Findings indicate support for the differential vulnerability hypothesis but not for the differential exposure hypothesis in explaining the health gap between Canadian- and foreign-born older adults. What this suggests is that differences in health status between these two groups, rather than being the result of different social locations and/or lifestyle behaviours, can instead be attributed to the different “reactions” of Canadian- and foreign- born older adults to various social and lifestyle determinants of health.health, immigrants, aging
Social Transfers and Income Inequality in Old-age: A Multi-national Perspective
No full textThis paper examines variation in old-age income inequality between industrialized nations with modern welfare systems. The analysis of income inequality across countries with different retirement income systems provides a perspective on public pension policy choices and designs and their distributional implications. Because of the progressive nature of public pension programs, we hypothesize that there is an inverse relationship between the quality of public pension benefits and old-age income inequality -- that is, countries with comprehensive, universal, and generous public pension systems will exhibit more equal distributions of income in old age. Luxembourg Income Study data indeed show that cross-national variation in old-age income inequality is partly explained by differences in the percentage of seniors' total income derived from public pension transfers. Sweden, for example, has the highest level of government transfers and the lowest level of old-age income inequality, while Israel and the U.S. have the lowest levels of dependency on government transfers and the highest levels of income inequality. A notable exception is Canada where public transfers represent only a moderate portion of elderly income, yet old-age income inequality is relatively low. This suggests that other factors besides quality of public pension benefits play a role in differences in old-age income inequality across countries.old-age; income inequality; public pension policy; government transfers
Comparing Racial and Immigrant Health Status and Health Care Access in Later Life in Canada and the United States
No full textLittle comparative research exists on health experiences and conditions of minority groups in Canada and the United States, despite both countries having a racially diverse population with a signifi cant proportion of immigrants. This article explores race and immigrant disparities in health and health care access across the two countries. The study focus was on middle and old age given the change and increasing diversity in health and health care policy, such as Medicare. Logistic regression analysis of data from the 2002–2003 Joint Canada/United States Survey of Health shows that the joint effect of race and nativity on health outcomes – health differences between native and foreign-born Whites and non- Whites – is largely insignifi cant in Canada but considerable in the U.S. Non-White native and foreign-born Americans within both 45-to-64 and 65-and-over age groups experience signifi cant disadvantage in health status and access to care, irrespective of health insurance coverage, demographic, socio-economic, and lifestyle factors.health, obesity, health care, race, immigrant, Canada, United States
Age, SES, and Health: A Population Level Analysis of Health Inequalities over the Life Course
No full textThis paper tests two competing hypotheses on the relationship between age, SES, and health inequality at the cohort/population level. The accumulation hypothesis predicts that levels of SES- based health inequality and consequently overall health inequality within a cohort progressively increase as it ages. The divergence-convergence hypothesis predicts that these inequalities increase only up to early-old age then decrease. Data from a Canadian national health survey are used in this study, and are adjusted for SES-biases in mortality. Bootstrap methods are employed to assess the statistical precision and significance of the results. The Gini coefficient is used to estimate change in the overall level of health inequality with age and the Concentration coefficient estimates the contribution of SES- based health inequalities to this change. Health is measured using the Health Utilities Index and income and education provide the measure of SES. First, the findings show that the Gini coefficient progressively increases from 0.048 (95% CI: 0.045, 0.051) at ages 15-29 to 0.147 (95% CI: 0.131, 0.163) at ages 80+. Second, the data reveal that health inequalities between SES groups (Concentration coefficients for income and education) tend to follow a similar pattern of divergence. Together these findings provide support for the accumulation hypothesis. A notable implication of the study's findings is that the level of health inequality increases when compensating for age-specific socio- economic differences in mortality. These selective effects of mortality should be considered in future research on health inequalities and the life course.Health Inequality, Life Course, SES, Gini/Concentration coefficient
Ethnic Differences in Health: Does Immigration Status Matter?
No full textThis study examines health differences between first-generation immigrant and Canadian-born persons who share the same the ethnocultural origin, and the extent to which such differences reflect social structural and health-related behavioural contexts. Data from the 2000/2001 Canadian Community Health Survey show that first generation immigrants of Black and French race/ethnicity tend to have better health than their Canadian-born counterparts, while the opposite is true for those of South Asian, Chinese, and south and east European and Jewish origins. West Asians and Arabs and other Asian groups are advantaged in health regardless of country of birth. Health differences between ethnic foreign- and Canadian-born persons generally converge after adjusting for socio-demographic, SES, and lifestyle factors. Implications for health care policy and program development are discussed.self-rated health; functional health; ethnicity; race; immigration
Income Inequality over the Later-Life Course: A Comparative Analysis of Seven OECD Countries
No full textThis paper examines income inequality over stages of the later-life course (age 45 and older) and systems that can be used to mitigate this inequality. Two hypotheses are tested: (i) Levels of income inequality decline during old age because public benefits are more equally distributed than work income; (ii) Because of the progressive nature of government benefits, countries with stronger public income security programs are better able to reduce income inequalities during old age. The analysis is performed by comparing age groups within seven OECD countries (Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States) using Luxembourg Income Study data. Both hypotheses are supported. Several conclusions are drawn from the findings.retirement, income dynamics, comparative analysis, public pensions
"Wheat and corn cockle" : Biblical intertexts in Bolesław Prus' "The doll"
No full textThe article aims at analyzing the function that Biblical quotations perform in Boleslaw Prus’ The Doll (Lalka). In the first part the author examines the prefigurative potential of the signalled quotations which demarcate the lot of many minor characters (e.g. the Wysocki brothers, baron and baroness Krzeszowscy). The second part discusses so called “acts of quoting” in which intertextual relations are cut down to the scenes the quotations appear (e.g. the walk in Powisle, the events in Skierniewice). In both cases the Bible as well as the theological discourse that interprets it prove to be a functional tool for understanding a number of unclear fragments in Prus’ masterpiece
<i>Cards from a Journey to Pulawy</i> by Boleslaw Prus as a test of human (in)attentiveness
No full textThe paper is dedicated to the issue of humans (un)attention category in the contexof journey situation in one of the reportage work by Bolesław Prus. In the receptionof reportage the theory of presence is inextricably associated with category of attention. Author of the article shows possibility of analyze Bolesław Prus work inthe context of Janina Brach-Czaina philosophy and modern trends in the field ofnon-anthropocentric humanities
Income Inequality as a Canadian Cohort Ages: An Analysis of the Later Life Course
No full textAt each stage of the life course, people experience different economic situations. Retired people, for example, draw the majority of their incomes from the pension system rather than the labour market. Using Survey of Consumer Finances cross-sectional data from 1973 to 1996, this paper examines Canadian trends in income inequality over the middle and later stages of the life course of a synthetic cohort born between 1922 and 1926. Three hypotheses regarding changes in the level of income inequality during later life are tested: income is 1) distributed more equally; 2) distributed about the same; or 3) distributed less equally, in the retirement years than in the working years. Using Gini coefficients, the findings show that income inequality decreases within a cohort as it grows old; that is, the Canadian retirement income system smooths out (levels) the distribution of income in later life. The observed decrease in inequality corresponds with a decrease in income from earnings and an increase in dependency on state benefits. The progressive nature of public pension programs in Canada increases the relative income share and the average income of the poorest seniors. Moreover, Canada exhibits a more equal distribution of income in old age compared to countries with similar old-age welfare systems, such as the United States. Any reform toward privatization of the retirement income system in Canada will jeopardize the ability of the state to reshape income inequalities in later life.income inequality; cohort; public pension
The linguistic creation of dr. Szuman in Lalka (the Doll) by Bolesław Prus
No full textBolesław Prus created the character of dr. Szuman as representing intelligentsia, a doctor and a scientist. This article recreates these roles linguistically via an analysis of the selected fragments of the novel such as the protagonist’s statements and the narrator’s comments as well as other characters’ utterances and “inside stories” taken from Ignacy Rzecki’s memoir.
For the presentation of his characters the author used, first and foremost, concrete nouns, and only rarely abstract nouns as well as verbs as the entire novel is written in the journalistic style. Epithets are used only occasionally, mainly with regard to the creation of the protagonist’s appearance. The doctor’s eccentric demenanour is emphasized by the verbs and adverbial participles used to depict nonverbal expressions which Bolesław Prus utilizes in his book. The narrator’s and Rzecki’s statements provide us with the source material concerning the verbs and word combinations related to the doctor’s activities. The creation of the characters of the doctor and the scientist also comprises their: lexicon-related idiolect characteristics such as professionalisms, or scientifi c abstract lexicon; syntactical/inflection-related phenomena such the dominance of hypotaxis over parataxis, rhetorical questions, or simple compound sentences and; semantic/stylistic phenomena such as comparisons, metaphors, and irony. The linguistic-stylistic devices used by Bolesław Prus served to make the creation of dr. Szuman as a representative of intelligentsia, a doctor and a scientist more real and probable
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