How are Mothers Faring across the Globe? Constructing a new Mothers’ Well-Being Index and Assessing Its Validity

Ming-Chang Tsai () and Tsui-o Tai ()
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Ming-Chang Tsai: Academia Sinica
Tsui-o Tai: National Taipei University

Applied Research in Quality of Life, 2018, vol. 13, issue 3, No 7, 647-670

Abstract: Abstract This paper proposes a new index of mothers’ well-being for cross-country comparison. Conceptually, maternal health and the social protection and autonomy of mothers are two distinct dimensions at issue. In operationalization, maternal health is indicated by 1) prevalence of modern contraception, 2) low adolescent fertility; and 3) low maternal mortality. Social protection and autonomy of the mothers comprises (1) skilled attendants at delivery; (2) age at first marriage; and (3) maternal protection policy. The results from structural equation modeling show that a one-factor model is as good as a two-factor model for constructing the Mothers’ Well-being Index (MWI). The MWI’s internal validity and predictive validity are both satisfactory. We calculated the scores for each country and present the ranking of 150 countries for 2010. The mothers in Nordic and Western European countries fared best, and mothers from African countries fared worst. Countries located in the middle of the ranking list should be given more attention because their relative ranking can be contingent on the choice of measures in index construction.

Keywords: Quality of life; Mothers’ well-being; Maternal health; Social protection (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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DOI: 10.1007/s11482-017-9550-7

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