When life happens: the impact of life events on turnout

Habit is among the most influential explanations for why people vote. Scholars have addressed the impact of individual disruptions to habitual voting, but analyses including several life events are rare. We combine two panel surveys, conducted in the UK during 1991-2017, to examine the impact of unemployment, retirement, changes in partnership status, moving and disability on voting. We distinguish between habitual voters, occasional voters and habitual non-voters. For all voter groups, turnout declines with divorce. For other life events, the impacts diverge across the voter groups. Overall, the findings suggest that social connections are the strongest underlying mechanisms explaining the changes. Although the results support the voting habit thesis, they also suggest that previous research has overstated the persistence of voting habits. The results revise some of the canonical findings by demonstrating that the impact of life events differs across people with different voting habits and across different life events.

China’s Foreign Aid Political Drivers: Lessons from a Novel Dataset of Mask Diplomacy in Latin America during the COVID-19 Pandemic

This study investigates a novel dataset comprised of a universe of 537 donations in 33 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, between 11 February and 20 June 2020, which provides a high level of detail on China’s and Taiwan’s mask diplomacy. We describe who the main donors were, who the main recipients were, what was donated to each country, and which variables explain why some countries received more aid than others. Drawing on previous literature, the article advances understanding about the political determinants of these donations. Our findings revealed that, although seemingly uncoordinated, donations made by China’s central government, Chinese companies, cities, and foundations were strongly affected by two political determinants, namely the recipient’s partnership status with China and the One China Policy. Furthermore, aid provided by China’s Central Government was larger in autocracies than in democracies.

Family Complexity and Parents’ Migration: The Role of Repartnering and Distance to Non-Resident Children

Recent research suggests that the increasing complexity of family life could be a factor in declines in internal migration (long-distance moves within countries). As many separated parents continue to share childcare responsibilities or have visiting arrangements, their mobility is naturally constrained. However, the relationship between family complexity and individual migration behaviour has never been studied explicitly. We compare separated parents with parents in two-parent families in their likelihood of migrating within the Netherlands. We use detailed records of parents’ partnership status and children’s residential situation. An event-history analysis was performed using register-based population data (N = 442,412). We find that separated, single parents are more likely to migrate than those in two-parent families. The same is true for repartnered mothers, while repartnered fathers are about as likely to migrate as fathers in two-parent families. Separated parents’ migration behaviour depends on where their children live. Having non-resident children who live some distance away is associated with a much higher likelihood of migrating than having resident children or non-resident children who live nearby. Having both resident and non-resident children who live nearby—shared residence (i.e. joint physical custody) is likely common in this situation—is associated with a considerably lower likelihood of migrating than having resident children only. Based on our findings, one would expect family complexities stemming from parental separation to be associated with higher rather than lower levels of migration. However, potential future increases in the number of parents who share physical custody after separation might lead to lower migration levels.

The link between vision impairment and depressive symptomatology in late life: does having a partner matter?

Visual impairment contributes to poor mental health among older adults by restricting everyday functioning and participation. This study examined whether the negative link between vision impairment and depressive symptomatology was less severe among partnered than among single older adults. We merged data from a survey among people with vision impairment with a reference population from the most recent wave of the Danish Longitudinal Study of Ageing (DLSA) (N = 5831 Mage = 74.37, range: 65–97 years, 53.1% female), investigating whether paths from poor vision via three mediators—functional limitations, emotional support and participation in social activities—to depressive symptomatology differ by partnership status. Structural equation modeling suggested that the direct path from vision impairment to depressive symptomatology is more than twice as strong for single than for partnered older adults. Thus being partnered reduces the negative link from vision impairment to depressive symptomatology. However, the path from vision impairment to emotional support is significantly stronger among single than among partnered individuals. Thus negative spillover effects from the visual impairment on the non-impaired partner’s mental health may compromise that partner’s ability to provide emotional support. Taking into account both partnership status and the mental health of both partners may help professionals more precisely target interventions aimed at reducing the risk of depression in visually impaired older adults.

Prevalence and Correlates of Work-Phobic Anxiety in a National Representative Sample

Work anxiety is a common mental health problem that is often overlooked and often causes long periods of sick leave. This is the first representative survey on the distribution of work-phobic anxiety in Germany. Of the 2,030 working-age participants (18 – 67 years), 7 % had increased work-phobic anxiety of a moderate (5 % with scores >1.5 – 2.5 on a scale from 0 – 4) or high (2 % with scores >2.5 – 4) degree. People with high levels of work-phobic anxiety reported the longest sick leave durations during the past 12 months (8 weeks) and the most periods of unemployment in their professional lives. The three groups were similar in age, sex, and partnership status. People with high work-phobic anxiety perceived themselves least competent in almost all dimensions of psychological capacity. Occupational health must consider work-phobic anxiety as a specific mental health problem closely linked to work-ability problems.

1014Maternal educational qualification and child’s birth weight: Findings from Office for National Statistics Longitudinal Study

Background Lower maternal education was found to be associated with lower child’s birthweight which in turn was a possible risk factor for later poor health. Presented research aims to assess the association between maternal education and singleton’s birthweight in large UK data, accounting for characteristics such child’s gender, parity, maternal age, partnership status, ethnicity, and household socioeconomic characteristics. Methods Using England and Wales Office for National Statistics Longitudinal Study (ONS-LS), data from over 240,000 children born since 1981 to ONS-LS sample mothers were used. Maternal education was derived into 3 categories (below secondary, complete secondary education, degree and higher). Results Crude analysis confirmed significant association between the level of education and birthweight in each Census cohort (p < 0.001). In adjusted models, the education gradient was partly explained but remained strongly significant, and substantially increased over the years: for example, the birthweight difference between those with below secondary educated mothers and those with degree increased from 29 to 92 grams (p for change<0.001). Conclusions Our findings support previous evidence using different, usually smaller, population samples. Children of mothers with no or low qualification are more prone to be born with lower birthweight leading potentially into health disadvantages in their later life. Our results suggest that the inequalities in birth weight increased over the last 35 years. Key messages Low levels of maternal education predicts low birthweight in children.

A magyarországi várandósgondozási rendszer sajátosságai: a magán- és állami ellátások igénybevétele mögött húzódó egyenlőtlenségek

Összefoglaló. Bevezetés: Jóllehet Magyarországon a várandósok a társadalombiztosítási rendszer által támogatott komplex várandósgondozási ellátásra jogosultak, mégis sokan vesznek közülük igénybe privát szolgáltatásokat. Ezt a döntést többek között a biztonságérzet fokozása és a várandósgondozást végző szakember szülésig tartó folytonosságának biztosítása motiválja. Nemzetközi szakirodalmi adatok alapján mindemellett feltételezhető, hogy hazánkban is befolyásolja a választást a társadalmi-gazdasági helyzet. Célkitűzés: A jelen elemzés célja annak vizsgálata magyarországi várandósok reprezentatív mintáján, hogy az állami/magán/vegyes finanszírozású várandósellátás igénybevétele mennyiben kapcsolódik bizonyos demográfiai, szocioökonómiai, egészségi és pszichológiai változókhoz. Módszer: Az elemzés a Kohorsz ’18 Magyar Születési Kohorszvizsgálat első, várandós anyák körében zajló szakaszának súlyozott adatain történt (n = 8287). Az adatok forrását a védőnők által szóbeli interjúk során felvett, valamint önkitöltős formában begyűjtött kérdőíves adatok szolgáltatták. Eredmények: Az egyes várandósgondozási formák igénybevétele erősen összefüggött a várandós korával, iskolai végzettségével, anyagi helyzetével és foglalkozási presztízsével. Közepes erősségű kapcsolatban állt a várandós partnerkapcsolati helyzetével és meglévő gyermekeinek számával, míg gyenge összefüggésben az egészségi állapotával és pszichés tüneteivel. A finanszírozási formához mindemellett erősen kapcsolódott az, hogy a várandós választott orvossal, szülésznővel tervezte-e szülését. Megbeszélés: A kapott eredmények rámutatnak, hogy a várandósellátás különböző finanszírozású formáinak igénybevétele jelentős mértékben együtt jár a várandós szocioökonómiai és demográfiai sajátosságaival, míg egészségi és pszichés állapotával csupán gyenge összefüggésben áll. Következtetés: A hazai várandósgondozást jellemző kettős finanszírozás háttér-egyenlőtlenségek egész sorát hordozza magában. Jövőbeli elemzésekben vizsgálat tárgyává szükséges tenni, hogy ez mennyiben mutat összefüggést ellátásminőségi és -hozzáférési különbségekkel, valamint ezeken keresztül a várandós és gyermeke egészségével. Orv Hetil. 2021; 162(35): 1402–1412. Summary. Introduction: While pregnant women in Hungary are entitled to complex pregnancy care financed by the social security system, many of them do use private services. This decision is motivated, among other things, by increasing the sense of security and ensuring the presence of the doctor providing pregnancy care at the birth. However, based on the international literature, it can be assumed that this decision is influenced by the socio-economic background as well. Objective: The aim of the present analysis is to examine the extent to which the use of public/private/mixed funded pregnancy care is related to certain demographic, socioeconomic, health related and psychological variables on a representative sample of pregnant women in Hungary. Method: The analysis was performed on the weighted data of the first, pregnant wave of the Cohort ’18 Growing Up in Hungary (n = 8287). The analysis is based on data from personal interviews and self-administered questionnaires conducted by the health visitors among pregnant women in 2018. Results: The use of different forms of pregnancy care was strongly related to the age of the pregnant women, their education, financial situation and occupational prestige. It was moderately correlated with the pregnant woman’s partnership status and their parity, while it was weakly correlated with her health status and psychological symptoms. The form of financing of the pregnancy care was, however, strongly related to whether the pregnant woman planned to give birth with a chosen doctor or midwife. Discussion: The results show that the use of different forms of pregnancy care is greatly associated with the socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of the pregnant women, while it is only weakly related to the health status and mental wellbeing. Conclusion: Double funding in the Hungarian pregnancy care system carries a whole range of background inequalities. Future analyses should examine whether this has an impact on the quality and availability of care and, indirectly, on the health of pregnant women and their children. Orv Hetil. 2021; 162(35): 1402–1412.

Mothers and Parental Leave in Belgium: Social Inequalities in Eligibility and Uptake

In recent decades, many Western European countries introduced parental leave policies to support the work–family combination in families with young children. However, these parental leave schemes often exhibit employment‐based eligibility criteria, so the question arises to which extent social inequalities emerge in the access to parental leave, and as a result thereof also in the uptake of parental leave. Although research on parental leave increasingly addresses the issue of inclusiveness, only a limited number of studies has yet examined individual‐level differentials in parents’, and especially mothers’, eligibility. Using detailed register data, we develop an individual‐level indicator of eligibility in Belgium and deploy it to document differentiation in mothers’ eligibility by age at first birth, partnership status, migration background and education. In addition, we examine to what extent differential eligibility can explain inequalities in parental leave uptake. Our results show that a considerable share of mothers—specifically very young, single, low educated mothers and mothers with a migration background—do not meet the eligibility criteria and thus are structurally excluded from parental leave in Belgium. Furthermore, differential eligibility can account for a large part of the age and educational gradients in parental leave use, as well as differences by migration background. Eligibility cannot (fully) account for lower parental leave use by single mothers and mothers with a Moroccan or Turkish migration background. Our findings suggest that a reconsideration of eligibility criteria may be instrumental in increasing the inclusiveness of parental leave policies.