Dataset Information

Punitive Social Policy and Vital Inequality.

ABSTRACT: Geographical inequalities in life and death are among the world's most pronounced in the United States. However, the driving forces behind this macroscopic variation in population health outcomes remain surprisingly understudied, both empirically and theoretically. The present article steps into this breach by assessing a number of theoretically informed hypotheses surrounding the underlying causes of such spatial heterogeneity. Above and beyond a range of usual suspects, such as poverty, unemployment, and ethno-racial disparities, we find that a hitherto neglected explanans is prison incarceration. In particular, through the use of previously unavailable county-level panel data and a compound instrumentation technique suited to isolating exogenous treatment variation, high imprisonment rates are shown to substantially increase the population-wide risk of premature death. Our findings contribute to the political economy of population health by relating the rise of the carceral state to the amplification of geographically anchored unequal life chances.

SUBMITTER: Nosrati E

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8435832 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Punitive Social Policy and Vital Inequality.

Nosrati Elias E King Lawrence P LP

International journal of health services : planning, administration, evaluation 20210609 4

Geographical inequalities in life and death are among the world's most pronounced in the United States. However, the driving forces behind this macroscopic variation in population health outcomes remain surprisingly understudied, both empirically and theoretically. The present article steps into this breach by assessing a number of theoretically informed hypotheses surrounding the underlying causes of such spatial heterogeneity. Above and beyond a range of usual suspects, such as poverty, unempl ...[more]

PMID: 34106778

Similar Datasets

Project description:AimsTo estimate the association between punitive policies for women with substance use during pregnancy and odds of neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) diagnosis among Medicaid-insured infants, and to estimate this association controlling for the presence of four other policies related to substance use in pregnancy.Design, setting and participantsAnalysis of live births in Medicaid claims data from 39 US states in varying years between 2006 and 2014 using weighted generalized linear models with clustered standard errors and state and year fixed-effects.MeasurementsNAS rates in states without punitive policies were compared with rates in states with policies before and after policy enactment using logistic regression models adjusted for individual and county-level factors and including state and year fixed-effects. We estimated odds of NAS controlling for the presence of a potentially treatment-deterring policy requiring reporting of suspected prenatal substance use, and three treatment-supportive policies that create targeted programs for pregnant and postpartum women, prioritize pregnant women's access to substance use disorder treatment programs and prohibit discrimination towards pregnant women in treatment programs.FindingsAmong 9 714 798 weighted live births (1 896 082 unweighted), 49 670 (0.51%) had an NAS diagnosis. The findings were inconclusive as to whether or not punitive policies were associated with odds of NAS either in the short or long term. Odds of NAS among infants born in states with reporting policies were lower than those born in states without such policies [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 0.77, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.61-0.98].ConclusionsIn the United States, punitive policies for women with substance use during pregnancy do not appear to be associated with lower odds of neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS). Reporting policies, which are heterogenous in their components and implementation, appear to be associated with lower odds of NAS when controlling for other relevant policies.

Dataset Information

Punitive Social Policy and Vital Inequality.

Publications

Punitive Social Policy and Vital Inequality.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets