No. 66, Journal of Population StudiesPublished: 2023.06
Contents
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Special Topic Articles: Spatial Demography
DOI : 10.6191/JPS.202306_(66).0001
spatial heterogeneity, spatial autocorrelation, life expectancy, leading causes of death, explanatory data analysis
Abstract
Taiwan is not a large country, but the discrepancy in life expectancy
between areas is quite obvious. For example, in 2021, the difference in
male life expectancy between Taipei City and Taitung County, a remote
part of the southeast coast, is 9 years. We expect that the difference between
regions will become smaller with the increasing reach of public resources.
There is data through which this can be explored. Spatial heterogeneity
can be used to explore regional inequality; there are three types of tests for
checking spatial heterogeneity: global test, local test, and focused test. The
global test can be used to test whether the data are spatially homogeneous;
the local test is usually used to detect the location of high-risk areas (i.e.,
clusters); and the focused test can be used to confirm whether there are high
incidence rates around a specific area. In this study, we select three common
heterogeneity tests: Moran’s I (global test), SaTScan (local test), and Tango
score test (focused test), and evaluate whether these methods can detect
spatial autocorrelation and/or clusters via simulation and empirical analysis. The simulation study is performed on a two-dimensional space, with lattice
data of size 5 × 5, 7 × 7, 9 × 9, …, 21 × 21, under the assumption that
the data should satisfy spatial homogeneity, spatial autocorrelation, and
clustering. The empirical data considered are the overall township-level and
major cause mortality rates in Taiwan. We found that these methods provide
similar results in checking spatial homogeneity. Moran’s I is the most
sensitive test for spatial autocorrelation, and SaTScan is the best for testing
the existence of clusters, followed by Tango score test. We also apply these
methods to the mortality rates of the top three major causes of death (cancer,
heart disease, and pneumonia) in Taiwan. We found that they change
steadily, with the difference in mortality rates between two consecutive
years satisfying spatially heterogeneity, while most clusters of mortality
rates are located in the southeastern mountain areas. In general, there are
still regional inequalities in the main causes of death.
Keywords: spatial heterogeneity, spatial autocorrelation, life expectancy, leading causes of death, explanatory data analysis
Keywords: spatial heterogeneity, spatial autocorrelation, life expectancy, leading causes of death, explanatory data analysis
DOI : 10.6191/JPS.202306_(66).0002
childhood obesity, Taiwanese popular restaurants, handshaken drinks, Taiwanese fried chicken, Taiwanese braised dishes
Abstract
Taiwan ranks as the top nation for childhood obesity in Asia. Clarifying the risk factors for childhood obesity is increasingly an important environmental health issue for local communities. Based on the Longitudinal Investigation of Global Health in Taiwanese Schoolchildren
(LIGHTS) database of Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, the obesityrelated body hormone index information for 1,383 schoolchildren aged 6-7
in 2016 was obtained in this study. The spatial distribution information for
Taiwanese popular restaurants serving high-calorie foods such as handshaken drinks, Taiwanese fried chicken, and Taiwanese braised dishes
was assessed through Google multi-platform. A generalized linear model
was used to investigate the association between the spatial distribution of
Taiwanese restaurants and obesity in primary school schoolchildren with
the adjustment of the covariates. The results show a positive association
between the level of leptin and the distribution of all three types of dining
restaurants within a 200 m buffer range surrounding the children’s homes.
The effects reached statistical significance (p < .05), specifically in the
distribution of Taiwanese fried chicken and Taiwanese braised dishes. The
results remained positive for several sensitivity tests and subgroup analyses.
Keywords: childhood obesity, Taiwanese popular restaurants, handshaken drinks, Taiwanese fried chicken, Taiwanese braised dishes
Keywords: childhood obesity, Taiwanese popular restaurants, handshaken drinks, Taiwanese fried chicken, Taiwanese braised dishes
Research Articles
DOI : 10.6191/JPS.202306_(66).0003
always-single, individual characteristics, living arrangements, family relations, social participation
Abstract
Over the past 30 years, marriage and birth behaviors have gone
through tremendous change in Taiwan. Not only are people delaying
marriage and birth, but rate of lifetime singlehood has increased as well,
thus projecting a higher prevalence of the always-single. This study explores
different aspects of the always-single, including their (1) demographic
characteristics on the individual level, (2) living arrangements and family
relations on the family level, and (3) social support and social participation
on the societal level. We use six datasets from the Taiwan Social Change
Survey 1991-2016 (included “Family” and “Gender” Modules), the “Social
Network and Social Resources” Module in Taiwan Social Change Survey
2017, and Population and Housing Census of 1991, 2000, and 2010. In our
samples, we divide marriage status into the “always-single,” who are single
and have no children and the “ever-married,” which includes the married,
separated, divorced, and windowed. To lower the influence of future change of marriage status, we limit the sample cohort to 40-59 years of age. Results
show that (1) on the individual level, even though the influence of social and
economic status on being single still exhibits gender differences, the image
of single men being losers and single women being successful and careeroriented has weakened. (2) On the family level, the most obvious change
is the decrease of single men living alone, and the increase of living with
parents for both single men and women. Meanwhile, single children provide
increased assistance to their parents, especially in the case of single women,
which implies care for the elderly is still a women’s job. However, parents
provide more assistance to single children than ever-married children as
well. (3) On the societal level, the always-single have more social support
than the ever-married, and this social support shows gender differences.
Single men tend to seek help related to housework, while single women’s
requests for help are more affection and emotion-based. The frequency of
ever-married women going to gatherings other than with family members
is the lowest. This supports the notion that women’s social contact drops
drastically after marriage. For the frequency of engaging in social activities,
single men are obviously lower than the others, which shows their tendency
to shut themselves in at home.
Keywords: always-single, individual characteristics, living arrangements, family relations, social participation
Keywords: always-single, individual characteristics, living arrangements, family relations, social participation