The paradox of local inequality: Meritocratic beliefs in unequal localities.

A puzzle has emerged amidst rising inequality: why do people profess high levels of belief in meritocracy even as income gains are increasingly concentrated at the top? In light of contradictory theories and evidence, we undertake the first assessment of the relationship between local income inequality and meritocratic beliefs outside the United States, using data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study. We find that the positive relationship between country-level income inequality and meritocratic beliefs identified in the recent literature does not translate straightforwardly below country level: there is no robust relationship between local income inequality and meritocratic beliefs in England. However, there is a robust-and somewhat paradoxical-positive association between high local income inequality and meritocratic beliefs among those with the lowest incomes.

A systematic literature review of how and whether social media data can complement traditional survey data to study public opinion.

In this article, we review existing research on the complementarity of social media data and survey data for the study of public opinion. We start by situating our review in the extensive literature (N = 187) about the uses, challenges, and frameworks related to the use of social media for studying public opinion. Based on 187 relevant articles (141 empirical and 46 theoretical) - we identify within the 141 empircal ones six main research approaches concerning the complementarity of both data sources.

Lower social participation partly explains the association between perceived neighbourhood crime and depressive symptoms in European adults aged 50 years or older: A longitudinal mediation analysis.

Neighbourhood crime likely increases the risk of developing depression among older adults. However, little is known about the underlying behavioural and social pathways. We examined the association between perceived neighbourhood crime and depressive symptoms and whether this relationship was mediated by health behaviours (physical activity, smoking, and alcohol consumption) and social participation.

Association between physical-activity trajectories and cognitive decline in adults 50 years of age or older.

Aims: To investigate the associations of physical-activity trajectories with the level of cognitive performance and its decline in adults 50 years of age or older.

Methods: We studied 38729 individuals (63 ± 9 years; 57% women) enrolled in the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). Physical activity was self-reported and cognitive performance was assessed based on immediate recall, verbal fluency, and delayed recall.

Professional Support After Partner Loss: Likelihood and Correlates of Help-Seeking Behavior.

Intimate partner loss in later life can be one of the most stressful events in adulthood. Individuals who struggle to adapt to the new life conditions may need support from a mental health professional. However, less is known about the likelihood to seek professional help after separation, divorce, or bereavement in later life and associated factors.

Modelling ambivalent triads in family research.

This research focuses on ambivalence in family networks and presents a framework for investigating how triadic configurations, beyond specific dyads, may affect individual outcomes such as well-being. First, the paper introduces the ambivalent triad census, counting the frequencies of 18 non-isomorphic triads in which ties can be positive, negative, or ambivalent, in non-directed networks, and proposes the linear combinations of three theoretical mechanisms (ambivalent balance, diffusion of stress, divide and conquer) predicting how embeddedness in an ambivalent triad may affect individual well-being. Second, the ambivalent triad census is applied to 300 non-directed family networks, 150 stepfamilies and 150 first-time families, in which mothers reported about the relationships with and between family members.