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The Needs of Custodial Grandparents in Helping Their Grandchildren Experience School SuccessWard, Rex Sawyer 01 January 2017 (has links)
At a local middle school, twice as many students were being reared by their grandparents than in each of the other 3 schools in the study district. Most of these students were experiencing academic and social issues; increased understanding of the issue was needed to address these problems. Using a phenomenological approach, this project study explored the lived experiences of grandparents of skipped-generation households and school employees who interact daily with skipped-generation households. Epstein's theory of parental involvement undergirded this study, and semistructured interviews were used to gather data from 15 grandparents and 15 school employees. Interviews were transcribed, open coded, and themes were generated. Findings revealed that grandparents often did not understand the grandchildren's generation, 21st-century parenting skills, or how services from community agencies could make the rearing process easier. Also, school employees often did not understand the challenges faced by skipped-generation households, the importance of grandparent-friendly school environments, and the value of sharing internal information. Based on the findings, the Educators Impacting Skipped-Generation Household seminar was designed to inform school employees of strategies to assist grandparents in addressing their challenges, and create grandparent-friendly school environments. This study should improve the lives, relationships, and communication of members of skipped-generation households and school employees, while increasing the number of successful students and citizens who can break this parenting cycle.
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Evaluation of a printed newsletter tailored to grandparent caregivers in KansasBrenes Mendieta, Priscilla January 1900 (has links)
Master of Public Health / Public Health Interdepartmental Program / Mark D. Haub / Millions of U.S. grandparents are responsible for providing parental care, in the absence of the biological parent, for at least one grandchild under the age of 18 years. These caregivers may base their wellness and nutrition practices with their grandchildren on outdated advice. In 2010, Kansas State University Human Nutrition Cooperative Extension Service faculty launched a theory-based newsletter, entitled Nourishing the Next Generation, that was mailed six times per year to low-income grandparent caregivers, and posted on a public website (at http://www.k-state.edu/humannutrition/newsletters/nourishing-the-next-generation/index.html). Each issue disseminated small amounts of practical, specific, “how-to” nutrition- and wellness-related information that addressed topics identified as being of concern to this population and that used recommended word choice, format, and design principles. After five years of Nourishing the Next Generation being in circulation, we surveyed readers who had received it from one to five years in order to assess the impact it had and to highlight its strengths.
This study combined qualitative and quantitative approaches by using written surveys with both open- and closed-ended questions. Two different types of participants who had received the newsletter, grandparent caregivers and community educators, received surveys. A total of 54 valid surveys were returned from the 492 that were sent to grandparent caregivers, while 30 out of 175 community educators completed surveys.
The newsletter was perceived by responding grandparent caregivers to be very effective in improving their awareness, knowledge, motivation, and confidence to follow recommendations about healthy eating and physical activity. Also, reading it led to many self-reported positive changes in various nutrition, physical activity, and other wellness practices among 91 percent of the responding grandparent caregivers and their families. In addition, 70 percent of responding community educators used its contents extensively to disseminate information to wider audiences.
In conclusion, including grandparent caregivers in wellness-related educational programs could be a good approach to target healthy lifestyle practices of both older and younger generations. An appropriately designed newsletter can effectively improve the health of a large number of people, yet has limited costs, and thus, is an excellent public health method.
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Investigation of Condition Effects on Batch Fecundity of the Common Snook, Centropomus undecimalis, in Tampa Bay, FloridaHayslip, Catherine Michelle Bruger 01 January 2013 (has links)
Common snook, Centropomus undecimalis, is a popular game fish species that occurs throughout central and southern Florida, yet many questions remain unanswered regarding their reproductive strategies, including estimates of fecundity with relation to size, age, and condition of the female. These relationships are critical to improving stock assessments and fundamental to estimating spawning potential ratio, the measure by which snook are managed. Spawning snook were collected from a known spawning site, Rattlesnake Key, Tampa Bay, Florida, during three consecutive spawning seasons (2009-2011) and batch fecundity for snook was reported for the first time. Of the 43 females suitable for fecundity analysis, batch fecundity was highly variably and ranged from 258,913 to 2,663,737 eggs. The mean batch fecundity was (984,689 eggs/batch, median = 781,330 eggs/batch) and the mean relative fecundity was 465 eggs/gram body weight (median = 402 eggs/gram body weight). Average batch fecundity did not vary by collection year, despite a severe cold event in the winter of 2010, which killed about 25% of the spawning population. However, analysis of proximate composition indicated that liver lipid percent was significantly reduced in 2010, likely due to reduced prey availability, increased energetic expenditures, or both, while enduring and recovering from cold exposure. A significant positive relationship in 2009 between batch fecundity and condition was reported that entirely disappeared in 2010. Additionally, in a preliminary investigation, we detected sub-population differences between known-spawning `bay fish' and `river fish' using barium as an indicator of freshwater habitat usage via otolith microchemistry. Our results are directly relevant to enhancing stock assessments and indicated that reproductive strategies of snook are both complicated and robust. Future research should further investigate reproductive strategies (e.g. skipped spawning) and possible sub-population life history, as both can have significant impacts on stock assessment models.
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Functions of Zinc-finger Transcription Factors Gli and Osr during Foregut Development in MouseHan, Lu 05 December 2017 (has links)
No description available.
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Interação entre o fator de transcrição CG9571 e módulos reguladores do gene pair-rule even-skipped da cascata de segmentação de Drosophila / Interaction between the transcription factor CG9571 and cis-regulatory modules of the pair-rule gene even-skipped of Drosophila segmentation cascadeGueller, Geison Castro da Silveira 22 May 2019 (has links)
O desenvolvimento do padrão de segmentação de Drosophila é estabelecido por uma cascata de genes de segmentação zigóticos. Estes genes são divididos em três classes (gap, pair-rule e segment-polarity) e codificam para fatores de transcrição (FT) que se ligam a módulos cis-reguladores (CRMs), reprimindo ou ativando genes alvo. A faixa 2 do gene pair-rule even-skipped (eve 2) é ativada pelos fatores maternos Bicoid e Hunchback e reprimida pelas proteínas gap Giant (Gt) e Krüppel. Estudos posteriores mostraram que o FT Sloppy-paired 1 (Slp 1) e provavelmente um outro FT forkhead também atuam na repressão de eve 2. O gene anotado CG9571 foi isolado em uma varredura como proteína forkhead candidata a repressão de eve 2. Estudos genéticos confirmaram essa possibilidade e revelaram que eve 1 também pode ser alvo deste FT. Este trabalho teve como objetivo verificar a interação de CG9571 com os CRMs eve 1 e eve 2. Para tanto, planejamos obter o domínio de ligação da proteína (CG9571 BD) e da proteína completa (CG9571 FL) e testar suas interações in vitro com fragmentos dos CRMs por meio da técnica de retardo da mobilidade eletroforética (EMSA). Obtivemos a quantidade necessária de DNA para os experimentos através de PCR e preparações plasmidiais de versões clonadas destes CRMs que já dispúnhamos em laboratório. Realizamos tentativas de obtenção de CG9571 BD por transcrição e tradução in vitro, mas esta estratégia não foi bem-sucedida e adotamos a estratégia de clonagem em vetor para expressão em células competentes bacterianas. O fragmento de CG9571 BD foi clonado com sucesso, mas não conseguimos verificar a expressão do polipeptídeo em duas linhagens de E. coli. Alteramos novamente nossa estratégia e clonamos o fragmento correspondente a CG9571 FL em vetor de expressão e conseguimos induzir sua expressão em bactéria, embora não tenha sido obter a proteína recombinante em forma solúvel. Prosseguimos para tentativas de recuperação da proteína a partir de corpos de inclusão. Foram empregados diferentes métodos para solubilização, renovelamento e purificação da proteína. Extratos da fração insolúvel solubilizada em diferentes concentrações de ureia foram submetidos a tentativas de purificação e renaturação por cromatografia de afinidade, mas não houve adsorção significativa de CG9571 FL em colunas com Ni2+ imobilizado. Preparações não puras contendo CG9571 FL foram obtidas através de procedimentos de renaturação destes extratos e foram utilizadas em ensaios de interação com os CRMs. Não houve detecção de retardo da mobilidade eletroforética dos fragmentos em gel. Foram observados efeitos de redução da quantidade de DNA detectado com brometo de etídio nas interações, mas este efeito foi considerado produto da ação de possíveis nucleases contaminantes nas preparações após investigação. Preparações de CG9571 FL puras foram obtidas por purificações a partir de SDS-PAGE, mas a maioria das interações da proteína solúvel com eve 1 e eve 2 não indicou formação de complexo. Obtivemos um único resultado positivo para a interação entre CG9571 FL e eve 2. Por não ter sido reproduzido, consideramos o resultado inconclusivo e novos experimentos serão conduzidos para dar continuidade à investigação da hipótese do trabalho / The development of Drosophila segmentation pattern is established by a cascade of zygotic segmentation genes. The zygotic genes are grouped in three classes (gap, pair-rule and segment-polarity) and code for transcription factors (TF) that bind to cis-regulatory modules (CRMs) with activation or repression roles. The stripe 2 of the pair-rule gene even-skipped (eve 2) is activated by the maternal factors Bicoid and Hunchback and repressed by the gap proteins Giant and Krüppel. Later studies showed that Sloppy-paired 1 (Slp 1) and probably another forkhead transcription factor also act for eve 2 repression. The annotated gene CG9571 was isolated in a search for putative forkhead protein repressors of eve 2. Genetic studies confirmed this possibility and reveled that eve 1 could also be a target for this TF. The aim of this work was to verify the interaction of CG9571 with the CRMs eve 1 and eve 2. To reach this aim, we planned to obtain the binding domain of the protein (CG9571 BD) or of the full-length protein (CG9571 FL) and to test their in vitro interactions with the eve 1 and eve 2 fragments by the electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA). We obtained the necessary amount of DNA for the tests by PCR and plasmidial preparations of cloned versions of these CRMs that we already had in our laboratory. We made attempts to obtain CG9571 BD by in vitro transcription and translation system, but this strategy did not work and we adopted the cloning strategy to obtain the protein expressed by bacterial competent cells. CG9571 BD was cloned successfully, but we were not able to detect the polypeptide expression in two E. coli strains. We then turned to the CG9571 FL protein that we cloned and succeed to express it in bacteria, although we were not able to obtain the soluble recombinant form. We proceed for attempts of protein recovering from inclusion bodies. Different methods for solubilization, refolding and purification of the proteins were used. Extracts of the insoluble fraction solubilized in solutions with different urea concentrations were used in attempts of refolding and purification by affinity chromatography, but there was not significant CG9571 FL adsorption on columns with Ni2+ immobilized. We obtained impure preparations with CG9571 FL through procedures of refolding of these extracts and employed them on binding assays with the CRMs, but there was no gel shift detection. We observed reduction of the amount of DNA present in the binding reaction samples detected by ethidium bromide, but after further investigations this effect was considered the product of contaminant nuclease reaction from bacteria. Pure preparations of CG9571 FL were obtained by purification from SDS-PAGE, but there was no indication of complex formation on the most binding reaction assays with eve 1 and eve 2. We obtained only one positive result for the interaction between CG9571 FL and eve 2. However, the result was considered inconclusive because we were not able to reproduce it and new experiments will be conducted to investigate the hypothesis of this work
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"It's Parenting Whether You're the Grandparent or Parent": Grandfathers' Experiences Raising GrandchildrenRaymore, Avielle Nicole 19 November 2018 (has links)
No description available.
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Grandparents raising grandchildren: support and resource-related issuesJobe, John Andrew January 1900 (has links)
Master of Science / Department of Family Studies Human Services / Rick J. Scheidt / Currently in the United States there are 2.7 million grandparent caregivers caring for 5.4 million grandchildren, with 883,386 of these grandparents caring for their grandchildren without any assistance from the child’s biological parent. These grandparents have unique needs and require support services that understand and recognize those needs. However, many of the resources currently available are not designed to assist this population. This report explores many of the issues grandparents face when taking over as the primary caregiver for their grandchild. Specifically this report highlights the financial, legal, and medical issues, as well as the need for respite care and housing. These particular issues were selected because they are commonly cited as difficult areas to navigate for grandparent caregivers, and also because there are crucial resources in each of these areas that allow grandparents to successfully raise their grandchild. Without these tools, the process of raising the grandchild can prove extremely difficult for grandparents, which can have negative consequences on the grandchildren. In addition it offers suggestions for grandparents seeking assistance regarding these issues, also providing several resources. This report also offers guidance for grandparent caregiver advocates and encourages future research and scholarship to explore programs assisting this population.
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Antecedents of the Psychological Adjustment of Children and Grandparent Caregivers in Grandparent-Headed FamiliesJooste, Jane Louise 12 1900 (has links)
Grandparent-headed families are diverse in nature and represent a rapidly growing family type. While challenges facing grandparent caregivers are well documented, less is known about the well-being of their grandchildren, with many early studies relying on small samples of convenience. This study used an existing large national database, the National Survey of America's Families (NSAF), to compare differences in well-being of both children and grandparent caregivers across the independent variables of family type, ethnicity, gender, and age. Findings suggested better mental health and less parental aggravation for caregivers in traditional two parent intact families as compared to grandparents co-parenting in a multi-generation home, skipped generation grandparents (raising their grandchild with no parent present) or single parents. Skipped generation grandparents in particular reported most caregiver aggravation. Child physical health was reported to be worse by skipped generation grandparent caregivers. Behavior problems were reported to be worse for children in grandparent headed households than those in traditional families, particularly for teenagers raised in skipped generation households by their grandmothers. Specific results, limitations and future directions for research on grandparent-headed households were discussed.
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Conditions de vie des personnes âgées en Afrique Subsaharienne : cas de la vie dans un ménage à génération coupée au NigerIbrahima, Mahamane 08 1900 (has links)
Comme dans la plupart des pays francophones d’Afrique Subsaharienne, la question du vieillissement ou la situation des personnes âgées ne sont pas encore d’actualité au Niger, principalement à cause de la jeunesse de sa population d’une part et d’un intérêt plus porté sur les enfants, les adolescents et les mères d’autre part. Pourtant le Niger fait face à une crise économique sans précédent qui peut avoir des conséquences néfastes sur les conditions de vie des personnes âgées. D’un côté, selon la coutume, la personne âgée (généralement grand parent) s’occupe principalement des petits enfants (orphelins ou non) qui lui sont confiés par leurs parents vivant dans la même localité ou ailleurs, ou qui sont décédés. De l’autre, l’absence d’un jeune adulte dans un ménage où vit au moins une personne âgée est considérée comme un phénomène social préoccupant dans les pays à forte prévalence de VIH/SIDA. Le Niger fait partie des pays où la proportion des personnes âgées vivant avec des petits enfants en l’absence de leurs parents adultes est la plus élevée. Cependant, malgré une forte mortalité adulte, l’absence de données fiables ne permet pas de le classer parmi les pays à forte mortalité adulte due au VIH/SIDA. La raison de cette situation est donc à chercher dans les différences individuelles et communautaires.
Jusqu’au début des années 1990, la plupart des études sur les personnes âgées réalisées en Afrique Subsaharienne étaient basées sur les études qualitatives, tandis que les plus récentes sont faites à partir des données des recensements ou enquêtes sociodémoraphiques et économiques. Les conditions de vie des personnes âgées et les conséquences de la pauvreté et du VIH/SIDA sur celles-ci sont les principaux thèmes jusque-là couverts à l’aide des données existantes. Mais, il manque encore de données longitudinales essentielles à l’analyse de certains aspects du cycle de vie des personnes âgées. L’étude n’étant pas sociologique, c’est à l’aide de données démographiques quantitatives, plus précisément le recensement général de la population, que nous tenterons d’expliquer le phénomène sur une base exploratoire. L’analyse au niveau individuel a été faite à l’aide de la régression logistique sous STATA, tandis qu’au niveau contextuel, nous avons utilisé l’analyse multiniveau à l’aide du logiciel HLM (version 6.0). Les résultats indiquent que la vie en l’absence d’un jeune adulte et dans un ménage à génération coupée dépendent principalement du statut sociodémographique de la personne âgée au Niger. Par exemple, il ressort que le mariage avantage l’homme âgé, tandis que le veuvage l’isole plus que la femme âgée. Au niveau contextuel, ce sont les facteurs socioéconomiques qui influencent les conditions de vie des personnes âgées. L’étude montre, en effet, que le degré d’urbanisation d’une commune augmente le risque d’isolement d’une personne âgée qui y réside, alors que le niveau de pauvreté le réduit.
Toutefois, nos résultats sont à prendre avec prudence parce qu’en premier lieu il n’existe pas d’études références sur le sujet tant au Niger que dans la sous-région d’Afrique francophone sahélienne. Ensuite, parce que le phénomène étudié pourrait être mesuré de plusieurs manières en fonction du contexte et des données disponibles, et que l’analyse approfondie des effets du statut matrimonial nécessiterait une plus grande connaissance du phénomène chez les personnes âgées. Enfin, compte tenu de la faible prévalence du VIH/SIDA au Niger, les principaux facteurs explicatifs de la vie dans un ménage à génération coupée (aussi bien pour les personnes âgées que pour les enfants) pourraient être le confiage des enfants ou la mortalité adulte due aux autres causes telles que le paludisme, la tuberculose et les maladies infectieuses. Toutefois, l’absence d’informations relatives à ces aspects dans les données utilisées n’a pas permis de les intégrer dans notre étude.
Ainsi, compte tenu de la difficulté d’appréhender les contours du phénomène, les futurs programmes en faveur des personnes âgées au Niger et en Afrique Subsaharienne francophone doivent se baser sur des études concrètes relatives aux dimensions sociale et économique du phénomène.
Mots clés : Niger - personnes âgées - conditions de vie - mode de vie - cohabitation intergénérationnelle - études comparatives - absence d’un jeune adulte - ménage à génération coupée - Afrique. / Niger, like many other countries in Francophone Sub-Saharan Africa, has a young population and the living arrangements of older people are not high on the list of priority issues for politicians and researchers. However, Niger is one of the poorest countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and the ongoing economic crisis there can have adverse impacts on the welfare and alter the living arrangements of both old and young people. In many African societies like Niger, grandparents traditionally take care of grandchildren, and older people living in households with no younger adult present is not an unusual situation. At present, the living arrangements of the older population and orphans has attracted considerable attention especially in high HIV/AIDS prevalence countries where many younger adults have died. While HIV/AIDS is not yet a major problem in Niger, the proportion of older people who live with grandchildren in the absence of the middle generation (called the “skipped generation”) is nonetheless high – roughly the same level as that observed in some high HIV/AIDS prevalence countries in Africa.
Many studies on older people in Sub-Saharan Africa were done in the 1990s, using qualitative approaches or cross-sectional survey data (appropriate longitudinal data generally lacking in Africa). The main topics examined by these studies have tended to be the living arrangements of older people in high HIV/AIDS contexts, and the poverty consequences of those living arrangements. In this study, we use quantitative data to examine the living arrangements of older people in Niger, focusing both on individual and contextual covariates. Census data provide our main source of data, and the large number of observations available allows us to examine a relatively large number of covariates and situations. Logistic regressions estimated with STATA are used to study individual determinants, and HLM (6.0 version) software is used for the multilevel (contextual) analysis. With respect to the determinants of living with no (younger) adult or in a skipped generation household, the results show that socio-demographic status of older people is the most important variable for explaining the large sex differences in living arrangements. Interestingly, married women are more likely to live in such a household, while after the death of a spouse, men instead appear to be disadvantaged. At the contextual level, the results show that the socioeconomic characteristics are the most important factors. Specifically, the risk of living without a younger adult or in a skipped generation household is explained is larger in more urban areas, and smaller in communities that are relatively more impoverished.
Insofar as this is the first study to examine the issue in this part of Africa – the Francophone Sahel – no comparative results from nearby countries exist and the generality of our findings have yet to be confirmed. The living arrangements of older people can be measured in various ways, differing by context and availability of data, and a more detailed analysis, for example, of the effects of marital status requires a deep understanding of marriage among older people in the Nigeran context. Given the low prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Niger, the likely causes of the high prevalence of households in which older people live without the presence of a younger adult or in a skipped generation are high levels of adult mortality from other causes and child fostering practices. Unfortunately, information on these factors is largely missing from our data, making it impossible to directly examine their importance.
Finally, given the difficulties of studying these issues with existing data, evidence-based policy and programs targeting the elderly must pay more attention to social and economic dimensions, often requiring the fielding of surveys targeting the elderly.
Key words: Niger - Older people - living arrangements of older people – intergenerational living arrangement - comparative studies-living with no adult - skipped generation- Africa.
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Conditions de vie des personnes âgées en Afrique Subsaharienne : cas de la vie dans un ménage à génération coupée au NigerIbrahima, Mahamane 08 1900 (has links)
Comme dans la plupart des pays francophones d’Afrique Subsaharienne, la question du vieillissement ou la situation des personnes âgées ne sont pas encore d’actualité au Niger, principalement à cause de la jeunesse de sa population d’une part et d’un intérêt plus porté sur les enfants, les adolescents et les mères d’autre part. Pourtant le Niger fait face à une crise économique sans précédent qui peut avoir des conséquences néfastes sur les conditions de vie des personnes âgées. D’un côté, selon la coutume, la personne âgée (généralement grand parent) s’occupe principalement des petits enfants (orphelins ou non) qui lui sont confiés par leurs parents vivant dans la même localité ou ailleurs, ou qui sont décédés. De l’autre, l’absence d’un jeune adulte dans un ménage où vit au moins une personne âgée est considérée comme un phénomène social préoccupant dans les pays à forte prévalence de VIH/SIDA. Le Niger fait partie des pays où la proportion des personnes âgées vivant avec des petits enfants en l’absence de leurs parents adultes est la plus élevée. Cependant, malgré une forte mortalité adulte, l’absence de données fiables ne permet pas de le classer parmi les pays à forte mortalité adulte due au VIH/SIDA. La raison de cette situation est donc à chercher dans les différences individuelles et communautaires.
Jusqu’au début des années 1990, la plupart des études sur les personnes âgées réalisées en Afrique Subsaharienne étaient basées sur les études qualitatives, tandis que les plus récentes sont faites à partir des données des recensements ou enquêtes sociodémoraphiques et économiques. Les conditions de vie des personnes âgées et les conséquences de la pauvreté et du VIH/SIDA sur celles-ci sont les principaux thèmes jusque-là couverts à l’aide des données existantes. Mais, il manque encore de données longitudinales essentielles à l’analyse de certains aspects du cycle de vie des personnes âgées. L’étude n’étant pas sociologique, c’est à l’aide de données démographiques quantitatives, plus précisément le recensement général de la population, que nous tenterons d’expliquer le phénomène sur une base exploratoire. L’analyse au niveau individuel a été faite à l’aide de la régression logistique sous STATA, tandis qu’au niveau contextuel, nous avons utilisé l’analyse multiniveau à l’aide du logiciel HLM (version 6.0). Les résultats indiquent que la vie en l’absence d’un jeune adulte et dans un ménage à génération coupée dépendent principalement du statut sociodémographique de la personne âgée au Niger. Par exemple, il ressort que le mariage avantage l’homme âgé, tandis que le veuvage l’isole plus que la femme âgée. Au niveau contextuel, ce sont les facteurs socioéconomiques qui influencent les conditions de vie des personnes âgées. L’étude montre, en effet, que le degré d’urbanisation d’une commune augmente le risque d’isolement d’une personne âgée qui y réside, alors que le niveau de pauvreté le réduit.
Toutefois, nos résultats sont à prendre avec prudence parce qu’en premier lieu il n’existe pas d’études références sur le sujet tant au Niger que dans la sous-région d’Afrique francophone sahélienne. Ensuite, parce que le phénomène étudié pourrait être mesuré de plusieurs manières en fonction du contexte et des données disponibles, et que l’analyse approfondie des effets du statut matrimonial nécessiterait une plus grande connaissance du phénomène chez les personnes âgées. Enfin, compte tenu de la faible prévalence du VIH/SIDA au Niger, les principaux facteurs explicatifs de la vie dans un ménage à génération coupée (aussi bien pour les personnes âgées que pour les enfants) pourraient être le confiage des enfants ou la mortalité adulte due aux autres causes telles que le paludisme, la tuberculose et les maladies infectieuses. Toutefois, l’absence d’informations relatives à ces aspects dans les données utilisées n’a pas permis de les intégrer dans notre étude.
Ainsi, compte tenu de la difficulté d’appréhender les contours du phénomène, les futurs programmes en faveur des personnes âgées au Niger et en Afrique Subsaharienne francophone doivent se baser sur des études concrètes relatives aux dimensions sociale et économique du phénomène.
Mots clés : Niger - personnes âgées - conditions de vie - mode de vie - cohabitation intergénérationnelle - études comparatives - absence d’un jeune adulte - ménage à génération coupée - Afrique. / Niger, like many other countries in Francophone Sub-Saharan Africa, has a young population and the living arrangements of older people are not high on the list of priority issues for politicians and researchers. However, Niger is one of the poorest countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and the ongoing economic crisis there can have adverse impacts on the welfare and alter the living arrangements of both old and young people. In many African societies like Niger, grandparents traditionally take care of grandchildren, and older people living in households with no younger adult present is not an unusual situation. At present, the living arrangements of the older population and orphans has attracted considerable attention especially in high HIV/AIDS prevalence countries where many younger adults have died. While HIV/AIDS is not yet a major problem in Niger, the proportion of older people who live with grandchildren in the absence of the middle generation (called the “skipped generation”) is nonetheless high – roughly the same level as that observed in some high HIV/AIDS prevalence countries in Africa.
Many studies on older people in Sub-Saharan Africa were done in the 1990s, using qualitative approaches or cross-sectional survey data (appropriate longitudinal data generally lacking in Africa). The main topics examined by these studies have tended to be the living arrangements of older people in high HIV/AIDS contexts, and the poverty consequences of those living arrangements. In this study, we use quantitative data to examine the living arrangements of older people in Niger, focusing both on individual and contextual covariates. Census data provide our main source of data, and the large number of observations available allows us to examine a relatively large number of covariates and situations. Logistic regressions estimated with STATA are used to study individual determinants, and HLM (6.0 version) software is used for the multilevel (contextual) analysis. With respect to the determinants of living with no (younger) adult or in a skipped generation household, the results show that socio-demographic status of older people is the most important variable for explaining the large sex differences in living arrangements. Interestingly, married women are more likely to live in such a household, while after the death of a spouse, men instead appear to be disadvantaged. At the contextual level, the results show that the socioeconomic characteristics are the most important factors. Specifically, the risk of living without a younger adult or in a skipped generation household is explained is larger in more urban areas, and smaller in communities that are relatively more impoverished.
Insofar as this is the first study to examine the issue in this part of Africa – the Francophone Sahel – no comparative results from nearby countries exist and the generality of our findings have yet to be confirmed. The living arrangements of older people can be measured in various ways, differing by context and availability of data, and a more detailed analysis, for example, of the effects of marital status requires a deep understanding of marriage among older people in the Nigeran context. Given the low prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Niger, the likely causes of the high prevalence of households in which older people live without the presence of a younger adult or in a skipped generation are high levels of adult mortality from other causes and child fostering practices. Unfortunately, information on these factors is largely missing from our data, making it impossible to directly examine their importance.
Finally, given the difficulties of studying these issues with existing data, evidence-based policy and programs targeting the elderly must pay more attention to social and economic dimensions, often requiring the fielding of surveys targeting the elderly.
Key words: Niger - Older people - living arrangements of older people – intergenerational living arrangement - comparative studies-living with no adult - skipped generation- Africa.
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