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Objective: Previous research has shown that daily activities are crucial for mental health among older people, and that such activities declined during the COVID-19 pandemic. While previous studies have confirmed a link between stringent restrictions and an increase in mental ill-health, the role of daily activities as a mediator in this relationship remains underexplored. We analyzed whether reductions in daily activities mediated the impact of these COVID-19 restrictions on mental ill-health during the pandemic’s initial phase.

Methods: We used data from Wave 8 SHARE Corona Survey covering 41,409 respondents from 25 European countries and Israel as well as data on COVID-19 restrictions from the Oxford Government Response  Tracker  (OxCGRT).  Multilevel  regression  and  multilevel-mediation  analysis  were  used  to  examine the relationships between restrictions, daily activities and mental ill-health.

Results: Reductions in walking and shopping showed a notably stronger association with increases in mental ill-health compared to social activities. Furthermore, declines in walking could account for about  a  quarter  of  the  relationship  between  restrictions  and  increased  mental  ill-health,  but  the  mediating effects of the other activates were negligible.

Conclusions: The study highlights the essential role of maintaining daily activities, particularly walking, to  mitigate  the  negative  psychological  effects  of  pandemic-related  restrictions  among  older  populations in Europe.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, older people across Europe have adjusted their daily activities as personal risk avoidance and as an amendment to policy recommendations and restrictions. In this study, we use multilevel logistic regressions to examine to what extent sociodemographic factors are associated with activity reduction among the older population (50+) in Europe and whether these associations are moderated by governmental policy responses to COVID-19. By combining data for~35,000 respondents from the SHARE Corona Survey on reported changes in daily activities and stringency of restrictions at the national level, we find that older age, poorer health and being female versus male were (consistently) associated with greater activity reduction across all activities both in countries with weak and in those with strong restrictions. Associations between education, employment and living situation, on the one hand, and activity reduction, on the other, were weaker and less consistent. We conclude that differences between sociodemographic groups are rather similar for countries with weak and those with strong restrictions and hence argue that group-specific policy recommendation are relevant independent of stringency recommendations.

This paper addresses adjustments of daily activities in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic among people aged 50 years and older in Europe, and investigates the extent to which such adjustments are associated with the stringency of governmental restrictions and the overall spread of COVID-19. We use data from the SHARE Corona Survey collected during summer2020, published data on government response stringency, and reported country-specific prevalence and mortality of COVID-19. Our analyses show that older Europeans across the continent have reduced their daily activities quite substantially during the pandemic. However, we observe variation across countries and demographic groups, which may be important to highlight for policymakers. Our explanatory analysis replicates previous studies using mobility data, showing that both restrictions and infections predict a reduction in mobility. Thus, policymakers could potentially rely on both restrictions and voluntary adjustments in order to decrease the spread of the virus. However, it is noteworthy that we find relatively weaker associations with restrictions compared to previous studies using mobility data. One explanation for this discrepancy could be that our study focuses on older people, who face a higher risk of becoming severely ill and therefore have stronger incentives to adjust their behaviours independent of governmental regulations.

This paper makes two original contributions to research on young adults’ boomerang mobility. First, it reveals the magnitude and complexity of return moves by young people to their parental home and neighbourhood. Secondly, it shows that the determinants and associates of return migration vary significantly when analysed at two different geographical scales—the parental home and the parental neighbourhood area. Using longitudinal data (1986–2009) on four cohorts of young adults, we find that boomeranging to the parental home in Sweden has increased in times of economic recession and is associated with economic vulnerability, such as leaving higher education or entering unemployment, and partnership dissolution. While returning to the parental home can offer financial support in times of life course reversal, we found gender differences indicating a greater independence among young women than men. Returning to the parental neighbourhood is found to be a very different kind of mobility than returning to co-reside with one’s parents, involving the migration decisions of more economically independent young adults. Results also indicate that returns to the parental neighbourhood, as well as returns to the parental home, can be part of young people’s life course changes.

Background: Previous research suggests that the social network may play very different roles in relation to health in countries with differing welfare regimes. 

Objective: The study aimed to assess the interplay between social network, socioeconomic position, and self-rated health (SRH) in European countries. 

Methods: The study used cross-sectional data on individuals aged 50+ from the fourth wave of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) and includes data from 16 countries. The outcome is poor SRH. All analyses are adjusted for age and stratified by gender. 

Results: Low satisfaction with the social network was associated with poor SRH among women in all country groups, but predicted poor SRH among males in West/Central and Eastern Europe only. The results from the multivariable analysis showed an increased likelihood of poor SRH among those with relatively lower education, as well as among those with low satisfaction with the social network (women from all country groups and men from Western/Central and Eastern Europe). However, the results from interaction analysis show that poor SRH for those with lower relative position in educational level was greater among those with higher satisfaction with the social network among male and female participants from Northern Europe. The health of individuals who are highly satisfied with their social network is more associated with socioeconomic status in Northern Europe. 

Conclusions: This study highlights the significance of social network and socioeconomic gradients in health among the elderly in Europe.

This paper makes two original contributions to research on the return migration of young adults to the parental home. First it argues that the numerical significance and complexity of return moves by young people to their parental home (boomeranging) is greater than has previously been recognised. Secondly we show that the determinants and associates of return migration vary significantly when analysed at two different geographical scales – the parental home and the parental neighbourhood area. We compare boomerang mobility behaviour in Sweden to work undertaken previously in the United Kingdom. By using longitudinal data (1986 to 2009) on four cohorts of young adults we find that boomeranging to parents’ home is an increasing mobility behaviour in Sweden associated with economic vulnerability, such as leaving higher education or entering unemployment, and partnership dissolution. While returning to parents’ home can offer financial support in times of life course reversal, we found gender differences indicating a larger independence among young women than men. Returning to the parental neighbourhood is found to be a much wider phenomenon than return to co-residence with parents, involving migration decisions of more economically independent young adults. 

I dagens globaliserade värld spelar jämförelser mellan länder en allt mer framträdande roll. Inom den komparativa samhällsforskningen försöker forskare förklara och förstå likheter och skillnader mellan olika länder utifrånen mängd skilda teman och områden och den här boken ger ett smakprov på hur sådana skillnader och likheter kan beskrivas och förstås. Hur kommer det sig till exempel att människor är mer främlingsfientliga i vissa länder än i andra? Varför skiljer sig åsikter om jämställdhet inom familjen så mycket mellan länder? Stämmer det att människor blir allt mindre religiösa i takt med att länder moderniseras? Ökar eller minskar välbefinnandet över tid i Europas länder? Hur utvecklas livsvillkor och hälsa för den äldre befolkningen i Europa? Med hjälp av tre av världens främsta komparativa surveyundersökningar –European Social Survey (ESS), International Social Survey Programme (ISSP), samt The Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) –försöker författarna till boken besvara dessa frågor.

En fråga som hamnat i debattens fokus berör äldres sociala nätverk och hur familjebaserat stöd och omsorg fungerar i olika länder. Måste familj och informella nätverk ta större ansvar när de äldre blir fler och försörjningsbördan i Europa blir allt tyngre? Eller är dagens sociala nätverk för glesa och för geografiskt spridda för att fungera som stöd till de äldre? Har kanske nätverk av vänner och släktingar tappat en del av sin roll när offentliga institutioner tagit över ansvar för de äldres försörjning och omsorg? Fungerar de sociala nätverken möjligen bättre för de äldre i samhällen där familjen ännu har huvudansvaret?

Many people have migrated between East and West Europe in recent decades. The daily life of these migrants is crucial not only for the migrants themselves but also for the development of future migration. The aim of this thesis is to explore the interaction between migration motives, integration, social networks and migration, and how this affects international migration processes in general. This is done using migration between Sweden on the one hand and Russia, Poland and the Baltic States on the other as a case study.

The thesis consists of three empirical studies which derive from different sources of data: the first (Paper I) draws on individual Swedish register data while the second and third are based upon a questionnaire survey. Paper I explores aspects of transnational social spaces in the context of migration from the non-Baltic former Soviet republics to Sweden before and after the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989. The results of this paper show rather limited migration and a lack of a more developed transnational social space. This is partly due to weak integration on the labour market, a high degree of intermarriage, no existing migrant community and limited return migration. The following two papers (II, III) focus on migrants from Russia, Poland and the Baltic States to Sweden after 1990. Paper II analyses migration motives and the outcome of the migration decision, and reveals significant gender differences in the motives for migrating and in how men and women adapt in their new country of living. While men mainly came for economic reasons, the majority of women came for intermarriage in Sweden; however, the migration motives have changed over time towards more economic ones. The final paper (III) shows significant gender differences in the migrants’ perceived sense of belonging in Sweden. Women report a stronger sense of belonging than their male counterparts, and while men’s sense of belonging is mainly affected by duration of stay in Sweden, language proficiency and citizenship, women’s sense of belonging is shown to be mostly affected by local social networks. In sum, the results in this thesis show that migration systems and transnational social spaces between Sweden and the respective countries have not yet emerged. This is partly due to the specific migrant composition and integration that characterize this migration process. The immigrants mainly function as weak bridgeheads, and do not facilitate the development of any further migration. However, with a changing migration flow, including migrants with different motives and migration agendas, future migrants can be stronger bridgeheads and facilitate further development of migration systems and transnational social spaces.