Effects of Victimization on the Belief in a Just World in Four Ex-Yugoslavian Countries

Levels of support for just world beliefs among young adults (N=598) from four ex-Yugoslavian countries—Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and Slovenia—were compared, taking into account victimization experiences and the general belief in a just world. Being a victim affected an individual's belief in a just world in the two less economically favored contexts: Victims of exclusion in Macedonia and victims of war in Bosnia and Herzegovina were less likely to believe in a just world than non-victims. These victimization variables partly explained why the mean scores of these two countries were less than those of the two others. A deleterious effect of cumulative negative events on belief in a just world was identified, in parallel with a lower endorsement of the belief when the first victimization occurred more recentl

Impact of falling on social participation and social support trajectories in a middle-aged and elderly European sample

AbstractWhereas falls are frequent and traumatic events for the elderly, their long-term consequences in terms of the social lives of older fallers are understudied. This study aimed to identify the impact of falling on the trajectories of social participation and social support of older people in Europe. Our sample consisted of 16,583 people aged 50–95 years from 10 European countries who responded to the waves 1, 2 and 4 of the Survey of Health Ageing and Retirement in Europe. The impact of falling on the trajectories of social participation and social support was examined using generalised estimating equation (GEE) models. The effect of the interactions between falling and frailty and between falling and social support on social participation was assessed. Falls were negatively associated with social participation (OR=0.73, p<0.001) and positively associated with social support (OR=2.20, p<0.001). For social participation, this effect was moderated by frailty; the interaction term between frailty and fall highlighted the finding that frailty better explained the global trajectory of social participation compared with falling. Social support did not buffer the negative impact of falling on social participation. Falls can be considered stressful events that have implications beyond the health context. Frail people who have fallen should be targeted in prevention and rehabilitation programmes; specific attention should also be paid to the relatives of fallers, who appeared to be more intensively solicited after a fall

Place, social capital, and mental health: A mixed-methods case study of a community-based intervention

This study collaborated with the “Neighbourhoods in Solidarity” (NS) action-research intervention to understand place, social capital, and mental health for older adults in one Swiss town. It used a longitudinal mixed-methods design, combing a pre/post survey with ethnographic observations. It found that place was a recurring theme throughout the NS intervention and how the NS were able to build social capital. Older adults who participated in the NS experienced an increase in structural social capital, but many participants already had high levels of structural social capital before the intervention. Participants did not experience a significant change in cognitive social capital, but this may have been due to a general decline in cognitive social capital in the area. Neither changes in cognitive nor structural social capital predicted depressive symptoms after one year

“Neighborhood in Solidarity”: A community development methodology that emerged throughout an action research experience

Population aging and urbanization are often associated with a restriction of the living environment and an increasing tendency to remain at home. This community development report presents the ‘‘Neighborhood in Solidarity’’ methodology as a response to counter or at least slow this restriction and enhance the ability of elderly persons to be active within their neighborhoods. Co-constructed throughout the action research process, the Neighborhood in Solidarity methodology is based on a 13-year experience accumulated through 22 projects in 17 cities, with promising results in the Canton of Vaud in Switzerland. The genesis and the emergence of the methodology throughout action research workshops and interregional structures are described in the document. The description of Neighborhood in Solidarity is a snapshot of a living methodology, which continues to evolve on a daily basis. The process focuses on empowering the older people through a five-year methodology, which is intended to create an autonomous community that can resolve its own problems. The methodology comprises six steps described throughout the paper: (1) preliminary analysis, (2) diagnostic, (3) construction, (4) project design, (5) project implementation, and (6) empowerment. In 2013, an external assessment evaluated the Neighborhood in Solidarity methodology as effective at and appropriate for achieving its objectives. The promising results of this original methodology motivated this publication

Multilevel networks and status attainment

Through Nan Lin's social resource theory, network studies have demonstrated the importance of personal contacts for status attainment. Achieving better occupations, wages, or social prestige depends not only on individual skills and personal resources, such as social class or human capital. Personal networks are also important structural factors because they provide access to social resources that are critical to careers, such as information and social support. Today, new research angles emerge from analyses of multilevel networks (AMN) on additional structural factors that are important for status attainment: the advantages of belonging to powerful and prestigious organizations and accessing through them complementary forms of social capital. From a series of AMN studies on one élite group of researchers, the importance of these structural aspects for professional careers emerge through concepts such as 'dual positioning' and ‘dual alters’, offering hypotheses that complement Nan Lin's theory in each of its postulates. Taking these hypotheses into account, the article formulates a model for the study of status attainment consisting of four arguments: (1) individuals' initial positions, (2) access to social capital, and the impact of its (3) mobilization on (4) socioeconomic returns. The article discusses the analytical strategies that emerge from this model, opening up new prospects for investigating the role played by social networks in status attainment

Normative climates of parenthood across Europe : judging voluntary childlessness and working parents

Erworben im Rahmen der Schweizer Nationallizenzen (http://www.nationallizenzen.ch)Past research on gender role attitudes has often focused on individual- rather than country-level explanations. Drawing on European Social Survey data from 21 countries, we examine the effect of societal normative climates (i.e., shared perceptions of others’ attitudes) on personal attitudes towards two non-traditional gender roles: Voluntary childlessness and working full-time while children are young. To detect potential gender differences, we analyse disapproval of men and women separately. Findings reveal that there are strong differences in normative climates across countries, and that people generally perceive more disapproval of women than of men for both behaviours. Most importantly, in countries where a higher share of respondents perceives disapproval of these behaviours, respondents themselves disapprove more strongly – even if they do not believe that others disapprove, and even after controlling for other relevant individual- and country-level characteristics. What is more, the independent effect of normative climate explains most of the differences between countries. This robust finding demonstrates the power of country-level normative climates in explaining individuals’ attitudes and between-country differences in attitudes toward gender roles

Income-related inequalities in physical and cognitive health domains over the later life course: Longitudinal evidence from the U.S. (1992–2016)

&lt;jats:p&gt; This study aims to investigate changes in the income–health gradient over the later life course. We test the age-as-leveler, the cumulative advantage/disadvantage, and the persistent inequality pattern for physical and cognitive health domains, and analyze whether these patterns are gendered. We used HRS data (1992–2016) and Poisson growth curve models to predict multimorbidity (33,860 participants) as an indicator of physical health and memory (25,291 participants) as an indicator of cognitive health. We disentangled the within-participant from the between-participant effects. For multimorbidity, the income–health gradient weakened as individuals aged; whereas for memory, the income–health gradient strengthened as individuals aged. The cumulative advantage/disadvantage of higher/lower income on memory may be more pronounced among women than men. Findings were confirmed by sensitivity analyses. Findings suggest that the support for the age-as-leveler or cumulative advantage/disadvantage pattern may depend on health domains and the effect strength may depend on gender. &lt;/jats:p&gt

Evolution of the income-related gap in health with old age: evidence from 20 countries in European and Chinese panel datasets

&lt;jats:title&gt;Abstract&lt;/jats:title&gt;&lt;jats:p&gt;Some studies show that the protective effect of higher income on health &lt;jats:italic&gt;weakens&lt;/jats:italic&gt; with old age (age-as-leveller pattern), whereas others show that it &lt;jats:italic&gt;strengthens&lt;/jats:italic&gt; with old age (cumulative advantage/disadvantage pattern). Many existing studies are limited in that they use single-country and/or single-timepoint designs. To overcome these limitations and better understand how the income-health gradient evolves in older age, we used cross-national and longitudinal data of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (2004–2019, &lt;jats:italic&gt;N&lt;/jats:italic&gt; = 73,407) and the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (2011–2018, &lt;jats:italic&gt;N&lt;/jats:italic&gt; = 10,067). We operationalised health using multimorbidity and three alternative indicators (functional disability, mobility disability, and memory). We performed Poisson growth curve modelling to capture the between-participant effects of age and the within-participant effects of aging. We obtained three consistent and robust findings for Europe (patterns were observed in most countries) and China. First, the protective effect of higher income on multimorbidity, functional disability, and mobility disability was weaker for older than for younger adults (between-participant age-as-leveller pattern). Second, only the protective effect of higher income on mobility disability weakened over the later life course (within-participant age-as-leveller pattern). Third, the protective effect of higher income on memory was stronger for older than for younger adults and strengthened over the later life course (between-participant and within-participant cumulative advantage/disadvantage pattern). Longitudinal data, growth curve modelling distinguishing the between-participant from within-participant effect, and adjustments for potential confounders based on the hypothesised causal structure enabled us to better navigate the landscape of causal inference. Findings suggest that the income-related gap in physical health but not in cognitive health narrows in old age for both Europe and China.&lt;/jats:p&gt