Ssm-Population Health最新文献

{"title":"Divergence in the size and composition of the race gap in mental health: Evidence from South Africa","authors":"Dorrit Posel,&nbsp;Adeola Oyenubi","doi":"10.1016/j.ssmph.2025.101829","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ssmph.2025.101829","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Quantitative studies of mental health in South Africa typically find that Black African adults report significantly more depressive symptoms than other adults on average. However, insufficient attention has been paid to differences among Black African adults, and to how the distribution of depressive symptoms compares between these adults and other adults. We augment existing research by investigating how the size and composition of the race gap in depression scores varies at different percentiles of the mental health distribution. We analyze national self-reported data on the frequency of depressive symptoms, and estimate recentred influence function decompositions of the unconditional race gap at each quantile of the distribution. The analysis identifies a race gap in depression scores that is twice as large at the lower tail of the mental health distribution than at the upper tail, signalling that Black African adults are particularly less likely than other adults to report no, or only a few, symptoms. At the lower tail, the race gap derives mostly from differences in the relationship between characteristics and mental health, while at higher percentiles, differences in the level of endowments, or stressors, are more important. At the upper tail, where depression scores are likely to correspond to major depressive episodes, the race gap narrows to zero. The size and composition of the average race gap in depression scores therefore masks considerable variation about the mean, which should be considered when policy is targeted to redress inequalities in mental health treatment.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47780,"journal":{"name":"Ssm-Population Health","volume":"31 ","pages":"Article 101829"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2025-06-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144312624","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Cumulative neighborhood disadvantage and racial and geographic disparities in epigenetic aging","authors":"Wei Xu ,&nbsp;Christina Kamis ,&nbsp;Joseph Clark ,&nbsp;Amy Schultz ,&nbsp;Michal Engelman ,&nbsp;Kristen Malecki","doi":"10.1016/j.ssmph.2025.101825","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ssmph.2025.101825","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Living in a socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhood is associated with worse health. However, the biological pathways underpinning this association remain unclear. Using 1388 adults from Researching Epigenetics, Weathering and Residential Disadvantage (REWARD), an ancillary study to the Survey of the Health of Wisconsin (SHOW), we examined the contribution of cumulative neighborhood disadvantage across the life course to racial and geographic disparities in epigenetic markers of biological aging. Results showed that urban Black adults experienced faster epigenetic aging than urban, suburban, and rural White adults across three epigenetic aging clocks. Approximately 37 % (GrimAge), 70 % (DunedinPACE), and 100 % (PhenoAge) of the White-urban Black disparities in epigenetic age acceleration were explained by differential exposure to cumulative neighborhood disadvantage over the life course. Interactions testing differential susceptibility to neighborhood disadvantage by race were not significant. In summary, differential exposure to cumulative neighborhood disadvantage over the life course, rather than differential biological response to these exposures, shapes racial and geographic disparities in epigenetic aging.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47780,"journal":{"name":"Ssm-Population Health","volume":"31 ","pages":"Article 101825"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2025-06-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144279615","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Impact of social isolation on mental health changes by socio-economic status: A moderated mediation analysis among non-migrant, migrant, and refugee subpopulations in Germany, 2016–2020","authors":"Victoria Touzel ,&nbsp;Doreen Reifegerste ,&nbsp;Kayvan Bozorgmehr ,&nbsp;Louise Biddle","doi":"10.1016/j.ssmph.2025.101822","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ssmph.2025.101822","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>Populations experiencing precarity face heightened mental health inequities, especially during crises. In this regard, it is established that socio-economic status (SES) and social isolation are critical factors influencing mental health outcomes, which interact syndemically. Understanding their interrelated mechanisms is crucial for developing effective public health strategies to support populations experiencing precarity in future crises.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>Data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (2016–2020) were analysed in a longitudinal design. A moderated mediation analysis examined the effect of SES on mental health (PHQ4) prior to and during the pandemic, with social isolation change as mediator and migration status as moderator, distinguishing non-migrant (n = 3841), migrant (n = 766), and refugee (n = 331) subpopulations. The model was adjusted using month of interview, baseline PHQ-4 scores, age, gender, and baseline social isolation.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>High SES was linked to smaller mental health declines compared to low SES (β = −0.635, 95 % CI: −0.822, −0.447). This effect was partially mediated by change in social isolation (−0.049, 95 % CI: −0.082, −0.015). The mediation effect was weaker in non-migrant (−0.030, 95 % CI: −0.066, 0.005) and non-significant in migrant subpopulations (−0.062, 95 % CI: −0.157, 0.034). For refugees, SES effects were non-significant, with baseline and changes in social isolation playing a more critical role.</div></div><div><h3>Findings</h3><div>SES and social isolation critically influenced mental health changes, with substantial variability across subpopulations. Targeted interventions addressing SES inequities and fostering social connections are essential for mitigating mental health disparities, particularly among low SES groups, migrants, and refugees.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47780,"journal":{"name":"Ssm-Population Health","volume":"31 ","pages":"Article 101822"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2025-06-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144255387","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Family availability and memory function and decline among adults aged ≥51 in England and the United States, 2004–2019","authors":"Tsai-Chin Cho ,&nbsp;Xuexin Yu ,&nbsp;Lindsay C. Kobayashi","doi":"10.1016/j.ssmph.2025.101824","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ssmph.2025.101824","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Objectives</h3><div>We investigated whether spousal and child availability may jointly impact memory aging among middle-aged and older adults, and if their joint impact varies between the US and England, two high-income countries with dissimilar social safety nets.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>We examined the associations of joint family availability with subsequent memory function and decline among adults aged ≥51 in the US Health and Retirement Study (HRS; n = 4612) and English Longitudinal Study of Aging (ELSA; n = 3502) from 2004 to 2019. Joint family availability was assessed on a 6-point index incorporating the presence and disability status of a spouse, any coresident child, and any child with frequent social contact. Memory was assessed biennially using a harmonized 20-point word recall scale.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>A moderate level of joint family availability (vs. no spouse or children) was associated with better memory function in both countries. Yet, it was associated with faster memory decline in the US, but not in England (e.g., 4-point family availability score in the US: β = −0.18; 95 % CI: −0.31, −0.06; P-value for the cross-national difference: 0.01). No dose-response relationship was observed for either outcome.</div></div><div><h3>Discussion</h3><div>Among aging US adults, joint spousal and child availability may support better later-life memory function, yet faster memory decline, consistent with a cognitive reserve mechanism. The lack of dose-response relationships suggests diminishing returns with increasing levels of family availability beyond the presence of a spouse or child. Cross-national heterogeneity in these associations between the US and England may imply effect modification by social safety net contexts, although further investigation is needed.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47780,"journal":{"name":"Ssm-Population Health","volume":"31 ","pages":"Article 101824"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2025-06-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144222626","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Social participation trajectories in late life and cognitive functioning – A sequence analysis based on Taiwan Longitudinal Study on aging","authors":"Yu-Tien Hsu ,&nbsp;Hanno Hoven ,&nbsp;Francine Grodstein ,&nbsp;Tzu-Hung Liu ,&nbsp;Chia-Rui Chang ,&nbsp;Yu-Lin Hsieh ,&nbsp;Jarvis T. Chen ,&nbsp;Ichiro Kawachi","doi":"10.1016/j.ssmph.2025.101821","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ssmph.2025.101821","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Objective</h3><div>Many studies have linked greater social participation to less cognitive decline with aging. Understanding of how social participation transitions can be associated with older adults’ cognitive function is crucial.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>We analyzed histories of social participation among middle-aged (50–64 years, n = 1900) and older (65+ years, n = 2500) participants in the Taiwan Longitudinal Study on Aging. We applied sequence analysis to define clustered social participation and work history in 1996, 1999, 2003, 2007, and 2011. We applied linear regression models for the associations between cluster membership and cognitive function in 2015, measured with the Short Portable Mental Status Questionnaire (SPMSQ). We used multinomial regression analysis to explore the factors related to belonging to a cluster.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>In middle-aged adults, participation in multiple social activities was associated with higher cognition scores. Working and multiple activity participation among older adults were associated with higher scores. More active patterns of social participation were found for men, at younger ages, and among non-urban residents.</div></div><div><h3>Discussion</h3><div>Our study findings support the value of social engagement and work involvement for healthy cognitive aging. Additionally, we identified subgroups that were more likely to be socially engaged.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47780,"journal":{"name":"Ssm-Population Health","volume":"31 ","pages":"Article 101821"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2025-05-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144255492","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The land cover paradox: Characteristics of blue- and green spaces within and beyond high-risk suicide clusters","authors":"Gia E. Barboza-Salerno ,&nbsp;Amy Watson-Grace ,&nbsp;Karla Shockley-McCarthy ,&nbsp;Taylor Harrington ,&nbsp;Keith Warren ,&nbsp;Danielle Steelesmith","doi":"10.1016/j.ssmph.2025.101820","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ssmph.2025.101820","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Purpose</h3><div>Urban suicide rates are rising, with disproportionate impacts on communities of color. While social determinants of suicide are well-established, the role of overlapping social, natural, and built environments remains underexamined.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>We integrated National Land Cover Database (NLCD) data on developed open space, tree canopy, blue space, and a novel measure of land cover diversity with indicators of tree and park equity, built environment features, and socioeconomic vulnerability. Bayesian spatial Poisson models were used to estimate associations between these socioenvironmental variables and suicide risk at the Census Block Group (CBG) level in Chicago. We also identified and compared spatial clusters of high and low suicide risk using Local Moran's I.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Blue space and developed, open spaces were associated with reduced suicide risk, with estimated decreases of 17.9 % and 15.1 %, respectively. In contrast, greater land cover diversity was associated with a 32.1 % increase in suicide risk. Suicide risk exhibited spatial structuring, with nearly half of the total variance explained by between-CBG differences (γ = 0.4971). Although spatial variability was modest (σS = 0.0214), suicide deaths were significantly clustered, with 261 spatial clusters identified—59 high-risk and 202 low-risk (p &lt; 0.05). Socio-environmental characteristics differed significantly across cluster types, indicating that place-based exposures intersect with population-level vulnerabilities to shape suicide risk.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>The findings reveal that the mental health impacts of environmental features are context-dependent and spatially patterned. While access to green and blue space may offer protective effects, these benefits are not uniformly experienced across urban neighborhoods. Suicide prevention efforts should consider not only individual and socioeconomic risk factors, but also spatial disparities in environmental quality and neighborhood-level disadvantage.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47780,"journal":{"name":"Ssm-Population Health","volume":"31 ","pages":"Article 101820"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2025-05-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144212467","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Gender inequality, women's human capital and female suicide in selected MENA countries","authors":"Francois Xavier Ngah Obama","doi":"10.1016/j.ssmph.2025.101819","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ssmph.2025.101819","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper examines the relationships between gender inequality, women's human capital and female suicide in MENA countries. The study uses a panel of seven MENA countries over the period 2000–2019. The analysis uses Driscoll-Kraay standard error regression and bootstrap-corrected dynamic fixed effects. Women's human capital is decomposed into women's health and education. The findings indicate that gender inequality significantly increases female suicide and that this effect is likely to be U-shaped. The analysis of gender inequality determinants reveals that both women's education and health significantly contribute to reducing gender inequality. However, the analysis of interactions suggests that only women's health is a plausible and effective way to address the impact of gender inequality on female suicide in MENA. These findings underscore the need for policies that promote women's education and improve women's health in the agenda to address female suicide in MENA.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47780,"journal":{"name":"Ssm-Population Health","volume":"30 ","pages":"Article 101819"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2025-05-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144134271","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A hidden cost of drinking: Alcohol use and gendered inequalities in unpaid care work","authors":"Teresa Perry","doi":"10.1016/j.ssmph.2025.101817","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ssmph.2025.101817","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The impact of alcohol use on families is an important, yet frequently understudied, avenue of research. Unpaid care work, which encompasses childcare, eldercare, cooking, and cleaning, and alcohol use, are both gendered. Men are more likely to consume alcohol, binge drink, and have alcohol use disorder and women do more unpaid care work in families. Given the gendered nature of both, this study aims to assess if alcohol consumption impacts the distribution of unpaid care work in families by gender. Using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), a longitudinal dataset, this paper analyzes how alcohol use influences the husband and wife's distribution of unpaid care work. Data was analyzed using a fixed effects model with robust standard errors. The results indicate that alcohol use significantly impacts the distribution of unpaid care work in the family. Heavy drinking by the husband is associated with the wives completing an additional 10.59 hours of childcare a week and 2.120 more hours of housework a week. Heavy drinking by the wife is correlated with 2.384 fewer hours of housework. The wife's drinking behavior has a minimal effect on the husband's unpaid care burden. These results indicate that there are even higher levels of gender inequality in unpaid care work in alcohol-affected families (AAFs) which may lead to worse social, economic, and psychological outcomes for the women in those families. This further emphasizes the importance of incorporating spouses and families in interventions and policies about alcohol use.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47780,"journal":{"name":"Ssm-Population Health","volume":"31 ","pages":"Article 101817"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2025-05-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144202450","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Adolescent motherhood and the development of adolescent Offspring: Examining the role of selection versus early environmental factors","authors":"Emla Fitzsimons,&nbsp;Aase Villadsen","doi":"10.1016/j.ssmph.2025.101818","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ssmph.2025.101818","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>The study examines the adolescent developmental outcomes in education, mental health, and physical health of children born to teenage mothers at the start of the millennium.</div></div><div><h3>Objective</h3><div>It aims to understand the extent to which long-term developmental outcomes of children born to adolescent mothers are due to selection effects versus other factors.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>It uses longitudinal data from the UK Millennium Cohort Study. Multivariate regressions examine the extent to which the association between maternal age at birth and adolescent outcomes is explained by selection into teenage motherhood, and how the relationship is mediated by the early environment and maternal behaviours.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Teenage mothers are disadvantaged in terms of their backgrounds, and their children faced more adversity in their early environment. An unadjusted comparison shows that their adolescent offspring have lower academic achievement, and are more likely to be overweight or obese, but there are no differences in their socio-emotional adjustment. The ‘penalty’ from teenage motherhood in excess weight is due to negative selection into teenage motherhood. However, the differences in educational attainment of adolescents born to teenage and older mothers reflect both pre-childbearing selection and differences in the child's early environment. A decomposition analysis shows that maternal age accounts for only a low proportion of the variance in adolescent development.</div></div><div><h3>Contribution</h3><div>The study provides the first evidence on long-term outcomes of children born to teenage mothers for the UK. It studies the entire range of key developmental outcomes. It uses a novel decomposition to examine the relative importance of different variables for explaining variation in the outcomes of interest.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47780,"journal":{"name":"Ssm-Population Health","volume":"30 ","pages":"Article 101818"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2025-05-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144105702","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The social anatomy of Pain: Friendship loss, sociotemporal disparities, and persistent physical pain","authors":"Boróka Bó ,&nbsp;Matumo Ramafikeng","doi":"10.1016/j.ssmph.2025.101816","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ssmph.2025.101816","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>While research demonstrates that social network characteristics influence the experience of persistent physical pain, existing studies primarily focus on psychological aspects and are often confined to laboratory settings. This leaves critical gaps in understanding how these dynamics unfold in real-world contexts. One such gap involves the role of discretionary time availability, a key determinant of wellbeing. This is particularly important because friendship loss has temporal dimensions, as individuals must reallocate the time once shared with friends. Using data from the Canadian Time for Health Survey, this study adopts a three-stage analytical approach. First, bivariate analyses explore the distribution of self-reported pain by socioeconomic status (SES) and friendship loss. Next, binary logistic regressions examine the relationship between friendship loss and self-reported pain, accounting for time availability and relevant sociodemographic control variables. Finally, propensity score weighting and robustness tests evaluate whether otherwise similar individuals — differing only in their experience of friendship loss — report distinct levels of persistent physical pain. This research illustrates that: (i) friendship loss is a significant predictor of persistent physical pain; (ii) respondent sociodemographic characteristics shape the experience; (iii) both time excess and time poverty increase the expected risk of pain, suggesting the presence of Temporal Goldilocks Zones. In short, physical pain is concurrently a sociotemporal phenomenon, transcending individual characteristics.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47780,"journal":{"name":"Ssm-Population Health","volume":"30 ","pages":"Article 101816"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2025-05-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144069303","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}