Basic Income in Belgium survey: experimental data on citizens' attitudes toward a variety of basic income policies.

This article presents the BAsic income in BELgium (BABEL) dataset on public opinion on the introduction of a universal basic income (UBI) in Belgium, collected through an online panel among a sample of 3000 respondents in spring 2021. The BABEL survey implements an innovative vignette experiment in which both the policy design (i.e., the benefit level, the universality) and the potential policy outcomes (i.e., effect on poverty, unemployment) of a UBI are set to vary randomly. This full factorial experimental design is appropriate to analyze the complex of process of opinion formation about a UBI which entails multiple considerations. Accordingly, the data enables researchers to assess the net effect of the different design characteristics and hypothetical outcomes, as well as the trade-offs people are (not) willing to make to support basic income. Additionally, the survey includes items about benefit recipiency, COVID-19, demographic characteristics, general welfare attitudes, behavioral intentions, and political opinion. These data are thus appropriate for examining which design or outcome factors are relevant in shaping support for a UBI as well as extensive subgroup analysis.

The association between non-parental childcare intensity and parental mental health across Europe.

BACKGROUND: Young children are spending an increasing amount of time in non-parental childcare. Despite this trend, few studies have examined how the intensity of non-parental childcare associates with mental health in parents, particularly taking the institutional context concerning childcare into account. METHODS: Data from the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions EU-SILC (2013) were used to develop a multi-level linear regression model. The sample was restricted to parents in dual-earner couples and with at least one child below the age of three (N=6709). Mental health was assessed using the Mental Health Inventory-5. RESULTS: Highest levels of mental health were found in parents who use a moderate level of non-parental childcare, while full-time childcare was associated with lower levels of mental health. Working parents reported better mental health in countries where spending on formal childcare was higher, or where using formal childcare use was more widespread for this age group. CONCLUSIONS: While this study does not allow to establish a causal relationship between the researched indicators, it does indicate that mental-health problems are not randomly distributed among parents but tend to cluster more densely within parents who use higher intensities of childcare and in countries with less supportive childcare policies. Research that ignores social contexts might therefore be limited in terms of generalisation.

Is religiousness really helpful to reduce depressive symptoms at old age? A longitudinal study.

BACKGROUND: Higher levels of religiousness are associated with better mental health outcomes, but most of previous research is cross-sectional, failing to address issues of selection and reverse causation. METHODS: We assessed the longitudinal association between both public and private religiousness and depressive symptoms, drawing on data from 7,719 persons aged 65 and older of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). Repeated measurements of different aspects of religiousness and depressive symptoms were used in random and fixed-effects models in order to assess the effect of changes in religious behavior on changes in depressive symptoms. RESULTS: Praying more than once a day was associated with more depressive symptoms (ß = 0.150, 95% CI: 0.003, 0.298) relative to individuals who never pray, adjusted for socio-demographic characteristics, physical health covariates and history of depression, but the comparison with the fixed effects model suggests that this is the result of a selection effect. Participating weekly or more in a religious organization was associated with fewer depressive symptoms (ß = -0.219, 95% CI: -0.344, -0.094), but this appeared to be spurious after taking due account of possible confounders (ß = -0.092, 95% CI: -0.223, 0.038). Focusing on within-persons changes, we found that participating in religious organizations weekly or more was associated with more depressive symptoms (ß = 0.275, 95% CI: 0.075, 0.475). CONCLUSION: Our findings do not support that religious behavior, both public or private, may be beneficial for the mental health of older Europeans.

Universalism under siege? Exploring the association between targeting, child benefits and child poverty across 26 countries.

The long-standing wisdom that universally designed benefits outperform targeted benefits in terms of poverty reduction has come under siege. Recent empirical studies tend to find that targeting is not necessarily associated anymore with lower levels of poverty reduction. In this study, we investigate for a broad set of European countries (1) the relationship between child benefits and child poverty reduction; (2) whether a universal or targeted approach is more effective in reducing child poverty; and (3) the causal mechanisms explaining the link between (1) and (2). In doing so, we take into account the general characteristics of the child benefit system, the size of the redistributive budget and the generosity of benefit levels. In contrast to previous studies, we construct an indicator of targeting that captures the design instead of the outcomes of child benefit systems. We find that targeting towards lower incomes is associated with higher levels of child poverty reduction, conditional on the direction of targeting and the characteristics of the benefit system.