M Allik

Developing a new small-area measure of deprivation using 2001 and 2011 census data from Scotland

Material deprivation contributes to inequalities in health; areas of high deprivation have higher rates of ill-health. How deprivation is measured has a great impact on its explanatory power with respect to health. We compare previous deprivation measures used in Scotland and proposes a new deprivation measure using the 2001 and 2011 Scottish census data. We calculate the relative index of inequality (RII) for self-reported health and mortality. While across all age groups different deprivation measures provide similar results, the assessment of health inequalities among those aged 20–29 differs markedly according to the deprivation measure. In 2011 the RII for long-term health problem for men aged 20–24 was only 0.71 (95% CI 0.60–0.83) using the Carstairs score, but 1.10 (0.99–1.21) for the new score and 1.13 (1.03–1.24) for the income domain of Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD). The RII for mortality in that age group was 1.25 (0.89–1.58) for the Carstairs score, 1.69 (1.35–2.02) for the new measure and 1.76 (1.43–2.08) for SIMD. The results suggest that researchers and policy makers should consider the suitability of deprivation measures for different social groups.

Who stands in the way of women? Open vs. closed lists and candidate gender in Estonia

The literature on womens descriptive representation has looked at the debate on open and closed lists as a choice between electoral systems. This article instead focuses on whether voters or the parties are biased against female candidates. Using data from six Estonian elections, the article finds that voters are not consistently biased against female candidates and open lists do not necessarily decrease womens representation. However, unknown and non-incumbent female candidates fare significantly worse than similar men. The analysis also shows that parties do not place women in electable positions on closed lists, and closed lists do not improve womens representation.

Small-area deprivation measure datasets for Scotland, 2001 and 2011

These data present a new small-area deprivation measure, but also include a variety of other indicators, such as the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) and the Carstairs score. The data are for Scottish 2001 Datazones and for the years 2001 and 2011. In addition the data provide standardised self-reported measures of general health and limiting long-term illness. The theoretical background for developing the new deprivation measure, and the implications of using different measures to study health inequalities are discussed in “Developing a new small-area measure of deprivation using 2001 and 2011 census data from Scotland” (Allik et al., 2016) [1].

Welfare state and representation: do women make the welfare state or does the welfare state make women representatives?

The relationship between welfare states and womens representation in parliaments has been of great interest to scholars. However, different strands of the literature on gender and political representation suggest opposing directions of causality. On the one hand it is argued that a rise in welfare spending increases womens representation in parliaments, but on the other hand, more women in parliaments is said to expand welfare spending. This paper analyses the problem empirically and finds that the lagged values of womens parliamentary representation are better predictors of welfare spending than the lagged values of spending are of womens per cent in parliaments. In other words, women make the welfare state and welfare spending does not make female representatives.

OP17 Ethnic differences in ill health and in socioeconomic inequalities in health: population study using 2011 scottish census

Background Much has been written about high rates of poor health and health inequalities in Scotland, increasingly it is shown how these outcomes vary by ethnicity. Scottish Government has made a policy commitment to understand and address inequalities in health among minority ethnic groups. This study contributes to this by comparing health outcomes and socioeconomic inequalities in health across ethnicities Methods Two self-reported health measures, poor general health and limiting long-term illness (LLTI), by 5 year age groups, ethnicity and area (Datazones; population mean=815, sd=275) from the 2011 Scottish Census were examined. Ethnicity was self-reported and grouped into 9 main categories. This paper focused on the 5 largest groups: White Scottish (n=4,445,678), White British (n=417,109), White Irish (n=54,090), Other White (n=167,530) and Asian (n=140,678) and ages 0–64. Deprivation was measured using Census based indices and SIMD. Age standardised rates of ill health per 1000 people were calculated for these groups and by deprivation quintiles. Inequalities by area deprivation were measured using the slope index of inequality (SII). Results For ages 0–64 the standardised rates are lowest for Other Whites and highest for White Scottish for both measures of ill health (LLTI rates respectively 89.1 and 134.9). Differences are greatest for younger adults, LLTI rate for Other Whites aged 15–29 is 32.4, but for White Scottish 71.7, for ages 30–44 these rates are 63.6 and 124.2 respectively. On average White Scottish had poorer health than White British and Irish, both of who are also least likely to live in the most deprived areas. For ages 0–64 inequalities in health were highest for White Scottish (for LLTI the SII=164.4, 95% CI=163.1–165.7), but not much lower for White British (SII=150.8, CI=146.2–155.4) and Irish (SII=145.2, CI=133.6–156.8). Inequalities were much lower among Asians (SII=74.2, CI=64.1–84.1) and among Other Whites (SII=59.3, CI=51.3–66.9). Differences in health inequalities between ethnicities were greatest for ages 30–44. Ill health and inequalities among Asians increased more rapidly for older ages and were similar to White Scottish for those 60+. Results White Scottish have poorer health compared to other ethnicities, but are also more likely to live in deprived areas compared to White British and Irish. Deprivation affects the health of all ethnicities, but much less so for some groups. Health inequalities are highest among White Scottish, similar for British and Irish, and significantly lower for Asians and Other Whites. This suggests that cultural and/or behavioural factors may reduce the effect of material deprivation on health.