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This report analyses a large-scale survey of living conditions among immigrants in Norway. Data were collected by Statistics Norway in 2016 and covered 12 of the largest immigrant groups in Norway. This aim of the present report is analyse the kinds of welfare problems experienced by immigrants. Which immigrants accumulate most welfare problems? What are the main predictors of welfare problems among immigrants in Norway? How does the accumulation of welfare problems relate to general life satisfaction among immigrants? In addition, we compare the accumulation of welfare problems among immigrants with the total population. An early draft of this report was presented at the International Forum on Migration Statistics 2018, in Paris in January. A more recent draft was presented internally at a seminar for migration researchers at Oslo Metropolitan University. We would like to thank participants at both events for constructive and valuable feedback. This project was commissioned and financed by the Directorate of Integration and Diversity (IMDi). We would like to thank IMDi for making possible this interesting and challenging project, and especially Anja Wedde Sveen and Eivind Hageberg, both at IMDi, for cooperation underway. Project leader has been Kristian Rose Tronstad of the Norwegian Institute for Urban and Regional Research, NIBR. Tronstad has conducted the statistical analyses and written most of the report. Marit Nygaard at NIBR has contributed on analysis and discussion of the results. Miia Bask at Norwegian Social Research, NOVA, has written about the theory of accumulation of welfare problems in Chapter 3.

To foster a deeper understanding of the mechanisms behind inequality in society, it is crucial to work with well-defined concepts associated with such mechanisms. The aim of this paper is to define cumulative (dis) advantage and the Matthew effect. We argue that cumulative (dis) advantage is an intra-individual micro-level phenomenon, that the Matthew effect is an inter-individual macro-level phenomenon and that an appropriate measure of the Matthew effect focuses on the mechanism or dynamic process that generates inequality. The Matthew mechanism is, therefore, a better name for the phenomenon, where we provide a novel measure of the mechanism, including a proof-of-principle analysis using disposable personal income data. Finally, because socio-economic theory should be able to explain cumulative (dis) advantage and the Matthew mechanism when they are detected in data, we discuss the types of models that may explain the phenomena. We argue that interactions-based models in the literature traditions of analytical sociology and statistical mechanics serve this purpose.

We show that the Matthew effect, or Matthew mechanism, was present in the artificial cultural market Music Lab when social influence between individuals was allowed, whereas this was not the case when social influence was not allowed. We also sketch on a class of social network models, derived from social influence theory, that may gener-ate the Matthew effect. Thus, we propose a theoretical framework that may explain why the most popular songs were much more popular, and the least popular songs were much less popular, than when disallowing social influence between individuals.

The first aim of this paper is to clarify the differences and relationships between cumulative advantage/disadvantage and the Matthew effect. Its second aim, which is also its main contribution, is not only to present a new measure of the Matthew effect, but also to show how to estimate this effect from data and how to make statistical inference. We argue that one should utilize the positivity of the natural logarithm of the largest generalized eigenvalue for a non-linear dynamic process as evidence when claiming that the Matthew effect is present in the dynamic process that generates individuals’ socio-economic life-courses. Thus, our measure of the Matthew effect focuses on the dynamic process that generates socio-economic inequality and not on the outcome of this process.

This thesis consists of four papers, and has as its central theme the accumulation of welfare problems and social exclusion. We use Swedish data and all analyses are based on individuals of working age. We perform longitudinal analyses to scrutinize the accumulation of disadvantages over the individual life courses as well as to detect the general trends in social exclusion occurrence in Swedish society during the past two decades. In Paper I, in an analysis of social exclusion among immigrants in Sweden, we find that immigrants suffer more often from social exclusion than native Swedes do. We also find that even if the accumulation of welfare problems is more common among immigrants than native Swedes, the connections between welfare disadvantages are stronger among Swedes. Furthermore, a logistic regression analysis revealed that time spent in Sweden decreases the risk of social exclusion among immigrants. However, even though we control for several demographic variables, human capital indicators and socio-economic class, the odds for social exclusion are still greater for immigrants than for native Swedes. Some form of discrimination can therefore not be excluded. Paper II is co-written with Björn Halleröd. This paper involves a longitudinal analysis of the accumulation of closely related welfare disadvantages, showing that the initial deprivation increases over time. Latent growth curve models reveal that a high initial deprivation is related to low socio-economic class and being single. It is also shown that a high initial deprivation decreases the probability of upward class-mobility as well as the probability of deprived singles becoming cohabiting. Moreover, a high initial deprivation increases the risk that couples will experience a household break-up. In Paper III, we perform a longitudinal analysis of social exclusion in Sweden during the period 1979-2003, in which several logistic regression models for panel data are fitted to our data. We find no support that immigrants have been better integrated into Swedish society over time from the perspective of social exclusion risk. Instead, there are weak signs that integration has become worse. We also find weak signs that the higher social exclusion risk that men have relative to women has decreased during the past two decades. Furthermore, comparing with couples without children, the odds for social exclusion among singles with children have increased and the odds for couples with children have decreased during the period 1979-2003. Paper IV utilizes latent class factor models to scrutinize the connections between welfare problems and a set of demographic variables, human capital indicators and socio-economic class. We find that welfare problems do cluster. Our results also support several of the findings in the previous paper. Family type, especially being single or living in a relationship, makes a clear difference in the propensity to accumulate welfare problems. Furthermore, immigrants characterize the factors with a high problem accumulation. Additionally, there is no general difference between the sexes in the problem accumulation itself, but experiences of threat or violence and having sleeping problems seem to be more often related to being a woman, whereas the lack of a close friend is most often related to being a man. To conclude, this thesis reveals several interesting facts concerning the accumulation of welfare problems and social exclusion in Sweden. Considering the implications for policy, the situations of immigrants and single parents need to be underlined. That is, the integration of immigrants should be given more emphasis and measures should be taken to support single parents as well as to promote a discussion on how to make relationships last.

Master i International Social Welfare and Health Policy Parental deaths and illnesses are childhood traumatic events that are associated with several negative physical and psychosocial health problems. Out of the 140 million children classified as orphans, 15.1 million have lost both parents. Among the continents in the world, Africa is recognised as the largest continent with a higher proportion of vulnerable children. In Ghana, the number of vulnerable and orphaned children has grown as result of HIV and AID’s and increasing rural urban migration. In Ghana, Boadu (2015) reports that, the increasing number of orphans have led to a corresponding increase in orphanages established to assist these vulnerable children. A study conducted in some Ghanaian orphanage homes found that in as much as the orphanage homes are doing their best to provide the necessary support to these children yet there are many basic amenities that are lacking. It is in this regard that this aims to empirically investigate the challenges facing orphans aged in Kumasi SOS village, Ghana. The study was based on a qualitative research based on an exploratory research and case study approach. A purposive sampling technique was used to select the participants. An in-depth interview guide was used as the main instrument for primary data collection. The data collected was synthesized, integrated and harmonized comprehensively to allow for a clear outline of analysis and for ease of understanding based on Qualitative Content Analysis and aid of the NVivo software. The children expressed that they were very happy in the Kumasi SOS Village. The source of happiness and satisfaction came from their access to education, the food, having a mother and siblings from the village/having a family. The study found out that one of the sources of sadness among the children relates to Physical and Verbal abuse- leading to insecurity. The study found that, most of the orphans see no partiality among them in the orphan homes. The village has made great improvement in caring and nurturing orphans in the village. However, in their bid to achieve their goals, certain equally important aspects have been overlooked. These pertinent differences need to be recognized and appreciated. The study recommends that caring for the children implies that the village should also review their goals and approaches to accommodate the identified challenges.