Zhixin Feng

Bio: Zhixin Feng is an academic researcher from University of Southampton. The author has contributed to research in topics: Ethnic group & Population. The author has an hindex of 14, co-authored 38 publications receiving 545 citations. Previous affiliations of Zhixin Feng include University of Bristol.

Ethnic inequalities in limiting health and self-reported health in later life revisited

Abstract: Background It is well established that there are ethnic inequalities in health in the UK; however, such inequalities in later life remain a relatively under-researched area. This paper explores ethnic inequalities in health among older people in the UK, controlling for social and economic disadvantages. Methods This paper analyses the first wave (2009–2011) of Understanding Society to examine differentials in the health of older persons aged 60 years and over. 2 health outcomes are explored: the extent to which one9s health limits the ability to undertake typical activities and self-rated health. Logistic regression models are used to control for a range of other factors, including income and deprivation. Results After controlling for social and economic disadvantage, black and minority ethnic (BME) elders are still more likely than white British elders to report limiting health and poor self-rated health. The ‘health disadvantage’ appears most marked among BME elders of South Asian origin, with Pakistani elders exhibiting the poorest health outcomes. Length of time resident in the UK does not have a direct impact on health in models for both genders, but is marginally significant for women. Conclusions Older people from ethnic minorities report poorer health outcomes even after controlling for social and economic disadvantages. This result reflects the complexity of health inequalities among different ethnic groups in the UK, and the need to develop health policies which take into account differences in social and economic resources between different ethnic groups.

Challenges for the Aging Family in the People’s Republic of China

Abstract: The People's Republic of China has the largest population of older persons of any country in the world. It is a nation that has experienced enormous economic, social, and demographic changes over the past three and a half decades. Traditionally, the family was the main social support for older persons; this changed somewhat under early socialism, but in recent years, the importance of family support has been reasserted. However, over this time, the family's ability to support its older members has been considerably altered and arguably weakened. This article reviews four key issues (population change, the hukou system, economic reform, general features surrounding modernization) that have gradually changed families' capacity to provide support for older members. Research foci and public policy directions are considered under which the state might take some responsibilities from the family, support capacity to care, and improve the quality and quantity of support for older citizens.

Social trust, interpersonal trust and self-rated health in China: a multi-level study

Abstract: Trust is important for health at both the individual and societal level. Previous research using Western concepts of trust has shown that a high level of trust in society can positively affect individuals’ health; however, it has been found that the concepts and culture of trust in China are different from those in Western countries and research on the relationship between trust and health in China is scarce. The analyses use data from the national scale China General Social Survey (CGSS) on adults aged above 18 in 2005 and 2010. Two concepts of trust (“out-group” and “in-group” trust) are used to examine the relationship between trust and self-rated health in China. Multilevel logistical models are applied, examining the trust at the individual and societal level on individuals’ self-rated health. In terms of interpersonal trust, both “out-group” and “in-group” trust are positively associated with good health in 2005 and 2010. At the societal level, the relationships between the two concepts of trust and health are different. In 2005, higher “out-group” social trust (derived from trust in strangers) is positively associated with better health; however, higher “in-group” social trust (derived from trust in most people) is negatively associated with good health in 2010. The cross-level interactions show that lower educated individuals (no education or only primary level), rural residents and those on lower incomes are the most affected groups in societies with higher “out-group” social trust; whereas people with lower levels of educational attainment, a lower income, and those who think that most people can be trusted are the most affected groups in societies with higher “in-group” social trust. High levels of interpersonal trust are of benefit to health. Higher “out-group” social trust is positively associated with better health; while higher “in-group” social trust is negatively associated with good health. Individuals with different levels of educational attainment are affected by trust differently.

A Treatise on the Family

Abstract: A Treatise on the Family. G. S. Becker. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 1981. Gary Becker is one of the most famous and influential economists of the second half of the 20th century, a fervent contributor to and expounder of the University of Chicago free-market philosophy, and winner of the 1992 Nobel Prize in economics. Although any book with the word "treatise" in its title is clearly intended to have an impact, one coming from someone as brilliant and controversial as Becker certainly had such a lofty goal. It has received many article-length reviews in several disciplines (Ben-Porath, 1982; Bergmann, 1995; Foster, 1993; Hannan, 1982), which is one measure of its scholarly importance, and yet its impact is, I think, less than it may have initially appeared, especially for scholars with substantive interests in the family. This book is, its title notwithstanding, more about economics and the economic approach to behavior than about the family. In the first sentence of the preface, Becker writes "In this book, I develop an economic or rational choice approach to the family." Lest anyone accuse him of focusing on traditional (i.e., material) economics topics, such as family income, poverty, and labor supply, he immediately emphasizes that those topics are not his focus. "My intent is more ambitious: to analyze marriage, births, divorce, division of labor in households, prestige, and other non-material behavior with the tools and framework developed for material behavior." Indeed, the book includes chapters on many of these issues. One chapter examines the principles of the efficient division of labor in households, three analyze marriage and divorce, three analyze various child-related issues (fertility and intergenerational mobility), and others focus on broader family issues, such as intrafamily resource allocation. His analysis is not, he believes, constrained by time or place. His intention is "to present a comprehensive analysis that is applicable, at least in part, to families in the past as well as the present, in primitive as well as modern societies, and in Eastern as well as Western cultures." His tone is profoundly conservative and utterly skeptical of any constructive role for government programs. There is a clear sense of how much better things were in the old days of a genderbased division of labor and low market-work rates for married women. Indeed, Becker is ready and able to show in Chapter 2 that such a state of affairs was efficient and induced not by market or societal discrimination (although he allows that it might exist) but by small underlying household productivity differences that arise primarily from what he refers to as "complementarities" between caring for young children while carrying another to term. Most family scholars would probably find that an unconvincingly simple explanation for a profound and complex phenomenon. What, then, is the salient contribution of Treatise on the Family? It is not literally the idea that economics could be applied to the nonmarket sector and to family life because Becker had already established that with considerable success and influence. At its core, microeconomics is simple, characterized by a belief in the importance of prices and markets, the role of self-interested or rational behavior, and, somewhat less centrally, the stability of preferences. It was Becker's singular and invaluable contribution to appreciate that the behaviors potentially amenable to the economic approach were not limited to phenomenon with explicit monetary prices and formal markets. Indeed, during the late 1950s and throughout the 1960s, he did undeniably important and pioneering work extending the domain of economics to such topics as labor market discrimination, fertility, crime, human capital, household production, and the allocation of time. Nor is Becker's contribution the detailed analyses themselves. Many of them are, frankly, odd, idiosyncratic, and off-putting. …

Contribution of Hungarian demographic science and Hungarian demographers to the work of the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population

Abstract: The author describes the development of demography in Hungary from 1928 to the present with a focus on the contribution of Hungarian demographers to the activities of the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population (IUSSP). This paper is part of an IUSSP project that deals with the history of the Union and involves the preparation of papers on such activities in several countries. (summary in ENG RUS) (ANNOTATION)

Racial and ethnic disparities in SARS-CoV-2 pandemic: analysis of a COVID-19 observational registry for a diverse US metropolitan population.

Abstract: Introduction Data on race and ethnic disparities for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection are limited. We analysed sociodemographic factors associated with higher likelihood of SARS-CoV-2 infection and explore mediating pathways for race and ethnic disparities in the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Methods This is a cross-sectional analysis of the COVID-19 Surveillance and Outcomes Registry, which captures data for a large healthcare system, comprising one central tertiary care hospital, seven large community hospitals and an expansive ambulatory/emergency care network in the Greater Houston area. Nasopharyngeal samples for individuals inclusive of all ages, races, ethnicities and sex were tested for SARS-CoV-2. We analysed sociodemographic (age, sex, race, ethnicity, household income, residence population density) and comorbidity (Charlson Comorbidity Index, hypertension, diabetes, obesity) factors. Multivariable logistic regression models were fitted to provide adjusted OR (aOR) and 95% CI for likelihood of a positive SARS-CoV-2 test. Structural equation modelling (SEM) framework was used to explore three mediation pathways (low income, high population density, high comorbidity burden) for the association between non-Hispanic black (NHB) race, Hispanic ethnicity and SARS-CoV-2 infection. Results Among 20 228 tested individuals, 1551 (7.7%) tested positive. The overall mean (SD) age was 51.1 (19.0) years, 62% were females, 22% were black and 18% were Hispanic. NHB and Hispanic ethnicity were associated with lower socioeconomic status and higher population density residence. In the fully adjusted model, NHB (vs non-Hispanic white; aOR, 2.23, CI 1.90 to 2.60) and Hispanic ethnicity (vs non-Hispanic; aOR, 1.95, CI 1.72 to 2.20) had a higher likelihood of infection. Older individuals and males were also at higher risk of infection. The SEM framework demonstrated a significant indirect effect of NHB and Hispanic ethnicity on SARS-CoV-2 infection mediated via a pathway including residence in densely populated zip code. Conclusions There is strong evidence of race and ethnic disparities in the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic that are potentially mediated through unique social determinants of health.