MEASURING SOCIAL CONNECTION

AND CHILDREN’S WELL-BEING:

AHDSS PROGRESS AND ANALYSIS

WBCA Colloquium

May 5, 2009

Goals

1) Identify meaningful and efficient indicators of

social connection in the Children’s Well Being and

Social Connection (CWSC) data

2) Manipulate the AHDSS database to represent

children’s social connections in light of the

analysis of the CWSC

3) Assess the explanatory power and

representativeness of the new social connections

database

Three Types of Social Connection

1) Household – addressed elsewhere (e.g. Madhavan

and Schatz)

2) Interhousehold kinship relationships

3) Extra-familial relationships (we will save these for

a rainy day)

Provisional kinship model

Child

#1

Mother Father

Child

#2

Child

#3

Maternal

Aunties,

Uncles

Paternal

Aunties,

Uncles

Grand

parents

Status Check

Date Step

January 2009 Extraction of AHDSS data with

preliminary Migrant Reconciliation (MR)

Throughout 2009 Construction of Social Connections

Database using preliminary data

Second half 2009 Extended Migrant Reconciliation

2010 Preparation and analysis of social

connections database with full MR

TODAY Preliminary analysis of Father Status

Circumscribed kinship model

Child

#1

Mother Father

Child

#2

Child

#3

Maternal

Aunties,

Uncles

Paternal

Aunties,

Uncles

Grand

parents

AHDSS Father Status Module

Implemented as part of 2007 census

Current location/survival

Past location

Personal contact

Formal/informal support

Intended to cover all resident children age 0-17 in

original 18 study villages

We observed 94% of eligible children interviewed

Father’s Location

Location Total Percentage

Same Household 12,084 50.2%

Same Village 2,964 12.3%

Agincourt Area 2,352 9.8%

Bushbuckridge Area 1,551 6.4%

Elsewhere 1,929 8.0%

Dead 3,172 13.2%

Total 24,052 100.0%

Father’s Location, with adjustment for

temporary migration

Location Total Percentage

Same Household, non-migrant 5,256 21.9%

Same Household, temporary migrant 6,828 28.4%

Same Village 2,964 12.3%

Agincourt Area 2,352 9.8%

Bushbuckridge Area 1,551 6.4%

Elsewhere 1,929 8.0%

Dead 3,172 13.2%

Total 24,052 100.0%

Father’s Location, by child sex

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Female Male

Dead

Elsewhere

Bushbuckridge Area

Agincourt Area

Same Village

Same Household, temporary migrant

Same Household, non-migrant

Father’s Location, by child age

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

0-3 4-7 8-11 12-15 16-17 Total

Dead

Elsewhere

Bushbuckridge Area

Agincourt Area

Same Village

Same Household, temporary migrant

Same Household, non-migrant

Paternal contact in past month if father

alive, by father location

Father Location Any Avg. Days

Same Household, non-migrant 96.6% 25.9

Same Household, temporary migrant 85.4% 8.3

Same Village 50.2% 6.2

Agincourt Area 35.5% 2.9

Bushbuckridge Area 26.4% 2.1

Elsewhere 20.2% 2.4

Total 67.3% 10.9

Paternal support if father alive,

by father location

Father LocationSchool Fees

Financial Support*

Any Support

Same household, non-migrant 92% 96% 98%

Same household, temporary migrant 92% 97% 98%

Same Village 34% 40% 51%

Agincourt Area 23% 32% 41%

Bushbuckridge Area 22% 30% 38%

Elsewhere 19% 27% 34%

Total 64% 70% 78%

* - Informal financial support or formal child support order paid in past month

Any paternal support if father alive,

by father location and child sex

Father Location Female Male

Same Household, non-migrant 98% 98%

Same Household, temporary migrant 98% 98%

Same Village 48% 54%

Agincourt Area 41% 42%

Bushbuckridge Area 35% 40%

Elsewhere 35% 34%

Total 77% 79%

Any paternal support if father alive,

by father location and age category

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

0-3 4-7 8-11 12-15 16-17

Same household, non-migrant

Same household, temporary migrant

Same Village

Agincourt Area

Bushbuckridge Area

Elsewhere

Simplified mother’s location

15,86266%

4,47618%

2,0849%

1,6107%

Mother same household, non-migrant

Mother same household, temporary migrant

Mother elsewhere

Mother dead

Simplified father’s location if mother is

dead

18111%

22114%

62939%

57936%

Father same household, non-migrant

Father same household, temporary migrant

Father elsewhere

Father dead

Articulating to qualitative model of

functional kinship connections

What specific pathways can be measured?

What general relationships can be summarized (e.g. we lose rich content but capture general pathway)

What patterns can be captured with modest improvements to existing AHDSS?

Types of relationships

Dimensions of functional connection

What can be captured through one-off survey including migrants, friends, institutions, etc?

What is our current ceiling?

Father’s household membership history

12,08450%

2,44810%

9,68940%

Current Household MemberFormer Household MemberNever Household Member

Father’s household membership history

17,40073%

2,83412%

3,69915%

Current DSA ResidentFormer DSA ResidentNever DSA Resident

Biomarkers and social markers…

Sustained health and mortality like HIV/AIDS

necessitates a reordering of social connections, with

implications for social continuity (de Waal)

An impact evaluation of ART interventions could

and should address impacts not merely on the

AIDS-infected, but also on the AIDS-affected

Whatever we achieve through retrospective

manipulation, the Health, Demographic, and Social

Surveillance System (HDSSS) remains in sight