A Cross-Lagged Prospective Network Analysis of Common Mental Health and Cognitive Functioning Components in Midlife Community Adult Women

Background: The scar theory proposes that heightened depression and anxiety precede and predict worse cognitive functioning outcomes, whereas the vulnerability model posits the opposite pathway. However, most investigations on this topic have been cross-sectional, which precludes causal inferences. Thus, our study used both contemporaneous and temporal cross-lagged panel network analysis to facilitate causal inferences in understanding the relations between psychopathology components and cognitive functioning. Methods: Racially-diverse midlife women (n = 3,302) participated in the Study of Women's Health Across the Nation across two time-points, spanning one year apart. Five psychopathology (anxiety symptoms, depressed mood, somatic symptoms, positive affect, interpersonal problems) and cognitive functioning nodes (working memory (WM), processing speed (PS), visual memory (VSM), auditory memory (ARM)) were assessed. Results: Contemporaneous networks yielded notable inverse between-node relations (edges) for interpersonal problems and reduced VSM and PS, and between depressed mood or anxiety symptoms and VSM, ARM, or PS. Moreover, nodes that had the highest likelihood to bridge psychopathology and cognitive functioning constructs were positive affect, anxiety symptoms, WM, and ARM. Temporal networks produced edges inconsistent with the vulnerability theory. Higher depressed mood and somatic symptoms and lower positive affect were related to reduced future PS, WM, and/or VSM. Likewise, greater interpersonal issues and anxiety symptoms were linked to poorer future ARM and WM. Also, positive affect had the strongest effect on future nodes. Conclusions: These results provide stronger support for the scar theory than the vulnerability theory.

Suicide Cognitions Scale: Psychometric Support in a Community Sample Using Bifactor Modeling and Altered Item Content

The Suicide Cognitions Scale (SCS) measures suicide-related beliefs proposed by the Fluid Vulnerability Theory. A recent investigation of a revised version of the SCS (i.e., SCS-R) which omits items explicitly referencing suicide has indicated that the measure is highly influenced by a general factor and may be useful for distinguishing severity levels of suicidal thoughts and behaviors; however, limited concurrent validity studies with a range of suicide-related experiences have been conducted. As such, this study replicated and extended previous psychometric research on the SCS-R in an online survey study with a community sample of N = 10,625 U.S. adults. Results confirmed the unidimensional structure of the SCS-R. Logistic regression analyses indicated that the total score of the SCS-R is useful in distinguishing varying levels of suicidal thoughts and behaviors such as past-month planning for suicide without attempt versus past-month suicide attempt. Implications and limitations are discussed.

Vulnerability and Volition in the Testamentary Law of Undue Influence and Captation

This article examines how contemporary analyses of vulnerability theory are reflected in legal approaches to undue influence and captation in the Canadian common law of wills and estates and in the Civil Code of Québec in the law of succession. Critical theorists point to the risks of assuming that vulnerability lies exclusively with the elderly and persons with disabilities. The equation risks oversimplifying matters, which could compromise the equality and dignity of members of these groups. There is also a risk of overlooking the harm that may be suffered by those who are victims of social or economic oppression. A more nuanced approach posits that vulnerability is a common human trait that cuts across social identities and experiences. Due to prevailing assumptions about vulnerability, this article hypothesizes that challenges to wills based on undue influence and captation will most often occur when the testator is elderly and/or has a disability at the time of execution of the will. Canadian common law and Quebec civil law jurisprudence are examined to assess this hypothesis. This analysis reveals that certain conditions do give rise to triggers heightened judicial scrutiny of wills, but that they do not in and of themselves determine legal outcomes. The case law thus suggests a moderate—but tempered—risk that courts will draw presumptions about age and capacity when assessing the presence of undue influence or captation. Perhaps more significant is the absence of challenges to wills involving young and healthy testators. Jurists might therefore wonder whether we are at risk of overlooking some cases of untoward conduct due to the conceptual associations we make between age, incapacity and vulnerability.

Covid-19 and Poverty Assessment in Nigeria – The Vulnerability Approach

The aim of the study was to abstract from the vulnerability theory to predict the likelihood of more people in Nigeria falling into the poverty trap as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. The study used a parametric technique to obtain estimates of the mean and variance of one-period ahead log-consumption. In doing this, the study hypothesized that estimating household consumption function is important in making inferences about the future and in assessing the vulnerability of household to shocks. The simulation analysis shows that of the 82 percent of the households that are vulnerable to poverty, only about 13 percent are in transitory poverty while the rest are in structural poverty. The implication of this finding is that poverty situation in Nigeria is widespread, entrenched and inter-generational. The current coronavirus pandemic has merely worsened the poverty situation and is not the fundamental cause of poverty in Nigeria. The study recommended among others, that anti-poverty intervention measures of the government, going forward, must be forward-looking and aim largely to increase the productive capacity of the populace instead of merely aiming to alleviate their current state of poverty.

Normative Background: The Dis-abled Subject in International Human Rights Law

This chapter considers how the legal subject has been construed in the field of international human rights law. It argues that the notion of human rights has come to give priority to the able-bodied individual. It then suggests that the CRPD has given this notion a more real dimension through its consideration for distinct forms of embodiment. The chapter goes on to argue that disability can help broaden the range of human variety considered in the concept of human rights. It subsequently analyses Fineman’s vulnerability theory and how it actually fits with the concept of disability, as well as its usefulness in providing a broader approach to dealing with disability. It finally introduces the idea of the dis-abled subject, which allows both the universality of human rights to be strengthened and the Convention’s significance for the whole field of international human rights law to be revealed.

COVID-19 magnifies the vulnerabilities: The Brazilian case

This paper discusses inequalities of the health system in Brazil and advocates that now, more than ever in light of the Covid-19 pandemic, the world needs to put in place a more collaborative and egalitarian way of financing health research and investments in public health systems. The role of the state and institutions in the design of public policies for the realization of social rights is debated in the face of the economic and political crisis. Here we draw upon Martha Fineman’s vulnerability theory and Thomas Pogge’s view on justice with regard to health.

Reimagining state responsibility for workers following COVID-19: A vulnerability approach

In this article it is argued that the COVID-19 crisis offers an important opportunity for engagement and reflection on the operation and effectiveness of laws regarding the workplace in the UK and beyond. The crisis underscores the temporality and partiality of labour law measures, and the need for a reimagining of that law based on more sustainable principles. I argue that this reimagination should coalesce around a human-centric approach to law, and the recognition of the need for deep and varied institutional support for workers. It is argued that these principles have been adopted historically in the context of health and safety law, but have not always been well applied, particularly in the context of the pandemic. In any event, the adoption of these principles and the greater integration of health and safety and labour law would encourage states to better promote worker agency and resilience and hence move towards meeting the aspirations of vulnerability theory.

The jurisprudence of universal subjectivity: COVID-19, vulnerability and housing

Drawing upon Martha Fineman’s vulnerability theory, the paper argues that the legal claims of homeless appellants before and during the COVID-19 pandemic illustrate our universal vulnerability which stems from the essential, life-sustaining activities flowing from the ontological status of the human body. By recognizing that housing availability has constitutional significance because it provides for life-sustaining activities such as sleeping, eating and lying down, I argue that the legal rationale reviewed in the paper underscores the empirical, ontological reality of the body as the basis for a jurisprudence of universal vulnerability. By tracing the constitutional basis of this jurisprudence from Right to Travel to Eighth Amendment grounds during COVID-19, the paper outlines a distinct legal paradigm for understanding vulnerability in its universal, constant and essential form – one of the central premises of vulnerability theory.