Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33902451›Full record

ArticleBMC medical research methodology2021

Development of a temporally harmonized asset index: evidence from across 50 years of follow up of a birth cohort in Guatemala.

Jithin Sam Varghese, John A Maluccio, Solveig A Cunningham, Manuel Ramirez-Zea, Aryeh D Stein

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Article in BMC medical research methodology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

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4citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed.

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Jithin Sam VargheseNutrition and Health Sciences Program, Laney Graduate School, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
John A MaluccioEconomics Department at Middlebury College, Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT, USA.
Solveig A CunninghamHubert Department of Global Health, Emory University, 1518 Clifton Rd NE, #7007, Atlanta, GA, 30322, USA.
Manuel Ramirez-ZeaINCAP Research Centre for the Prevention of Chronic Diseases (CIIPEC), Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama (INCAP), Guatemala City, Guatemala.
Aryeh D SteinHubert Department of Global Health, Emory University, 1518 Clifton Rd NE, #7007, Atlanta, GA, 30322, USA. aryeh.stein@emory.edu.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundAsset-based indices are widely-used proxy measures of wealth in low and middle-income countries (LMIC). The stability of these indices within households over time is not known.

methodsWe develop a harmonized household asset index using Principal Component Analysis for the participants (n = 2392) of INCAP Longitudinal Study, Guatemala using data from six waves of follow-up over the period of 1965-2018. We estimate its cross-sectional association with parental schooling (in 1967-75) and attained schooling (in 2015-18) of cohort members. We study how patterns of cross-sectional loadings change over time and between urban-rural settings. We assess its robustness to omission of assets or study waves and alternate specifications of factor extraction procedure (exploratory factor analysis, multiple correspondence analysis).

resultsThe harmonized index constructed using 8 assets and 11 housing characteristics explained 32.4% of the variance. Most households increased in absolute wealth over time with median wealth (25th percentile, 75th percentile; households) increasing from - 3.74 (- 4.42, - 3.07; 547) in 1967 to 2.08 (1.41, 2.67; 1145) in 2017-18. Ownership of television, electricity, quality of flooring and sanitary installation explained the largest proportion of variance. The index is positively associated with measures of schooling (maternal: r = 0.16; paternal: r = 0.10; attained: r = 0.35, all p < 0.001). In 2015-18, house ownership versus housing characteristics and ownership of electronic goods differentiate households in urban and rural areas respectively. The index is robust for omission of assets or study waves, indicator categorization and factor extraction method.

conclusionA temporally harmonized asset index constructed from consistently administered surveys in a cohort setting over time may allow study of associations of life-course social mobility with human capital outcomes in LMIC contexts. The approach permits exploration of trends in household wealth of the sample over a follow-up period against repeated cross-sectional surveys which permit the estimation of only the mean trajectory.

Indexed as

Rural PopulationCross-Sectional StudiesFollow-Up StudiesGuatemalaHumansLongitudinal StudiesSocioeconomic FactorsBirth cohortLife course epidemiologySocial mobility

Identifiers

PMID33902451
PMCPMC8074514

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