Subjective economic inequality is associated with lower well-being through more upward comparison and lower trust.

Individuals often misconstrue the actual degree of economic inequality, which might account for the ambiguity in the literature about the role that inequality plays in well-being. Instead of focusing on objective inequality, we propose a subjective inequality approach by investigating the long-term association between subjective economic inequality and well-being (N = 613). We found that subjective inequality predicted lower life satisfaction and higher depression one year later, which were accounted for by more upward socioeconomic comparison and lower trust. Furthermore, the negative association between subjective inequality and well-being remained constant, regardless of individuals' objective socioeconomic status (SES), subjective SES, and mindset of SES. The long-term association between subjective inequality and well-being remained robust after controlling for prior levels of well-being and multiple covariates. Our findings revealed that subjective inequality is detrimental to well-being and opens a new window into psychological research on economic inequality.

Alcohol levels in Chinese lactating mothers after consumption of alcoholic diet during postpartum "doing-the-month" ritual.

This study examined the effects of exposure to ethanol through cultural practices by lactating mothers. Specifically, the pharmacokinetics of alcohol in Chinese lactating mothers was investigated after they consumed chicken soup flavored with sesame oil and rice wine (CSSR), a typically prescribed diet during the postpartum "doing-the-month" period. Experimental findings were employed to estimate the potential ethanol dose to neonates and determine associated health risks. Twenty-three lactating mothers were examined. Informed consent was obtained from each subject. The target alcohol dosage was 0.3g/kg. Milk and blood samples were collected at fixed time intervals from each subject following exposure to CSSR, and alcohol levels were determined. Acute health risks to infants were estimated by comparing the potential infant dosage to an established criterion dose. Blood alcohol level peaked at 20 min after exposure to CSSR and decreased almost linearly thereafter. Alcohol in milk reached a plateau roughly at 20-40 min after exposure to CSSR and then decreased. Alcohol pharmacokinetics among subjects varied widely. The coefficients of variation in subject alcohol concentrations were 16.5-46.2% (mean, 30.0%) for blood and 32.8-57.6% (mean, 44.4%) for milk. Mean maximal alcohol concentration in blood (30.2+/-5.0 mg/dl) was achieved at 23.5+/-7.6 min and in milk (31.6+/-10.3 mg/dl) at 31.7+/-12.7 min. Potential infant doses were 3.0-58.8 mg (mean, 13.4 mg), and the predicted time required for milk alcohol level to return to zero level was 175 min. The acute health risks for infants exposed to alcohol through their mothers' milk under the current exposure scenario are low (hazard index<0.2). Nursing infants at least 3h after ingesting a diet containing alcohol would further reduce potential health risks.