Abstract Few studies have focused sufficiently on the intricate link between functional health and depression among older people aged 60 and above in India. Therefore, the current study investigates ...the association between functional health and depression among older Indian adults through the mediating role of social disengagement and loneliness and the moderating role of living arrangements using recent data from the Longitudinal Aging Study in India (LASI: 2017–2018). Composite International Diagnostic Interview-Short Form (CIDI-SF) for depression, the Activities of Daily Living (ADL) and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) for functional health, and the indoor/outdoor activities, visits, and religious events for social disengagement were used. The feelings of loneliness and living arrangements were measured using single-item questions and surveys/interviews of household members. Bivariate analysis, logistic regression, and a Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Model were adopted. The results show that older persons with functional health had 1.85 times higher odds of depression; similarly, those not engaging in social activities and experiencing loneliness were more likely to feel depressed. Living with someone was negatively linked to depression. A significant moderation by living arrangements in the functional health-depression relationship was also observed. The results also indicate significant mediating roles of social disengagement and loneliness, with 22.0% and 3.08% mediation effects, respectively. Therefore, this study recommends the provision of housing and social interaction among older people.
Social distancing and "stay-at-home" orders are essential to contain the coronavirus outbreak (COVID-19), but there is concern that these measures will increase feelings of loneliness, particularly ...in vulnerable groups. The present study examined change in loneliness in response to the social restriction measures taken to control the coronavirus spread. A nationwide sample of American adults (N = 1,545; 45% women; ages 18 to 98, M = 53.68, SD = 15.63) was assessed on three occasions: in late January/early February 2020 (before the outbreak), in late March (during the President's initial "15 Days to Slow the Spread" campaign), and in late April (during the "stay-at-home" policies of most states). Contrary to expectations, there were no significant mean-level changes in loneliness across the three assessments (d = .04, p > .05). In fact, respondents perceived increased support from others over the follow-up period (d = .19, p < .01). Older adults reported less loneliness overall compared to younger age groups but had an increase in loneliness during the acute phase of the outbreak (d = .14, p < .05). Their loneliness, however, leveled off after the issuance of stay-at-home orders. Individuals living alone and those with at least one chronic condition reported feeling lonelier at baseline but did not increase in loneliness during the implementation of social distancing measures. Despite some detrimental impact on vulnerable individuals, in the present sample, there was no large increase in loneliness but remarkable resilience in response to COVID-19.
Public Significance Statement
This study tests for change in loneliness prior and during the outbreak of the coronavirus in the United States. While continued attention should be directed to vulnerable groups, the study did not find a large increase in loneliness despite the social distancing measures undertaken to contain the outbreak. Even when physically isolated, the feeling of increased social support and of being in this together may help limit increases in loneliness.
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CEKLJ, FFLJ, NUK, ODKLJ, PEFLJ
Background: Most research on adolescent focuses on the risk associated with the illness. Very little research has been carried out on adolescents who have been diagnosed with HIV since birth. With ...recent advances with ART treatment, life span of these children has increased, and there are lots of protective factors in the environment influencing the resilience. The present study has focused on the resilience among the adolescence with respect to the living arrangement, i.e., in institutionalized care and extended family. Methodology: The current study follows an exploratory research design with the aim of comparing resilience among adolescents living in the institutional setup and those living with their families-parents and extended families. Adolescents receiving ART treatment from a tertiary care hospital constitute universe and were selected purposively for the study. Resilience was measured using Child and Youth Resilience Measure. Results: The results indicated that 70% of the female and majority of them belong to Hindu religion. For majority, the mode of transmission is mother to child. There is no statistically significant difference between the resilience with respect to the living arrangement. However, respondents are resilient. Conclusion: This study has given a space for resilience for different groups of adolescents with respect to the living arrangement.
The rapid increase of the number of children being born in cohabitation appears to have an important impact on their lives, since they face a higher risk of parental breakup than children born in ...wedlock. This article aims to provide a cross-national overview of the living arrangements of children following breakup of cohabiting unions and to investigate whether the post-dissolution living arrangements differ between formerly cohabiting and married families. Analyzing the first wave of Generations and Gender Survey for 9 European countries shows that former cohabiters are not more or less likely to establish shared physical custody of their children than formerly married couples; however, formerly cohabiting fathers are somehow less likely to have sole custody of their children. The lower odds of sole-father custody among former cohabiters are caused by the selection of individuals into cohabiting unions (i.e., different demographic characteristics of cohabiting parents and union duration).
The COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown have a strong impact on health and health behaviours, such as alcohol consumption. Although there is some evidence of an overall decline in alcohol ...consumption during the lockdown, studies also show an increase in risky drinking patterns, e.g. solitary drinking, and differences between subgroups of individuals, e.g. depending on their living arrangement. Yet most studies rely on cross-sectional designs with retrospective questions, and small samples.
A longitudinal study was conducted using 13 waves of the COVID-Questionnaire within the Lifelines cohort from the northern Netherlands (n = 63,194). The outcome was alcohol consumption (glasses per week) between April 2020 and July 2021. Linear fixed-effects models were fitted to analyse trends in alcohol consumption, and these were compared with pre-COVID drinking levels. Moreover, the role of living arrangement and feelings of social isolation as potential moderators was tested.
Alcohol consumption during the pandemic was lower than in previous years, and the seasonal pattern differed from the pre-COVID one, with levels being lower when lockdown measures were stricter. Moreover, the seasonal pattern differed by living arrangement: those living alone saw a relative increase in drinking throughout tight lockdown periods, whereas those living with children showed the strongest increase during the summer. Social isolation showed a weaker moderation effect.
Overall alcohol levels were down in the pandemic, and in particular during strict lockdowns. Those living on their own and those who felt more isolated reacted more strongly to the lockdown, the longer it lasted.
•Alcohol consumption in the Netherlands was lower during the pandemic than in previous years.•Unlike ‘normal’ years, no Christmas peak in drinking was observed during the pandemic.•Different subgroups reacted differently to the pandemic and the lockdown measures.•Individuals who lived alone increased their drinking during the strictest lockdown periods.•During the summer periods, those with family and children, increased their drinking.
El objetivo de este trabajo es indagar si el tipo de arreglo residencial familiar influye en la calidad de vida de sus integrantes, aspecto que se ve reflejado en desigualdades en el bienestar ...socioeco-nómico, desigualdades de género en el ejercicio del poder y desigualdades según el grado de ur-banización del lugar de residencia. La fuente de datos empleada es la Encuesta Intercensal 2015. La clasificación de los arreglos está basada en Laslett y Wall (1972) que permite distinguir entre arreglos simples y múltiples. Para el análisis, se construyó un índice de bienestar y se aplicaron modelos de regresión logística binarios. Los principales resultados son los siguientes. El tipo de arreglo residencial más ventajoso en términos del bienestar socioeconómico de sus miembros es el nuclear, mientras que, en el caso del arreglo monoparental, depende de su composición. En ge-neral, la figura de “jefe” del arreglo residencial asignada por sus integrantes, atribuye con mucha frecuencia a los hombres esta característica; esta situación varía según el tipo de arreglo. En la Ciudad de México, contexto altamente urbanizado, los arreglos nucleares son menos frecuentes, el clima educativo es más alto y la jefatura femenina más usual.
Over the last two decades, the share of U.S. children under age 18 who live in a multigenerational household (with a grandparent and parent) has increased dramatically. Yet we do not know whether ...this increase is a recent phenomenon or a return to earlier levels of coresidence. Using data from the decennial census from 1870 to 2010 and the 2018 American Community Survey, we examine historical trends in children’s multigenerational living arrangements, differences by race/ethnicity and education, and factors that explain the observed trends. We find that in 2018, 10% of U.S. children lived in a multigenerational household, a return to levels last observed in 1950. The current increase in multigenerational households began in 1980, when only 5% of children lived in such a household. Few differences in the prevalence of multigenerational coresidence by race/ethnicity or education existed in the early part of the twentieth century; racial/ethnic and education differences in coresidence are a more recent phenomena. Decomposition analyses do little to explain the decline in coresidence between 1940 and 1980, suggesting that unmeasured factors explain the decrease. Declines in marriage and in the share of White children most strongly explained the increase in multigenerational coresidence between 1980 and 2018. For White children with highly educated parents, factors explaining the increase in coresidence differ from other groups. Our findings suggest that the links between race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status and multigenerational coresidence have changed over time, and today the link between parental education and coresidence varies within racial/ethnic groups.
Objectives: Evidence suggests that the COVID-19 pandemic and the preventive lockdown measures increased loneliness levels. However, most studies are cross-sectional or rely on a pre-post (pandemic) ...design. This study relies on multiple observations to analyze the impact of the lockdown on loneliness levels in the Netherlands, and test whether it differed by gender, age, and living arrangement.
Methods: Longitudinal data from the Covid-Questionnaire within the Lifelines Cohort Study from the northern Netherlands was used. Data was gathered between March 2020 and July 2021 with a total of 21 waves and 769,526 observations nested in 74,844 individuals. The outcome was a multi-dimensional Loneliness Index. The association between the lockdown period and loneliness levels was estimated using fixed-effects linear regression. Moderation effects were tested by means of two-way interactions.
Results: Loneliness levels increased during stricter lockdown periods, and decreased when preventive measures were relaxed. Women and young adults experienced stronger fluctuations in their loneliness levels, whereas living arrangement did not play a notable moderating role.
Conclusion: This study calls for special attention to be paid to the public issue of loneliness during periods of lockdown. Women and young adults appear as particularly vulnerable groups during the Covid-19 pandemic.
ABSTRACT
The authors review demographic trends and research on families in the United States, with a special focus on the past decade. They consider the following several topics: (a) marriage and ...remarriage, (b) divorce, (c) cohabitation, (d) fertility, (e) same‐gender unions, (f) immigrant families, and (g) children's living arrangements. Throughout, the authors review both overall trends and patterns as well as those by social class and race–ethnicity. The authors discuss major strands of recent research, emphasizing emerging themes and promising directions. They close with a summary of central patterns and trends and conclude that recent trends are not as uniform as they tended to be in earlier decades, making the description of family change increasingly complex.
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