What's Your Pension Story? Women's Perspectives during the COVID-19 Pandemic on Their Old-Age Pension Status, Past and Present.

This study examines the present and retrospective views of mothers who are nearing or are at retirement age regarding their economic status, pension planning, and perceptions of state pension policy. The paper addresses gaps in the literature on the cross-intersections of employment history, vulnerable economic retirement status, and marital and parental status, thereby adopting a life course perspective. Based on in-depth interviews of thirty-one mothers (ages 59-72) during the COVID-19 pandemic, the findings revealed five themes-economic abuse: an unequal distribution of pension funds following divorce; regrets over past choices; COVID-19 and pensions; the state's responsibility for old-age economic security; and knowledge is important, and I can help others. The study concludes that the majority of women at these ages perceive their current economic situation as a product of insufficient familiarity with pension plans, while voicing opinions about the state's irresponsibility regarding people of retirement age.

Prevention and early treatment of depression through the life course

This book presents current evidence of new perspectives for the prevention and appropriate management of depression in people across the life course. Special attention has been dedicated to facilitating factors for the development of health system capacity and the effectiveness of the different types of interventions. The first part of the book reviews the innovations in global prevention and non-pharmacological treatments for children, adolescents, and youths. The second part reviews interventions for adults across the lifespan, including older adults and caregivers. Despite the efforts to tackle depression, the COVID-19 pandemic directly or indirectly affected the mental health of the population, including an increase in the incidence of depressive disorders, which are underdiagnosed and undertreated in young and older people. Because of the characteristics of adolescence and older adulthood, people can consider depression signs and symptoms as natural, neglecting a proper diagnosis. To address these challenges in the clinical management of depression, Prevention and Early Treatment of Depression Through the Life Course presents a life course perspective on the analysis and treatment of depression to help clinical psychologists, psychiatrists and other mental health professionals understand the mechanisms associated with the onset of depression and identify/develop proper evidence-based treatments for different ages and in different circumstances. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on youth delinquency: A discontinuous growth analysis

IntroductionThis study aimed to investigate (a) the immediate and long-term changes in youth offending rates among 138 neighborhoods within a large metropolitan area in the context of COVID-19 and (b) the extent to which the socioeconomic composition of the neighborhoods accounted for variations of the changes. MethodsDiscontinuous growth models were applied to demonstrate the changes in offenses against a person, property offenses, and drug-related offenses one-year prior to, at (March 2020), and one-year following the pandemic. ResultsAt the onset of the pandemic, we registered an immediate reduction in offenses against a person and property offenses but not in drug-related offenses. There was a steeper declining trend for property offenses one-year following the pandemic as compared with that one-year prior to the pandemic. The neighborhood concentration of affluence and poverty was not related to the immediate reduction in any type of delinquency. DiscussionWe conclude that the COVID-19 pandemic not only had an abrupt but also an enduring impact on youth delinquency.

Charting well-being over adulthood into pandemic times: a longitudinal perspective

The purpose of this study is to investigate how well-being changes over the adult life course from early adulthood in 1998 through to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021. We identify diverse well-being trajectories over time in a cohort of British Columbians and explore the extent to which changes in well-being associated with the pandemic varied for individuals in these different trajectory groups. Specifically, we ask: what was the effect of the pandemic on the well-being of individuals with different prior well-being trajectories over adulthood and how were these effects related to personal, educational and employment factors? To address this question, we model well-being trajectories over a large span of adulthood from the age of 28 to 51 years old. We find a diversity of distinct patterns in well-being changes over adulthood. The majority experience high well-being over time, while almost one in five experiences either chronically low or drastically decreased well-being in mid-adulthood, which coincides with the pandemic. Notably, those who have completed post-secondary education are less likely to report low well-being trajectories. Those with the lowest well-being over time also report the largest negative effects of the pandemic, which illustrates the compounding effects of the pandemic on existing inequalities.

Educational trajectories, health and longevity

The working group of the Academies of Medicine of France and Mexico initiated its work after the first wave of the COVID 19 pandemic, during which the severity of the disease in certain countries was attributed to a lack of basic education of the population. The study continued and expanded to better understand the roles of basic education and health education on overall health and longevity. This work has demonstrated that, alongside genetics, the affective and educational family environment but also the general one greatly interferes from the very first days of life. Thus, epigenetics plays a major role in the determination of health and disease (DOHAD) as well as in the characterization of gender. Other factors such as socio-economic level, parental education, school in urban or rural areas play a major role in the differential acquisition of health literacy. This determines adherence or not to healthy lifestyles, risky behaviors, substance abuse, but also compliance with hygiene rules and adherence to vaccines and treatments. The combination of all these elements and lifestyle choices facilitates the emergence of metabolic disorders (obesity, diabetes) which promote cardiovascular and kidney damages and neurodegenerative diseases, explaining that the less educated have a shorter survival while they spend more years of life in disability. After having demonstrated the impact of the educational level on health and longevity, the members of the inter-academic group propose specific educational actions at three levels: 1) Children, their parents, and teachers, 2) health professionals and 3) aging people, after emphasizing that these crucial actions can only be carried out with the unfailing support of state and academic authorities. © 2023 l'Académie nationale de médecine Le groupe de travail des Académies de Médecine de France et du Mexique a initié son travail après que la sévérité de la première vague de la pandémie Covid 19 de certains pays ait été corrélée à un manque d'éducation de base de leur population. La réflexion s'est poursuivie et étendue pour mieux comprendre les rôles de l'éducation de base et de l'éducation en santé sur la santé globale et la longévité. Ce travail montre qu'à côté de la génétique, l'épigénétique interfère de façon majeure dès les tous premiers jours de la vie dans la détermination de la santé et des maladies (DOHAD) ainsi que dans la caractérisation du genre. D'autres facteurs environnementaux et/ou éducatifs, comme le niveau socioéconomique ou les modalités de scolarisation (urbain ou rural) interviennent également dans l'acquisition différentielle d'une littératie en santé. Celle-ci détermine l'adhésion ou non à des styles de vie saine, à des comportements à risque, à l'abus de substances, mais aussi au respect des règles d'hygiène et à l'adhésion aux vaccins. Tous ces éléments et choix de vie se conjuguent entre eux pour faciliter la survenue ou la gravité de pathologies. Ainsi, les troubles métaboliques (obésité, diabète) surviennent plus souvent chez les moins éduqués, favorisant les atteintes cardiovasculaires, rénales et les maladies neurodégénératives. Globalement, les personnes moins éduquées vivent moins longtemps après avoir passé plus d'années de vie en incapacité fonctionnelle et dépendance. Après avoir démontré l'impact du niveau éducatif sur la santé et la longévité, les membres du groupe interacadémique déclarent l'urgence des actions à entreprendre et proposent des actions éducatives spécifiques à trois niveaux : 1) les enfants, leurs parents et les enseignants, 2) les professionnels de santé et 3) les personnes vieillissantes, tout en soulignant que ces actions cruciales ne pourront être menées qu'avec le soutien indispensable des autorités étatiques et académiques. © 2023 l'Académie nationale de médecine

Does Public Health Emergency Experience Have an Impact on Individual Reactions during COVID-19?

Local historical experience in public health emergencies has been perceived to largely affect COVID-19's social influence. Specifically, individuals' personal experience in public health emergencies would likely have an impact on their reactions to the next similar event. Herein, we combined life course and risk analysis frameworks to explore how individuals' experiences influence current risk perception and protective behaviors. We collected 1000 questionnaires of random network samples in six Chinese provinces of different risk levels from 29 April to 8 May 2020, and used the propensity score matching (PSM) model and multivariable linear regression to process the data. We categorized individual public emergency experience into three patterns: (1) having ever witnessed a public health emergency, (2) having ever experienced a public health emergency, and (3) currently experiencing a public health emergency. The study indicates that individuals' experiences had significant positive effects on protective behaviors against COVID-19. The average effects of the three patterns on behaviors were 0.371 (p < 0.001), 0.898 (p < 0.001) and 0.319 (p < 0.05), respectively. The study also shows that for those experiencing any one pattern, the effect of risk perception on protective behaviors appeared null in the early stage of the pandemic. We propose the potential interactive mechanism of risk factors in the life course at the individual level. Academically, this study develops the risk theory of perception and behavior and expands the application of the life course approach in the public health arena. Practically, our research indicates that public health emergency experiences are valuable for responding to a future pandemic and normalizing prevention policies.

A qualitative life course perspective on covid-lockdowns and couples? division of unpaid labour

Covid-19 lockdowns in many countries were characterised by increases in unpaid labour (e.g. home-schooling), as well as changing working conditions (e.g. remote work). Consequently, a large body of research assesses changes in dual earner couples' gender division of unpaid labour. However, despite the increasingly detailed picture of households' division of labour before and after the onset of the pandemic, it remains unclear how dual earner parents themselves perceive their decision-making regarding labour divisions during lockdowns. Conse-quently, using data from 31 individual in-depth interviews in Belgium, this study adopts a biographical -interpretative method to assess variation in narratives regarding the household division of labour before and during lockdown. Results indicate five ideal type narratives which vary in the extent to which lockdown divisions of unpaid labour exhibit path-dependency or constitute new gender dynamics, but also regarding the balance between individual agency and societal factors as determinants of labour divisions. Taken together, narratives discussing new gender dynamics during lockdowns put forward sector-specific changes in working hours and remote work as external and exogenous determinants. However, most importantly, findings indicate that household decision-making regarding unpaid labour during lockdowns is mostly perceived as path-dependent on pre-covid decision-making (e.g. gender specialisation) in the context of structural (e.g. gendered leave schemes) and normative boundaries (e.g. gendered parenting norms). Such path-dependencies in the decision-making underlying quantitatively identifiable divisions of unpaid labour during lockdowns are likely to be neglected in the absence of a qualitative life course perspective.

Rapport 23-04. Rapport inter-académique. Trajectoires éducatives, santé et longévité

Résumé Le groupe de travail des Académies de Médecine de France et du Mexique a initié son travail après que la sévérité de la première vague de la pandémie Covid 19 de certains pays ait été corrélée à un manque d'éducation de base de leur population. La réflexion s'est poursuivie et étendue pour mieux comprendre les rôles de l'éducation de base et de l'éducation en santé sur la santé globale et la longévité. Ce travail montre qu'à côté de la génétique, l'épigénétique interfère de façon majeure dès les tous premiers jours de la vie dans la détermination de la santé et des maladies (DOHAD) ainsi que dans la caractérisation du genre. D'autres facteurs environnementaux et/ou éducatifs, comme le niveau socioéconomique ou les modalités de scolarisation (urbain ou rural) interviennent également dans l'acquisition différentielle d'une littératie33Littératie en santé : capacité pour une personne de comprendre et utiliser des informations médicales dans l'objectif de gérer sa santé et de pouvoir communiquer avec les divers services de soins. en santé. Celle-ci détermine l'adhésion ou non à des styles de vie saine, à des comportements à risque, à l'abus de substances, mais aussi au respect des règles d'hygiène et à l'adhésion aux vaccins. Tous ces éléments et choix de vie se conjuguent entre eux pour faciliter la survenue ou la gravité de pathologies. Ainsi, les troubles métaboliques (obésité, diabète) surviennent plus souvent chez les moins éduqués, favorisant les atteintes cardiovasculaires, rénales et les maladies neurodégénératives. Globalement, les personnes moins éduquées vivent moins longtemps après avoir passé plus d'années de vie en incapacité fonctionnelle et dépendance. Après avoir démontré l'impact du niveau éducatif sur la santé et la longévité, les membres du groupe interacadémique déclarent l'urgence des actions à entreprendre et proposent des actions éducatives spécifiques à trois niveaux : 1) les enfants, leurs parents et les enseignants, 2) les professionnels de santé et 3) les personnes vieillissantes, tout en soulignant que ces actions cruciales ne pourront être menées qu'avec le soutien indispensable des autorités étatiques et académiques. Summary The working group of the Academies of Medicine of France and Mexico initiated its work after the first wave of the COVID 19 pandemic, during which the severity of the disease in certain countries was attributed to a lack of basic education of the population. The study continued and expanded to better understand the roles of basic education and health education on overall health and longevity. This work has demonstrated that, alongside genetics, the affective and educational family environment but also the general one greatly interferes from the very first days of life. Thus, epigenetics plays a major role in the determination of health and disease (DOHAD) as well as in the characterization of gender. Other factors such as socio-economic level, parental education, school in urban or rural areas play a major role in the differential acquisition of health literacy. This determines adherence or not to healthy lifestyles, risky behaviors, substance abuse, but also compliance with hygiene rules and adherence to vaccines and treatments. The combination of all these elements and lifestyle choices facilitates the emergence of metabolic disorders (obesity, diabetes) which promote cardiovascular and kidney damages and neurodegenerative diseases, explaining that the less educated have a shorter survival while they spend more years of life in disability. After having demonstrated the impact of the educational level on health and longevity, the members of the inter-academic group propose specific educational actions at three levels: 1) Children, their parents, and teachers, 2) health professionals and 3) aging people, after emphasizing that these crucial actions can only be carried out with the unfailing support of state and academic authorities.

Covid-19 and children's social development: Insights from the life-course perspective

In this chapter, the authors focus on disruptions to children's lives at home and at school (including early childhood care and education programs [ECCE] and primary schooling) as critical settings for healthy development. The Covid-19 pandemic has upended children's lives in myriad ways, including disruptions in the family system due to illness or death, financial instability tied to job loss, and educational disruptions as a result of closures of child care facilities and schools. In considering how the Covid-19 pandemic is shaping children's social development, the authors attend to how interactions with others and socialization processes within families and schools may buffer or exacerbate the pandemic's negative impact. Developmental scientists are well positioned to research how macro-level shocks such as the coronavirus pandemic affect children's developmental trajectories, and the life-course perspective can guide and inform that investigation. © 2022 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

A Life Course Approach to Addressing Exponential Inequalities: Age, Gender, and Covid-19

This chapter argues that age is an exponential amplifier of inequality. It puts forward a life course perspective as a nuanced lens for enriching our understanding of discrimination and its impacts over time. A life course approach offers a targeted focus for addressing exponential inequalities, drawing our attention to discrimination at critical transition points. Building on this life course perspective, experiences of discrimination over time can be seen as non-linear and multi-directional, but still interlinked and biographic, punctuating and shaping life stories in unpredictable ways. These ideas are illustrated through a case study of gendered ageism at work, drawing on empirical evidence to map how gender inequality is amplified with age and time, and further exacerbated by the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. Viewed with this life course lens, this chapter argues that discrimination law appears fundamentally ill-adapted for responding to exponential inequalities. The chapter therefore considers the extent to which 'next generation' positive duties'like the Gender Equality Act 2020 (Vic)'might address these concerns. © The several contributors 2022. All rights reserved.

Ageing with a twist: Intimacy and care amongst LGB older adults in Portugal

Ageing is increasingly at the centre of both local and international politics and policies. However, the attention on the intersection of ageing and sexual diversity has remained largely absent from research agendas in the Portuguese context. This article addresses issues of care and intimacy experienced by self-identified lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) people over the age of 60 both before and during the COVID-19 outbreak in Portugal. The article is divided into four sections. In the introduction, the main issue addressed will be an explanation that draws on a theoretical framework informed by both LGBTQI+ and ageing and life course studies. The second section gives a necessarily brief overview of the socio-legal context of LGBTQI+ issues in Portugal and provides information regarding methodological aspects of the research. The third section explores experiences, prior and during the pandemic, of older adults who self-identify as LGB in the Portuguese context. Accompanied by excerpts from interviews originally carried out in 2019 and 2020, this section is structured around three topics: pandemic 2.0.;isolation and relational loneliness and health and care networks. The last section discusses the current impact of ageing and of ageism on older LGB adults, while also offering recommendations for future policy and scholarly work.

Life Course Education, Health, and Ageing Well: A Short Inter-Academic Report.

After the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, during which the severity of the disease in certain countries was attributed to a lack of basic education of the inhabitants, the authors of this paper initiated a literature review of educational trajectories, health, and ageing well. The findings strongly demonstrate that alongside genetics, the affective and educational family environment, as well as the general environment, greatly interact starting from the very first days of life. Thus, epigenetics plays a major role in the determination of health and disease [DOHAD] in the first 1,000 days of life as well as in the characterization of gender. Other factors such as socio-economic level, parental education, schooling in urban or rural areas, also play a major role in the differential acquisition of health literacy. This determines adherence (or lack thereof) to healthy lifestyles, risky behaviours, substance abuse, but also compliance with hygiene rules, and adherence to vaccines and treatments. The combination of all these elements and lifestyle choices facilitates the emergence of metabolic disorders (obesity, diabetes), which promote cardiovascular and kidney damage, and neurodegenerative diseases, explaining that the less well educated have shorter survival and spend more years of life in disability. After having demonstrated the impact of the educational level on health and longevity, the members of this inter-academic group propose specific educational actions at three levels: (1) teachers and health professionals, (2) parents, (3) the public, emphasizing that these crucial actions can only be carried out with the unfailing support of state and academic authorities.

Association between psychological distress trajectories from adolescence to midlife and mental health during the pandemic: evidence from two British birth cohorts.

BACKGROUND: This paper examined whether distinct life-course trajectories of psychological distress from adolescence to midlife were associated with poorer mental health outcomes during the pandemic. METHODS: We present a secondary analysis of two nationally representative British birth cohorts, the 1958 National Child Development Study (NCDS) and 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70). We used latent variable mixture models to identify pre-pandemic longitudinal trajectories of psychological distress and a modified Poisson model with robust standard errors to estimate associations with psychological distress, life satisfaction and loneliness at different points during the pandemic. RESULTS: Our analysis identified five distinct pre-pandemic trajectories of psychological distress in both cohorts. All trajectories with prior symptoms of psychological distress irrespective of age of onset, severity and chronicity were associated with a greater relative risk of poorer mental health outcomes during the pandemic and the probability of poorer mental health associated with psychological distress trajectories remained fairly constant. The relationship was not fully attenuated when most recent pre-pandemic psychological distress and other midlife factors were controlled for. CONCLUSIONS: Whilst life-course trajectories with any prior symptoms of psychological distress put individuals at greater risk of poor mental health outcomes during the pandemic, those with chronic and more recent occurrences were at highest risk. In addition, prior poor mental health during the adult life-course may mean individuals are less resilient to shocks, such as pandemics. Our findings show the importance of considering heterogeneous mental health trajectories across the life-course in the general population in addition to population average trends.

Income and Career Concerns Among Emerging Adults From Finland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom During COVID-19

In this study, we examine the prevalence of income and career concerns among emerging adults in three different welfare states during COVID-19: Finland (n = 309), Sweden (n = 324), and the United Kingdom (n = 343). This study also delves into how factors such as one's self-perceived financial situation, generalized mistrust, loneliness and socio-demographics are related to emerging adults' income and career concerns. Results showed that individuals from the United Kingdom were more likely to experience increased income and career concerns than those in Finland and Sweden. Our results also suggest that income concerns were associated with one's current financial situation, future financial situation, childhood financial situation, and loneliness. Also, career concerns were related to generalized mistrust, loneliness, and age. For both country-specific and general analyses, loneliness emerged as the most important for increased income and career concerns for emerging adults in all three countries.

Barriers to and solutions for representative inclusion across the lifespan and in life course research: The need for structural competency highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Exclusion of special populations (older adults; pregnant women, children, and adolescents; individuals of lower socioeconomic status and/or who live in rural communities; people from racial and ethnic minority groups; individuals from sexual or gender minority groups; and individuals with disabilities) in research is a pervasive problem, despite efforts and policy changes by the National Institutes of Health and other organizations. These populations are adversely impacted by social determinants of health (SDOH) that reduce access and ability to participate in biomedical research. In March 2020, the Northwestern University Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute hosted the "Lifespan and Life Course Research: integrating strategies" "Un-Meeting" to discuss barriers and solutions to underrepresentation of special populations in biomedical research. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted how exclusion of representative populations in research can increase health inequities. We applied findings of this meeting to perform a literature review of barriers and solutions to recruitment and retention of representative populations in research and to discuss how findings are important to research conducted during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. We highlight the role of SDOH, review barriers and solutions to underrepresentation, and discuss the importance of a structural competency framework to improve research participation and retention among special populations.

ASVAC2022 : 8th Asian Vaccine Conference.

Aiming to further the Immunization Partners in Asia Pacific (IPAP)'s vision of a world where no one suffers from a vaccine preventable disease, the 8th Asian Vaccine Conference (ASVAC 2022) was held in Colombo, Sri Lanka and virtually from 15 to 18, September 2022 (www.asianvaccine.com). This conference followed those held in Siem Reap, Cambodia (2009), Manila, Philippines (2010), Jakarta, Indonesia (2011), Cebu, Philippines (2013), Hanoi, Vietnam (2015), Singapore (2017) and Naypyidaw and Yangon, Myanmar (2019). The ASVAC2022 themed "Immunization: in Era of Pandemics," commenced with the EPI Managers' Workshop, followed by pre-conference workshops and Vaccinology Masterclass, followed by the main conference featuring 5 plenary lectures, 6 partner-led symposia, free paper and poster presentations, and industry-supported lunch and evening sessions. There were over 1830 registered participants, with 112 attending in person and 998 virtually from 63 countries. The conference was organized by IPAP and hosted by the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Forum of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka College of Pediatricians, Sri Lanka College of Microbiologists and College of General Practitioners of Sri Lanka, with the support of the Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka. The 9th ASVAC is scheduled to be held in Davao City, Philippines in late 2023.

Perceived Changes in Social Connectedness Across the Life Course: A Mixed Method Approach.

Social connection is important across the life course, but overall levels have been declining. The COVID-19 pandemic presented a unique context to examine social connectedness and adaptive capacity in times of social adversity. We used a parallel mixed method design to collect online survey data from a representative U.S. sample (N = 359). Applying an exploratory sequential approach, we used a general linear model multivariate approach to repeated measures to test for differences in participants' perceptions of social connectedness by time and age category and qualitative analysis to gain insights about disrupted social contexts. Results indicated that social connectedness decreased after mitigation restrictions for all age groups, but individuals in emerging and late adulthood felt the greatest impact. Two themes emerged: differing emotional responses to altered communication and intentionality of maintaining and/or creating social connections. Experiences of social connectedness need to be understood as a function of life stage and developmental timing.

Use of catch-up vaccinations in the second year of life (2YL) platform to close immunity gaps: A secondary DHS analysis in Pakistan, Philippines, and South Africa.

BACKGROUND: Immunity gaps caused by COVID-19-related disruptions highlight the importance of catch-up vaccination. Number of countries offering vaccines in second year of life (2YL) has increased, but use of 2YL for catch-up vaccination has been variable. We assessed pre-pandemic use of 2YL for catch-up vaccination in three countries (Pakistan, the Philippines, and South Africa), based on existence of a 2YL platform (demonstrated by offering second dose of measles-containing vaccine (MCV2) in 2YL), proportion of card availability, and geographical variety. METHODS: We conducted a secondary data analysis of immunization data from Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) in Pakistan (2017-2018), the Philippines (2017), and South Africa (2016). We conducted time-to-event analyses for pentavalent vaccine (diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis-Hepatitis B-Haemophilus influenzae type b [Hib]) and MCV and calculated use of 2YL and MCV visits for catch-up vaccination. RESULTS: Among 24-35-month-olds with documented dates, coverage of third dose of pentavalent vaccine increased in 2YL by 2%, 3%, and 1% in Pakistan, Philippines, and South Africa, respectively. MCV1 coverage increased in 2YL by 5% in Pakistan, 10% in the Philippines, and 3% in South Africa. In Pakistan, among 124 children eligible for catch-up vaccination of pentavalent vaccine at time of a documented MCV visit, 45% received a catch-up dose. In the Philippines, among 381 eligible children, 38% received a pentavalent dose during an MCV visit. In South Africa, 50 children were eligible for a pentavalent vaccine dose before their MCV1 visit, but only 20% received it; none with MCV2. CONCLUSION: Small to modest vaccine coverage improvements occurred in all three countries through catch-up vaccination in 2YL but many missed opportunities for vaccination continue to occur. Using the 2YL platform can increase coverage and close immunity gaps, but immunization programmes need to change policies, practices, and monitor catch-up vaccination to maximize the potential.

Precarity and the pandemic: The impact of COVID-19 on single men living alone.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Existing research reveals that single men living alone are at a heightened risk of isolation and precarity. This study traced the impact of the pandemic on the daily lives of a group of single men over three waves of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: A qualitative longitudinal study with older people aged 50 and over (n=102), interviewed by telephone in 2020-2021. This analysis focuses on a sub-sample comprising single men (n=16) who lived alone and were interviewed three times (n=48). The men were White British, Black and Asian, age 58-88, and were identified as facing difficulties in their lives arising from long-term health problems and or/social isolation. Participants were asked about the impact of, and response to, three lockdowns. Data were analysed using themes identified in the secondary literature using thematic and longitudinal analysis. RESULTS: For single men living alone, precarity intensified during the pandemic due to worsening physical and/or mental health combined with restricted access to relationships and activities. Key moments in the life course influenced how these men experienced and viewed the impact of COVID-19. DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS: This analysis sheds light on the deepening precarity of older men living alone during the pandemic, highlighting the emergence of new vulnerabilities for some. The findings emphasise the need, given the likelihood of future waves of the pandemic, to target support at those living alone, particularly in relation to the provision of community health services, social infrastructure, and combatting digital exclusion.

Ticket to ride: national and international mobility as a multi-faceted resource in the life courses of young Italian graduates.

This paper looks at the national and international geographic mobility paths of young graduates in Italy and their educational and professional trajectories. By departing from the research fields of youth studies, mobility studies and higher education studies, we aim to highlight the multiple meanings and effects that mobility experiences may have in structuring graduates' future projects and/or desires. On the other hand, we argue that their expectations for both their mobility experiences and careers are also shaped by family socialisation, considering furthermore that the building of embodied and scholastic cultural capitals is spatially differentiated depending on the places where they grow up. The empirical research is based on two rounds of semi-narrative interviews conducted with 51 Italian graduates between 2020 and 2021. For the analysis, we have outlined four types of mobility paths. For each type, we focus on how socio-structural and cultural variables influence the ways the interviewees framed their mobility and professional experiences, desires and projects, focusing furthermore on how the Covid-19 pandemic differently affected their objective possibilities and strategies of mobility between the first and second waves.