Search

This article analyses how educational and initial vocational training systems in Europe vary regarding the way in which they structure educational routes for pupils of different academic ability. The study uses cluster analysis to explore the degree of similarity between 25 European countries, including variables related to: stratification within compulsory education; vocational orientation; links between initial vocational education and the labour market; transitions from secondary education; stratification within tertiary education; and links between educational qualifications and labour market outcomes. I identify three clusters of countries that have distinct patterns of stratification. This article contributes to the literature on educational regimes and school-to-work transitions by adding countries from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and integrating multiple dimensions pertaining to the link between educational and social stratification. Thus, it develops a more encompassing representation of the architecture of educational pathways in different European countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Autistic individuals experience higher rates of externalising and internalising symptoms that may vary with environmental factors. However, there is limited research on variation across settings that may highlight common factors with globally generalisable effects. Data were taken from two cohorts: a multinational European sample (n = 764; 453 autistic; 311 non-autistic; 6–30 years), and a South African sample (n = 100 non-autistic; 3–11 years). An exploratory factor analysis aggregated clinical (Verbal Comprehension and Perceptual Index), adaptive traits (Vineland Adaptive Behaviour Scale) and socio-economic variables (parental employment and education, home and family characteristics) in each cohort separately. With regression, we investigated the effect of these factors and autistic traits on internalising and externalising scores (measured with the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire). Cohorts showed similar four-factor structures (Person Characteristics, Family System, Parental and Material Resources). The 'Family System' factor captured family size and maternal factors and was associated with lower internalising and externalising symptoms in both cohorts. In the European cohort, high autistic traits reduced this effect; the opposite was found in the South Africa cohort. Our exploratory findings from two separate analyses represent consistent evidence that Family System is associated with internalising and externalising symptoms, with a context-specific impact in persons with high autism traits. Autistic individuals are more likely than non-autistic individuals to experience a mental health condition in their lifetime, and this includes externalising and internalising symptoms. We know very little about how different environments and family conditions impact these symptoms for autistic individuals. Improving our understanding of these relationships is important so that we can identify individuals who may be in greater need of support. In this article, we seek to improve our understanding of how environmental and family conditions impact externalising and internalising symptoms in autistic and non-autistic people. To do this, we conducted analyses with two cohorts in very different settings – in Europe and South Africa – to ensure our findings are globally representative. We used advanced statistical methods to establish environmental and family conditions that were similar to each other, and which could be combined into specific 'factors'. We found that four similar 'factors' could be identified in the two cohorts. These were distinguished by personal characteristics and environmental conditions of individuals, and were named Person Characteristics, Family System, Parental and Material Resources. Interestingly, just 'Family System' was associated with internalising and externalising symptoms, and this was the same in both cohorts. We also found that having high traits of autism impacted this relationship between Family System and mental health conditions with opposite directions in the two settings. These results show that characteristics in the Family System are associated with internalising and externalising symptoms, and autistic persons are particularly impacted, reinforcing the notion that family stressors are important to consider when implementing policy and practice related to improving the mental health of autistic people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The aim of this paper was to investigate the association between health, social position, social participation and the welfare state. Extending recent research on the social consequences of poor health, we asked whether and how welfare generosity is related to the risk of social exclusion associated with combinations of poor health, low education and economic inactivity. Methods: Our analyses are based on data from the European Social Survey, round 3 (2006/7), comprising between 21,205 and 21,397 individuals, aged 25--59 years, within 21 European welfare states. The analyses were conducted by means of multilevel logistic regression analysis in STATA 12. Results: The results demonstrated that the risk of non-participation in social networks decreased as welfare generosity increased. The risk of social exclusion, i.e. non-participation in social networks among disadvantaged groups, seldom differed from the overall association, and in absolute terms it was invariably smaller in more generous welfare state contexts. Conclusions: The results showed that there were no indications of higher levels of non-participation among disadvantaged groups in more generous welfare states. On the contrary, resources made available by the welfare state seemed to matter to all individuals in terms of overall lower levels of non-participation. As such, these results demonstrate the importance of linking health related social exclusion to the social policy context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many European countries the average level of education has grown steadily over the last few generations. The paper shows how such a trend can be easily rationalized by a model that extends a standard signalling game in two directions. First, a temporal structure is induced by having two different cohorts of individuals playing the game. Second, to standard rational agents, the model postulates the existence of two classes of agents that care about their relative position in the distribution of educational choices. Conformist individuals wish to be close to the average level; status seeking individuals seek to be above it. Results show that the presence of these two classes of individuals generates an average level of education that changes and increases over time for a wide range of choice of parameters. Consequences of this increasing level of education on the behaviour of the firms are also explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Financial difficulties in childhood may be associated with immediate and long-term consequences for mental health. The aim of the current paper is to investigate the association between childhood financial difficulties and adult depression, and assess the relative contribution of financial difficulties in childhood to symptoms of adult depression across different age groups. Methods: Using three age cohorts (25-40, 41-59, 60-75) from 19 countries in the European Social Survey Round 7 (N=18 401), multi-level and country-wise OLS regression analyses were used to investigate the association between financial difficulties in childhood and adult depression, while adjusting for age, education, gender, highest education in family, level of family conflict, number of social meetings and marital status. Results: Financial difficulties in childhood was found to be influential predictors of depression scores for 25-40 year olds in 10 out of 19 countries in fully adjusted models. In older participants, depression scores were mostly influenced by frequency of social meetings and marital status. There was great variation in the pattern of influential risk factors across countries, and the predicted effect childhood financial difficulties had on adult depression scores. Conclusion: Childhood financial difficulties as predictors of depression appear to, by themselves, exert the strongest influence in younger adults. There was, however, large variation between countries in the magnitude of associated risk, and in the pattern of risk factors contributing to adult depression, which underscores the need to account for country-level factors when aiming to gain knowledge about mental health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Health inequalities persist between and within European countries. Such inequalities are usually explained by health behaviours and according to the conditions in which people work and live. However, little is known about the relative contribution of these factors to health inequalities in European countries. This paper aims to investigate the independent and joint contribution of a comprehensive set of behavioural, occupational and living conditions factors in explaining social inequalities in self-rated health (SRH). Method: Data from 21 countries was obtained from the 2014 European Social Survey and examined for respondents aged 25-75. Adjusted rate differences (ARD) and adjusted rate risks (ARR), generated from binary logistic regression models, were used to measure health inequalities in SRH and the contribution of behavioural, occupational and living conditions factors. Result: Absolute and relative inequalities in SRH were found in all countries and the magnitude of socio-economic inequalities varied considerably between countries. While factors were found to differentially contribute to the explanation of educational inequalities in different European countries, occupational and living conditions factors emerged as the leading causes of inequalities across most of the countries, contributing both independently and jointly with behavioural factors. Conclusion: The observed shared effects of different factors to health inequalities points to the interdependent nature of occupational, behavioural and living conditions factors. Tackling health inequalities should be a concentred effort that goes beyond interventions focused on single factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: A range of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) has been found to follow a social pattern whereby socioeconomic status predicts either a higher or lower risk of disease. Comprehensive evidence on the socioeconomic distribution of NCDs across Europe, however, has been limited. Methods: Using cross-sectional 2014 European Social Survey data from 20 countries, this paper examines socioeconomic inequalities in 14 self-reported NCDs separately for women and men: heart/circulatory problems, high blood pressure, back pain, arm/ hand pain, foot/leg pain, allergies, breathing problems, stomach/digestion problems, skin conditions, diabetes, severe headaches, cancer, obesity and depression. Using education to measure socioeconomic status, age-controlled adjusted risk ratios were calculated and separately compared a lower and medium education group with a high education group. Results: At the pooled European level, a social gradient in health was observed for 10 NCDs: depression, diabetes, obesity, heart/circulation problems, hand/arm pain, high blood pressure, breathing problems, severe headaches, foot/leg pain and cancer. An inverse social gradient was observed for allergies. Social gradients were observed among both genders, but a greater number of inequalities were observed among women. Country-specific analyses show that inequalities in NCDs are present everywhere across Europe and that inequalities exist to different extents for each of the conditions. Conclusion: This study provides the most up-to-date overview of socioeconomic inequalities for a large number of NCDs across 20 European countries for both women and men. Future investigations should further consider the diseases, and their associated determinants, for which socioeconomic differences are the greatest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Institutional contexts shape learning participation throughout the course of life. Combining micro-data on adult education from 26 European countries with country-level indicators on retirement systems in multi-level logistic regression models, the focus is on analysis of participation in non-formal learning among people aged 50–64 and its interactions with retirement policies. The analysis makes use of the largest sample of European countries used so far for exploring the issue. For the first time, gender differences in retirement policies are considered. The results imply that for all women and highly educated men, participation in non-formal training is higher when retirement age in the country is set at 65 years or higher. However, men with less education do not profit from a higher retirement age because their training participation remains unaffected by retirement policies. In the current analysis, training participation in older age groups remains unaffected by the generosity of pensions. The results outline gender differences in learning participation in older age groups. Also, after the age of 50, men with a low education are at particular risk of labour market exclusion and unemployment because the retirement age in European countries keeps rising and technological advancements make additional demands on workers' skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using European Social Survey data, this article studies the prevalence of objective and subjective poverty among older women and men (60+ years) in 21 European countries. Objective poverty refers to whether one's disposable income falls below the poverty line, whereas subjective poverty relates to the capacity to make ends meet. It analyzes gender differences in these two dimensions of poverty and the role of gender as an explanation to these phenomena while controlling for other individual-level variables as well as the role of welfare state regimes. The results show that older women are more exposed to objective poverty than men, and that female gender remains strongly and positively correlated with this kind of poverty even when controlling for other variables. They also show that other individual-level variables, such as partnership, paid work and education curbs objective poverty, while the type of welfare regime does not matter. As to subjective poverty, on the other hand, there is no significant association with female gender, nor with the type of welfare regime, while individual-level variables such as subjective health, partnership and paid work are negatively correlated with this dimension of poverty. Subjective poverty is somewhat more influenced by contextual factors than objective poverty although the type of welfare state regime is not significantly associated with subjective or objective poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Between the 1990s and 2000s, relative inequalities in all-cause mortality increased, whereas absolute inequalities decreased in many European countries. Whether similar trends can be observed for inequalities in other health outcomes is unknown. This paper aims to provide a comprehensive overview of trends in socioeconomic inequalities in self-assessed health (SAH) in Europe between 1990 and 2010. Methods Data were obtained from nationally representative surveys from 17 European countries for the various years between 1990 and 2010. The age-standardised prevalence of less-than-good SAH was analysed by education and occupation among men and women aged 30-79 years. Socioeconomic inequalities were measured by means of absolute rate differences and relative rate ratios. Meta-analysis with random-effects models was used to examine the trends of inequalities. Results We observed declining trends in the prevalence of less-than-good SAH in many countries, particularly in Southern and Eastern Europe and the Baltic states. In al countries, less-than-good SAH was more prevalent in lower educational and manual groups. For all countries together, absolute inequalities in SAH were mostly constant, whereas relative inequalities increased. Almost no country consistently experienced a significant decline in either absolute or relative inequalities. Conclusions Trends in inequalities in SAH in Europe were generally less favourable than those found for inequalities in mortality, and there was generally no correspondence between the two when we compared the trends within countries. In order to develop policies or interventions that effectively reduce inequalities in SAH, a better understanding of the causes of these inequalities is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There is a lack of studies comparing the status of dental specialties worldwide. Therefore, this study aimed to analyze the differences and similarities between the number and types of dental specialties in 31 countries, including every continent, in the world. Materials and methods: Available official documents and webpages from regulatory bodies, official colleges and councils, and dental institutions were collected from 31 countries and analyzed to obtain reliable data on dental specialties. Differences were analyzed using the Lorentz curve and Gini test. Additionally, a cluster analysis was performed to obtain groups of countries with similar patterns in the number and types of dental specialties. Results: A total of 32 different specialties were officially recognized among all the analyzed countries. Orthodontics and oral surgery (100% and 93.1%, respectively) were the two most frequently officially recognized dental specialties worldwide. The total global degree of inequality in the 31 analyzed countries was 42.4%. The Anglo-Saxon countries showed the greatest similarity, approximately 15-fold higher than the European countries. Cluster analysis differentiated six main groups of countries according to the number and types of dental specialties. European countries formed one of the two largest clusters, and the other cluster was of Anglo-Saxon, Asian, African, and several Eastern European countries with a high number of specialties. Conclusions: Officially recognized dental specialties in the different continents and countries show an asymmetric organization. The number, names, and skills of officially recognized dental specialties exhibited significant differences, showing inequalities in their organization. The Anglo-Saxon pattern of dental specialties showed greater equality than the European pattern. Orthodontics was the only constant element among the different patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adult learning is seen as a key factor for enhancing employment, innovation and growth. The aim of this paper is to understand the points in the life cycle at which adult learning takes place and whether it leads to reaching a medium or high level of educational attainment. We perform a synthetic panel analysis of adult learning for cohorts aged 25–64 in 27 European countries using the European Union Labour Force Survey. We find that investment across the life cycle by cohorts older than 25 still occurs: participation in education and training as well as educational attainment increase observably across all cohorts. We also find that the decline with age slows down, or is even reversed for older cohorts, for both participation in education and educational attainment. Finally, we can identify cross-country differences in approach. In Nordic countries, adult learning is achieved primarily through participation in education and training without adding to formal educational attainment. In central Europe, adult learning occurs primarily in the form of increasing educational attainment. In Ireland and the UK, a combination of both approaches to adult learning is observable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the issue of whether, in addition to the well-known "mother-hood penalty" in employment, there is also an "education penalty" for mothers with lower levels of education. It also asks whether work-family conciliating poli-cies play a role in determining the characteristics and the extent of these different penalties in EU countries. The authors find that the selection of women in employ-ment by education is largely unaffected by motherhood. Only in a few countries is there an additional penalty for low-educated mothers. The most effective policy to enable both mothers in general and low-educated mothers to remain in paid work appears to be generous provision of childcare services for children under three years. Contrary to the authors' own hypothesis and the findings presented in most of the relevant literature, there is no evidence that "too long" parental leave has a negative effect on employment, whereas the data confirm that "too short" leave may be disin-centivizing. Following the application of various controls, the authors conclude that policies are part of a more complex institutional and cultural framework of options and constraints that shape the labour-market participation of mothers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the role of education in shaping the geographical breadth of knowledge spillovers. Data pertaining to 6,051 European inventions reveal that inventors with a high level of education, such as a university or doctoral degree, rely more on external spillovers regardless of the geographical location of their sources. Controlling for this effect, they also access geographically wider knowledge spillovers. This result holds after controlling for alternative explanations, such as the inventors' network and the site where the research is performed. By contributing to individual openness, education thus provides a means to break through geographical barriers to attain knowledge diffusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Welfare state typologies are generally based on the institutional design of welfare policies. In this paper we analyse whether such typologies also persist when they are applied to effective redistributive outcomes of welfare states’ tax and transfer policies. In contrast to the widespread use of macro indicators, our empirical analysis relies on internationally comparable microdata in order to account for the distribution of resources across households. We perform a hierarchical cluster analysis and check whether the classical typology for Western European welfare states reproduces the typical patterns when it comes to effective economic outcomes. We find that the established welfare regimes not only differ in their welfare state institutions as is known, but also in their economic outcomes. In particular, we identify the social-democratic, conservative, liberal and southern welfare regimes. Belgium and the Netherlands emerge as hybrid cases lying between the social-democratic and conservative model. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Rodríguez-Pose A. and Tselios V. Individual earnings and educational externalities in the European Union, Regional Studies. This paper examines whether differences in educational externalities affect individual earnings across regions in the European Union. Using microeconomic data from the European Community Household Panel, it resorts to spatial economic analysis in order to determine to what extent differences in individual earnings are the result of (1) the educational attainment of the individual, (2) the educational attainment of the other members of the household in which he/she lives, (3) the educational endowment of the region where the individual lives, or (4) the educational endowment of the neighbouring regions. The results highlight that, in addition to the expected positive returns of personal educational attainment, place-based regional and supra-regional educational externalities generate significant pecuniary benefits for workers. These findings are robust to the inclusion of different individual, household, and regional control variables. Rodríguez-Pose A. et Tselios V. Les gains individuels et les effets externes de l'éducation dans l'Union européenne, Regional Studies. Cet article cherche à examiner si, oui ou non, les différents effets externes de l'éducation influent sur les gains individuels à travers les régions de l'Union européenne. Employant des données microéconomiques provenant du European Community Household Panel (échantillon permanent des foyers de l'Union européenne), on a recours à une analyse économique spatiale afin de déterminer jusqu'à quel point les écarts des revenus individuels s'expliquent par (1) la réussite scolaire de l'individu, (2) par la réussite scolaire des autres membres du foyer, (3) par la dotation en équipement scolaire de la région où habite l'individu, ou bien (4) par la dotation en équipement scolaire des régions voisines. En plus des rendements positifs prévus de la réussite scolaire de l'individu, les résultats soulignent les avantages pécuniaires non-négligeables pour les travailleurs des effets externes régionaux et suprarégionaux de l'éducation qui sont basés sur l'endroit. Ces résultats s'avèrent robustes quand on inclut des variables de contrôle différentes pour l'individu, le foyer et la région. Gains individuels?Réussite scolaire?Effets externes?Foyers?Régions?Europe Rodríguez-Pose A. und Tselios V. Individuelles Einkommen und Bildungsexternalitäten in der Europäischen Union, Regional Studies. In diesem Beitrag wird untersucht, ob sich die Unterschiede bei den Bildungsexternalitäten auf das individuelle Einkommen in verschiedenen Regionen der Europäischen Union auswirken. Ausgehend von mikroökonomischen Daten des Haushaltspanels der Europäischen Gemeinschaft wird eine räumliche Wirtschaftsanalyse durchgeführt, um festzustellen, in welchem Umfang die Unterschiede bei den individuellen Einkommen auf (1) den Bildungsgrad der Person, (2) den Bildungsgrad der anderen Mitglieder des Haushalts dieser Person, (3) den Bildungsstand der Region, in der die Person lebt, oder (4) den Bildungsstand der angrenzenden Regionen zurückzuführen sind. Aus den Ergebnissen geht hervor, dass zusätzlich zu den erwarteten positiven Ergebnissen des persönlichen Bildungsgrades auch die ortsgebundenen regionalen und supraregionalen Bildungsexternalitäten für die Arbeitnehmer mit signifikanten finanziellen Vorteilen verbunden sind. Diese Ergebnisse bleiben auch bei Berücksichtigung verschiedener individueller, Haushalts- und regionaler Kontrollvariablen robust. Individuelles Einkommen?Bildungsgrad?Externalitäten?Haushalte?Regionen?Europa Rodríguez-Pose A. y Tselios V. Ingresos individuales y externalidades educativas en la Unión Europea, Regional Studies. En este artículo se examina si las diferencias de las externalidades educativas entre las regiones de la UE influyen sobre los ingresos económicos de los individuos. Mediante un análisis económico de carácter espacial y utilizando datos microeconómicos provenientes de la Encuesta Europea de Familias se intenta determinar si las diferencias de los ingresos entre individuos en distintas regiones de la UE son el resultado de (1) el nivel educativo de cada individuo, (2) el nivel educativo de los demás miembros de la unidad familiar, (3) el nivel educativo de la región en la que se vive o (4) el nivel educativo de las áreas vecinas. Los resultados demuestran que, además de los rendimientos positivos ligados al nivel personal de formación, las externalidades geográficas de carácter regional y supra-regional generan importantes beneficios pecuniarios para los trabajadores. Estos resultados son sólidos para la inclusión de distintas variables de control de tipo individual, familiar y regional. Ingresos individuales?Nivel de formación?Externalidades?Unidades familiares?Regiones?Europa [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The geography of education, especially at subnational level, is a huge black box. Little is known about the distribution of educational attainment and inequality across regions in Europe. This paper addresses this gap in the literature by mapping educational attainment and inequality in 102 regions in Western Europe, using data extracted from the European Community Household Panel (ECHP) covering more than 100,000 individuals over the period 1995–2000. The results of this Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis (ESDA) reveal a strong correlation between levels of educational attainment and inequality across regions in Europe. Regions with similar educational conditions tend to cluster, often within national borders. In addition, a North–South and an urban–rural dimension are evident. Northern regions and large European metropoli have not only the most-educated labour force but also the lowest levels of inequality. Educational inequality seems to be, in any case, a fundamentally within-region phenomenon: 90 percent of the educational inequality in Europe occurs among individuals living in the same region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper has contributed to confirming the link between education and health in developed countries. The analysis is based on 11 European Union countries. We estimate country-specific health functions, where the dependent variable is self-reported health status and the education attainment is one of the main inputs. All eight waves (1994–2001) of the European Community Household Panel are deployed. A random effects ordered probit is estimated in order to control, to a given extent, for unobserved heterogeneity. Explanatory variables are both time invariant (education attainment and gender) and time varying (gross wages, hours of work, age and living alone). Results confirm the positive impact of secondary education on health in most cases and tertiary education in all cases, even after controlling for other inputs in the health function and taking unobserved heterogeneity into account. Secondary education has an impact on health in all countries in the sample except for The Netherlands and UK. The effect does not differ between secondary and tertiary education in France, Ireland and Greece. The correlation between education and health is interpreted in different but complementary ways by diverse approaches and we may not disentangle the precise mechanism that connects health with education from our results. Anyway, it seems clear that better coordination is needed between education and health policies to effectively improve health literacy. Other relevant results from our study are that women register poorer health than men, age contributes to worsening health status and wages contribute positively to health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses microeconomic data for more than 100,000 European individuals in order to analyse whether the individual economic returns to education vary between migrants and non-migrants and whether any differences in earnings between these two groups are affected by household and/or geographical (regional and interregional) externalities. The results point out that while education is a fundamental determinant of earnings, European labour markets do not discriminate in the returns to education between migrants and non-migrants. Household, regional and supra-regional externalities influence the economic returns to education in a similar way for local, intranational and supra-national migrants. The results are robust to the introduction of a large number of individual, household and regional controls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose to use multilevel discrete-time hazard models to assess the impact of societal and individual level covariates on the timing and occurrence of third births. We focus mainly on the impact of educational attainment on third births across 15 European countries. From the analysis in this paper, the effect of education on the propensity to have a third child is found to be negative. This education effect is not significantly weakened by the Nordic countries, but living in Scandinavia does increase the hazard for a third birth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although formal childcare is considered a key social investment policy to combat inequality, available research indicates that in most European and other high-income countries parents with lower socio-economic positions are less likely to use formal childcare. As the literature on the underlying causes of this so-called Matthew effect has not yet converged, this article is the first to assess whether educational gradients in formal childcare uptake can be accounted for by micro-level employment potential and work–family attitudes in 14 European countries and Australia. Complementing available research on supply-side factors such as policy design features, this study indicates that a large part of the educational gradients in formal childcare uptake persist after controlling for socio-demographic background variables, employment potential, and work–family attitudes as micro-level predictors. However, this study also shows that a considerable part of the educational differentiation in formal childcare uptake reflects differential employment potential. This finding turns attention to policies other than childcare to enhance labour market outcomes for lower educated groups, which in turn might attenuate the Matthew effect in formal childcare. Furthermore, a positive relation between individual-level work–family attitudes and the uptake of formal childcare is also identified as a partial explanation for educational gradients in formal childcare uptake. Although the explanatory power of work–family attitudes as an underlying determinant of the Matthew effect is more limited compared to employment potential, such variation in the acceptance of maternal employment and formal childcare should also be considered in the design of inclusive work–family policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the scientific literature and debate on social investment, public childcare provision plays a pivotal role. At the same time, critics have argued that social investment is often unable to reduce social inequalities and, to the contrary, tends to reproduce them (the so-called 'Matthew effect'). The article focuses on a specific facet of social investment policies: their capacity to support mothers' employment and its effect on social inequality, by investigating empirically to what extent an expansion of public childcare can help to increase women's labour market participation and how this eventual support is homogenously distributed among different mothers' profiles. To give a convincing answer to such a question requires careful attention to methodology, in order to avoid drawing the wrong conclusions. Whereas existing research has predominately focused on cross-national variation and has often been static in nature, the present study assesses the effects of public childcare expansion on women's labour market participation and employment by examining region-specific within-variation over time of public childcare coverage. The study relies on data from the European Social Survey (2002–2018) that were integrated with an original collection of regional-level information on public childcare. It finds a positive association between increases in public childcare coverage and mothers' labour market participation. Furthermore, it shows that public childcare helps to fight social inequalities among households with young children. Low-educated mothers are the ones who profit most from an increase in public childcare, and positive employment effects are most pronounced at lower levels of childcare coverage. Therefore, this contribution highlights the importance of public childcare policies as an equalizer in society, especially in contexts in which an intervention is most needed, because expanding childcare fosters mothers' labour market participation [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: One of the main causes of anaphylaxis in Europe is Hymenoptera stings. Epidemiological data indicate that insect venom hypersensitivity concerns up to 5.0-7.5% of the population. Aim: To assess the influence of selected clinical and socio-demographic factors on the tests used in the study: WHOQOL-BREF (World Health Organization Quality of Life-Brief) and CECS (Courtauld Emotional Control Scale). Material and methods: The research was conducted among patients diagnosed with Hymenoptera venom allergy, treated with immunotherapy. The following socio-demographic and clinical factors were evaluated: gender, age, place of residence, marital status, education, professional activity, financial status, type of allergy and duration of therapy. The research was carried out in 2014-2015 in the Chair and Clinic of Allergology, Clinical Immunology and Internal Diseases, Jan Biziel University Hospital No. 2 in Bydgoszcz. The study was conducted by means of a diagnostic survey using an interview. Results: Quality of life varies significantly depending on age, education, professional activity and financial conditions. The type of allergy significantly differentiates the value of CECS in the sample. People allergic to bee venom have a higher CECS level = 53.54 compared to people allergic to wasp venom, which show a lower CECS level = 49.03. Conclusions: Quality of life varies depending on age, education, professional activity and financial conditions. A higher quality of life is found in the youngest people, with better education, professionally active and declaring good financial conditions. Patients diagnosed with a bee venom allergy have a higher level of emotional control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Resumen: En este artículo se examinan las tendencias de la brecha salarial de género desde la perspectiva de la evolución de los rendimientos salariales de las competencias intelectuales (cognitivas e interpersonales) y físicas (fuerza y capa‐cidad motora). Tras analizar datos armonizados de seis países europeos y datos comparables de los Estados Unidos, se observan variaciones sustanciales en cuanto a la influencia de los precios de las calificaciones profesionales en la brecha salarial. Sin embargo, en todos los países de la muestra, una parte considerable de la variación de la disparidad salarial no puede explicarse por la evolución de los precios de las calificaciones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: We examined predictors of trust in the healthcare system during the COVID-19 pandemic in 27 European countries. Subjects and methods: We used population-based data drawn from the Living, working and COVID-19 survey (N = 21,884, 52% female, ages 18 to 92 years) covering 27 European countries dated June and July 2020. Multilevel linear regression, linear regression, and regression-tree analyses were conducted. Results: We found that most participants tended to trust the healthcare system, although a substantial part could still be classified as distrusting (approx. 21%). Multiple variables, including being middle-aged or of older age, being female, lower levels of education, unemployment, worse general health status, having income difficulties, having unmet needs for healthcare, no healthcare contact during the COVID-19 pandemic, higher mental distress, and loneliness, were significantly associated with lower levels of trust. Among these variables mental distress, income difficulties, and unmet needs for healthcare emerged as especially important and, across European regions and countries, consistent predictors for lower trust in the healthcare system during the COVID-19 pandemic. Conclusions: Medically vulnerable subgroups, such as individuals with unmet healthcare needs, higher levels of mental distress, and older age, as well as people living in socially and economically vulnerable situations, such as higher levels of loneliness and financial difficulties, were the least trusting of the healthcare system during the COVID-19 pandemic. As these vulnerable subgroups are also at highest risk for contracting COVID-19 and experiencing negative COVID-19-related outcomes, more targeted prevention and intervention efforts should be implemented in these groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Heat is a significant cause of mortality, but impact patterns are heterogenous. Previous studies assessing such heterogeneity focused exclusively on risk rather than heat-attributable mortality burdens and assume predictors are independent. OBJECTIVES: We assessed how four interrelated regional-level sociodemographic predictors—education, life expectancy, the ratio of older to younger people (aging index), and relative income—influence heterogeneity in heat-attributable mortality burdens in Europe and then derived insights into adaptation strategies. METHODS: We extracted four outcomes from a temperature–mortality study covering 16 European countries: the rate of increase in mortality risk at moderate and extreme temperatures (moderate and extreme slope, respectively), the minimum mortality temperature percentile (MMTP), and the underlying mortality rate. We used structural equation modeling with country-level random effects to quantify the direct and indirect influences of the predictors on the outcomes. RESULTS: Higher levels of education were directly associated with lower heat-related mortality at moderate and extreme temperatures via lower slopes and higher MMTPs. A one standard deviation increase in education was associated with a -0.46 ± 0.14, -0.41 ± 0.12, and 0.41 ± 0.12 standard deviation ( ± standard error) change in the moderate slope, extreme slope, and MMTP, respectively. However, education had mixed indirect influences via associations with life expectancy, the aging index, and relative income. Higher life expectancy had mixed relations with heat-related mortality, being associated with higher risk at moderate temperatures (0.33 ± 0.11 for the moderate slope; -0.19 ± 0.097 for the MMTP) but lower underlying mortality rates (-0.72 ± 0.097). A higher aging index was associated with higher burdens through higher risk at extreme temperatures (0.13 ± 0.072 for the extreme slope) and higher underlying mortality rates (0.93 ± 0.055). Relative income had relatively small, mixed influences. DISCUSSION: Our novel approach provided insights into actions for reducing the health impacts of heat. First, the results show the interrelations between possible vulnerability-generating mechanisms and suggest future research directions. Second, the findings point to the need for a dual approach to adaptation, with actions that explicitly target heat exposure reduction and actions focused explicitly on the root causes of vulnerability. For the latter, the climate crisis may be leveraged to accelerate ongoing general public health programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Examine trends in limitations among young (15–39), middle-aged (40–64) and older age-groups (>=65) and their socioeconomic differences. Methods: Population-based European Social Survey data (N = 396,853) were used, covering 30 mostly European countries and spanning the time-period 2002–2018. Limitations were measured using a global activity limitations indicator. Results: Age-differential trends in limitations were found. Activity limitations generally decreased in older adults, whereas trends varied among younger and middle-aged participants, with decreasing limitations in some countries but increasing limitations in others. These age-differential trends were replicated across limitation severity and socioeconomic groups; however, stronger limitation increases occurred regarding less-severe limitations. Discussion: Functional health has improved in older adults. Contrarily, the increasing limitations in younger and middle-aged individuals seem concerning, which were mostly observed in Western and Northern European countries. Given its public health importance, future studies should investigate the reasons for this declining functional health in the young and middle-aged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives Individuals with more education are at lower risk of developing multiple, different age-related diseases than their less-educated peers. A reason for this might be that individuals with more education age slower. There are 2 complications in testing this hypothesis. First, there exists no definitive measure of biological aging. Second, shared genetic factors contribute toward both lower educational attainment and the development of age-related diseases. Here, we tested whether the protective effect of educational attainment was associated with the pace of aging after accounting for genetic factors. Methods We examined data from 5 studies together totaling almost 17,000 individuals with European ancestry born in different countries during different historical periods, ranging in age from 16 to 98 years old. To assess the pace of aging, we used DunedinPACE, a DNA methylation algorithm that reflects an individual's rate of aging and predicts age-related decline and Alzheimer's disease and related disorders. To assess genetic factors related to education, we created a polygenic score based on the results of a genome-wide association study of educational attainment. Results Across the 5 studies, and across the life span, higher educational attainment was associated with a slower pace of aging even after accounting for genetic factors (meta-analysis effect size = −0.20; 95% confidence interval [CI]: −0.30 to −0.10; p =.006). Further, this effect persisted after taking into account tobacco smoking (meta-analysis effect size = −0.13; 95% CI: −0.21 to −0.05; p =.01). Discussion These results indicate that higher levels of education have positive effects on the pace of aging, and that the benefits can be realized irrespective of individuals' genetics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Hospital waiting times are established instruments to ration healthcare when resources are scarce. However, higher educated patients may be better able to influence access to, and exit from, hospital care when waiting times are long. Methods Based on a representative sample of 11 European countries from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) collected in 2004/2005, this paper investigates whether the relationship between individual educational background and hospital utilization depends on the prevalent hospital waiting times in a country. Logistic regression with interaction effects between individual education and average waiting times per country are conducted. Results Primary education is significantly associated with a lower probability of visiting a hospital overnight (OR = 0.88) compared to secondary and tertiary education. Patients in countries with long waiting times had shorter stays (OR = 0.92), and the significant interaction effect indicates that lower educated patients have longer hospital stays than higher educated patients in countries where waiting times tend to be long (OR = 1.06). Conclusions While the findings imply that educational differences exist with regard to hospital care, future research should investigate potential underlying mechanisms, i.e. patients' perceived access barriers and the perceived quality of hospital treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comparative data on marital power structure for the United States, France, Greece, and Yugoslavia are discussed. Data on the United States and France show a positive association between husband's authority score and such variables as husband's educational status, occupational status, and income; data on Greece and Yugoslavia show a negative association on these variables. The contradictory findings are used to elaborate a ‘theory of resources in cultural context’—the distribution of marital power is seen to result from the interaction of (1) comparative resources of husband and wife and (2) cultural or subcultural expectations about the distribution of marital power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the drivers of preferences about tax progressivity and redistribution are well identified, the study of willingness to pay taxes remains underdeveloped. This article uses the 2016 ISSP on the Role of Government and the 2018 OECD Risks that Matter surveys to identify which groups of voters are more likely to be willing to pay taxes. It shows that ideology mediates the correlations between education or income and willingness to pay. Among the left, income and education tend to have a positive association with willingness to pay taxes, whereas both variables are negatively associated with willingness to pay among the right. Thus, the core constituencies of left-wing parties composed of socio-cultural professionals and of production and service workers have different tax policy preferences. Socio-cultural professionals, with their higher education and income, are significantly more willing to pay taxes than production and service workers, who share lower education and income. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of formal and informal care for the elderly depends on many factors: income, urban-rural environment, educational attainment, family composition (singles/multi-member family), age and severity of health complications. For this analysis, a pro-rich poverty model is used based on data from the latest (8th) edition of SHARE (Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe) to examine the impact of socioeconomic inequalities among older people in the use of home care in European Union. The main results indicate that the pro-poor distribution of long-term care prevails in most of the studied countries. At the same time, health variables contribute to pro-poor inequality in the use of long-term care, mainly in informal care. When it comes to formal care, most countries have pro-poor contributions. Formal care inequalities disappeared when adjusted for need factors, while informal care inequalities remained in most countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Even low to moderate levels of alcohol consumption can have detrimental health consequences, especially in older adults (OA). Although many studies report an increase in the proportion of drinkers among OA, there are regional variations. Therefore, we examined alcohol consumption and the prevalence of hazardous alcohol use (HAU) among men and women aged 50+ years in four European regions and investigated predictors of HAU. Methods: We analyzed data of N = 35,042 participants of the European SHARE study. We investigated differences in alcohol consumption (units last week) according to gender, age and EU-region using ANOVAs. Furthermore, logistic regression models were used to examine the effect of income, education, marital status, history of a low-quality parent–child relationship and smoking on HAU, also stratified for gender and EU-region. HAU was operationalized as binge drinking or risky drinking (<12.5 units of 10 ml alcohol/week). Results: Overall, past week alcohol consumption was 5.0 units (±7.8), prevalence of HAU was 25.4% within our sample of European adults aged 50+ years. Male gender, younger age and living in Western Europe were linked to both higher alcohol consumption and higher risks of HAU. Income, education, smoking, a low-quality parent–child relationship, living in Northern and especially Eastern Europe were positively associated with HAU. Stratified analyses revealed differences by region and gender. Conclusions: HAU was highly prevalent within this European sample of OA. Alcohol consumption and determinants of HAU differed between EU-regions, hinting to a necessity of risk-stratified population-level strategies to prevent HAU and subsequent alcohol use disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: This study aimed to compare the self-rated health status of the Roma and of the general population by gender and educational level in six Central and Eastern European countries. Methods: We analysed the United Nations Development Program Regional Roma Survey and EUROSTAT's European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions surveys from 2011 for Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia. Using logistic regression, predicted probabilities of good or very good self-rated health were estimated for the Roma (n =11,401), Roma neighbours (n =5857) and the general population (n =101,579) stratified by gender, and adjusted by age, country and educational level. Results: There was a distinctive social gradient in self-rated health between the groups among both men and women, and a gap between primary versus secondary or tertiary education among all three groups, but Roma (men) and their neighbours with secondary or higher education had significantly worse predicted self-rated health compared to the general population with similar qualifications. Conclusions: These results strongly suggest that ethnicity and gender should be considered as fundamental causes that explain structural health inequalities. Consequently, future research and policy initiatives to reduce health inequities should acknowledge the impact of ethnic minorities and how these fundamental causes extend the general population's social gradient in health. Study designs enabling direct comparisons between ethnic groups and the general population should be applied. More and better data about ethnic minorities are needed to document and monitor existing health inequalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research documents a correlation between education and political ideology, usually indicating a positive relationship between education and left-wing political views. In this paper, I examine to what extent this association is causal. I merge political ideology data from 25 waves of Eurobarometer surveys with information on 18 educational reforms in 11 European countries. I then instrument for educational attainment with a regression discontinuity design that estimates the increase in education due to compulsory educational reforms. Notably, it appears that omitted variables bias is important here. I find a significant causal effect of education moving individuals to the right when properly addressing the endogeneity whereas there is a significant association between education and left-wing political ideology when treating education as exogenous. I find that on average, among the individuals compelled into additional education from these specific reforms, an additional year of education moves individuals to the right of the political continuum by about 5–6%. However, I also find no evidence of a causal effect on political ideology for a subgroup of countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we examine the factors that are associated with the probability for a student to be retained in primary school; understanding such phenomenon is very important, because the literature points at claiming that retention perpetrates socioeconomic and educational inequality, instead of reducing it. Empirically, we estimate a multivariate logistic regression with the aim of identifying cross-country determinants of grade retention using data about 16 European countries participating in PIRLS 2011 using data about entry age at school and grade enrollment to identify retained students. Our results highlight that socioeconomic background is not the only factor that plays a role. Early-acquired skills do reduce the probability for a child to become a repeater; thus, the policy-makers should devote their effort in helping families to undertake preschool activities that develop skills also before starting formal schooling. Later assistance with homework is helpful as well, but with a lower magnitude and effect, which is offset if early skills are properly accounted for. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Human Resource Management / Zarzadzanie Zasobami Ludzkimi is the property of Institute of Labour & Social / Instytut Pracy i Spraw Socjalnych and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Background and Aims: Excessive cannabis use may lead to lower educational attainment. However, this association may be due to confounders and reverse causality. We tested the potential causal relationship between cannabis use disorder (CUD) or life‐time cannabis use (LCU) and educational attainment. Design: Bidirectional two‐sample Mendelian randomization (MR) study was conducted. Our primary method was inverse‐variance weighted (IVW) MR, with a series of sensitivity analyses. Multivariable MR (MVMR) was performed to estimate any direct effect independent of intelligence, smoking initiation or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Setting and participants: European ancestry individuals. The sample sizes of the genome‐wide association study ranged from 55 374 to 632 802 participants. Measurements Genetic variants of CUD, LCU or educational attainment. Findings Using univariable MR, we found evidence of a potential causal effect of genetic liability to CUD on a lower educational attainment [MR, 95% confidence interval (CI)inverse variance weighted (IVW) = −1.2 month (−1.9 month, −0.5 month); P = 0.0008]. However, we found no evidence of an effect of genetic liability to LCU on educational attainment [MR, 95% CIIVW = 0.5 month (−1.5 month, 2.6 month), P = 0.6032]. Reverse direction analysis suggested that genetic liability to higher educational attainment had a potential causal effect on lower risk of CUD [odds ratio (OR), 95% CIIVW = 0.39 (0.29, 0.52), P = 1.69 × 10−10]. We also found evidence of potential causal effect from genetic liability to higher educational attainment to higher risk of LCU [OR, 95% CIIVW = 1.35 (1.11, 1.66), P = 0.0033]. Conclusions: Genetic liability to cannabis use disorder may lead to lower educational attainment. Genetic liability to higher educational attainment may also lead to higher life‐time cannabis use risk and lower cannabis use disorder risk. However, the bidirectional effect between cannabis use disorder and educational attainment may be due to shared risk factors (e.g. attention‐deficit hyperactivity disorder). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Self-rated health, a subjective health outcome that summarizes an individual's health conditions in one indicator, is widely used in population health studies. However, despite its demonstrated ability as a predictor of mortality, we still do not full understand the relative importance of the specific health conditions that lead respondents to answer the way they do when asked to rate their overall health. Here, education, because of its ability to identify different social strata, can be an important factor in this self-rating process. The aim of this article is to explore possible differences in association pattern between self-rated health and functional health conditions (IADLs, ADLs), chronic diseases, and mental health (depression) among European women and men between the ages of 65 and 79 according to educational attainment (low, medium, and high). Methods: Classification trees (J48 algorithm), an established machine learning technique that has only recently started to be used in social sciences, are used to predict self-rated health outcomes. The data about the aforementioned health conditions among European women and men aged between 65 and 79 comes from the sixth wave of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) (n = 27,230). Results: It is confirmed the high ability to predict respondents' self-rated health by their reports related to their chronic diseases, IADLs, ADLs, and depression. However, in the case of women, these patterns are much more heterogeneous when the level of educational attainment is considered, whereas among men the pattern remains largely the same. Conclusions: The same response to the self-rated health question may, in the case of women, represent different health profiles in terms of the health conditions that define it. As such, gendered health inequalities defined by education appear to be evident even in the process of evaluating one's own health status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using data from the first wave of the SHARE COVID-19 Survey and additional information collected from the previous waves of SHARE (Survey of Health Ageing and Retirement in Europe), we explore the effects of job characteristics on two outcomes: (i) the probability of work interruptions and (ii) the length of such interruptions during the first phase of the Coronavirus Pandemic. In order to assess the relationship between job features and labour market outcomes, we define two indexes proxying the pre-COVID-19 technical remote work feasibility as well as the level of social interaction with other people while working. Moreover, we use an indicator that classifies ISCO-08 3-digit job titles based on the essential nature of the good or service provided. We find that job characteristics have been major determinants of the probability of undergoing work interruptions and their duration. In addition, we show that women have been negatively affected by the Pandemic to a much larger extent than men, suggesting the relevance of the intrinsic characteristics of jobs they are mainly involved in, and the role of gender selection into specific activities. Not only females were more likely to have undergone work interruptions but they also exhibited larger probabilities of longer work breaks. A similar impact is seen for self-employed and less-educated workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies show that older individuals with multimorbidity are more susceptible to develop a more severe case of COVID-19 when infected by the virus. These individuals are more likely to be admitted to Intensive Care Units and to die from COVID-19-related conditions than younger individuals or those without multimorbidity. This research aimed to assess whether there are differences in terms of precautionary behaviours between individuals aged 50 + with multimorbidity and their counterparts without multimorbidity residing in 25 European countries plus Israel. We used data from the SHARE-COVID19 questionnaire on the socio-demographic and economic characteristics, multimorbidity, and precautionary behaviours of individuals. SHARE wave 8 and 7 databases were also used to fully identify individuals with multimorbidity. Our results showed that individuals with multimorbidity were more likely to exhibit precautionary behaviours than their counterparts without multimorbidity when gender, age, education, financial distress and countries were included as controls. Additionally, we found that women, more educated individuals and those experiencing more financial distress adopt more protective behaviours than their counterparts. Our results also indicate that the prevalence of precautionary behaviours is higher in Spain and Italy and lower in Denmark, Finland and Sweden. To guarantee the adoption of preventive actions against COVID-19, public health messaging and actions must continue to be disseminated among middle and older aged persons with multimorbidity, and more awareness campaigns should be targeted at men and less educated individuals but also at persons experiencing less financial distress, particularly in countries where people engaged in fewer precautionary behaviours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Hoitotiede is the property of Hoitotieteiden Tutkimusseura HTTS r.y. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Older adults tend to have multiple comorbidities and specific needs that require timely assistance. The information on percentage and characteristics of older adults that self-refer to physiotherapy is scarce, thus our objective is to characterise them in terms of socio-demographic aspects and health conditions across 15 European Countries. Individuals aged 65 years and over from the first wave of the European Health Interview Survey across 15 European Countries was used. The information retrieved for analysis was: sex, age, country, education' levels, income, self-perception of health, health conditions, and visits on their own behalf to a physiotherapist. The sample comprised 39,922 older adults, aged 75.6 (7.8) years old, and of which 60.5% were women. The percentage of self-referral to physiotherapy varied between 3.3 and 29.9% across countries. Older adults reporting osteoarthritis, neck pain, low back pain or stroke were associated with higher rates of self-referral. Our study shows that a small percentage of older adults self-refer to physiotherapy and confirmed higher income and higher education' levels are associated with direct access/self-referral to physiotherapy, suggesting the need to improve public health systems, health insurance and campaigns promoting physiotherapy targeting older adults and their careers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A growing body of research suggests that adult child educational attainment benefits older parents' cognitive outcomes via financial (e.g. direct monetary transfers) and nonfinancial (e.g. psychosocial) mechanisms. Quasi-experimental studies are needed to circumvent confounding bias. No such quasi-experimental studies have been completed in higher-income countries, where financial transfers from adult children to aging parents are rare. Using data on 8,159 adults aged ≥50 years in the Survey for Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe (2004/2005), we leveraged changes in compulsory schooling laws as quasi-experiments. Each year of increased schooling among respondents' oldest children was associated with better verbal fluency (β = 0.07, 95% CI: 0.02, 0.12) scores; overall associations with verbal memory scores were null, with mixed and imprecise evidence of association in models stratified by parent gender. We also evaluated associations with psychosocial outcomes as potentially important mechanisms. Increased schooling among respondents' oldest children was associated with higher quality-of-life scores and fewer depressive symptoms. Our findings present modest albeit inconsistent evidence that increases in schooling may have an "upward" influence on older parents' cognitive performance even in settings where financial transfers from adult children to their parents are uncommon. Associations with parents' psychosocial outcomes were more robust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Previous studies of older European populations have established that disability and morbidity vary with indicators of socio-economic position (SEP). We undertook a systematic narrative review of the literature to ascertain to what extent there is evidence of similar inequalities in the subjective health and well-being of older people in Europe. Method: Relevant original research articles were searched for using Medline, Global Health, Embase, Social Policy and Practice, Cinahl, Web of Science and International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS). We included studies of SEP and indicators of subjective health and well-being (self-rated health; life satisfaction; quality of life) conducted since 1991 using population-based samples of older people in Europe and published 1995–2013. Results: A total of 71 studies were identified. Poorer SEP was associated with poorer subjective health and well-being. Associations varied somewhat depending on the SEP measure and subjective health and well-being outcome used. Associations were weaker when social support and health-related behaviours were adjusted for suggesting that these factors mediate the relationship between SEP and subjective health and well-being. Associations tended to be weaker in the oldest age groups. The patterns of associations by gender were not consistent and tended to diminish after adjusting for indicators of health and life circumstances. Conclusion: The results of this systematic narrative review of the literature demonstrate the importance of social influences on later life subjective health and well-being and indicate areas which need further investigation, such as more studies from Eastern Europe, more longitudinal studies and more research on the role of mediating factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The new programs of studies developed according to the European Higher Education Systems are students-centered. In this sense, it is critical to properly set the workload a student must dedicate in order to reach the learning outcomes defined for each subject. This paper analyses the perception of students with regards to the difficulty and workload employed by them in the first course of two new degrees implemented at Technical University of Madrid (TUM). Several questionnaires were developed to gather the information required, which contained questions about the difficulty perceived or the time spent, among others. The total number of students that took part in the surveys ranged from 54 to 63, depending on the four months of the semester considered (February, March, April and May). In addition, statistical analyses were conducted to check the influence of the perceived difficulty and workload on the academic performance rates. A Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and a subsequent Hierarchical Ascendant Classification (HAC) were also accomplished to obtain the clusters representing the subjects considered in this work. The students usually perceive a higher difficulty in the study of the subjects than expected prior to their enrollment in University. Those subjects perceived by students to be the most difficult ones tend to show lower Efficiency and Success Rates. In addition, the students tend to abandon the study of any subject when they consider it is a difficult one. The results of this study suggest the difficulties found by students during their first academic course in University. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Psychosis rates are higher among some migrant groups. We hypothesized that psychosis in migrants is associated with cumulative social disadvantage during different phases of migration. Methods: We used data from the EUropean Network of National Schizophrenia Networks studying Gene-Environment Interactions (EU-GEI) case–control study. We defined a set of three indicators of social disadvantage for each phase: pre-migration, migration and post-migration. We examined whether social disadvantage in the pre- and post-migration phases, migration adversities, and mismatch between achievements and expectations differed between first-generation migrants with first-episode psychosis and healthy first-generation migrants, and tested whether this accounted for differences in odds of psychosis in multivariable logistic regression models. Results: In total, 249 cases and 219 controls were assessed. Pre-migration (OR 1.61, 95% CI 1.06–2.44, p = 0.027) and post-migration social disadvantages (OR 1.89, 95% CI 1.02–3.51, p = 0.044), along with expectations/achievements mismatch (OR 1.14, 95% CI 1.03–1.26, p = 0.014) were all significantly associated with psychosis. Migration adversities (OR 1.18, 95% CI 0.672–2.06, p = 0.568) were not significantly related to the outcome. Finally, we found a dose–response effect between the number of adversities across all phases and odds of psychosis (⩾6: OR 14.09, 95% CI 2.06–96.47, p = 0.007). Conclusions: The cumulative effect of social disadvantages before, during and after migration was associated with increased odds of psychosis in migrants, independently of ethnicity or length of stay in the country of arrival. Public health initiatives that address the social disadvantages that many migrants face during the whole migration process and post-migration psychological support may reduce the excess of psychosis in migrants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]