Nostalgia's Violence

This essay considers some of the ways in which nostalgia figures in contemporary social theory as well as addresses the post/modern character of nostalgia. It does so with the aim of exploring the question of colonial and imperial violence at the heart of nostalgia

Gender inequalities and depression

More gender-equal societies promote better mental health among both men and women and reduce the gender gap in depressive symptom

Age differences in mammography screening reconsidered: life course trajectories in 13 European countries

Background: Breast cancer is the most common cause of cancer mortality among European women. To reduce mortality risk, early detection through mammography screening is recommended from the age of 50 years onwards. Although timely initiation is crucial for cancer prognosis, the temporal dimension has largely been ignored in research. In cross-sectional research designs, it is not clear whether reported age differences reflect ‘true’ age effects and/or presumed period effects resulting from evolving knowledge and screening programmes. Methods: We use longitudinal data from the survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement (SHARELIFE, 2008), which enables to cast light on age differences by providing retrospective information on the age at which women commenced regular mammography screening. Moreover, the cross-national dimension of the SHARE permits framing the results within the context of nationally implemented screening programmes. By means of the Kaplan–Meier procedure, we examine age trajectories for five 10-year birth cohorts in 13 European countries (n = 13 324). Results: Birth cohorts show very similar age trajectories for each country. Along with the observation that large country differences and country-specific deviations coincide with screening programme characteristics, this suggests strong period effects related to implemented national screening programmes. Conclusion: Age differences in mammography screening generally reflect the period effects of national screening policies. This leaves little room for economic theories about human health capital that leave out the institutional context of preventive health care provision

Depressive symptoms among immigrants and ethnic minorities: a population based study in 23 European countries

European studies about ethnic inequalities in depressive symptoms are scarce, show inconclusive results and are complicated by the discussion of what constitute (im)migrant and ethnic minority groups. Moreover, comparisons across countries are hampered by a lack of comparable measures of depressive symptoms. This study aims to assess the prevalence and determinants of depressive symptoms among immigrants, ethnic minorities and natives in 23 European countries. Multilevel analyses are performed using data from the third wave of the European Social Survey (ESS-3). This dataset comprises information about 36,970 respondents, aged 21 years or older, of whom 13.3% immigrants and 6.2% ethnic minorities. Depressive symptoms were assessed with an 8-item version of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression scale. Main determinants are immigrant status, socio-economic conditions and the experience of ethnic discrimination in the host country. The results show that immigrants and ethnic minorities do experience more depressive symptoms than natives in an essential part of the countries. Moreover, socio-economic conditions and the experience of ethnic discrimination are important risk factors. Immigrant status seems irrelevant, once the other risk factors are accounted for. Finally, immigrant and ethnic minority groups do not consist of the same individuals and therefore have different prevalence rates of depressive symptoms. The prevalence rates of depressive symptoms are higher for immigrant and ethnic minority groups in a substantial part of the European countries. A clear definition is indispensable for developing policies that address the right-targeted population

Divorce and the multidimensionality of men and women's mental health: the role of social-relational and socio-economic conditions

Research consistently reveals that the divorced generally face more mental health problems than the married. Less attention however has been paid to positive mental health indicators. Insight in these however may help policy makers and care providers to see both the broader picture and stimulate active coping. Using data from the European Social Survey (2006–2007), differences in both feelings of depression, and in feelings of self-esteem, autonomy, and competence between the married (N = 14,072) and divorced (N = 4,304) are estimated for women and men separately. Drawing on stress and coping theories, we map how specific social-relational and socio-economic conditions relate. Analyses reveal that divorce is related not only to more feelings of depression, but also to lower levels of self-esteem and competence. Difference scores in mental health based on marital status are also found to differ significantly between men and women for competence, with the difference being more pronounced in men. Additionally, social-relational and socio-economic conditions explain much of the gap in depression scores – and to a lesser extent, in self-esteem and competence scores – between the married and divorced. Finally, some interesting gender differences were found in how social-relational and socio-economic conditions relate to mental health when divorced, with women especially seeming to benefit from advantageous socio-economic conditions