Studies that focus on the effects of both the division of household chores and of financial contributions on the mental health of couples are scarce. This paper expands on previous research by paying ...attention to the variation of this relationship among three types of households: Male breadwinner, one-and-a-half-earner and dual-earner. Using paired data from the 10th wave of the Panel Study of Belgian Households, collected in 2001, we perform separate linear regressions for men (N = 1054) and women (N = 1054). The results suggest that in one-and-a-half-earner households, women's employment has a negative effect on their partner's depression level and that in dual-earner households, the effect of women's employment is only negative if men are not the major breadwinner. Crossover effects of depression between partners seem to mediate part of the aforementioned associations.
Researchers have recently been investigating the temporal variation in the educational gradient in health. While there is abundant literature concerning age trajectories, theoretical knowledge about ...cohort differences is relatively limited. Therefore, in analogy with the life course perspective, we introduce two contrasting cohort-specific hypotheses. The diminishing health returns hypothesis predicts a decrease in educational disparities in health across cohorts. By contrast, the cohort accretion hypothesis suggests that the education-health gap will be more pronounced among younger cohorts. To shed light on this, we perform a hierarchical age-period-cohort analysis (HAPC), using data from a subsample of individuals between 25 and 85 years of age (N = 232,573) from 32 countries in the European Social Survey (six waves: 2002–2012). The analysis leads to three important conclusions. First, we observe a widening health gap between different educational levels over the life course. Second, we find that these educational differences in the age trajectories of health seem to strengthen with each successive birth cohort. However, the two age-related effects disappear when we control for employment status, household income, and family characteristics. Last, when adjusting for these mediators, we reveal evidence to support the diminishing health returns hypothesis, implying that it is primarily the direct association between education and health that decreases across cohorts. This finding raises concerns about potential barriers to education being a vehicle for empowerment and the promotion of health.
•Temporal variation in the education-health gap is examined by using HAPC analysis.•Educational health inequalities increase over the life course.•The importance of education to health is losing some force across cohorts.•Educational differentials in age trajectories of health increase across cohorts.•Concerns are raised about barriers to the empowering role of education in health.
As a large international consortium of 26 countries and 110 higher-education institutions (HEIs), we successfully developed and executed an online student survey during or directly after the initial ...peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 International Student Well-being Study (C19 ISWS) is a cross-sectional multicountry study that collected data on higher-education students during the COVID-19 outbreak in the spring of 2020. The dataset allows description of: (1) living conditions, financial conditions, and academic workload before and during the COVID-19 outbreak; (2) the current level of mental well-being and effects on healthy lifestyles; (3) perceived stressors; (4) resources (e.g., social support and economic capital); (5) knowledge related to COVID-19; and (6) attitudes toward COVID-19 measures implemented by the government and relevant HEI. The dataset additionally includes information about COVID-19 measures taken by the government and HEI that were in place during the period of data collection. The collected data provide a comprehensive and comparative dataset on student well-being. In this article, we present the rationale for this study, the development and content of the survey, the methodology of data collection and sampling, and the limitations of the study. In addition, we highlight the opportunities that the dataset provides for advancing social science research on student well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic in varying policy contexts. Thus far, this is, to our knowledge, the first cross-country student well-being survey during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in a unique dataset that enables high-priority socially relevant research.
In this study, we question (1) whether the relationship between unemployment and mental healthcare use, controlling for mental health status, varies across European countries and (2) whether these ...differences are patterned by a combination of unemployment and healthcare generosity. We hypothesize that medicalization of unemployment is stronger in countries where a low level of unemployment generosity is combined with a high level of healthcare generosity. A subsample of 36,306 working-age respondents from rounds 64.4 (2005-2006) and 73.2 (2010) of the cross-national survey Eurobarometer was used. Country-specific logistic regression and multilevel analyses, controlling for public disability spending, changes in government spending, economic capacity, and unemployment rate, were performed. We find that unemployment is medicalized, at least to some degree, in the majority of the 24 nations surveyed. Moreover, the medicalization of unemployment varies substantially across countries, corresponding to the combination of the level of unemployment and of healthcare generosity.
The relationships between unemployment, mental health (care) and medication use among 50–65 year-old men (N = 11,789) and women (N = 15,118) are studied in Europe. Inspired by the social norm theory ...of unemployment, the relevance of regional unemployment levels and workplace closure are explored, using multilevel analyses of data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement. In line with the social norm theory, the results show that – only for men – displaced workers are less depressed and use less medication than the non-displaced unemployed. However, they report more depressive symptoms than the employed, which supports the causal effect of unemployment on mental health. Non-displaced unemployed men are also more likely to consume medication than the displaced unemployed. In addition, using regional unemployment as a proxy for the social norm of unemployment can be questioned when studying mental health effects, as it seems to be a stronger measurement of labour market conditions than of the social norm of unemployment, especially during a recession.
ObjectivesTo examine changes in the occurrence of physical sex with non-steady partners among men who have sex with men (MSM) in Belgium during the first weeks of the COVID-19 lockdown and ...associations with sociodemographic factors, sexual practices, drug, alcohol and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) use. A secondary objective was to explore changes in PrEP use and the need for PrEP follow-up.MethodsA cross-sectional online survey. The questionnaire was available in Dutch, French and English, between April 10 and 27 (2020), and disseminated via sexual health and lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer or intersex organisations throughout Belgium. Eligibility criteria included being 18 years or older, not being exclusively heterosexual and living or being born in Belgium.ResultsThe sample included 694 MSM. Physical sex with non-steady partners decreased from 59.1% to 8.9% during the first weeks of the lockdown. Those who had sex with non-steady partners were significantly more likely to be HIV positive, to use PrEP or to have engaged in sexual practices such as group sex, chemsex and sex work before the lockdown, compared with their counterparts. Among those who used PrEP before the lockdown, 47.0% stopped using PrEP, 19.7% used event-driven PrEP and 33.3% used daily PrEP during the lockdown. Almost two-thirds of PrEP users had a PrEP care appointment in the weeks before the lockdown and a minority received follow-up elsewhere or online. Some PrEP users had concerns regarding their follow-up.ConclusionsMSM in our survey substantially reduced sexual contact with non-steady partners during the first weeks of the COVID-19 lockdown, suggesting that the risk for HIV and STI transmission in this period was low. We recommend ensuring access to sexual health services, such as HIV testing and follow-up for PrEP for the small group having multiple sex partners and engaging in sexual practices such as chemsex, or group sex, even in times of a pandemic threat.
The ecological State puts environmental considerations at the centre of its actions. To explores its role in the association between air pollution and mental wellbeing, this work employs a ...hierarchical three-level analysis on the third wave (2011–2012) of the European Quality of Life Survey (Ncitizens = 25007, Nregions = 216, Ncountries = 20). It uses a classification of Environmental Governance Regimes, subjective and objective indicators of air pollution, and the WHO-5 index of mental wellbeing. The findings show that the perception of major air pollution problems and worse mental wellbeing go hand in hand only in partial and established environmental States.
•The ecological or environmental State concept is operationalised through Environmental Governance Regimes (EGR).•Lower mental wellbeing was observed overall in established EGRs.•EGR modify the association between perceived air pollution and mental wellbeing.•This association is particularly strong in established and partial EGR.•Citizens of established EGR countries may be more vulnerable, in terms of mental wellbeing, to major air pollution problems.
•There is an increase in depression only in countries strongly affected by the economic crisis.•The economic crisis affects the mental health of the employed as well as the unemployed.•The impact of ...the economic crisis on depression is stronger for men and those 35–49years of age.•The recession has changed the relationship between part-time work and depression.•Men looking for work are more depressed in countries hardest hit by the crisis.
Applying a multi-level framework to the data from the European Social Survey’s Round 3 (2006) and Round 6 (2012), we assessed the crisis by increases in rates of unemployment, while also controlling for countries’ pre-crisis economic conditions. We found a positive relationship between depression and an increase in national unemployment rates. This relationship can be only partly ascribed to an increase in the number of unemployed and those employed in nonstandard job conditions—with the exception of the self-employed and women working part-time. The crisis effect is more pronounced among men and those between 35 and 49years of age. Moreover, in strongly effected countries, the crisis has changed the relationship between part-time work and depression, between depression and certain subcategories of the unemployed (looking for a job or not looking), and between depression and the non-employed.
Since the start of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, levels of loneliness have increased among the general population and especially among sexual minorities, such as gay men and other men who have sex with ...men, who already experienced more problems with social isolation before the pandemic. We analyzed how the disruption of the social network and social support structures by containment measures impact loneliness among gay and other men having sex with men. Our sample consisted of gay and other men having sex with men who had in person communication with family as well as heterosexual friends and homosexual friends before the lockdown (N = 461). Multivariate regression analyses were performed with social provisions (social interaction and reliable alliance) and loneliness as dependent variables. A change from in-person communication with gay peers before the pandemic to remote-only or no communication with gay peers during the pandemic, mediated by change in social integration, was related to an increased feeling of loneliness during the pandemic compared with before the pandemic. There were some unexpected findings, which should be interpreted in the specific social context of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. On average, social integration and reliable alliance among MSM increased during the lockdown, even though in-person communication decreased and loneliness increased. Our results show it is critical to maintain a view of social support and social loneliness as lodged within larger social and cultural contexts that ultimately shape the mechanisms behind them.
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