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
Grand
parents

Maternal Paternal
Aunties, Mother Father Aunties,
Uncles Uncles

Child Child Child

#1 #2 #3
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
Grand
parents

Maternal Paternal
Aunties, Mother Father Aunties,
Uncles Uncles

Child Child Child

#1 #2 #3
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

100%
Dead
80%
Elsewhere

60% Bushbuckridge Area

Agincourt Area
40%
Same Village

20% Same Household,

temporary migrant
Same Household,
0% non-migrant
Female Male
Father’s Location, by child age
100%
90% Dead
80%
Elsewhere
70%
60% Bushbuckridge
Area
50%
Agincourt Area
40%
30% Same Village
20% Same Household,
10% temporary migrant
0% Same Household,
non-migrant
0-3 4-7 8-11 12-15 16-17 Total
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
School Financial Any
Father Location Fees Support* 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
100% Same household,
non-migrant
80% Same household,
temporary migrant
Same Village
60%
Agincourt Area
40%
Bushbuckridge Area
20%
Elsewhere

0%
0-3 4-7 8-11 12-15 16-17
Simplified mother’s location

1,610
2,084 7%
9% Mother same household,
non-migrant
Mother same household,
4,476 temporary migrant
18% Mother elsewhere

15,862 Mother dead

66%
Simplified father’s location if mother is
dead

181
11%
579 Father same household,
36% 221 non-migrant
14% Father same household,
temporary migrant
Father elsewhere

Father dead

629
39%
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?
 Typesof 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
Current Household Member
Former Household Member
Never Household Member

9,689
40% 12,084
50%

2,448
10%
Father’s household membership history
Current DSA Resident
Former DSA Resident
Never DSA Resident
2,834 3,699
12% 15%

17,400
73%
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