Katrijn Delaruelle

Unemployment transitions in later life are associated with mental distress, yet their translation into mental health care utilisation remains underexamined. Adopting a medicalisation perspective, this study investigates associations between unemployment transitions and medication use for depression or anxiety among older adults, and whether these associations vary by educational attainment. We analysed six biennial SHARE waves (4-9), including 20,158 observations from 14,225 respondents aged 50-67 years across 27 countries. Weekly medication use for depression or anxiety was examined using three-level random-effects logistic regression, with waves nested within individuals and individuals within countries. Models adjusted sequentially for health complaints, depressive complaints, and doctor visits, and tested interactions with education. Transitioning into unemployment was associated with higher medication use, even after accounting for measured mental health complaints. Persistent unemployment was also associated with higher use, whereas re-employment showed no significant reduction. Interaction analyses indicated that persistent unemployment was most strongly associated with medication use among longer-educated adults. Findings suggest that late-career unemployment is linked to socially patterned pharmacological responses beyond measured need. They therefore support a stratified medicalisation perspective and underline the importance of addressing both unemployment-related distress and the educationally patterned ways it becomes pharmacologically managed.

The COVID-19 pandemic required substantive preventive measures to stop the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. As the effectiveness of these measures highly depended on public adherence, understanding the determinants of compliance with preventive measures is crucial. While some influencing factors have been identified already, the role of social connection is not fully understood. Interestingly, social connection might be reciprocally affected by compliance with preventive measures in a way that poses a trade-off between social connection and compliance. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to evaluate the bidirectional relationship between social connection and compliance with preventive measures. This was done using longitudinal data from six waves (April 2020–March 2021) of the Belgian online COVID-19 Health Surveys, of a cohort of 11 974 adults. Random-intercept cross-lagged panel modelling was used to test whether social connection positively predicted subsequent compliance, and whether compliance negatively predicted subsequent social connection. Social support and social satisfaction served as social connection indicators. Compliance was modelled per separate preventive measure. The results showed that social support and social satisfaction were positively associated with subsequent compliance with several measures. Some effects were particularly pronounced in the most stringent waves. In the other direction, compliance with social restriction negatively predicted subsequent social satisfaction. Through its relation with compliance, social connection can be relevant for tackling public health crises that require public response. Vice versa, our results stress social connection as an area of concern in such crises. Thus, sustainably fostering social connection could benefit future pandemic preparedness.

This study examines the long-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on loneliness among adults aged 65 and over across 27 European countries, focusing on gender differences and the role of government-imposed containment measures. Using longitudinal data from four waves of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), pre-pandemic (Wave 8), two SHARE Corona surveys (2020–2021), and post-pandemic (Wave 9), the analyses include 49,351 observations from 15,497 individuals. Logistic growth curve models (wave–individual–country) were estimated to assess changes in loneliness across pandemic periods and to explore how gender and policy stringency shaped these patterns. The results show that loneliness increased significantly during the second COVID-19 phases and remained elevated in the post-pandemic period compared with pre-pandemic levels, indicating a sustained rise in emotional vulnerability among older adults, especially for women. Higher policy stringency was associated with greater loneliness, following a curvilinear pattern: Loneliness rose with increasing restriction levels but leveled off and declined at the highest stringency levels. Interaction analyses showed that women were more sensitive to increases in policy stringency. The findings underscore the persistent and gendered effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on loneliness among Europe’s older population. Public health and social policy interventions should adopt gender-sensitive and context-aware approaches to reduce loneliness and enhance resilience during and after large-scale crises.

This study explores cohort changes in first marriage timing in China, focusing on how evolving socioeconomic disparities shape marriage behavior. Using event history analyses and lognormal models, the research draws on 105,209 person-year records from 12 waves of the Chinese General Social Survey (2003–2021), covering individuals aged 18–80. Findings support the Cohort Accretion Hypothesis, showing that more educated and urban adults are delaying marriage, widening the marriage age gap compared to their lower socioeconomic status (SES) counterparts. However, the marriage age gap between individuals with secondary and primary education is narrowing. Women with less education and rural hukou, representing the lower end of the socioeconomic spectrum, show an increasing tendency to marry earlier. The shift from romance-oriented to more pragmatic, secular marriages highlights the polarization of marriage preferences, where capstone marriages challenge traditional cornerstone marriages, illustrating the Maslowian Preference Drift Phenomenon across educational and urban-rural groups in China.