The Old Old — or the New Old?

This paper gives an account of the demographic trends that are bringing about changes in the population aged 80 years and older in Australia. The old old population of the future will differ in size and structure from earlier cohorts reaching advanced age: an examination is made of the contribution of the effects of past birth rates; recent changes in mortality at older ages; the impact of immigration especially on the cultural diversity of the old old; and changes in sex ratios and marriage patterns that result in changes in social circumstances. The indications are that a much more dynamic view of the old old is required. The present report is the first in a three-part study which mill cover social and health trends and discuss the implications of the newly emergent old old population for social policy.     

Brother correlations in earnings in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden compared to the United States

The correlation in economic status among siblings is a useful “omnibus measure” of the overall impact of family and community factors on adult economic status. In this study we compare brother correlations in long-run (permanent) earnings between the United States, on one hand, and the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden) on the other. Our base case results, based on very similar sample criteria and definitions for all countries, show that this correlation is above 0.40 in the United States and in the range 0.14–0.26 in the Nordic countries. Even though these results turn out to be somewhat sensitive to some assumptions that have to be made, we conclude that the family and community factors are more important determinants of long-run earnings in the United States than in the Nordic countries. Received: 27 July 2000/Accepted: 7 March 2001 All correspondence to: Anders Bj?rklund. Comments from two referees, conference participants at ESPE2000 and the Canadian Employment Research Forum, seminar participants in Aarhus, Uppsala, Bonn, and Stockholm are gratefully acknowledged. We thank NOS-S for financial support. The Swedish data collection was also supported by HSFR and SFR. The Finnish data were obtained with support from the Yrj? Jahnsson Foundation. We thank Tom Erik Aab? for preparing the Norwegian data, and Esben Agerbo for computational assistance with the Danish data. Responsible editor: John F. Ermisch.     

What Kind of Self-Care Strategies Do People Report Using and is There an Association with Well-Being?

Objectives: The aim of this study was to describe what kind of self-care strategies people report using to improve or maintain their well-being. Furthermore, we also wanted to investigate whether reports of using self-care strategies were associated with well-being. Methods: A selected sample (n=871), aged between 20 and 64 years, living in Stockholm County, answered an open-ended question about self-care strategies. Well-being was assed using the WHO (Ten) well-being index. Results: Ten different categories were found. The most commonly reported self-care strategy was physical exercise, followed by social support and engaging in pleasurable activities. Physical exercise, social support, relaxation, and physical health were associated with a better well-being, social support being strongest correlated. Conclusion: The results suggest that reports of using certain self-care strategies are associated with a better well-being.     

Educational Attainment and Mortality in the United States: Effects of Degrees,Years of Schooling,and Certification

Researchers have extensively documented a strong and consistent education gradient for mortality, with more highly educated individuals living longer than those with less education. This study contributes to our understanding of the education–mortality relationship by determining the effects of years of education and degree attainment on mortality, and by including non-degree certification, an important but understudied dimension of educational attainment. We use data from the mortality-linked restricted-use files of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) sample (N = 9821) and Cox proportional hazards models to estimate mortality risk among U.S. adults. Results indicate that more advanced degrees and additional years of education are associated with reduced mortality risk in separate models, but when included simultaneously, only degrees remain influential. Among individuals who have earned a high school diploma only, additional years of schooling (beyond 12) and vocational school certification (or similar accreditation) are both independently associated with reduced risks of death. Degrees appear to be most important for increasing longevity; the findings also suggest that any educational experience can be beneficial. Future research in health and mortality should consider including educational measures beyond a single variable for educational attainment.     

Does shareholder protection affect the performance of analysts as a gatekeeper?

This paper investigates the effect of shareholder protection on analysts’ performance. The important corporate governance role analysts can play by monitoring management has largely been ignored in the literature. Using a newly constructed index, we are for the first time able to analyse how changes in shareholder protection over time affect analysts’ performance as a gatekeeper. We find that strengthened shareholder protection improves analysts’ performance as a gatekeeper, i.e. analysts’ ability to reduce information asymmetry improves with strengthened shareholder protection. However, we also find a substitution effect: Strengthened shareholder protection makes analysts’ services less valuable to investors, thereby leading to a reduction in the number of analysts following firms.     

Working Conditions and Health Among Italian Ageing Workers

In many European countries requirements for retirement have been tightened, causing an increase in work participation of older workers, in spite their potentially poorer health may limit their work ability. This study aimed at assessing the diffusion of health problems and exposure to unfavorable working conditions among ageing workers in two Italian surveys, as well as comparing them with those observed in the same surveys conducted before the 2011 Italian pension reform tightening the normal retirement age. The 2013 National Health Survey (NHS) and Labour Force Survey (LFS) were employed to assess the prevalence of poor perceived health, health conditions and functional limitations, and of exposure to physical, psychosocial and organization factors at work, among 60–64 years workers. Poisson regression models were used to estimate Prevalence Ratios of health outcomes and unfavorable working conditions in the two surveys, compared to data from the 2005 (NHS) and 2007 (LFS) corresponding surveys, respectively. Among both men and women, approximately one quarter had at least one physical disorder or functional limitations and 15% poor mental health. Exposure to different ergonomic factors (15–30%) and working during unsocial hours (19%) were particularly diffused. A significant increase in the prevalence of functional limitations and of working at night or during unsocial hours was found in 2013, compared to corresponding data from 2005 and 2007, respectively. Our results indicate that exposure to ergonomic and organizational hazards should be reduced among ageing workers, to avoid decreased work ability, health damage or early exit from the labour market.

     

Ethnic and religious perspectives on disability and the helping professions

This note looks at ethnic and religious perspectives of people who are training for and/or working in the helping professions in regard to their views of disability. The Modified Issues in Disabilities Scale (MIDS) was administered to a sample of people training for and/or working in the helping professions. A statistically significant association was found between ethnic and religious perspectives and scores on the MIDS.     

Neighbourhood Life,Social Capital and Perceptions of Safety in the Western Suburbs of Adelaide

In this paper we report on a South Australian study of perceptions of safety and aspects of neighbourhood life including social capital which involved the analysis of 2400 self‐completed questionnaires. A path analysis found that perceptions of safety were directly associated with gender, age, perceptions of neighbourhood pollution and neighbourhood trust, and indirectly associated with age, neighbourhood pollution and neighbourhood connections. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of the findings for public policy.     

Staging Traumatic Memory: Competing Narratives of State Violence in Post-Communist Hungarian Museums

The article examines the way three contemporary Hungarian museums–the House of Terror Museum, the Jewish Museum and the Holocaust Memorial and Documentation Center–represent the history of the Holocaust and the history of Jewish/non-Jewish relations. Reflecting different political agendas, each of the three museums offers a different interpretation of how the Holocaust fits into the larger narrative of Hungary's 20th century history. The article argues that post-communist public memory has been constructed through debates about these histories. By analyzing the three museums' displays, narratives and the debates surrounding them, the article argues that Hungarian public discourse has yet to come to terms with the meaning and place of “Jewishness” (and the way it has informed “Hungarianness”) in modern Hungarian history. Despite the centrality of Jews and Jewish-non-Jewish relations to the museums' narratives, none are able to offer a clear definition of what “Jewishness” means and how it functioned at different times throughout the 20th century.