Demographic and initial outbreak patterns of COVID-19 in Thailand

Journal of Population Research - This study investigated the demographic heterogeneity of COVID-19 infection to reveal the role of age structure and gender on COVID-19 diffusion patterns,...     

Subjective Well-Being in the European Union during the 90ies

Social Indicators Research -     

Projecting Long-Term Care Expenditure in Four European Union Member States: The Influence of Demographic Scenarios

This study examines the sensitivity of future long-term care demand and expenditure estimates to official demographic projections in four selected European countries: Germany, Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom. It uses standardised methodology in the form of a macro-simulation exercise and finds evidence for significant differences in assumptions about demographic change and its effect on the demand for long-term care, and on relative and absolute long-term care expenditure. It concludes that mortality-rate assumptions can have a considerable influence on welfare policy planning. Relative dispersion between country-specific and Eurostat official estimates was found to be higher for the United Kingdom and Germany than for Italy and Spain, suggesting that demographic projections had a greater influence in those countries.

Expectations About Future Economic Prospects and Satisfaction with Democracy: Evidence from European Countries during the COVID-19 Crisis

Social Indicators Research - Recent studies highlight that economic expectations are a crucial determinant of citizens’ satisfaction with democracy (SWD). This article relies on a...     

Trends in consumption-based poverty and inequality in the European Union during the 1980s

Most recent studies on poverty and inequality in developed countries focus on income. In contrast, this paper presents trends in consumption-based poverty and inequality in nine member countries of the European Union. During the 1980s, both poverty and inequality increased in Italy, France, the United Kingdom, Germany and Belgium, while decreases in both poverty and inequality are observed for Spain and Portugal. In Greece only inequality increased. For most countries for which income-based results are available, these move in the same direction as the consumption-based results. However, this sensitivity analysis yields considerable differences in the ranking of countries and the magnitude of the changes. Received: 13 June 1997/Accepted: 29 February 2000     

Pregnant women voice their concerns and birth expectations during the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy

BackgroundIn March 2020, COVID-19 was declared to be a pandemic. While data suggests that COVID-19 is not associated with significant adverse health outcomes for pregnant women and newborns, the psychological impact on pregnant women is likely to be high.AimThe aim was to explore the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Italian pregnant women, especially regarding concerns and birth expectations.MethodsA cross-sectional online survey of pregnant women in Italy was conducted. Responses were analysed for all women and segregated into two groups depending on previous experience of pregnancy loss. Analysis of open text responses examined expectations and concerns before and after the onset of the pandemic.FindingsTwo hundred pregnant women responded to the first wave of the survey. Most (n = 157, 78.5%) had other children and 100 (50.0%) had a previous history of perinatal loss. ‘Joy’ was the most prevalent emotion expressed before COVID-19 (126, 63.0% before vs 34, 17.0% after; p < 0.05); fear was the most prevalent after (15, 7.5% before vs 98, 49.0% after; p < 0.05). Positive constructs were prevalent before COVID-19, while negative ones were dominant after (p < 0.05). Across the country, women were concerned about COVID-19 and a history of psychological disorders was significantly associated with higher concerns (p < 0.05). A previous pregnancy loss did not influence women’s concerns.ConclusionsWomen’s expectations and concerns regarding childbirth changed significantly as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy. Women with a history of psychological disorders need particular attention as they seem to experience higher levels of concern.     

An Index of Child Well-being in the European Union

While the living conditions of children and young people in the European Union have gained increasing recognition across the EU, the well-being of children is not monitored on the European level. Based on a rights-based, multi-dimensional understanding of child well-being we analyse data already available for the EU 25, using series data as well as comparative surveys of children and young people. We compare the performance of EU Member States on eight clusters with 23 domains and 51 indicators and give a picture of children’s overall well-being in the European Union. The clusters are children’s material situation, housing, health, subjective well-being, education, children’s relationships, civic participation and risk and safety.     

Legal Corruption and Dissatisfaction with Democracy in the European Union

We aim to clarify a puzzling paradox: while shares of highly educated and non-religious individuals—who generally hold less prejudice—have increased in the Netherlands, levels of prejudice against ethnic minorities have yet risen over time. To solve the paradox, we use cross-sectional data from 1985 to 2011 in counterfactual analyses. In these analyses we simulate that levels of ethnic prejudice within categories of education, church membership, and church attendance are kept constant at the 1985 level and a new simulated trend in prejudice is estimated for the 1985–2011 period. Our findings show that changing levels of prejudice within categories of education are partly responsible for the trend. We conclude that the increasing share of highly educated individuals has not resulted in a decline of prejudice in the Netherlands over time, because all Dutch have become more prejudiced over the years and in particular the higher educated.     

“欧洲第二次人口转变”理论及其思考

人口转变始于欧洲 ,人口转变理论的提出是基于对欧洲人口转变历史的研究。近年欧洲人口转变出现新的形式和特点 ,并发展出“欧洲第二次人口转变”理论。国内学者对我国人口转变问题的讨论中 ,却几乎还没有触及这一新情况和新理论。本文总结“第二次人口转变”理论的主要观点 ,对比第二次人口转变和第一次人口转变的特征 ,分析其转变的内在动因 ,及其未来的走向 ,并提出对世界和中国未来家庭及人口发展的思考。     

Obesity and excess mortality among the elderly in the United States and Mexico

Increasing levels of obesity could compromise future gains in life expectancy in low-and high-income countries. Although excess mortality associated with obesity and, more generally, higher levels of body mass index (BMI) have been investigated in the United States, there is little research about the impact of obesity on mortality in Latin American countries, where very the rapid rate of growth of prevalence of obesity and overweight occur jointly with poor socioeconomic conditions. The aim of this article is to assess the magnitude of excess mortality due to obesity and overweight in Mexico and the United States. For this purpose, we take advantage of two comparable data sets: the Health and Retirement Study 2000 and 2004 for the United States, and the Mexican Health and Aging Study 2001 and 2003 for Mexico. We find higher excess mortality risks among obese and overweight individuals aged 60 and older in Mexico than in the United States. Yet, when analyzing excess mortality among different socioeconomic strata, we observe greater gaps by education in the United States than in Mexico. We also find that although the probability of experiencing obesity-related chronic diseases among individuals with high BMI is larger for the U. S. elderly, the relative risk of dying conditional on experiencing these diseases is higher in Mexico.     

Income,deprivation and economic stress in the enlarged European Union

At risk of poverty indicators based on relative income measures suggest that within the enlarged EU societies located at quite different points on a continuum of affluence have similar levels of poverty. Substantial differences in levels of income between societies do not in themselves invalidate this approach. However, the relative income approach fails to capture the fact that, if countries are grouped in terms of level of GDP, between economic cluster differences in life-style deprivation are sharper at lower income levels. Support for the argument relating to restricted reference groups is found in relation to the contrast between the twelve most affluent EU countries and all others. The limitations of relative income poverty lines have little to do with the process of enlargement as such. Instead the major problem involves the weak association between income and deprivation in the more affluent countries. However, as a consequence of such difficulties, such indicators do not provide entirely meaningful comparisons of levels of disadvantage across economic clusters. The current analysis, rather than supporting the alternative of a focus on absolute income or an EU wide poverty line, suggests that we should take the argument for adopting a multidimensional approach to the measurement of poverty more seriously.     

The experiences of pregnant women during the COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey: A qualitative study

BackgroundDue to spread and impact of COVID-19 in the world and Turkey lead to fear, stress and anxiety in individuals. This trend is increasing more especially in pregnant women at risk as they are concerned about the safety of themselves and the fetus.AimIn our study, concerns, problems and attitudes of pregnant women related to diseases in the pandemic process will be determined by detailed discussions based on their individual experience, and by increasing the awareness of midwives and nurses about what pregnant women experience in this process.MethodsContent analysis is used as qualitative study pattern. Due to the social isolation rules during the coronavirus pandemic, interviews with pregnant women were planned to be held via mobile phone. The study was completed with 15 pregnant women.ResultsAs a result of the content analysis of the interviews, 3 main themes and 11 sub-themes were identified. The identified themes were as following: (1) not understanding the seriousness and fear of the unknown, (2) coronavirus pandemic and disruption of the routine prenatal care (3) disrupted routines and social lives. Each theme was necessarily discussed separately.ConclusionThe results of the study show that coronavirus pandemic has a significant potential for creating anxiety, adversity and fear, which has a negative emotional effect on pregnant people. It will be useful to provide awareness for midwives and nurses not only about the physical health of pregnant women, but also their mental health, and to cooperate with mental health experts if necessary.     

欧盟共同就业策略的基础及其发展

1997年制定的《欧盟就业指南1998》中明确了欧盟共同就业策略的基础:企业家的权利和职能,就业能力,适应能力以及相等的就业机会。从此以后,欧盟就业政策的调和与制定都有较大的发展。在欧盟成员国中,丹麦、奥地利、希腊和意大利在劳动力市场政策的运用中有许多成功的实践。     

Demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of Korean Americans in the United States in 1980

"Based on the analysis of 1980 [U.S. Census] Public-Use Microdata Samples, this article demonstrates that the Korean immigrant stream, particularly men, has been very selective even before the 1965 reform.... Despite the educational superiority and somewhat positive occupational position, Korean men in the U.S. are seriously disadvantaged in income regardless of nativity status. Korean Americans are not as successful as whites in translating their education into occupation and income; they are better educated for the same job, but experience a lower income return to the same education and the same occupation."     

The experiences of childbearing women who tested positive to COVID-19 during the pandemic in northern Italy

ProblemThe COVID-19 pandemic has significantly challenged maternity provision internationally. COVID-19 positive women are one of the childbearing groups most impacted by the pandemic due to drastic changes to maternity care pathways put in place.BackgroundSome quantitative research was conducted on clinical characteristics of pregnant women with COVID-19 and pregnant women’s concerns and birth expectations during the COVID-19 pandemic, but no qualitative findings on childbearing women’s experiences during the pandemic were published prior to our study.AimTo explore childbearing experiences of COVID-19 positive mothers who gave birth in the months of March and April 2020 in a Northern Italy maternity hospital.MethodsA qualitative interpretive phenomenological approach was undertaken. Audio-recorded semi-structured interviews were conducted with 22 women. Thematic analysis was completed using NVivo software. Ethical approval was obtained from the research site’s Ethics Committee prior to commencing the study.FindingsThe findings include four main themes: 1) coping with unmet expectations; 2) reacting and adapting to the ‘new ordinary’; 3) ‘pandemic relationships’; 4) sharing a traumatic experience with long-lasting emotional impact.DiscussionThe most traumatic elements of women’s experiences were the sudden family separation, self-isolation, transfer to a referral centre, the partner not allowed to be present at birth and limited physical contact with the newborn.ConclusionKey elements of good practice including provision of compassionate care, presence of birth companions and transfer to referral centers only for the most severe COVID-19 cases should be considered when drafting maternity care pathways guidelines in view of future pandemic waves.     

Exploring the COVID-19 pandemic experience of maternity clinicians in a high migrant population and low COVID-19 prevalence country: A qualitative study

BackgroundAustralia experienced a low prevalence of COVID-19 in 2020 compared to many other countries. However, maternity care has been impacted with hospital policy driven changes in practice. Little qualitative research has investigated maternity clinicians’ perception of the impact of COVID-19 in a high-migrant population.AimTo investigate maternity clinicians’ perceptions of patient experience, service delivery and personal experience in a high-migrant population.MethodsWe conducted semi-structured in-depth interviews with 14 maternity care clinicians in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Interviews were conducted from November to December 2020. A reflexive thematic approach was used for data analysis.FindingsA key theme in the data was ‘COVID-19 related travel restrictions result in loss of valued family support for migrant families’. However, partners were often ‘stepping-up’ into the role of missing overseas relatives. The main theme in clinical care was a shift in healthcare delivery away from optimising patient care to a focus on preservation and safety of health staff.DiscussionClinicians were of the view migrant women were deeply affected by the loss of traditional support. However, the benefit may be the potential for greater gender equity and bonding opportunities for partners.Conflict with professional beneficence principles and values may result in bending rules when a disconnect exists between relaxed community health orders and restrictive hospital protocols during different phases of a pandemic.ConclusionThis research adds to the literature that migrant women require individualised culturally safe care because of the ongoing impact of loss of support during the COVID-19 pandemic.