Conference Agenda

Body weight in adolescence and adulthood may result from the interaction between individuals' genetic characteristics and the social context in which they grow up, such as family socioeconomic status (SES). However, evidence on the interaction between genetic propensity for high body mass index (BMI) and family SES remains inconclusive. This study investigates whether genetic influences on BMI differ among individuals from high-SES versus low-SES families and whether this effect varies with age. Three theoretical frameworks—compensatory advantage, diathesis-stress, and social push models—are tested to predict the moderating effect of family SES on the genetic association with BMI. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), I use the polygenic index for BMI (BMI PGI) to measure its influence on BMI at various life stages: adolescence (16 years), early adulthood (22 years), adulthood (28 years), and later adulthood (37 years). Results indicate that the BMI PGI is more predictive of BMI in individuals from low-SES families than high-SES families. This interaction is observed across age groups, suggesting that the interaction between BMI PGI and family SES persists throughout the life course, especially among those with high BMI levels, as revealed through unconditional quantile regression.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been accompanied by an "infodemic"—a surge of both accurate and misleading information. This study investigates how the infodemic influenced pandemic spread and excess mortality across 32 countries over three years. We analysed data on online misinformation, public health records, and protest events using a mixed-effects regression framework. After adjusting for smoothed time trends within each country, our findings reveal a significant association between the spread of unreliable online information (with time lags) and increased new case rates and excess mortality rates. This relationship is mediated by behavioural factors, including civil protests against non-pharmaceutical interventions and vaccination uptake. This study represents one of the first multinational investigations into the behavioural mechanisms linking online misinformation to real-world health outcomes.

The relationship between happiness and material wellbeing is a complex and controversial issue and has been the subject of academic research. Happiness can be defined as subjective wellbeing and is often associated with the economic situation of a person or community. According to a study by Richard Easterlin, although wealthier people are generally more satisfied, economic growth does not necessarily lead to greater happiness.

In 2021, for the first time, a comprehensive social science research project was conducted in the Carpathian Basin using quantitative and qualitative techniques among disadvantaged people, mainly Roma. In addition to various other topics, the satisfaction level of this target group of special demographic characteristics, was also analysed. The results show that, surprisingly, there is no significant difference in satisfaction levels compared to the national average. The aim of the paper is to present the characteristics of the disadvantaged Carpathian Basin target group, mainly Roma, focussing on the dimensions of satisfaction.

Empirical results show that the financial situation and interpersonal relationships are intertwined, but it is not clear which of the two has a stronger influence on satisfaction levels.

Due to decreasing fertility and marriage rates, a growing body of research has explored the spread of ‘kinlessness’, defined as having neither a partner nor children, and its effects on the wellbeing of middle-aged and older adults. This study contributes to this stream of research, by integrating family structure types with different forms of parent-child contact frequency (that is, face-to-face or phone contact and digital contact). Using data from the European Social Survey (2020), we estimate ordered logistic regression models on the likelihood of reporting higher levels of happiness among people aged 50 or over. Our preliminary results show that partnered individuals without children and those with sporadic contact with children are more likely to report lower levels of happiness compared to those living with a partner and having frequent contact with children. Lacking a partner is associated with much lower happiness levels. Kinless individuals and those having no partner and infrequent contact with children report the lowest level of happiness, suggesting that both family structure and parent-child relationships matter for the wellbeing of older adults. We find no marked differences between men and women, between traditional and digital forms of contact, or between northern-western and southern-eastern countries.

Research suggests that growing up with a sibling with a disability may substantially affect individuals’ social, demographic, and economic life course trajectories, often leading to life long-term disadvantages. However, how these might reflect in the wellbeing of the exposed individuals in their transition to adulthood is currently understudied. Our study aims to explore the behavioural and mental health outcomes of young adults who grew up with sibling disability. Exploiting individual-level data from the Finnish population registers, we show significantly higher psychotropic medication use in individuals who grew up with sibling disability compared to their counterparts who did not. In the following steps, we aim to include additional health events such as hospitalisation after accidents and substance abuse, diagnoses of sexually transmitted diseases and self-harm, and voluntary abortion in order to advance the comprehension of child disability in the family life course and across sibling interlinkages.

Prior research finds mostly adverse effects of child disability on parental mental health, yet little is known about how these effects evolve over time or vary across key life course transitions. This study examines how raising a child with disabilities affects mothers’ and fathers’ mental health over the child’s early life course, focusing on educational transitions as potential stress points. Using Finnish population register data covering all children born between 1998 and 2001, I follow parents from three years before childbirth until the child reaches early adulthood (ages 19-22). Disabilities are identified using diagnoses before age 12 and grouped into five types. Parental mental health is measured by annual psychotropic medication purchases. I estimate two-way fixed effects models separately for mothers and fathers, comparing trajectories by disability status, and stratify by disability type and parental education. I also impose piecewise linear age slopes and estimate triple DiD models to test whether schooling transitions amplify stress. Results show steeper increases in medication purchases for parents of children with disabilities, especially mothers, with widening gaps between ages 0-12 and again in late adolescence. Learning disabilities matter most in childhood, and intellectual and developmental disabilities in adolescence. Effects are larger among lower-educated parents.

Health, particularly self-rated health, is shaped by various factors at multiple levels. Both individual characteristics and ecological factors play a role in influencing how people perceive their health. This is especially true for the older population. Using micro and macro data from the 2018 Italian Multipurpose Survey on Households and through a multilevel model, we aim to investigate whether and to what extent macro-level factors (at the regional level) interact with micro characteristics to explain variations in material deprivation-self-rated health (SHR) nexus of older individuals in Italy. Our results indicate that contextual institutional factors (per capita GDP, tertiary education rate and healthcare home beds, .i.e.) significantly moderate the impact of material deprivation on SHR among aging individuals. Our findings suggest that localized and context-sensitive policy approaches are essential for addressing the complex interplay between material deprivation and health perceptions, ultimately aiming to improve the well-being of the aging population in Italy.

The study contributes to understanding the demographic and household characteristics influencing meat consumption, with implications for forecasting greenhouse gas emissions and promoting more sustainable dietary patterns in Italy. In particular, we examine trends in red and processed meat (RPM) consumption in the Italian population over the last decade utilizing data from the Istituto Nazionale di Statistica (Istat) household surveys conducted in 2012 and 2021. We focus on the role of demographic, household and individual factors, including indicators of environmental sensitivity. As a first description of the changes observed between surveys, we apply the Kitagawa decomposition to distinguish between the structural effects of population aging and changes in consumption propensities. Then we consider logistic regression models to further explore demographic, geographical and household factors. Our results reveal that older individuals and women are less likely to consume RPM, while households with children exhibit higher consumption rates. Geographical differences also emerge. Preliminary results also suggest a weak association between environmental sensibility and RPM consumption, though further refinement of environmental indicators may provide clearer insights.