Educational inequalities in risk perception, perceived effectiveness, trust and preventive behaviour in the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany

Objectives: This study analysed educational inequalities in risk perception, perceived effectiveness, trust and adherence to preventive behaviours in the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany. Study design: This was a cross-sectional online survey. Methods: Data were obtained from the GESIS Panel Special Survey on the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 Outbreak in Germany, including 2949 participants. Stepwise linear regression was conducted to anal-yse educational inequalities in risk perception, perceived effectiveness, trust and adherence to preventive behaviours considering age, gender, family status and household size as covariates. Results: We found lower levels in risk perception, trust towards scientists and adherence to preventive behaviour among individuals with lower education, a lower level of trust towards general practitioners among individuals with higher education and no (clear) educational inequalities in perceived effec-tiveness and trust towards local and governmental authorities. Conclusion: The results underline the relevance of a comprehensive and strategic management in communicating the risks of the pandemic and the benefits of preventive health behaviours by politics and public health. Risk and benefit communication must be adapted to the different needs of social groups in order to overcome educational inequalities in risk perception, trust and adherence to pre-ventive behaviour. (c) 2022 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Piercing the partner's skin influences sperm uptake in the earthworm Lumbricus terrestris.

Sexual conflict between mating partners can give rise to strategies that are advantageous for one sex but harmful to the opposite sex. Usually, sperm donors develop (offensive) traits to enhance their chances in sperm competition, while sperm recipients evolve (defensive) traits that allow them to stay in control of who fathers their offspring. Here, we demonstrate that these processes are also at work in simultaneous hermaphrodites. The hermaphroditic earthworm Lumbricus terrestris uses 40 to 44 copulatory setae to pierce into its partner's skin, causing damage and injecting a substance from its setal glands. Experimental injection of the gland substance indicates that a refractory period may be induced. More importantly, removal of the copulatory setae shows that they influence the partner's sperm uptake. When the setae are present, more sperm are taken up and sperm are distributed more equally over the four spermathecae. We interpret this as a strategy that stacks the odds for the donor's sperm in fertilizing cocoons. © Springer-Verlag 2005

Decreases in adolescent weekly alcohol use in europe and north america: evidence from 28 countries from 2002 to 2010

Background: This study examined trends in adolescent weekly alcohol use between 2002 and 2010 in 28 European and North American countries. Methods: Analyses were based on data from 11-, 13- and 15-year-old adolescents who participated in the Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children (HBSC) study in 2002, 2006 and 2010. Results: Weekly alcohol use declined in 20 of 28 countries and in all geographic regions, from 12.1 to 6.1% in Anglo-Saxon countries, 11.4 to 7.8% in Western Europe, 9.3 to 4.1% in Northern Europe and 16.3 to 9.9% in Southern Europe. Even in Eastern Europe, where a stable trend was observed between 2002 and 2006, weekly alcohol use declined between 2006 and 2010 from 12.3 to 10.1%. The decline was evident in all gender and age subgroups. Conclusions: These consistent trends may be attributable to increased awareness of the harmful effects of alcohol for adolescent development and the implementation of associated prevention efforts, or changes in social norms and conditions. Although the declining trend was remarkably similar across countries, prevalence rates still differed considerably across countries

The role of community social capital in the relationship between socioeconomic status and adolescent life satisfaction: mediating or moderating? Evidence from Czech data

This work was supported by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MEYS) under contracts No. LG14042 and No. LG 14043.Background. The concept of social capital has been extensively used to explain the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and adolescent health and well-being. Much less is known about the specific mechanism through which social capital impacts the relationship. This paper investigates whether an individual’s perception of community social capital moderates or mediates the association between SES and life satisfaction. Methods. This study employs cross-sectional data from the 2009–2010 Czech Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children survey: a WHO Collaborative Cross-National Study (HBSC). A sample of 4425 adolescents from the 5th, 7th and 9th grade (94.5% school response rate, 87% student response) was used to perform multilevel analysis. Results. We found that pupils’ life satisfaction was positively related to both family affluence and perceived wealth. Moreover, we found the cognitive component of social capital to be positively associated with life satisfaction. Additionally, a significant interaction was found, such that the social gradient in life satisfaction was flattened when pupils reported high levels of perceived community social capital. Conclusions. The present findings suggest that community social capital acts as an unequal health resource for adolescents, but could potentially represent opportunities for public health policy to close the gap in socioeconomic disparities.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe