Does labour market disadvantage help to explain why childhood circumstances are related to quality of life at older ages? Results from SHARE

There is robust evidence that childhood circumstances are related to quality of life in older ages, but the role of possible intermediate factors is less explored. In this paper, we examine to what extent associations between deprived childhood circumstances and quality of life at older ages are due to experienced labour market disadvantage during adulthood. Analyses are based on the Survey of Health Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), with detailed retrospective information on individual life courses collected among 10,272 retired men and women in 13 European countries (2008-2009). Our assumption is that those who have spent their childhood in deprived circumstances may also have had more labour market disadvantage with negative consequences for quality of life beyond working life. Results demonstrate that advantaged circumstances during childhood are associated with lower levels of labour market disadvantage and higher quality of life in older ages. Furthermore, results of multivariate analyses support the idea that part of the association between childhood circumstances and later quality of life is explained by labour market disadvantage during adulthood

Early Adversity and Late Life Employment History—A Sequence Analysis Based on SHARE

Numerous studies have linked poor socioeconomic circumstances during working life with early retirement. Few studies, however, have summarized entire patterns of employment histories and tested their links to social position at earlier stages of the life course. Therefore, this article summarizes types of late life employment histories and tests their associations with adversity both during childhood and early adulthood. We use data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) with retrospective life history data on 5,857 older men and women across 14 countries. Employment histories are studied with annual information on the employment situation between ages 50 and 70. To summarize employment histories we apply sequence analysis and group histories into 8 clusters with similar histories. Most of these clusters are dominated by full-time employees, with retirement before, at or after age 60. Additionally, we find clusters that are dominated by self-employment and comparatively late retirement. The remaining clusters are marked by part-time work, continuous domestic work, or discontinuous histories that include unemployment before retirement. Results of multinomial regressions (accounting for country affiliation and adjusted for potential confounders) show that early adversity is linked to full-time employment ending in retirement at age 60 or earlier and to discontinuous histories (in the case of women), but not to histories of self-employment. In sum, we find that histories of employees with early retirement and discontinuous histories are part of larger trajectories of disadvantage throughout the life course, supporting the idea of cumulative disadvantage in life course research

Multiple social roles in early adulthood and later mental health in different labour market contexts

Work and family roles entail divergent responsibilities, which can be a source of conflict especially in young adulthood – the so-called “rush-hour” of life. Combining these multiple social roles can result in an accumulation of stress but also be a valuable resource for mental health. The aim of this study is to investigate combined employment, parenthood and partnership trajectories of men and women during early adulthood, and to analyse the relationship of these multiple roles with depressive symptoms at older age. We used harmonised data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) and the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) with retrospective information on employment, partnerships and parenthood histories between age 25 and 40 for 18,816 men and 24,686 women (n = 43,502). We applied sequence analysis and clustering to group trajectories into four clusters for women and three clusters for men. We then used multilevel models to analyse the links between combined employment and family roles and later mental health in different historical labour market contexts (indicated by female employment rates). Women and men who did not combine work and family roles between age 25 and 40 report higher levels of depression than those who combined work and family. Results differ by gender and labour market context, with stronger differences between women in countries with higher female employment rates. Overall, combining multiple roles in early adulthood is associated with decreased rather than increased risk for depressive symptoms in older Europeans

Young workers’ access to and awareness of occupational safety and health services: age-differences and possible drivers in a large survey of employees in Italy

Young workers are in particular need of occupational safety and health (OSH) services, but it is unclear whether they have the necessary access to such services. We compared young with older workers in terms of the access to and awareness of OSH services, and examined if differences in employment conditions accounted for age-differences. We used survey data from Italy (INSuLA 1, 2014), with a sample of 8000 employed men and women aged 19 to 65 years, including 732 young workers aged under 30 years. Six questions measured access to services, and five questions assessed awareness of different OSH issues. Several employment conditions were included. Analyses revealed that young workers had less access and a lower awareness of OSH issues compared with older workers. For instance, odds ratios (OR) suggest that young workers had a 1.44 times higher likelihood [95%—confidence interval 1.21–1.70] of having no access to an occupational physician, and were more likely (2.22 [1.39–3.38]) to be unaware of legal OSH frameworks. Adjustment for selected employment conditions (company size, temporary contract) substantially reduced OR’s, indicating that these conditions contribute to differences between older and younger workers. We conclude that OSH management should pay particular attention to young workers in general and, to young workers in precarious employment, and working in small companies in particular

Childhood socioeconomic position and adult mental wellbeing:Evidence from four British birth cohort studies

There is much evidence showing that childhood socioeconomic position is associated with physical health in adulthood; however existing evidence on how early life disadvantage is associated with adult mental wellbeing is inconsistent. This paper investigated whether childhood socioeconomic position (SEP) is associated with adult mental wellbeing and to what extent any association is explained by adult SEP using harmonised data from four British birth cohort studies.The sample comprised 20,717 participants with mental wellbeing data in the Hertfordshire Cohort Study (HCS), the MRC National Survey of Health and Development (NSHD), the National Child Development Study (NCDS), and the British Cohort Study (BCS70). Warwick Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (WEMWBS) scores at age 73 (HCS), 60-64 (NSHD), 50 (NCDS), or 42 (BCS70) were used. Harmonised socioeconomic position (Registrar General's Social Classification) was ascertained in childhood (age 10/11) and adulthood (age 42/43). Associations between childhood SEP, adult SEP, and wellbeing were tested using linear regression and multi-group structural equation models.More advantaged father's social class was associated with better adult mental wellbeing in the BCS70 and the NCDS. This association was independent of adult SEP in the BCS70 but fully mediated by adult SEP in the NCDS. There was no evidence of an association between father's social class and adult mental wellbeing in the HCS or the NSHD.Socioeconomic conditions in childhood are directly and indirectly, through adult socioeconomic pathways, associated with adult mental wellbeing, but findings from these harmonised data suggest this association may depend on cohort or age

The evidence of contaminants in dairy products

U pogledu zdravstvene ispravnosti namirnica danas se u svijetu poglavito govori o razini njihova zagađenja odnosno nalazu štetnih tvari koje mogu ugroziti čovječje zdravlje. Uporaba veterinarskih lijekova u terapijske svrhe i njihov dodatak stočnoj hrani te uporaba kemijskih sredstava u zaštiti bilja najznačajniji su putovi kemijskog zagađenja mlijeka i mliječnih proizvoda. Razina spomenutih zagađenja ovisi o mogućnostima uporabe tih sredstava u poljoprivrednoj, stočarskoj i veterinarskoj praksi. Zdravstvena ispravnost mliječnih proizvoda ovisi i o nazočnosti patogenih mikroorganizama, a i o suvremenim spoznajama o nutricionističkoj vrijednosti pojedinih sastojaka.In the context of the wholesomeness the foodstuffs today we talk mostly about the quantity of different food contaminants which can cause the disturbances of human health. The use of veterinary drugs for therapeutic purposes and their addition to the animal feed, the use of pesticides and other chemicals in the plant production are the most important ways of milk and dairy products contamination. The quantity of such pollution depends on the possibilities of using this agents in agriculture, animal breeding and veterinary practice. The wholesomeness of dairy products depends on the evidence of pathogenic microorganisms as well as on the nutrition value of the composition of fooodstuffs