Is any job really better than no job at all?

Lord Layard posed the question is “any job is better than no job” in a seminal paper in which he concluded that “human happiness is more affected by whether or not one has a job than by what kind of job it is”. This may have been true in the years leading up to the new millennium, but what about the poor quality jobs of today? Do these remain springboards to better quality jobs later on in a person’s career, just as they were in the 1990’s

Innovative approaches to methodological challenges facing ageing cohort studies

Ageing cohort studies around the world face common methodological challenges of data collection, measurement and analysis, which become increasingly problematic as participants grow older. While these challenges are common to all longitudinal studies, ageing cohort studies in particular highlight complex methodological issues due to the nature of the population. The National Centre for Research Methods (NCRM) funded a series of workshops during 2012 that brought together experts and researchers in longitudinal and ageing cohort studies to discuss some of these methodological challenges. The series was divided into workshops around the challenges of data collection, measurement and analysis in ageing cohort studies. The workshops and international conference brought together over 150 researchers working primarily in the social and medical sciences. Within the social sciences, social statistics and sociology were the main disciplines represented; while within the medical sciences, epidemiology and gerontology were the main disciplines. Principal investigators and researchers from a number of ageing cohort studies attended the events, including the 1946, 1958, 1970 British Birth Cohort studies, English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA), Whitehall II study, the Cognitive Function and Ageing Studies, the Gas and Electricity Workers cohort study (GAZEL) and the Lothian birth cohort. There were presentations from early career researchers at all the events. These workshops were successful in generating discussions about the methodological contributions from different disciplines on the challenges related to data collection and analysis for ageing cohort studies. The seminar series was responsive to suggestions from attendees, for example, the theme of workshop 2 emerged from discussions at workshop 1. The themes of the conference and related training workshops emerged from the evaluations from previous workshops. Evaluations for each event were very positive, with a strong appreciation for the training workshops. Attendees were very appreciative of the provision of STATA .do files for complex analyses and they indicated a strong preference for more training events on the topics of missing data and life course analysis. This report summarises some of the work underlying the workshops and highlights some of the innovative solutions researchers have adopted to overcome these challenges. These include using mixed modes of data collection to deal with respondent burden, using the Life Grid history method to deal with recall bias for proxy respondents, using auxiliary variables to adjust for ‘missing not at random’ mechanisms, and using a range of missing data analysis methods and simulation studies to assess the performance of a different analytical strategies to deal with missing data

Parental migration, intergenerational obligations and the paradox for left-behind boys in rural China

Drawing on in-depth interviews with caregivers of left-behind children (LBC) in rural China, this article seeks to explore their understanding of migration motives and the social process of taking on care-giving roles for LBC. The authors argue that there are underlying socio-cultural explanations pertaining to economic motives for migration; such as, making contributions to social events (weddings and funerals) in village life, and fulfilling social obligations for left-behind sons’ futures. Parents migrate to save for sons’, but not daughters’, adult lives. Grandparents, particularly on the paternal side, are expected to fulfil social obligations to care for left-behind grandchildren, even without immediate financial returns. These suggest that left-behind boys, and in particular boys cared for by paternal grandparents, may be at greater risk than other LBC, as they may receive even fewer resources in the form of remittances from migrant parents in their early childhood

Do gender and socioeconomic status matter when combining work and family:Could control at work and at home help? Results from the Whitehall II study

Work and family are sources of both satisfaction and conflicting demands. A challenge is to identify individuals at risk for conflict and factors that potentially reduce conflict. This study investigated how gender and socioeconomic status (SES) were associated with work–family interference (WFI) and family–work interference (FWI) and how control at work and at home related to WFI and FWI. Data from 1991–1993 and 1997–1999 of the Whitehall II study of British civil servants, including 3484 (827 women and 2657 men) employees in three SES-levels, were analysed. Women reported a higher risk for WFI and FWI. High SES employees reported higher WFI. Less control at home increased risks for WFI and FWI as did low control at work but only for WFI. This suggests that high SES women are especially at risk for conflict and that aspects from the spheres of both work and home should be considered in further research and practice

Health as a predictor of early retirement before and after introduction of a flexible statutory pension age in Finland

Background: Little is known of how pension reforms affect the retirement decisions of people with different health statuses, although this is crucial for the understanding of the broader societal impact of pension policies and for future policy development. We assessed how the Finnish statutory pension age reform introduced in 2005 influenced the role of health as a predictor of retirement. Methods: We used register-based data and cox regression analysis to examine the association of health (measured by purchases of psychotropic medication, hospitalizations due to circulatory and musculoskeletal diseases, and the number of any prescription medications) with the risk of retirement at age 63-64 among those subject to the old pension system with fixed age limit at 65 (pre-reform group born in 1937-1941) and the new flexible system with 63 as the lower age limit (post-reform group born in 1941-1945) while controlling for socio-demographic factors. Results: Retirement at age 63-64 was more likely among the post- than the pre-reform group (HR = 1.50; 95% CI 1.43-1.57). This reform-related increase in retirement was more pronounced among those without a history of psychotropic medication or hospitalizations due to circulatory and musculoskeletal diseases, as well as among those with below median level medication use. As a result, poor health became a weaker predictor of retirement after the reform. Conclusion: Contrary to the expectations of the Finnish pension reform aimed at extending working lives, offering choice with respect to the timing of retirement may actually encourage healthy workers to choose earlier retirement regardless of the provided economic incentives for continuing in work. (C) 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.Peer reviewe

Assessment of progress towards universal health coverage for people with disabilities in Afghanistan: a multilevel analysis of repeated cross-sectional surveys

Background Since 2002, Afghanistan has made much effort to achieve universal health coverage. According to the UN Sustainable Development Goal 3, target eight, the provision of quality care to all must include usually underserved groups, including people with disabilities. We investigated whether a decade of international investment in the Afghan health system has brought quality health care to this group. Methods We used data from two representative household surveys, one done in 2005 and one in 2013, in 13 provinces of Afghanistan, that included questions about activity limitations and functioning difficulties, socioeconomic factors, perceived availability of health care, and experience with coverage of health-care needs. We used multilevel modelling and tests for interaction to investigate factors associated with differences in perception between timepoints and whether village remoteness affected changes in perception. Findings The 2005 survey included 334 people, and the 2013 survey included 961 people. Mean age, employment, and asset levels of participants with disabilities increased slightly between 2005 and 2013, but the level of education decreased. Formal education and higher asset level were associated with improved availability of health care and positive experience with coverage of health-care needs, whereas being employed was only associated with the latter. Perceived availability of health care and positive experience with coverage of health-care needs significantly worsened in 2013 compared with in 2005 (227 [69%] perceived that services were available in 2005 vs 405 [44%] in 2013, p<0·0001; 255 [78%] perceived a positive experience in 2005 vs 410 [45%] in 2013, p<0·0001). Village remoteness increased in 2013 (no connectivity by paved road 186 [57%] in 2005 vs 797 [87%] in 2013, p<0·0001; mean time to reach health-care facility 64·3 min [SD 167·7] vs 84·4 min [107·7], p<0·0001) and negatively affected perception of health-care availability. Interpretation Perceived availability of health care and experience with health-care coverage have not greatly improved for people with disabilities in Afghanistan, particularly in remote areas. Health policy in Afghanistan will need to address attitudinal, social, and accessibility barriers to health care

Intergenerational differences in beliefs about healthy eating among carers of left-behind children in rural China: a qualitative study

China's internal migration has left 61 million rural children living apart from parents and usually being cared for by grandparents. This study aims to explore caregivers' beliefs about healthy eating for left-behind children (LBC) in rural China. Twenty-six children aged 6–12 (21 LBC and 5 non-LBC) and 32 caregivers (21 grandparents, 9 mothers, and 2 uncles/aunts) were recruited in one township in rural China. Children were encouraged to keep food diaries followed by in-depth interviews with caregivers. Distinct intergenerational differences in beliefs about healthy eating emerged: the grandparent generation was concerned about not having enough food and tended to emphasise the importance of starchy foods for children's growth, due to their past experiences during the Great Famine. On the other hand, the parent generation was concerned about food safety and paid more attention to protein-source foods including meat, eggs and milk. Parents appeared to offer children high-energy food, which was viewed as a sign of economic status, rather than as part of a balanced diet. Lack of remittances from migrant parents may compromise LBC's food choices. These findings suggest the potential for LBC left in the care of grandparents, especially with experience of the Great Famine, may be at greater risk of malnutrition than children cared for by parents. By gaining an in-depth understanding of intergenerational differences in healthy eating beliefs for children, our findings could inform for the development of nutrition-related policies and interventions for LBC in rural China

Multilevel modelling approach to analysing life course socioeconomic status and understanding missingness

This paper investigated the extent to which parental socioeconomic status was associated with life course socioeconomic status heterogeneity between adult cohort members of the 1958 National Child Development Study and how this association differed depending on methods used to address longitudinal missing data. We compared three variants of the full information maximum likelihood approach, namely available case, complete case and partially observed case and two methods designed to compensate for missing at random data, namely multilevel multiple imputation and multiple imputation chained equations. Our results highlighted the important contribution of parental socioeconomic status in explaining the divergence in achieved socioeconomic status over the adult life course, how the available case approach increasingly overestimated socioeconomic attainment as age increased and survey sample size decreased and how the complete case approach downwardly biased the effect of parental socioeconomic status on adult socioeconomic status

The mental health impact of COVID-19 and lockdown-related stressors among adults in the UK.

Background The COVID-19 pandemic in the UK and subsequent lockdown may have affected the mental health of the population. This study examines whether there was an increase in the prevalence and incidence of common mental disorders (CMD) in the UK adult population during the first months of lockdown and whether changes in CMD were associated with stressors related to the pandemic and lockdown. Methods Longitudinal data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study waves 10-11: 2019-2020 and waves 1-4 of the COVID-19 monthly surveys in April (n = 17 761) to July 2020 (n = 13 754), a representative sample of UK adult population, were analysed. CMD was measured using the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) (cut-off >2). Changes in CMD were analysed in relation to COVID-19 and social stressors. Results Around 29% of adults without CMD less than a year earlier had a CMD in April 2020. However, by July 2020, monthly incidence of CMD had reduced to 9%. Most employment, financial and psychological 'shocks' were at their highest levels in April and reduced steadily in later months. Despite the lifting of some lockdown conditions by July, stressors related to loneliness, unemployment, financial problems and domestic work continued to influence CMD. Conclusion Some COVID-19 policy responses such as furloughing may have been effective in mitigating the increase in CMD for some groups of employees. Despite some reduction in levels of pandemic and lockdown-related stressors by the middle of 2020, loneliness and financial stressors remained key determinants of incidence in CMD among the UK adult population

Country specific associations between social contact and mental health : evidence from civil servant studies across Great Britain, Japan and Finland

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