Sleep quality and the evolution of the COVID-19 Pandemic in five european countries

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to lifestyle changes across Europe with a likely impact on sleep quality. This investigation considers sleep quality in relation to the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic in five European countries. Using panel regressions and keeping policy responses to COVID-19 constant, we show that an increase in the four-week average daily COVID-19 deaths/100,000 inhabitants (our proxy for the evolution of the pandemic) significantly reduced sleep quality in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Sweden between April 2020 and June 2021. Our results are robust to a battery of sensitivity tests and are larger for women, parents and young adults. Additionally, we show that about half of the reduction in sleep quality caused by the evolution of the pandemic can be attributed to changes in lifestyles, worsened mental health and negative attitudes toward COVID-19 and its management (lower degree of confidence in government, greater fear of being infected). In contrast, changes in one’s own infection-status from the SARS-CoV-2 virus or sleep duration are not significant mediators of the relationship between COVID-19-related deaths and sleep quality

Maternal depression and child human capital: a genetic instrumental variable approach

We here address the causal relationship between maternal depression and child human capital using UK cohort data. We exploit the conditionally-exogenous variation in mothers’ genomes in an instrumentalvariable approach, and describe the conditions under which mother’s genetic variants can be used as valid instruments. An additional episode of maternal depression between the child’s birth up to age nine reduces both their cognitive and non-cognitive skills by 20 to 45% of a SD throughout adolescence. Our results are robust to a battery of sensitivity tests addressing, among others, concerns about pleiotropy and the maternal transmission of genes to her child

Pace of aging, family environment and cognitive skills in children and adolescents

Pace of aging is an epigenetic clock which captures the speed at which someone is biologically aging compared to the chronological-age peers. We here use data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) to investigate the interrelation between the study children’s parental social class at birth, and their pace of aging and cognitive skills measures in childhood and adolescence. We show that children from lower parental social classes display faster pace of aging and that the social class gradient in pace of aging is strongest in adolescence. About one third of this association can be explained by other socio-economic and demographic covariates, as well as life events. Similarly, study children’s pace of aging manifests a negative association with their measures of cognitive skills in late adolescence only. This association becomes stronger as the contemporary pace of aging of the mother becomes faster. Our results seem to identify adolescence as the period of life when pace of aging, family environment and cognitive skills measures begin to interact

Maternal genetic risk for depression and child human capital

We here address the causal relationship between the maternal genetic risk for depression and child human capital using UK birth-cohort data. We find that an increase of one standard deviation (SD) in the maternal polygenic risk score for depression reduces their children’s cognitive and non-cognitive skill scores by 5 to 7% of a SD throughout adolescence. Our results are robust to a battery of sensitivity tests addressing, among others, concerns about pleiotropy and dynastic effects. Our Gelbach decomposition analysis suggests that the strongest mediator is genetic nurture (through maternal depression itself), with genetic inheritance playing only a marginal role

Children’s internalizing behavior development is heterogeneously associated with the pace of epigenetic aging

Background: Internalizing behaviors are an indicator of children’s psychological and emotional development, predicting future mental disorders. Recent studies have identified associations between DNA methylation (DNAm) and internalizing behaviors. This prospective study aimed at exploring the associations between pace of biological aging and the developmental trajectories of internalizing behaviors. Methods: Participants were children from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) cohort (N=974). Measures of DNA methylation were collected at birth, age 7 and ages 15-17. The pace of aging was estimated using the DunedinPoAm algorithm (PoAm). Internalizing behaviors reported by caregivers between ages 4 and 16 using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. To explore heterogeneity in the association between PoAm and internalizing behaviors we use Poisson quantile regression in cross-section heterogeneity and longitudinal latent class analysis over the childhood and adolescence. Results: Internalizing behavior trajectories were identified: low-risk, childhood limited, late onset and early onset (persistent). Accelerated aging at birth was negatively associated with internalizing behaviors in early childhood but positively correlated during adolescence. Higher PoAm at birth increased chance of low-risk profile, while decreasing likelihood of childhood limited trajectory. PoAm at age 15 was negatively associated with childhood limited profile and positively linked to late onset trajectories. Associations were larger at higher values of internalizing symptoms. Conclusions: The heterogeneity in the association between biological age acceleration and internalizing behaviors suggests a complex dynamic relationship, particularly in children with high or increased risk of adverse mental health outcomes

Poverty in the COVID-19 Era: Real Time Data Analysis on Five European Countries

Using real-time data from the University of Luxembourg’s COME-HERE nationally representative panel survey, covering more than 8,000 individuals across France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Sweden, I investigate how income distributions and poverty rates have changed from January to September 2020. I find that poverty rates increased on average in all countries from January to May and partially recovered in September. The increase in poverty is heterogeneous across countries, with Italy being the most affected and France the least; within countries, COVID-19 contributed to exacerbating poverty differences across regions in Italy and Spain. With a set of poverty measures from the Foster-Greer-Thorbecke family, I then explore the role of individual characteristics in shaping different poverty profiles across countries. Results suggest that poverty increased disproportionately more for young individuals, women, and respondents who had a job in January 2020 – with different intensity across countries

Families at a Loss: The Asymmetric Relationship Between Income Changes and Child Human Capital

I here assess the link between distributional changes in family income and child human capital. Using a value-added model and data from a UK child cohort, I show evidence of an asymmetric effect of income gains and losses on child non-cognitive development. Only income losses are associated with a reduction in children’s socio-emotional health – with one-third of the effect operating through measures of maternal well-being – while no effect is found for income gains. This is consistent with a model of human-capital formation where the quality and quantity of parental inputs react to changes in family income asymmetrically

Boys don't cry (or do the dishes): Family size and the housework gender gap

We here use data from the British Cohort Study (BCS) to link family size to age-16 children’s contribution to household chores and the adult housework gender gap. Assuming that home production is an increasing function of family size and using an instrument to account for the endogeneity of fertility, we show that larger families have a different effect on boys and girls at age 16: girls in large families are significantly more likely to contribute to housework, with no effect for boys. We then show that childhood family size affects the housework gender gap between the cohort members and their partners at age 34. Women who grew up in larger families are more likely to carry out a greater share of household tasks in adulthood, as compared to women from smaller families. In addition, growing up in a large family makes cohort members more likely to sort into households with a wider housework gender gap as adults. We show that the persistent effect of family size is due to the adoption of behaviours in line with traditional gender roles: a lower likelihood of employment and shorter commutes for women, along with a higher employment probability for their partners

Income and Wealth Volatility: Evidence from Italy and the U.S. in the Past Two Decades

Income volatility and wealth volatility are central objects of investigation for the literature on income and wealth inequality and dynamics. Here we analyse the two concepts in a comparative perspective for the same individuals in Italy and the U.S. over the last two decades. We find that in both countries wealth volatility reaches significantly higher values than income volatility, the effect being mostly driven by changes in the market value of real estate assets. We also show that there is more volatility in both dimensions in the U.S. and that the overall trend in both countries is increasing over time. We conclude by exploring volatility in consumption