Robustness of the Poverty Measures: Evidence from Farm Households in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

The use of a plethora of poverty indexes is sometimes fraught with difficulties. The purpose of this research was to quantitatively assess poverty and to examine the robustness of the poverty metrics. Selecting representative farm homes required a multistage sample technique, which was implemented. A total of 150 rural homes were surveyed using questionnaires. Stochastic dominance and the weighted poverty measures of Foster, Greer and Thorbecke were used in this work to examine the weighted poverty measures' resilience and sensitivity to changes in the poverty line. According to the findings, as people become older and their families get larger, the likelihood, severity, and depth of poverty increases. An asymptotic sampling distribution was utilized to infer whether poverty was larger across a variety of hypothetical poverty lines by stochastic dominance analysis. First-order stochastic dominance was found, with the Cumulative Distribution Function (CDF) of households headed by people over 60 years old lying totally above the other distribution functions (CDFs). The CDF of single families was lower than the CDF of married households, according to the findings. At any poverty level, the CDF of families with more than 10 household members stochastically dominated those with fewer family members. Many households will be lifted out of poverty if poverty-reduction initiatives are targeted at those over 60 and those with big families.

Prevalence of Emotional and Behavioral Problems and Their Relationship With School Performance and Self-Esteem in Children Of

The study was carried out with two scales especially constructed and validated on indigenous samples; namely School Children’s Problem Scale (SCPS) and a Self- Esteem Scale for children (SESC). The main study sample comprising 1571 school children (Boys 49% and Girls 51%) between ages 13-17 years were administered SCPS and SESC along with a demographic questionnaire. Factor analysis of SCPS revealed six factors (Anxiousness, Academic Problems, Aggression, Social Withdrawal, Feeling of Rejection and Psychosomatic Problems), and SESC, three positive factors (Academic Self Esteem, Self confidence, Social Confidence) and a negative factors of (Low Self Esteem). Going by the intensity of total scores on the SCPS 31% fell in the “severe” category (1SD above the mean) of these16% fell in the “very severe” category (2SD above the mean). By the frequency count, 21% of the sample scored above the 90th percentile. Five of the six subscales of SCPS were found to belong to the Internalizing category. The most frequently reported problem was Anxiousness, followed by Rejection which was a significant predictor of poor school performance and low self esteem. Results also showed that in line with the existing literature Emotional Behavioural Problems (EBP) were a strong predictor of poor school performance and low self esteem. Results are discussed in terms of global and local manifestation of EBP in school children in a traditional and collectivistic culture and their relationship with gender and socio demographic factors was explored. Clinical use of the scales and profile analysis is also illustrated.