This research idea was submitted to Queen’s University Science shop by the North Down Community Network (NDCN).
Proposal from NDCN – To carry out research using NI Census information to develop profiles of particular areas within North Down and help identify unmet needs and the degree of resource allocation and investment per area.
Previous research has identified how the household environment, work and family composition can determine a person’s well-being, physical and mental health. One strand of such research has focused on household characteristics, although this has mostly been applied within the continental European context and only rarely within the context of the UK, especially Northern Ireland. Understanding the household structure based on its social, work and family composition and its impact on mental health/health would provide valuable evidence for practitioners, advocacy groups and local government.
The project is concerned with the impact of residential (im)mobility on the later health, labour market and educational outcomes of rural residents in 1991 and 2001. In particular, an answer is sought to the question of whether moves from remote rural areas to urban areas lead to more favourable outcomes in comparison with those who live continuously in rural areas. One level of analysis will be to look at the changing demography of places through time, considering how residential mobility socially sifts the population, and whether rural areas lose younger population.
Gerontological research repeatedly found a link between being socially isolated and ill physical and mental health of older people (Coyle and Dugan 2012; Hemmesch et al. 2012; Locher et al. 2005). Living alone and being childless have been found to enhance the risk of becoming isolated at older ages (Coyle and Dugan 2012; Wall 1984; Burholt and Scharf 2013). Furthermore, the risk of isolation was found to increase with decreasing physical mobility and health (Victor, Burholt, and Martin 2012; Coyle and Dugan 2012), as actively taking part in local community life becomes more difficult.
Northern Ireland is a small open economy which has undergone a major transformation in migration flows. The accession of eight Eastern European countries to the EU in 2004 resulted in increased migration to Northern Ireland, with a peak net migration of 10,900 in 2007 (NISRA, 2013). In January 2014, Romanian and Bulgarian EU restrictions were removed, and many more migrants are expected to arrive in Northern Ireland. Research indicates that the new migrants are not following traditional patterns of settlement into cities, but are settling in rural towns and villages that do not have experience with the processes of immigration (Jarman, 2006).
Political and policy debates about social-rented housing focus on low spatial mobility and reduced chances of upward social mobility. Academics have also considered the concepts of housing entrapment and selective placement (Smith & Easterlow, 2005). There is also wider academic literature on the inter-relationships between: housing tenure, health, and wider dimensions of social wellbeing, and the measurement of these at both the individual and area level. This proposal seeks to contribute to this research area by explicitly exploring the relationships between changing health and housing tenure status, and also spatial mobility in Northern Ireland, 2001-2011. A particular focus will be on the extent to which different tenure trajectories (e.g. movements from social rented to owner occupied housing) are associated with changes in health status, and how these are linked to different kinds of spatial move between different types of place.
There is a growing understanding that there are social gradients in health, teenage birth rates and causes of morbidity and mortality. However, the more ultimate causes and the more precise patterns that underlie this variation is yet largely unknown (Nettle 2010). The overall project aims to better understand individual and area level effects on reproductive decision-making, health and a range of “risky” behaviours related to mortality in Northern Ireland.
NI Government currently uses the NIMDM to define areas of disadvantage and subsequently target and channel additional funds to these areas. The methodological foundations of this should be constantly tested, as it is possible that current methodologies are not optimal and that other approaches, such as modelled income data, measures of income inequality (the GINI coefficient), or a combination of the two, may enable a better identification of disadvantaged individuals. The project aims to use NILS to test a range of possible measures of disadvantage. This includes both an examination of (a) the measures themselves – GINI, NIMDM, a measure of areas of multiply deprived households; and (b) the cut points – the boundaries defining the categories used with the indicators. Outcome measures will include both (i) mortality (2001-2009), and (ii) an examination of social mobility as represented in the transitions associated with (NI-)internal migration patterns between super output areas (SOA).
