{"title":"Migration-induced subjective social mobility and its associations with self-rated mental and general health: A systematic review and narrative synthesis.","authors":"Maike Platz Pereira, Nora Gottlieb, Maren Hintermeier, Niklas Nutsch, Kayvan Bozorgmehr","doi":"10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118459","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118459","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Social mobility affects health, but comprehensive evidence on its health effects in migration contexts is lacking. This systematic review summarizes the global empirical quantitative evidence on the impact of migration-induced subjective social mobility on self-rated health outcomes among first-generation migrants, including internally displaced people, international and internal migrants. A systematic search was performed in three scientific databases, using search terms related to migrants, social status/mobility and health outcomes. Studies were included if migrant populations, quantitative measures of health outcomes and subjective social mobility were reported. In total, 13 records met all criteria, representing five different country contexts and covering international migrants, asylum seekers, refugees, and rural-to-urban migrants. Applying cross-sectional study designs, the main outcomes assessed were general health, subjective wellbeing/life satisfaction and depression. The overall evidence shows that downward subjective social mobility consistently correlates with negative mental health effects, namely depression, while upward social mobility is associated with better mental health outcomes. Similar tendencies were found for general health and life satisfaction. The results indicate that downward subjective social mobility is associated with poorer general health, lower life satisfaction and higher risk of depression across various contexts. Correspondingly, upward subjective social mobility and social mobility belief is associated with better general health, higher life satisfaction and lower risk of depression. These findings highlight the need for policies that support post-migration socioeconomic integration to prevent or mitigate the experience of downward mobility and its adverse health effects. Future research is needed to better understand pathways and interactions between policies, contexts, and individual trajectories influencing migration-induced social mobility.</p>","PeriodicalId":49122,"journal":{"name":"Social Science & Medicine","volume":"383 ","pages":"118459"},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2025-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144805154","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}
Social Science & MedicinePub Date : 2025-10-01Epub Date: 2025-07-22DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118418
Marjo Kolehmainen, Deborah Lupton
{"title":"Teletherapy Matters - Mental health and materialities of care in domestic more-than-digital assemblages.","authors":"Marjo Kolehmainen, Deborah Lupton","doi":"10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118418","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118418","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Teletherapy involves the coming together of humans and nonhuman agents to accomplish a therapeutic encounter. This article presents novel insights into the ways in which the absence or presence of different creatures, spaces and objects, both digital and non-digital, contribute to psychological therapies at a distance. Building on contributions from more-than-human theory, science and technology studies (STS) and the sociology of health, we identify these beings and things as active and co-constitutive of therapeutic care. Empirically, our analysis draws on in-depth interviews with 39 Finnish therapy and counselling professionals conducted after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, when they turned from in-office appointments to teletherapy during periods of stay-at-home and social distancing public health orders. The professionals conducted remote therapy from their own homes while their clients engaged with them from their own domestic settings. Findings show that in particular, these professionals saw the home setting (both their own and that of their clients) as an important component in these heterogeneous more-than-digital assemblages of care. In some cases, therapeutic capacities were opened by these assemblages. However in other situations, opportunities for professionals to provide support were closed by the distractions and affective atmospheres of the domestic settings in which both professionals and their clients were attempting to enact a successful therapeutic encounter.</p>","PeriodicalId":49122,"journal":{"name":"Social Science & Medicine","volume":"383 ","pages":"118418"},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2025-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144812610","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}
Piotr Bialowolski , Andrzej Cwynar , Dorota Weziak-Bialowolska
{"title":"Bidirectional, longitudinal associations between finance and health - what comes first? Evidence from middle-aged and older adults in Europe","authors":"Piotr Bialowolski , Andrzej Cwynar , Dorota Weziak-Bialowolska","doi":"10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118633","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118633","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study examines the bidirectional longitudinal relationship between financial conditions and health among middle-aged and older adults in Europe. Using eight waves (2004–2022) of data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), we applied a random intercept cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM) to assess reciprocal associations over time between multiple subjective and objective financial and health indicators, while accounting for stable individual differences.</div><div>Results reveal consistent evidence of mutual influence between financial status and health, though the patterns are asymmetric, with effects from health to financial outcomes generally stronger and more robust. Poor mental and functional health, including depressive symptoms and limitations in daily activities, were associated with deteriorating financial outcomes such as reduced net worth, greater debt, and increased financial strain. Conversely, subjective financial strain, more than income or financial assets, predicted later declines in health, particularly in mental well-being and mobility. Mortgage debt and other liabilities were also consistently associated with poorer outcomes across all health indicators.</div><div>Policy interventions aiming to improve population health and economic resilience should integrate health support with efforts to reduce perceived financial insecurity. Addressing both domains simultaneously may help break cycles of disadvantage, particularly among older adults vulnerable to financial and health shocks.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49122,"journal":{"name":"Social Science & Medicine","volume":"385 ","pages":"Article 118633"},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2025-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145253348","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 lesser evil’–Abortion and reproductive stigma among Ethiopian university students","authors":"Mulumebet Zenebe , Marte E.S. Haaland","doi":"10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118637","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118637","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Since 2005, access to safe and legal abortion services in Ethiopia has significantly improved. Nevertheless, estimates indicate that safety of abortions remains an important public health challenge. Stigma is one of the key barriers young women with unwanted pregnancies encounter. This study explores how different forms of reproductive stigma shape Ethiopian students’ perspectives on and experiences with unwanted pregnancies. Data was collected between September 2016 and June 2018. Drawing on 43 in-depth interviews with students (30) and key stakeholders (13) at Addis Ababa University, supplemented by two focus group discussions, the article thematically analyses how students navigate knowledge, rights, and stigma in situations of unwanted pregnancies. It finds that abortion stigma and stigma towards premarital pregnancies shape how young adults respond to such situations. Building on conceptualizations of stigma as a social process tied to power and differentiation, the article argues that stigma is more than an individual experience, but rather a force that shapes access and constrains reproductive choices. The findings highlight the need to understand how abortion stigma intersects with other forms of stigma and social inequality, and to address the broader social conditions that make both abortion and premarital pregnancies morally and socially contentious.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49122,"journal":{"name":"Social Science & Medicine","volume":"385 ","pages":"Article 118637"},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2025-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145222630","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}
Stephen Hunter , Urvi Rai , Amy B. Crandall-Nickolet , Karen A. Patte , Scott T. Leatherdale , Roman Pabayo
{"title":"Income inequality modified adolescent substance use trajectories from 2018-19 to 2020–21: Findings from the COMPASS study","authors":"Stephen Hunter , Urvi Rai , Amy B. Crandall-Nickolet , Karen A. Patte , Scott T. Leatherdale , Roman Pabayo","doi":"10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118635","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118635","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Purpose</h3><div>Little is known about the structural determinants of adolescent substance use during times of crises. This study examined whether income inequality modified trends in adolescent substance use during the COVID-19 pandemic.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>Adolescent (12–19 years) data (n = 22007) from the Cannabis, Obesity, Mental health, Physical activity, Alcohol use, Smoking, and Sedentary behaviour (COMPASS) study were linked with census division (CD) data (n = 42) from the 2016 Canadian Census. Adolescents self-reported on their alcohol (including binge drinking), cigarettes, e-cigarettes, and cannabis use via questionnaire in <strong>2018</strong>–<strong>19, and again in either 2019</strong>–<strong>20, or 2020</strong>–<strong>21</strong>. Income inequality was calculated at the CD-level of the school. Multilevel logistic regression models were used to examine whether income inequality modified trends in adolescent substance use through the inclusion of a cross-level interaction term (income inequality∗time).</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>The interaction term (income inequality∗time) was significant for monthly use of cigarettes, e-cigarettes, and alcohol, indicating heterogenous trajectories based on CD income inequality. Students attending schools in less equal areas had higher odds of monthly cannabis use at baseline (OR = 1.49, 95 % CI: 1.24, 1.80), but the interaction term was not significant indicating homogenous trajectories. Income inequality was not associated with monthly binge drinking at baseline and did not modify trajectories over time. Gender stratified models revealed similar results for males and females except for e-cigarette use.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>Income inequality may have modified adolescent substance use trajectories during the COVID-19 pandemic, <strong>with both increased and decreased likelihoods observed.</strong> More research investigating potential mechanisms is needed.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49122,"journal":{"name":"Social Science & Medicine","volume":"386 ","pages":"Article 118635"},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2025-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145270992","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}
Social Science & MedicinePub Date : 2025-10-01Epub Date: 2025-08-05DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118473
Yizhou Chen, James O'Donnell
{"title":"Education shapes episodic memory measurement via test specifications: Evidence from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study.","authors":"Yizhou Chen, James O'Donnell","doi":"10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118473","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118473","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Many studies have examined how education influences cognitive decline trajectories, often reflected through episodic memory deficits measured by word recall tests. However, little is known about how education affects episodic memory measurement in longitudinal studies where word-list complexity and test form vary. Our study aims to explore whether education influences episodic memory measurement via test specifications in a Chinese context.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>23,951 respondents aged over 45 (78,364 person-years) from five waves (2011-2020) of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) were included. We fitted two random-intercept models-one for immediate and one for delayed test scores-to examine how education influences episodic memory measurement across varying test formats and word list complexities. Based on these results, we applied a hybrid frequency-estimation equating approach to facilitate longitudinal studies in CHARLS, accounting for education's impact when word recall tests use varying specifications.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Respondents with higher education scored better on immediate and delayed word recall tests, but all education groups were negatively affected by increased word-list complexity, with lower-educated individuals more vulnerable. Higher-educated respondents also gained more improvement in word recall outcome from extra practice trials when complexity remained constant. After equating, the predicted trajectories reflected more accurate cognitive decline over time, enhancing the measurement's validity.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>These findings suggest that education strongly influences episodic memory assessment, as test specifications-word-list complexity and test form-interact with participants' education and shape performance gaps between higher- and lower-educated groups. For equating techniques in longitudinal studies, frequency estimation suits waves with similar complexity, whereas equipercentile equating better addresses substantial complexity differences, thereby enhancing measurement validity.</p>","PeriodicalId":49122,"journal":{"name":"Social Science & Medicine","volume":"383 ","pages":"118473"},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2025-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144805153","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}
Nicholas V.R. Smeele , Sander van Cranenburgh , Bas Donkers , Maartje H.N. Schermer , Esther W. de Bekker-Grob
{"title":"Taboo trade-off aversion in choice behaviors: A discrete choice model and application to health-related decisions","authors":"Nicholas V.R. Smeele , Sander van Cranenburgh , Bas Donkers , Maartje H.N. Schermer , Esther W. de Bekker-Grob","doi":"10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118606","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118606","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Objectives</h3><div>Taboo trade-offs can explain some of the (moral) difficulties in healthcare decision-making. The moral psychology literature suggests that individuals are averse to making trade-offs between attributes belonging to different values, such as (sacred) human lives versus (secular) money. We demonstrate and empirically test a discrete choice model designed to capture Taboo Trade-off Aversion (TTOA) behaviors in the healthcare domain.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>The linear-additive Random Utility Maximization (RUM) model is extended to capture TTOA behaviors by including penalties for taboo trade-offs. Using two Discrete Choice Experiments (DCEs) focusing on taboo trade-offs in public health policies, we empirically compare conventional linear-additive RUM models with TTOA models to explore differences in model and behavioral results.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>We observe TTOA in both DCEs. In one DCE, the TTOA model separates TTOA effects from attribute-related parameters, showing inflated parameters in conventional RUM models when TTOA behavior is present. This discrepancy affected Willingness-To-Pay (WTP) estimates, with WTP to save an incremental patient life approximately 3.5 times higher in conventional RUM models compared to the TTOA models. The presence and magnitude of TTOA varied considerably across respondents. Latent Class (LC) models reveal that some respondent groups perceive trade-offs as taboo significantly, while others do not.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>Accounting for TTOA in RUM models may lead to more accurate behavioral information when choice behaviors are affected by taboo trade-offs. Researchers and policymakers can use TTOA models to obtain a more nuanced understanding of public acceptability in morally salient policy decisions – ultimately helping to navigate, rather than avoid, taboo trade-offs.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49122,"journal":{"name":"Social Science & Medicine","volume":"386 ","pages":"Article 118606"},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145270993","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}
Qin Chen , Hongchuan Wang , Chengcheng Ma , Peng Ru
{"title":"How professionals respond to disruptive effects of artificial intelligence on their jurisdiction: The role of interactive governance","authors":"Qin Chen , Hongchuan Wang , Chengcheng Ma , Peng Ru","doi":"10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118626","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118626","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The increasing adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) in professional work has disrupted established jurisdiction, frequently eliciting defensive responses from professionals. However, limited research has systematically examined how professionals respond to such disruptions. Based on 86 interviews, 240 hours of non-participatory observation, and 20 documents collected over 47 months of fieldwork in Chinese public hospitals, this article investigates the Intelligent Prescribing Review (IPR) system — an AI tool designed to assist physicians with prescribing and dispensing — in order to analyze professionals’ responses to AI disruption. The study identifies four models of interactive governance employed by professionals: intra-professional division, inter-professional coordination, professional-AI collaboration, and professional-organization consultation. These responses are shown to be shaped by the interplay of the institutional environment, organizational strain, and a relationship-oriented society. By presenting interactive governance as the central mechanism, the analysis moves beyond dichotomous narratives that depict professional responses as mere acceptance or resistance. The findings highlight an important shift in professional jurisdiction, from reliance on individual knowledge-based expertise toward interactive governance through collaborative negotiation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49122,"journal":{"name":"Social Science & Medicine","volume":"386 ","pages":"Article 118626"},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145236318","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":"Does intensive parenting come at the expense of parents’ health? Evidence from Sweden","authors":"Anna-Karin Nylin , Stefanie Mollborn , Sunnee Billingsley","doi":"10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118610","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118610","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Given concerns that the intensification of parenting could have negative consequences for well-being, this paper explores whether intensive parenting is associated with parents' self-rated health in the case of Sweden, where extensive parental supports may provide protection. We apply binary logistic regression models to responses from 3400 parents in the nationally representative Swedish Generations and Gender Survey from 2021. Results differ depending on whether we use a variable-centered or person-centered approach to measuring intensive parenting. The variable-centered analysis showed that only certain intensive parenting attitudes, mainly within the challenging dimension, predict negative self-rated health, and this only applies to mothers. Using latent class analysis to group respondents by their overall attitude profiles around intensive parenting, the person-centered approach revealed that associations between intensive parenting attitude profiles and self-rated health differed substantially by gender. Although very few differences were observed according to the strength of intensive parenting attitudes or by agreeing with only certain dimensions, the respondents’ predicted probabilities of rating their own health as good or very good differed for those who reject intensive parenting versus adhering to it at least in part. Mothers who reject intensive parenting have significantly higher probabilities of good health, whereas fathers who reject intensive parenting have significantly lower probabilities of good health.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49122,"journal":{"name":"Social Science & Medicine","volume":"385 ","pages":"Article 118610"},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145207977","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}
Susan Saldanha , Jessica R. Botfield , Maryam Moradi , Jeana Wong , Danielle Mazza
{"title":"Australian health and social service providers’ perspectives on interpersonal and structural forms of reproductive coercion","authors":"Susan Saldanha , Jessica R. Botfield , Maryam Moradi , Jeana Wong , Danielle Mazza","doi":"10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118628","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118628","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study explored how Australian health and social service providers describe both interpersonal and structural forms of reproductive coercion (RC), and how they perceive these forms to interact in practice from their experiences supporting RC victim-survivors. Guided by an adapted socio-ecological framework that helped distinguish interpersonal and structural RC, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 25 general practitioners, nurses, social workers, domestic violence workers, and obstetrician/gynaecologists. Reflexive thematic analysis identified three themes: (1) <em>Conflict and control: being powered by fear</em>, demonstrates how interpersonal coercion emerges when reproductive conflict is coupled with fear and power imbalances, prompting concealment or compliance; (2) <em>The path of ‘shoulds’</em>, captures how explicit and implicit coercion arise from layered interpersonal and structural pressures, including cultural, societal and institutional norms that dictate who should or should not bear a child, with structural conditions often enabling interpersonal control; and (3) <em>Unspoken, unenforced, yet deeply understood pressure</em>, describes tacit coercion, internalised pressures often rooted in cultural and societal expectations that prompt individuals to self-regulate their reproductive choices or make protective decisions within constrained circumstances. Across the three themes, RC was understood as a relational and socially embedded phenomenon, where true freedom from coercion in reproductive decision-making depends not only on the absence of direct interference but also on having the space and supportive structures to make choices freely, safely, and in alignment with one's own values. Future research must centre victim-survivor experiences to deepen this conceptualisation and explore how interpersonal and structural forms of RC intersect in lived realities.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49122,"journal":{"name":"Social Science & Medicine","volume":"385 ","pages":"Article 118628"},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145208010","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}