Background: Women's autonomy plays a vital role in promoting the well-being of women, children, and communities, with far-reaching implications for gender equality, human rights, sustainable development, economic productivity, social justice, and equity. This study examines the impact of women's healthcare autonomy on the utilization of maternal health services among left-behind women in rural Koch Bihar, West Bengal.

Method: Our fieldwork was conducted from October 2022 to February 2023 in rural Koch Bihar, West Bengal. We adopted a mixed-methods approach involving surveys, interviews, and focus group discussions with left-behind women in the district. The study included 384 women aged 15-49 who had given birth to a live baby within the five years preceding the survey, with 192 having migrant husbands and 192 having resident husbands. Using binary and multivariate logistic regression, we analyzed the data to explore the relationship between women's autonomy in healthcare decision-making and their usage of maternal health services, such as antenatal care, institutional delivery, and postnatal care.

Results: Among migrant husband women, the likelihood of positive maternal and women's health outcomes is lower when decisions are shared with the husband/partner (AOR: 0.109***, 99% CI: 0.045-0.236), Husband/partner alone (AOR: 0.195***, 99% CI:0.080-0.474) and In-laws or others (AOR: 0.091***, 99% CI: 0.029-0.288). Further, meeting with ANM/ASHA is associated with a 2.44 times higher likelihood of positive maternal and women's health outcomes than not meeting with them (AOR: 2.44***, 99% CI: 0.747-7.968). Similarly, among resident husbands, the likelihood of positive maternal and women's health outcomes is significantly higher when decisions are made jointly with the husband/partner (AOR: 2.976***, 99% CI: 1.408-6.293), Husband/partner alone (AOR: 1.381***, 99% CI: 0.627-3.040).

Conclusion: In conclusion, these findings should guide policymakers and healthcare providers in developing tailored interventions to address the specific needs of this population

Financial education is a critical component in the development of responsible and conscious individuals. This study delves into the pivotal role that parents play in instilling financial skills in their children. According to the OECD (2017), financial education should start as early as possible, with parents being the first educators in this context. Early financial education, for example, appears to have a positive impact on long-term financial health, including a higher likelihood of saving and lower levels of indebtedness (Webley and Nyhus, 2006).

Our study builds upon previous research (Jorgensen and Savla, 2010; Shim et al., 2010) that demonstrated the influence of parents on their children’s financial behavior. We conducted an online pilot survey on a sample of parents (N= 21; Female= 18; mean age = 49 years) with children aged 6 to 14 years, examining parents’ financial education practices and their perception of the financial attitude and knowledge in their children.

Preliminary results indicate that 25% of parents perceive it as very important to discuss financial matters with their children and the same percentage consider themselves adequately equipped to educate their children. From the research analysis, it is observed that 44% parents feel confident in imparting financial knowledge to their children, yet admit to being unprepared when it comes to updating their own knowledge. Schools are viewed, for the 61% of the sample, as the primary source for a more structured education.

Regarding pocket money, most children receive a fixed amount (67%), believed by parents to foster their financial competency. However, some parents refrain from this practice, considering their children too young to manage money (23%).

However, only a 22% of the sample feel equipped to educate their children on financial matters, specifically when this education involves technologies (i.e., digital payment systems). Therefore, we underline the importance of providing parents with the resources and skills necessary to perform this key role. This could include training programs for parents, educational materials, and the integration of financial education into school curricula.

These findings underscore the importance of providing parents with the necessary resources and training to educate their children about financial matters, including digital payment systems. This could be achieved through various means, such as parental training programs, educational materials, and integrating financial education into school curricula.

Mentalization, defined as the understanding of one's own and others' minds, emotions, and thoughts, is considered a crucial process in mediating human experience within social contexts (Allen, 2006). This complex construct encompasses specific cognitive and emotional abilities, with Theory of Mind (ToM) and empathy being key components that develop during childhood (Luyten et al., 2020).

The development of decision-making skills during childhood, particularly in primary school, is a significant focus. Prosocial decisions, involving considerations for the well-being of others, are often evaluated through tasks such as the Ultimatum Game (Guth et al., 1982) and Dictator Game (Kahneman et al., 1986; Benenson et al., 2007), where individuals decide how to share money with peers. Concerning the psychological dimensions involved, the literature highlights the role of the Theory of Mind in decisions involving other people (Castelli et al., 2014; Lombardi et al., 2017; Tsoi and McAuliffe, 2020), emphasizing how the ability to take another's perspective leads to a better understanding of intention and, more generally, the internal states of the other player in the decision-making process. This ability helps children move beyond an egocentric position to consider this information from their own and others' perspectives. More recently, some studies have shown that empathy plays a significant role not only in prosocial behavior (for adolescents, see, for example, Brazil et al., 2023) but specifically in decision-making related to fairness (He et al., 2022). Surprisingly, to our knowledge, there is a gap in research connecting empathy to decision-making in school-age children. A further aspect that could influence decision-making skills in children in social contexts is related to their personality traits. Recently, Demedardi and colleagues (2021) demonstrated that certain personality traits, such as agreeableness, influence decision-making processes regarding white lies, a decision-making process specifically linked to prosociality aimed at building and maintaining positive relationships with others. Exploring this connection is crucial for a comprehensive understanding of the factors influencing decision-making in childhood. Furthermore, this study introduces the impact of personality traits, such as agreeableness, on decision-making processes, emphasizing the prosocial dimension aimed at building and maintaining positive relationships. The study involves 94 children equally distributed across three age groups (6, 8, and 10). Tasks measuring personality traits, ToM, empathy, and social decision-making are administered, including delay of gratification, fairness, and altruism tasks. The results suggest that personality traits, ToM, and empathy are integral in the decision-making processes of school-age children. The study emphasizes the importance of understanding how children perceive and respond to others' emotions during key moments of cognitive and emotional development, particularly when actively engaged in social exchanges.

The tendency to give and to share goods with others – namely to act prosocially and altruistically – is a topic of study with a long tradition in developmental psychology, that involves both the domains of moral reasoning and of social decision-making (Marchetti & Castelli, 2012). The essence of such behaviors – whether innate or acquired under the pressure of culture and social norms – has been a rich topic of debate (Tomasello, 2010; Bicchieri, 2016) with relevant educational implications. For example, in Italy the School National Indications of 2012 stated that the main goal of school education should not be academic teaching only, but also offering significant social experiences in order to help children learn how to take care of others and of the enviroment, namely the so-called “education to citizenship”. It is therefore interesting to better understand which socio-contextual factors could support the sensibility to fairness, i.e. the tendency to avoid inequality, and the proclivity to help and to share with others, i.e. altruism.

Studies with the well-known Dictator Game - DG (a person can share a good with another with no costraints, so that the amount of his/her offer becomes an indicator of his/her altruistic behavior, as the other can only receive the offer and not reject it) showed that children act altruistically already from the preschool period, and that the socio-economical status of their family plays a role indeed, with high-ses children acting more altruistically than low-ses children (Benenson et al, 2007). But also the receiver plays a role: children tend to offer more to people belonging to their own social-group and less to people of another group, the so-called phenomenon of “parrochialism” (Fehr et al., 2008), which has interesting implications on the educational domain.

To better explore this aspect, 10 years old children were involved in a series of rounds with the DG under three conditions: sharing goods with a classmate, sharing with a child of another class but of the same school, and sharing with a child of another school. The two groups belonged to two different Primary schools context in Northern Italy: one group attended a school with a special method, the so-called “Scuola senza zaino” (Orsi, 2014; 2016), with a special organization of the spaces, of the materials and of the didaticts aimed at fostering cooperation and solidarity. The other group attended a classical primary school, not involved in any special didactic method. Preliminary results showed the tendency of both groups to act altruistically and to be influenced by the “parrochialism” phenomenon. More interesting elements emerged from the discussion, carried on after the three DG rounds, where children had to motivate their choices and to reflect upon their decisions and emotions. Implications for the education to citizenship at school are discussed.

Throughout history, humans have constantly migrated in search of more favorable living conditions and work opportunities, demonstrating their innate willingness to adapt and increase their well-being. The success of their migrations, however, is not a given. Many refugees and asylum seekers struggle to successfully integrate into the host country's labor market, negatively affecting their integration process. Even those who spontaneously choose to go abroad for work, either as a personal project or by welcoming the opportunity offered by their company, not infrequently find it challenging to live and work in a cultural, sociopolitical, and climatic context different from that of their nation of origin.

This talk aims to share the results of two studies that sought to address the need to identify the motivations, competences, and areas of satisfaction that most characterize those who have experienced or are experiencing greater satisfaction with a work experience abroad. The studies were carried out as part of the ERASMUS+ project "EMoCC - European Mobility Career Counseling" to refine the skills of career counselors when meeting clients or users considering the option of going to work in another country.

The first study, the AToM (Attitude Toward Moving) study, was a qualitative research divided into two parts. In the first were interviewed in Italy, France, Germany, and Spain 120 working-age adults, belonging to four distinct groups: voluntary migrants, employees assigned by companies, refugees, and those who have never moved abroad. In the second part, eight focus groups were conducted, with each country addressing a different audience: university students in Italy, high school students in Spain, young people interested in working as au pairs in France, and young people interested in civil service in Germany. The study aimed to explore the personal dynamics, skills, attitudes, and values that underlie geographic mobility for work reasons. From the data collected, it was possible to construct the self-report questionnaire WoMSA Scale (Work mobility skills and attitude scale) containing three dimensions related to the motivations, competencies, and satisfaction areas that characterize a successful work mobility experience abroad. Each dimension includes several categories that provide a complete overview of the complexity of a choice of work mobility. The responses to the questionnaire collected online in five different languages (English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish) can help career counselors support clients considering international career opportunities. It represents a significant step towards facilitating successful integration and improving the well-being of individuals who choose to work abroad.