IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0238320.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A high burden of adverse life events and poor coping mechanisms experienced by urban-dwelling black South Africans

Author

Listed:
  • Nasheeta Peer
  • Carl Lombard
  • Krisela Steyn
  • Naomi Levitt

Abstract

Aim: In view of the current context of poverty and socio-economic inequalities and the high and rising burdens of HIV infection and non-communicable diseases in South Africa, this study aims to describe the distribution of adverse life events (ALEs) by age and gender, and examine the socio-demographic characteristics, psychosocial coping mechanisms, risky lifestyle behaviours and family burden of HIV-related ill-health associated with ALEs in 25-74-year-old black residents of Cape Town. Materials and methods: In a random cross-sectional sample, 12 ALEs, tobacco and alcohol use, sense of coherence (SOC), locus of control (LOC) and impact of HIV in the family were determined by administered questionnaires. Data analyses included descriptive statistics adjusted for the realised sample. Multivariable linear regression models assessed the independent associations of increasing number of ALEs. Results: Among 1099 participants, mean lifetime score of ALE categories examined was 6.1 ±2.1 (range 0–12) with men reporting significantly higher number of events compared with women (p 50% of life in urban areas, >7 years of education, problematic alcohol use and poorer psychosocial coping mechanisms defined by low SOC and LOC. All four variables pertaining to HIV-related burden of ill-health in the family were significantly associated with increasing ALEs. Conclusions: Considering that lower SOC and LOC and problem drinking were significantly linked to ALEs, policymakers need to formulate strategies that improve coping mechanisms and promote problem-solving behaviours, target the high burden of alcohol misuse and address unemployment.

Suggested Citation

  • Nasheeta Peer & Carl Lombard & Krisela Steyn & Naomi Levitt, 2020. "A high burden of adverse life events and poor coping mechanisms experienced by urban-dwelling black South Africans," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(9), pages 1-11, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0238320
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0238320
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0238320
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0238320&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0238320?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ensminger, Margaret E. & Celentano, David D., 1988. "Unemployment and psychiatric distress: Social resources and coping," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 239-247, January.
    2. Deon Filmer & Lant Pritchett, 2001. "Estimating Wealth Effects Without Expenditure Data—Or Tears: An Application To Educational Enrollments In States Of India," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 38(1), pages 115-132, February.
    3. Schulz, A. & Israel, B. & Williams, D. & Parker, E. & Becker, A. & James, S., 2000. "Social inequalities, stressors and self reported health status among African American and white women in the Detroit metropolitan area," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 51(11), pages 1639-1653, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Diane Coffey & Ashwini Deshpande & Jeffrey Hammer & Dean Spears, 2019. "Local Social Inequality, Economic Inequality, and Disparities in Child Height in India," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 56(4), pages 1427-1452, August.
    2. Angus Deaton & Jean Dreze, 2008. "Nutrition in India: Facts and Interpretations," Working Papers 1071, Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Research Program in Development Studies..
    3. Cornelie Nienaber-Rousseau & Olusola F. Sotunde & Patricia O. Ukegbu & P. Hermanus Myburgh & Hattie H. Wright & Lize Havemann-Nel & Sarah J. Moss & Iolanthé M. Kruger & H. Salomé Kruger, 2017. "Socio-Demographic and Lifestyle Factors Predict 5-Year Changes in Adiposity among a Group of Black South African Adults," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-16, September.
    4. Kumar, Kaushalendra & Shukla, Ankita & Singh, Abhishek & Ram, Faujdar & Kowal, Paul, 2016. "Association between wealth and health among older adults in rural China and India," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 7(C), pages 43-52.
    5. Winters, P. & Kafle, K. & Benfica, R., 2018. "IFAD RESEARCH SERIES 21 - Does relative deprivation induce migration? Evidence from sub-Saharan Africa," IFAD Research Series 280070, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
    6. Langyintuo, Augustine S. & Mungoma, Catherine, 2008. "The effect of household wealth on the adoption of improved maize varieties in Zambia," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 550-559, December.
    7. Ravi Prakash & Abhishek Singh, 2014. "Who Marries Whom? Changing Mate Selection Preferences in Urban India and Emerging Implications on Social Institutions," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 33(2), pages 205-227, April.
    8. Samikshya Poudel & Timothy Dobbins & Husna Razee & Blessing Akombi-Inyang, 2023. "Adolescent Pregnancy in South Asia: A Pooled Analysis of Demographic and Health Surveys," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(12), pages 1-14, June.
    9. Tuccio, Michele & Wahba, Jackline & Hamdouch, Bachir, 2016. "International Migration: Driver of Political and Social Change?," IZA Discussion Papers 9794, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Johnston, David W. & Lordan, Grace, 2012. "Discrimination makes me sick! An examination of the discrimination–health relationship," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 99-111.
    11. Pritchett, Lant & Sumarto, Sudarno & Suryahadi, Asep, 2001. "Targeted Programs in an Economic Crisis: Empirical Findings from Indonesia’s Experience," MPRA Paper 58727, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Derek Headey & David Stifel & Liangzhi You & Zhe Guo, 2018. "Remoteness, urbanization, and child nutrition in sub‐Saharan Africa," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 49(6), pages 765-775, November.
    13. Barik, Debasis & Desai, Sonalde & Vanneman, Reeve, 2018. "Economic Status and Adult Mortality in India: Is the Relationship Sensitive to Choice of Indicators?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 176-187.
    14. Laetitia Duval & François-Charles Wolff, 2016. "Emigration intentions of Roma: evidence from Central and South-East Europe," Post-Communist Economies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(1), pages 87-107, January.
    15. Antonia Grohmann & Lukas Menkhoff & Helke Seitz, 2022. "The Effect of Personalized Feedback on Small Enterprises’ Finances in Uganda," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 70(3), pages 1197-1227.
    16. Paschalis Arvanitidis & Athina Economou & Christos Kollias, 2016. "Terrorism’s effects on social capital in European countries," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 169(3), pages 231-250, December.
    17. Christopher H. Herbst & Monique Vledder & Karen Campbell & Mirja Sjöblom & Agnes Soucat, 2011. "The Human Resources for Health Crisis in Zambia : An Outcome of Health Worker Entry, Exit, and Performance within the National Health Labor Market," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 5938, December.
    18. Janina Isabel Steinert & Lucie Dale Cluver & G. J. Melendez-Torres & Sebastian Vollmer, 2018. "One Size Fits All? The Validity of a Composite Poverty Index Across Urban and Rural Households in South Africa," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 136(1), pages 51-72, February.
    19. Pulkit Sharma & Achut Manandhar & Patrick Thomson & Jacob Katuva & Robert Hope & David A. Clifton, 2019. "Combining Multi-Modal Statistics for Welfare Prediction Using Deep Learning," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(22), pages 1-15, November.
    20. Janz, Teresa & Augsburg, Britta & Gassmann, Franziska & Nimeh, Zina, 2023. "Leaving no one behind: Urban poverty traps in Sub-Saharan Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0238320. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.