Cross-sectional relationship between social trust and health in middle-aged and older Chinese adults: Can social trust explain the education-health link?

Aim: Evidence on the association of social trust with health in middle-aged and older Chinese adults is limited, and its mediating role in the education-health link remains unclear. This study investigated the association of social trust with chronic diseases and mental health, and its mediating effects.

Methods: Cross-sectional data came from the 2018-2019 baseline survey of the Chongqing Cohort of the China Multi-Ethnic Cohort study, including 15 251 participants aged ≥45 years, with data collected using questionnaires and physical examinations.

Care provision and social participation among older adults in Europe: longitudinal evidence from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe and the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing.

Providing care to family members and friends in older age is common, but it can impact the carers' time and energy for social participation. This study explores the relationship between care and social participation in 16 European countries, considering factors like care status, care frequency, relationship to the care recipient, gender, socioeconomic status, and country care regimes. The study utilised pooled data from the Survey of Health Ageing and Retirement in Europe and the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing.

Mental Health Trajectories of Men and Women Who Start Providing Personal Care: European Findings From SHARE Using Propensity Score Matching.

Objectives: We examine the mental health trajectories of people who start providing personal care and compare their trajectories with matched controls who remain non-carers. We also investigate whether trajectories vary by gender, financial resources, and supportive long-term care policies.

Methods: Using 9 waves of the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe, collected in 28 European countries from 2004 to 2022, we analyze longitudinal data from 68,075 men and women aged 50 or older.

Changes in life satisfaction, self-esteem, and self-rated health before, during, and after becoming a young carer in the UK: a longitudinal, propensity score analysis.

Background: The health of young carers is poorer, on average, than their peers. The timing and persistence of health and wellbeing changes around becoming a young carer are unknown. We investigated how health and wellbeing change before, during and after becoming a young carer in the UK and whether this varies by caring intensity, age, gender, ethnicity, or household income.

Do mental and physical health trajectories change around transitions into sandwich care? Results from the UK household longitudinal study.

Objectives: Sandwich carers provide care to ageing parents or older relatives while simultaneously raising dependent children. There has been little focus on how mental and physical health trajectories change around becoming a sandwich carer - a gap this study aims to fill.

Study Design: Prospective longitudinal study.

Does providing informal care in young adulthood impact educational attainment and employment in the UK?

Most research on the effects of caring has focused on older spouses or working-age carers providing care for older people, but providing care in early adulthood may have longer-term consequences, given the importance of this life stage for educational and employment transitions. This study aims to investigate the impact of informal care in early adulthood on educational attainment and employment in the UK and to test whether these associations differ by gender or socio-economic circumstances. Data are from young adults (age 16-29 at first interview, n = 27,209) in the UK Household Longitudinal Study wave 1 (2009/11) to wave 10 (2018/2020).

Bidirectional association between depressive symptoms and mild cognitive impairment over 20 years: Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study in the United States.

Background: Research examining the association between depressive symptoms and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) has yielded conflicting results. This study aimed to examine the bidirectional association between depressive symptoms and MCI, and the extent to which this bidirectional association is moderated by gender and education.

Methods: Data come from the US Health and Retirement Study over a 20-year period (older adults aged ≥50 years).

The association between subjective cognitive decline and trajectories of objective cognitive decline: Do social relationships matter?

Objectives: We examine the association between subjective cognitive decline (SCD) and the trajectories of objective cognitive decline (OCD); and the extent to which this association is moderated by social relationships.

Methods: Data come from waves 10 (2010) through 14 (2018) of the Health and Retirement Study, a nationally representative panel survey of individuals aged 50 and above in the United States. OCD is measured using episodic memory, and overall cognition.

Cognitive reserve over life course and 7-year trajectories of cognitive decline: results from China health and retirement longitudinal study.

Background: Cognitive reserve (CR) could partly explain the individual heterogeneity in cognitive decline. No study measured CR from a life course perspective and investigated the association between CR and trajectories of cognitive decline in older Chinese adults.

Methods: Data of 6795 Chinese adults aged 60+ from China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study were used.

Working beyond SPA and the trajectories of cognitive and mental health of UK pensioners: Do gender, choice, and occupational status matter?

Unlabelled: We assessed the association between work status beyond state pension age (SPA) and the long-term trajectories of cognitive and mental health for men and women separately, and the extent to which this relationship is conditioned by their occupational status and whether the choice to retire or continue working is voluntary or involuntary. Data are pensioners (aged between SPA and SPA + 9) from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing waves 4 (2008/09) through 9 (2018/19). The analytic sample includes 959 men and 1217 women when considering cognitive outcomes and 1131 men and 1434 women when evaluating depression.

Do depressive symptoms link chronic diseases to cognition among older adults? Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study in the United States.

Background: Few studies have assessed psychological pathways that connect the association between non-psychotropic chronic disease and cognition. We assessed the extent to which the association between the two was mediated by depressive symptoms in older adults.

Methods: Data came from waves 10-13 (2010-2016) of the Health and Retirement Study in the United States (7,651 men and 10,248 women).

Gender differences in unpaid care work and psychological distress in the UK Covid-19 lockdown.

Objective: To describe how men and women divided childcare and housework demands during the height of the first Covid-19 lockdown in the UK, and whether these divisions were associated with worsening mental health during the pandemic.

Background: School closures and homeworking during the Covid-19 crisis have resulted in an immediate increase in unpaid care work, which draws new attention to gender inequality in divisions of unpaid care work.

Methods: Data come from the wave 9 (2017-19) of Understanding Society and the following April (n = 15,426) and May (n = 14,150) waves of Understanding Society Covid-19 study.

Girls' transition to adulthood and their later life socioeconomic attainment: Findings from the English longitudinal study of ageing.

Transitions to adulthood represent a sensitive period for setting young people into particular life course trajectories, and the nature of these transitions have varied more for girls, historically, than for boys. We aim to investigate the long-term significance of different transitions out of full-time education for socioeconomic attainment in later life amongst postwar young women in England. Our data are from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing for girls born during World War II and the post-war period (1939-1952, n = 1798).

The Long Shadow of Youth: Girls' Transition From Full-Time Education and Later-Life Subjective Well-Being in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing.

Objectives: To investigate whether the timing and nature of women's transitions out of full-time (FT) education are related to later-life subjective well-being and the life-course experiences that might explain any associations seen.

Methods: Data are from women in Wave 3 of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing who have participated in the life history interview and were aged 50+ at the interview (n = 3,889). Using multichannel sequence analysis, we identified 6 types of transition out of FT education (ages 14-26).

Inequalities in time from stopping paid work to death: findings from the ONS Longitudinal Study, 2001-2011.

Background: UK state pension eligibility ages are linked to average life expectancy, which ignores wide socioeconomic disparities in both healthy and overall life expectancy.

Objectives: Investigate whether there are occupational social class differences in the amount of time older adults live after they stop work, and how much of these differences are due to health.

Methods: Participants were 76 485 members of the Office for National Statistics Longitudinal Study (LS), who were 50-75 years at the 2001 census and had stopped work by the 2011 census.

Mental Health Before and After Retirement-Assessing the Relevance of Psychosocial Working Conditions: The Whitehall II Prospective Study of British Civil Servants.

Objectives: Retirement could be a stressor or a relief. We stratify according to previous psychosocial working conditions to identify short-term and long-term changes in mental health.

Method: Using data from the Whitehall II study on British civil servants who retired during follow-up (n = 4,751), we observe mental health (General Health Questionnaire [GHQ] score) on average 8.

The Impact of Retirement on Cardiovascular Disease and Its Risk Factors: A Systematic Review of Longitudinal Studies.

Background And Objectives: People are now spending longer in retirement than ever before and retirement has been found to influence health. This study systematically reviewed the impact of retirement on cardiovascular disease (CVD) and its risk factors (metabolic risk factors, blood biomarkers, physical activity, smoking, drinking, and diet).

Research Design And Methods: Longitudinal studies published in Medline, Embase, Social Science Citation Index, PsycINFO, and Social Policy and Practice were searched.

Work-family life course patterns and work participation in later life.

Many developed nations seek to increase older people's work participation. Work and family are linked to paid work in later life, and to each other. Few studies combined work and family histories using multichannel sequence analysis capturing status and timing of transitions in relation to work in later life.

The relationship between workplace psychosocial environment and retirement intentions and actual retirement: a systematic review.

Psychosocial work characteristics are potential determinants of retirement intentions and actual retirement. A systematic review was conducted of the influence of psychosocial work characteristics on retirement intentions and actual retirement among the general population. This did not include people who were known to be ill or receiving disability pension.