Socio-economic status and the family's role in achieving health and well-being for all

Termin

26.11.2024, 10:00 – 11:30 Uhr, in Präsenz, Online-Teilnahme möglich

Referent

Frederik Booysen, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa

Abstract

The family, as the oldest and most universal of institutions in society, represents an important pathway to realising the third sustainable development goal (SDG) of health and well-being for all. While the associations in South Africa between SES, family functioning and well-being are relatively well established, this research has not as yet fully explored how quality-of-life dynamics play out in families. The aim of our paper is to explore the family's role in realising SDG3. Using data from the Gauteng City Region Observatory’s seventh Gauteng Quality of Life Survey conducted in 2023/24, we employ Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) to determine whether the extent to which family functioning predicts health and well-being, differ by socio-economic status (SES). For higher and lower SES, measured using a household wealth index, we specify a direct effect of family functioning on health and well-being. Our measure of family functioning is the three-item Brief Assessment of Family Functioning Scale (BAFFS) and our measures of health and well-being include physical health, mental health (PHQ-2), and global life satisfaction. We also specify indirect mediating effects in the model, which allows us to determine through which family-relevant domains of satisfaction an improvement in family functioning enhances individual health and well-being among the poor as opposed to the affluent. For the mediators, we use self-reported satisfaction with family life, with personal money and time, with leisure time, and with friends. To account for the potential role of family structure in moderating these direct and indirect effects, we use information on household size and composition and the household head's sex.

Vortragssprache

Englisch