This paper examines and compares the impact of non-employment - more precisely female and male unemployment and female labour-market inactivity - on cohabiting and married couples' separation risk in eastern and western Germany. Although Germany has experienced substantial changes in the spheres of family and labour market in recent decades, differences between the former East and West Germany persist even over 30 years after reunification. Applying conditional logistic fixed-effect models to German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) data, I find the following: in western Germany, where - despite a trend towards more egalitarian gender norms - traditional gender norms still prevail, male unemployment increases couples' separation risk, whereas female labour-market inactivity reduces it. Examining change across two birth cohorts - women born in or before 1971 and women born after 1971 - I find for western Germany that the effects of male and female unemployment on couple separation appear to be converging, and the relationship-stabilising effect of female labour-market inactivity seems to be diminishing. This is in line with the trend towards egalitarian gender norms in that region. In eastern Germany, both female and male unemployment have a relationship-destabilising effect in the older birth cohort, which might reflect the more egalitarian gender norms there. However, the relationship-destabilising effect of male and female unemployment is diminishing, and can no longer be found in the younger birth cohort. Unexpectedly, for eastern German women born after 1971, labour-market inactivity is relationship-stabilising, which was not the case in the older cohort.
Chinese entrepreneurs, whose population has been steadily growing since the Reform and Open Up in 1978, are a diverse group of people. Though previous research has analysed Chinese entrepreneurs by special cases, few have conducted a nationally representative study of their typology. And even fewer have analysed the life outcomes of the different types of entrepreneurs. Relying on two waves of the panel data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) and with the technique of sequence analysis, for the first time, we explored the heterogeneous career trajectories of Chinese entrepreneurs and their corresponding life outcomes. We successfully depicted four unique entrepreneurial trajectories in China since the 1950s, which are necessity entrepreneurs, employee entrepreneurs, persistent entrepreneurs and farmer entrepreneurs. Our empirical results can support both the cumulative disadvantage theory and the set-point theory in health-related studies. Among all the entrepreneurs, farmer entrepreneurs have the worst self-rated health in the long run, which supports the cumulative disadvantage theory. At the same time, all types of entrepreneurs have similar depressive symptoms and economic returns, which supports the set-point theory.
White blood cell (WBC) and mean platelet volume (MPV) counts are related to stroke events, but relationship between their combined indicator (WBC count-to-MPV count ratio (WMR)) and the risk of fatal stroke occurrence is unclear so far. In this prospective analysis, we enrolled 27,163 participants aged 50 years or older without a stroke history in the Guangzhou Biobank Cohort Study. After a mean follow-up time of 15.0 (SD = 2.2) years with 389,242 person-years, 816 stroke (401 ischaemic, 259 haemorrhagic and 156 unclassified) deaths were recorded. Cox's proportional hazards regression was used to estimate the hazard ratios (HRs) and the 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Compared with those in the lowest quartile, participants with the highest WMR had different risks for fatal all stroke and fatal ischaemic stroke, respectively, although an increased risk for fatal ischaemic stroke was observed among participants in the fourth WMR quartile and further hs-CRP adjustment; those in the WMR change with 10% increase had a 36% increased risk of fatal all stroke and a 79% increased risk of fatal haemorrhagic stroke, compared to those in a stable (the WMR change between -10% and 10%). Our findings suggest that higher WMR and its longitudinal change were associated with an increased risk of fatal stroke occurrence in middle-aged to older Chinese; it may be a potential indicator for the future fatal stroke occurrence in relatively healthy elderly populations.
We use individual-level population data to characterise the pathways followed by young people in England who experience custody. We identify a typology of pathways up to age 18 and a separate typology covering ages 19-22. Our results confirm the generally poor prospects among this group, showing 80% to be firmly established as not in employment, education or training (NEET) by age 22. Despite the high level of deprivation in the population considered, prospects are still found to vary with specific markers of disadvantage. Managing to avoid NEET when 16-18 is an important part of the strategy for avoiding NEET when older. This suggests the importance of policy interventions aimed at re-engagement of those who experience custody as a young person.
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.

