The COVID-19 pandemic has made clear the vital role women play in our economy and in the economic security of families, both nationally and in Georgia. Now more than ever, lawmakers in Georgia must do better to ensure all women and families have quality reproductive health care, safe workplaces, equal representation in government, and economic security. Women need policies that reflect their roles as providers and caregivers—roles that the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated are critical to the well-being of families, communities, and the economy. In Georgia, mothers are the sole, primary, or co-breadwinners in 65.4 percent of families, and these numbers are higher for some mothers of color across the United States. The following policy recommendations can help support the economic security of women and families in Georgia.

Objective: This study examines the association between psychological distress and Alzheimer’s disease mortality among US adults aged ≥45. Methods: We analyzed the Kessler 6-item psychological distress scale as a risk factor for Alzheimer’s mortality using the pooled 1997–2014 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS)- National Death Index (NDI) database (N = 265,089). Cox regression was used to model mortality as a function of psychological distress and sociodemographic and behavioral covariates. Results: The Alzheimer’s mortality risk was 97% higher (HR = 1.97; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.37, 2.84) in adults with serious psychological distress compared with those without psychological distress, controlling for sociodemographic covariates. The relative mortality risk remained statistically significant (HR = 1.49; 95% CI = 1.04, 2.13) after additional adjustment for smoking, alcohol consumption, health status, activity limitation, and body mass index. Discussion: US adults had significantly higher risks of Alzheimer’s disease mortality at higher psychological distress levels. These findings underscore the significance of addressing psychological well-being as a strategy for reducing Alzheimer’s disease mortality.

The COVID-19 pandemic has made clear the vital role women play in our economy and in the economic security of families, both nationally and in Florida. Now more than ever, lawmakers in Florida must do better to ensure all women and families have quality reproductive health care, safe workplaces, equal representation in government, and economic security. Women need policies that reflect their roles as providers and caregivers—roles that the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated are critical to the well-being of families, communities, and the economy. In Florida, mothers are the sole, primary, or co-breadwinners in 68.8 percent of families, and these numbers are higher for some mothers of color across the United States. The following policy recommendations can help support the economic security of women and families in Florida.

Even though the United States has abolished the most egregious, formal examples of structural racism, their legacy, as well as more subtle forms of exclusion, persist. The effects of this history on Latinos are widespread; many Hispanics struggle with inequity across all aspects of daily life despite hard work. However, a root cause of this inequality—structural racism—and how it applies to Hispanics is not widely known, even by many Latinos. This paper offers a “primer,” the first of a series, detailing historical examples of systemic racism against Hispanics across selected areas and how this phenomenon persists and affects the well-being of Latinos today.

The COVID-19 pandemic has made clear the vital role women play in our economy and in the economic security of families, both nationally and in New Hampshire. Now more than ever, lawmakers in New Hampshire must do better to ensure all women and families have quality reproductive health care, safe workplaces, equal representation in government, and economic security. Women need policies that reflect their roles as providers and caregivers—roles that the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated are critical to the well-being of families, communities, and the economy. In New Hampshire, mothers are the sole, primary, or co-breadwinners in 67.6 percent of families, and these numbers are higher for some mothers of color across the United States. The following policy recommendations can help support the economic security of women and families in New Hampshire.

Objective This study examines whether—and if so how—gender composition of children matters for mothers' and fathers' well-being during parenting activities. Background Despite that parents interact with girls and boys differently and spend different amounts of time with them, scholars have paid little attention to how gender composition of children matters for parental well-being. Method The study assessed parental well-being during time spent with children, across four measures of subjective well-being (N = 16,140 activities, 8,621 parents), pooled across three survey waves (2010, 2012, and 2013) from the American Time Use Survey Well-being Module. Random intercept models were used to account for the multilevel structure of the data. Results For both mothers and fathers, gender composition of children was not associated with different levels of happiness or meaning while parenting. However, fathers reported greater stress parenting all girls and mixed-gender children (i.e., girl/s and boy/s at the same time) compared to parenting all boys. Mothers reported greater fatigue and stress parenting all girls, compared to parenting all boys. Controlling for activity type explained some of the stress patterns. Conclusion This study, which is contextualized in broader literature on gender stereotypes, interactional processes, and time-use, makes several contributions to research on gender, family, and health and identifies an important factor—gender composition of children—that helps shape mothers' and fathers' well-being while parenting.

The COVID-19 pandemic has made clear the vital role women play in our economy and in the economic security of families, both nationally and in Arizona. Now more than ever, lawmakers in Arizona must do better to ensure all women and families have quality reproductive health care, safe workplaces, equal representation in government, and economic security. Women need policies that reflect their roles as providers and caregivers—roles that the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated are critical to the well-being of families, communities, and the economy. In Arizona, mothers are the sole, primary, or co-breadwinners in 61.4 percent of families, and these numbers are higher for some mothers of color across the United States. The following policy recommendations can help support the economic security of women and families in Arizona.

The COVID-19 pandemic has made clear the vital role women play in our economy and in the economic security of families, both nationally and in Texas. Now more than ever, lawmakers in Texas must do better to ensure all women and families have quality reproductive health care, safe workplaces, equal representation in government, and economic security. Women need policies that reflect their roles as providers and caregivers—roles that the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated are critical to the well-being of families, communities, and the economy. In Texas, mothers are the sole, primary, or co-breadwinners in 60.3 percent of families, and these numbers are higher for some mothers of color across the United States. The following policy recommendations can help support the economic security of women and families in Texas.

Losing a partner is a life-changing experience. We draw on numerous datasets to examine differences between widowed and partnered older women and to provide a comprehensive picture of well-being in widowhood. Most importantly, our analysis accounts for time use in widowhood, an aspect which has not been studied previously. Based on data from several European countries we trace the evolution of well-being of women who become widowed by comparing them with their matched non-widowed ‘statistical twins’ and examine the role of an exceptionally broad set of potential moderators of widowhood’s impact on well-being. We confirm a dramatic decrease in mental health and life satisfaction after the loss of partner, followed by a slow recovery. An extensive set of controls recorded prior to widowhood, including detailed family ties and social networks, provides little help in explaining the deterioration in well-being. Unique data from time-diaries kept by older women from several European countries and the U.S. tell us why: the key factor behind widows’ reduced well-being is increased time spent alone.

Time and income are distinct and critical resources needed in the pursuit of happiness (life satisfaction). Income can be used to purchase market goods and services, and time can be used to spend time with friends and family, rest and sleep, and other activities. Yet little research has examined how different combinations of time and income affect life satisfaction, and if more of both is positively associated with greater levels of life satisfaction. We investigate whether life satisfaction significantly varies with time and income using data from the American Time Use Survey and its well-being module, which is a nationally representative sample of over 5000 US respondents over the age of 15. We plot a three-dimensional space exploring the relationship among time, income, and life satisfaction, finding people with similar incomes with less free time have lower levels of life satisfaction. We also identify different four subpopulations, three of which have low well-being along time and income, and one with high well-being along time and income. These subgroups significantly differ along key characteristics. Respondents with less free time and low income—the doubly poor—are more likely to be female, less educated, and have more than two kids and young children. Those with low income but lots of time, in comparison, are more likely to be black, unemployed, and have some physical or cognitive difficult. We conclude that time provides unique insights into human well-being that income alone cannot capture and should be further incorporated into research and policy on life satisfaction.

Trust for America’s Health (TFAH), a non-profit, nonpartisan policy research and advocacy organization, leads a national Age-Friendly Public Health Systems (AFPHS) initiative to promote the health and well-being of the nation’s older adults as a public health priority. This paper is the first of a series of briefs that focuses on the intersection between public health, aging, and agefriendly communities.

The nonproot Urban Institute is a leading research organization dedicated to developing evidence-based insights that improve people's lives and strengthen communities. For 50 years, Urban has been the trusted source for rigorous analysis of complex social and economic issues; strategic advice to policymakers, philanthropists, and practitioners; and new, promising ideas that expand opportunities for all. Our work inspires eeective decisions that advance fairness and enhance the well-being of people and places.

Despite recent advancements in global population well-being and food security, climate change threatens to undermine child nutritional health, particularly for marginalized populations in tropical low- and middle-income countries. South Asia is at particular risk for climate-driven undernutrition due to a combination of historical weather exposures, existing nutritional deficits, and a lack of sanitation access. Previous studies have established that precipitation extremes increase rates of undernutrition in this region, but the existing literature lacks adequate consideration of temperature anomalies, mediating social factors, and the developmentally-relevant timing of exposure. We combine high-resolution temperature and precipitation data with large-sample survey data on household demographics and child anthropometry, using an approach that incorporates three key developmental periods and a rigorous fixed effects design. We find that precipitation extremes in the first year of life significantly decrease children's height-for-age (HAZ) in South Asia. The detrimental effects of extreme precipitation are especially concentrated in under-resourced households, such as those lacking access to proper sanitation and education for women, while anomalous heat is particularly harmful for children in Pakistan, though it tends to benefit children in some demographic groups. These results indicate that nutritional status in South Asia is highly responsive to climate exposures, and that addressing sanitation infrastructure and other development priorities is a pathway towards reducing this vulnerability.

Objective: Ensuring access to sufficient foods at all times is critical to veterans’ health and well-being. Food insecurity has not been well explored in the veteran population. We examined the prevalence and predictors of food insecurity among low-income veterans, because the highest rates of food insecurity are among low-income households. We also examined rates of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participation among subgroups at the highest risk of food insecurity. Methods: We used univariate analyses and 2011-2017 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) data on veterans aged ≥21 with family incomes <200% of the federal poverty level to estimate the prevalence of food insecurity. We used bivariate analyses to identify correlates of food insecurity and estimate SNAP participation rates among subgroups of low-income veterans. Percentages were weighted using NHIS survey weights. Results: Of 5146 low-income veterans, 22.5% reported being food insecure in the previous month. Food insecurity was significantly associated with being aged <65 (33.0% aged 45-64 and 29.7% aged 21-44) compared with 15.0% and 6.4% among veterans aged 65-74 and ≥75, respectively (P <.001); unemployed compared with employed or not in the labor force (39.4%, 22.7%, and 20.2%, respectively; P <.001); in fair or poor health compared with good, very good, or excellent heath (31.8% vs 18.2%; P <.001); and having experienced serious psychological distress in the past month (56.3%) compared with not having experienced such distress (19.7%; P <.001). Although overall SNAP participation among low-income veterans was estimated to be 27.0%, participation rates were highest among veterans who had experienced serious psychological distress (44.1%), were unemployed (39.2%), and were renting their home (39.0%). Conclusions: Some low-income veterans are at greater risk of food insecurity than other veterans. Postseparation programs, civilian support services, and veterans’ health providers should be aware of the characteristics that place veterans at highest risk of food insecurity.

Individuals living in every region of the world are increasingly vulnerable to negative health outcomes due to extreme heat exposure. Children, in particular, may face long-term consequences associated with heat stress that affect their educational attainment and later life health and well-being. Retrospective individual-level analyses are useful for determining the effects of extreme heat exposure on health outcomes. Typically, future risk is inferred by extrapolating these effects using future warming scenarios that are applied uniformly over space and time without consideration of topographical or climatological gradients. We propose an alternative approach using a stochastic weather generator. This approach employs a 1 °C warming scenario to produce an ensemble of plausible future weather scenarios, and subsequently a distribution of future health risks. We focus on the effect of global warming on fetal development as measured by birth weight in Ethiopia. We demonstrate that predicted changes in birth weight are sensitive to the evolution of temperatures not quantified in a uniform warming scenario. Distributions of predicted changes in birth weight vary in magnitude and variability depending on geographic and socioeconomic region. We present these distributions alongside results from the uniform warming scenario and discuss the spatiotemporal variability of these predicted changes.

The nonprofit Urban Institute is a leading research organization dedicated to developing evidence-based insights that improve people's lives and strengthen communities. For 50 years, Urban has been the trusted source for rigorous analysis of complex social and economic issues; strategic advice to policymakers, philanthropists, and practitioners; and new, promising ideas that expand opportunities for all. Our work inspires effective decisions that advance fairness and enhance the well-being of people and places.

The negative impacts of the Great Recession (GR) (2007 to 2009) on the lives of families with low incomes warrant social work concerns about how well antipoverty policy responded to meet economic needs over this period and since. Given America's long-standing tension between welfare state adequacy and market-oriented policies, how well did the safety net respond to the economic downturn? Did GR-era changes reverse or accelerate trends in public assistance? This article examines key policy changes and indicators of caseloads, inclusion, and generosity for three antipoverty policies: the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly Food Stamp Program), and the Earned Income Tax Credit from 2007 to 2017. Authors' analysis shows a continuation of market-oriented U.S. antipoverty policy. Authors argue that the reemphasis of conditioning benefits on employment undermines the countercyclical feature of the social safety net and perpetuates the inequitable redistribution of public resources between those inside and outside of the labor market. Authors discuss social workers' role in strengthening antipoverty policies to improve the economic well-being of people with low incomes and the economic justice of the social safety net.

The Connecticut Department of Housing, in conjunction with Connecticut Department of Social Services, commissioned this study of affordable and accessible housing in May 2020 to examine how strategic deployment of state resources could best meet the current and future housing needs of Connecticut’s vulnerable and low-income residents. This report provides the first comprehensive look at affordable and accessible housing needs in Connecticut. Prepared collaboratively by Fairfield County’s Center for Housing Opportunity, Urban Institute, Corporation for Supportive Housing, Data Haven, and Source Development Hub (the study team), the data presented here inform the following questions: Who lives in Connecticut, and what kind of housing do they occupy? Are affordable housing resources meeting resident needs? Are accessible housing resources meeting resident needs? What can Connecticut do to best meet the current and future housing needs of low-income households and households that include someone with a disability? Questions about affordable and accessible housing resources and needs are answered based on the present situation in the state and its counties and the study team’s projections of future needs. The concluding chapter provides policy and program recommendations for the state to address the affordable and accessible housing gaps identified in the analysis, as well as to improve the state’s ability to have reliable data for tracking progress toward housing goals and outcomes. The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 has indisputably highlighted the critical role that safe, stable, affordable, and accessible housing plays in the well-being of households and communities. The disparity in housing opportunity by income level, race, and zip code laid bare by the pandemic and economic turndown underscores the importance of data-driven policymaking and community planning and development. The study team hopes that our analysis, findings, and recommendations can guide Connecticut in a targeted, proactive, and holistic approach to ensuring the housing needs of all residents are met going forward. This report is written for a non-expert audience. Where it is necessary to use technical terms, those terms are explained in the text and exhibits. Additional definitions can be found in appendix A. Although counties do not have governing bodies, they are the primary unit of analysis because of their consistency over time, regional implications, and widely available aggregated data.

Progress in narrowing education and employment gender gaps is being observed in many countries across the world and has come to be known as the “gender revolution”. Today, women are entering higher education in large numbers and have begun to outperform men. They are spending more time in the labour market and, in some countries, the employment rates of both genders have converged. These changes are impacting women’s family and work lives globally, and Egypt is no exception. Similar to other patriarchal Arab countries, however, is that gender relations in Egypt have remained unequal in the family, and expectations of marriage and motherhood are commonplace. These continuing gender inequalities remain understudied. To fill this gap, this thesis explores the ways in which resources and cultural constraints in modern-day Egypt shape gender inequalities at the work-family interface during key life stages and events: adolescence, marriage, and reproduction. Specifically, I examine how gender inequalities persist across generations in the Egyptian family, and what these mean for women’s socioeconomic well-being in marriage. To do so, attention is paid to three key dimensions of gender inequality: women’s employment stability, their risk of intimate partner violence (IPV), and their household decision-making power. Using both cross-sectional and longitudinal data from Egypt permitted a quantitative analysis of women’s resources, cultural norms, and their interaction, on women’s empowerment in the Egyptian family. The thesis is ordered to follow a woman’s normative life trajectory in Egypt. It begins by providing the first investigation of the intergenerational link between maternal employment during women’s own adolescence and their subsequent adult employment stability. While identifying the positive impact of maternal employment, this study finds that this link is mediated by women’s education, and moderated by the employment sector. Next, building on existing research, this thesis explores how, if at all, the Arab Spring has altered women’s risk of IPV in marriage. I consider whether women’s employment offers more effective protection against IPV, using data before and after the revolution. Finally, I examine whether women’s household decision-making power is affected by women’s command of resources. Here, I move beyond considering the resources of education and employment to also consider women’s patrilineal fertility—that is, having at least one son—and how it operates alongside women’s education and employment. The thesis fills an important gap by assessing how cultural, economic, and noneconomic resources come together to configure power relations in the family and gender inequalities in the labour market in a non-Western context. It uncovers the mechanisms that maintain and reinforce gender inequality within the Egyptian family. By drawing attention to contextual changes and historic events such as the Arab Spring, it also highlights how these inequalities have remained stubborn, despite sweeping sociopolitical changes. Together, the findings from this study reveal a mosaic of social changes characterised by both progress and stasis. Thus, the thesis documents an incomplete gender revolution in Egypt—maternal employment enhances women’s employment stability, and, in turn, women’s employment reduces their risk of IPV; yet their marital power remains contingent on the birth of a son, regardless of their education and employment.