Zafar Nazarov

Parent-Reported Height and Weight as Sources of Bias in Survey Estimates of Childhood Obesity

Parental reporting of height and weight was evaluated for US children aged 2-13 years. The prevalence of obesity (defined as a body mass index value (calculated as weight (kg)/height (m)(2)) in the 95th percentile or higher) and its height and weight components were compared in child supplements of 2 nationally representative surveys: the 1996-2008 Children of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 Cohort (NLSY79-Child) and the 1997 Child Development Supplement of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID-CDS). Sociodemographic differences in parent reporting error were analyzed. Error was largest for children aged 2-5 years. Underreporting of height, not overreporting of weight, generated a strong upward bias in obesity prevalence at those ages. Frequencies of parent-reported heights below the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions (Atlanta, Georgia) first percentile were implausibly high at 16.5% (95% confidence interval (CI): 14.3, 19.0) in the NLSY79-Child and 20.6% (95% CI: 16.0, 26.3) in the PSID-CDS. They were highest among low-income children at 33.2% (95% CI: 22.4, 46.1) in the PSID-CDS and 26.2% (95% CI: 20.2, 33.2) in the NLSY79-Child. Bias in the reporting of obesity decreased with childrens age and reversed direction at ages 12-13 years. Underreporting of weight increased with age, and underreporting of height decreased with age. We recommend caution to researchers who use parent-reported heights, especially for very young children, and offer practical solutions for survey data collection and research on child obesity.

Multiple Imputation For Combined-Survey Estimation With Incomplete Regressors In One But Not Both Surveys.

Within-survey multiple imputation (MI) methods are adapted to pooled-survey regression estimation where one survey has more regressors, but typically fewer observations, than the other. This adaptation is achieved through (1) larger numbers of imputations to compensate for the higher fraction of missing values, (2) model-fit statistics to check the assumption that the two surveys sample from a common universe, and (3) specifying the analysis model completely from variables present in the survey with the larger set of regressors, thereby excluding variables never jointly observed. In contrast to the typical within-survey MI context, cross-survey missingness is monotonic and easily satisfies the missing at random assumption needed for unbiased MI. Large efficiency gains and substantial reduction in omitted variable bias are demonstrated in an application to sociodemographic differences in the risk of child obesity estimated from two nationally representative cohort surveys.

Evaluation of Bias in Estimates of Early Childhood Obesity From Parent-Reported Heights and Weights

OBJECTIVES We evaluated bias in estimated obesity prevalence owing to error in parental reporting. We also evaluated bias mitigation through application of Centers for Disease Control and Preventions biologically implausible value (BIV) cutoffs. METHODS We simulated obesity prevalence of children aged 2 to 5 years in 2 panel surveys after counterfactually substituting parameters estimated from 1999-2008 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data for prevalence of extreme height and weight and for proportions obese in extreme height or weight categories. RESULTS Heights reported below the first and fifth height-for-age percentiles explained between one half and two thirds, respectively, of total bias in obesity prevalence. Bias was reduced by one tenth when excluding cases with height-for-age and weight-for-age BIVs and by one fifth when excluding cases with body mass-index-for-age BIVs. Applying BIVs, however, resulted in incorrect exclusion of nonnegligible proportions of obese children. CONCLUSIONS Correcting the reporting of childrens heights in the first percentile alone may reduce overestimation of early childhood obesity prevalence in surveys with parental reporting by one half to two thirds. Excluding BIVs has limited effectiveness in mitigating this bias.

Trends and Patterns in Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) Charges.

The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) protects individuals aged 40 years and over from discrimination throughout the employment process. Using data on ADEA charges from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission from 1993 to 2010, we present labor force–adjusted charge rates demonstrating that the highest charge rates are among those in the preretirement age range, and only the rate of charges among those aged 65 years and older has not decreased. We examine characteristics of ADEA charges including the prevalence of different alleged discriminatory actions (or issues) and highlight the increasing proportion of age discrimination charges that are jointly filed with other antidiscrimination statutes. Through a regression analysis, we find that the likelihood of citing various issues differs by charging party characteristics, such as age, gender, and minority status, and on charges that cite only age discrimination as compared to those that are jointly filed. Implications of these findings for employers are discussed.

The Impact of Sub‐National Institutions

This paper assesses the effect of sub‐national institutions on the economic performance of Russias regions (oblasts, republics, krais and okrugs) from 2001 to 2008, a period of rapid economic advancement and recentralization. Approximating sub‐national institutions with the RA Expert index of investment risk, we find that a reduction in investment risk by one standard deviation increases output by 1.4 percent in the short run and 11.9 percent in the long run, suggesting a substantial regional performance gap in government practices, despite intensive political recentralization. Assuming that the main components of effective governance are running satisfactory public health programmes aimed at decreasing overall mortality among the working‐age population, creating fair labour market conditions and improving the regional institutional climate to encourage investment in fixed assets, we argue that sub‐national institutions remain important for growth in post‐Soviet Russia after 2000. This paper contributes to the literature on institutional persistence.

Employer Characteristics Associated With Discrimination Charges Under the Americans With Disabilities Act

Using two administrative data sets from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), this study examines the relationship between employer and environmental characteristics and Americans With Disability Act (ADA) discrimination charge rate. Results of a multiple regression analysis using a sample of mid- to large-sized private employers indicate that establishment size is negatively correlated with ADA charge rate, whereas several other employer characteristics are positively associated with charge rate, including parent organization size, federal contractor status, transportation or services industries, and relatively high minority representation. One of the main concerns of contemporary disability policy is reducing discrimination in employment, and our findings can inform employers, policymakers, and organizations working with employers to reduce perceived discrimination by identifying those employers most likely to receive charges. Further research is needed to better understand what specific behaviors, practices, and policies within these different types of establishments explain their differential charge rates.

Comparison of Employer Factors in Disability and Other Employment Discrimination Charges.

Purpose: We explore whether certain employer characteristics predict Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) charges and whether the same characteristics predict receipt of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act charges. Method: We estimate a set of multivariate regressions using the ordinary least squares method. Results: Most employer-level characteristics that predict the receipt of ADA charges also predict the receipt of other types of discrimination charges. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that educational outreach efforts aimed at reducing the level of perceived disability discrimination in the workplace can be more efficient by targeting employer groups who are likely to receive charges under not only the ADA but also other statutes as well.

Impact of Parental Welfare Participation: Transition to Postsecondary Education for Youth with and without Disabilities.

Youth with disabilities have much lower participation rates in postsecondary education compared with youth without disabilities. There is a need to understand ecological factors that influence their differential participation. This research examined the impact of parental receipt of welfare on postsecondary enrollment among youth with disabilities. Through a multivariate linear probability analysis of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), receipt of welfare benefits was observed to predict nearly one third of the adjusted probability difference in attending postsecondary education between youth with and without disabilities. The effects of parental and school characteristics on the probability of attending postsecondary education are also explored, and implications for service providers, practitioners, and researchers in transition to adulthood are discussed.

Russia’s regions: governance and Well-being, 2000-2008

This paper assesses the impact of the quality of governance on economic performance in Russia’s 83 regions (Oblasts, Republics, Krais and Okrugs) from 2000 to 2008, a period of rapid economic advancement. Defining governance broadly as how authority is exercised, and using as a proxy a measure of the investment risk by region, this paper contributes to the literature on identifying the economic impact of governance. Our results find a significant association between governance in Russia’s diverse regions and economic well-being, that is, we find a performance gap in government practices. Specifically, our study shows that the main components of effective governance are the ability of the government to run effective public health programs aimed at decreasing the overall mortality rate among the working-age population, to create fair labor market conditions for all individuals who are still capable of working, and to improve the investment climate in the region leading to a higher level of investment in fixed assets. Our results implicitly suggest that effective governance comprises the tangible aspects of policymaking such as the adoption of effective public health, investment and labor policies and most importantly, for the regions of Russian Federation, although effective governance can be also an artifact of unobserved and unmeasurable managerial attributes of the local government to implement federal and region level laws and regulations

Can Benefits and Work Incentives Counseling Be a Path to Future Economic Self-Sufficiency for SSI/SSDI Beneficiaries?

In this paper, we estimate the effect of benefits and work incentives counseling services on labor market outcomes of Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) beneficiaries participating in the vocational rehabilitation (VR) programs in the period between 2003 and 2009 in New York State. By explicitly controlling for non-random selection of beneficiaries into the services using the propensity score matching and instrumental variable methods, the paper contributes to the literature by providing more precise estimates of causal relationships between benefits and work incentives counseling services and several labor market outcomes of beneficiaries. We find that the effect of benefits and work incentives counseling on the probability of successful case closure can be positive, but in certain cases is not statistically significant. At the same time, the estimates of the effects of benefits and work incentives counseling on earnings and working hours at closure are positive and substantial in magnitude. The provision of benefits and work incentives counseling can be considered as a first and important step toward achieving financial independence for the large group of SSI/SSDI beneficiaries with strong employment goals.