How Education Shapes Women's Work and Family Lives Across Race and Ethnicity.

Drawing on life course and intersectional approaches, this study examines how education shapes the intertwined domains of work and family across race and ethnicity. By applying multichannel sequence analysis and cluster analysis to the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979, we identify a typology of life course trajectories of work and family and test for the interactive associations of race and ethnicity with college education for different trajectory types. While our results show statistically significant and often sizable education effects across racial and ethnic groups for most of the work‒family clusters, they also suggest that the size and direction of the education effect vary widely across groups. Educational attainment plays an outsize role in shaping Black women's work‒family lives, increasing their access to steady work and partnerships, while educational attainment primarily works to increase White women's participation in part-time work. In contrast, Latina women's work‒family trajectories are less responsive to their educational attainment. In combination, the racialized role of education and persistent racial and ethnic gaps across the education distribution yield unequal patterns in work‒family strategies among Black, Latina, and White women.

Women's employment, work-life balance policies, and inequality across the life course: a comparative analysis of Japan, Sweden and the United States.

We draw from a number of theoretical perspectives and frameworks on the life course, age and gender scholarship to argue their value in furthering critical discussions on work-life balance policies and their contributions to women's employment and economic security in later life. Using OECD and other big data sets, we examine the patterns of women's employment over the life course in Japan, Sweden and the United States, as three illustrated cases of welfare states with different nation's work-life balance policies. We summarize findings before offering concluding thoughts to advocate for women's security in later life.

A Life-Course Perspective on Older Workers in Workplaces Undergoing Transformative Digitalization.

Workplaces are digitalizing, which leaves many older individuals with the choice between upskilling and early retirement. How they approach this choice influences their financial well-being, the size of the workforce, and the financial sustainability of pension schemes. The present article explores how the life-course perspective can be used to explore the situation of older workers in workplaces undergoing transformative digitalization. The life-course perspective suggests that the transformative digitalization of workplaces does not change what life events older workers encounter. However, it modifies how the events affect older workers and their capabilities for striking a work-life balance. Additionally, digitalization changes life-course structures. It can lead to earlier or later retirement, which changes the length of the life phases of middle age and old age-and possibly creates new social inequalities in life courses. The effects of transformative digitalization on older workers vary across cohorts and countries, which is typical for the principle of anchoring life courses in time and place. Future research can use the present article as a guideline for which concepts may be useful in studies on older workers in digitalizing workplaces.

Health Care Professionals' Perspectives on Life-Course Immunization: A Qualitative Survey from a European Conference.

Today, fewer children die each year from vaccine-preventable diseases than older adults. Health systems need new immunization strategies to tackle the burden of vaccine-preventable disease in an aging society. A life-course immunization (LCI) approach-which entails vaccination throughout an individual's lifespan-enables adults to age with reduced risk to disease, thereby enabling healthy, active and productive aging. We conducted an audience response system (ARS)-based survey to investigate HCP perspectives on LCI in an opportunistic sample of 222 health care professionals (HCPs) from around the world who attended a European infectious diseases conference. Survey results show that LCI is a priority for HCPs (77.4%-88.6%), with most of them stating the need to frame it as a part of a healthy lifestyle (91.0%-100.0%). Insufficient LCI recommendations by vaccine providers (12.9%-33.3%) and governments (15.2%-41.9%) and insufficient targeted budget allocation (6.1%-21.7%) were indicated as the main barriers to implement LCI, ahead of vaccine hesitancy (9.7%-15.2%). HCPs were willing to make LCI a gateway to healthy aging but need support to work together with other stakeholders involved in the vaccination journey. This could be a step towards equitable health care for all of society.

Does leisure-time physical activity in early adulthood predict later physical activity? Pro-Saude Study / Atividade física de lazer no início da vida adulta prediz a atividade física posterior? Estudo Pró-Saúde

INTRODUCTION: Leisure-Time Physical Activity (LTPA) is a health behavior that is considered relatively stable over the course of life; this life-long habit seems to be shaped during youth and early adulthood. LTPA is one of the few healthy behaviors more prevalent among men than among women. METHODS:Data from 3,199 participants of the Pro-Saude Study were analyzed - a cohort of employees of a university in Rio de Janeiro, collected with a self-reported multidimensional questionnaire. The association between LTPA in early adulthood and later was investigated using multinomial logistic regression, with estimated odds ratios (OR), considering three outcome categories: inactive, insufficiently active, and active. Past LTPA was grouped into three categories: never/rarely (reference category), sometimes and frequently/always. Estimates were adjusted for: age; participants' schooling, their father's and mother's schooling, and color/race. RESULTS:Analysis shows men who engaged in LTPA sometimes and almost always/always in early adulthood had an OR= 1.42 (95 percent CI: 0.70-2.89) and OR= 3.33 (95 percent CI: 1.82-6.10), respectively, of being physically active in later adulthood than those who did not engage in LTPA. Among women, the corresponding odds ratios were lower: OR = 1.19 (95 percent CI: 0.79-1.79) and OR =1.42 (95 percent CI: 1.00-2.04). CONCLUSION:LTPA during early adulthood is associated with physical activity later in adulthood, and this association is stronger in men than in women. Public policies that encourage LTPA among youth, with specific efforts directed at women, could increase the proportion of physically active adults.

INTRODUÇÃO: Atividade física é um comportamento de saúde relativamente estável, em geral determinado no início da vida adulta. Atividade física de lazer (AFL) é um dos poucos comportamentos benéficos à saúde mais prevalente entre homens que entre mulheres. MÉTODOS: Foram analisados dados de 3.199 participantes do Estudo Pró-Saúde - coorte de funcionários de universidade no Rio de Janeiro, coletados por meio de questionário multidimensional e autopreenchível. A associação entre AFL no início da vida adulta e posteriormente foi analisada com uso de regressão logística multinomial, com estimativas de razões de chance (odds ratio) e seus respectivos intervalos de 95 por cento de confiança considerando três categorias de desfecho: sedentários, insuficientemente ativos e ativos. AFL pregressa foi agrupada em 3 categorias: nunca/raramente (categoria de referência), às vezes, quase sempre/sempre. Estimativas foram ajustadas por idade, escolaridade, escolaridade dos pais e cor/raça. RESULTADOS:Homens que se engajavam em AFL às vezes e quase sempre/sempre no início da vida adulta tiveram, respectivamente, OR = 1,42 (IC 95 por cento: 0,70-2,89) e OR = 3,33 (IC 95 por cento: 1,82-6,10) de ser fisicamente ativos em idade posterior do que os sedentários. Entre as mulheres, os odds ratios foram menores: OR = 1,19 (IC 95 por cento: 0,79-1,79) e OR =1,42 (IC 95 por cento: 1,00-2,04). CONCLUSÃO:A prática de AFL durante o início da vida adulta apresentou associação com atividade física posterior, e essa associação foi mais expressiva em homens do que em mulheres. Políticas públicas que encorajem a AFL entre os jovens, com esforços específicos direcionados às mulheres, poderiam aumentar a proporção de adultos fisicamente ativos.