Sociodemographic inequality in COVID-19 vaccination coverage among elderly adults in England: a national linked data study

ObjectiveTo examine inequalities in COVID-19 vaccination rates among elderly adults in England.DesignCohort study.SettingPeople living in private households and communal establishments in England.Participants6 655 672 adults aged ≥70 years (mean 78.8 years, 55.2% women) who were alive on 15 March 2021.Main outcome measuresHaving received the first dose of a vaccine against COVID-19 by 15 March 2021. We calculated vaccination rates and estimated unadjusted and adjusted ORs using logistic regression models.ResultsBy 15 March 2021, 93.2% of people living in England aged 70 years and over had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. While vaccination rates differed across all factors considered apart from sex, the greatest disparities were seen between ethnic and religious groups. The lowest rates were in people of black African and black Caribbean ethnic backgrounds, where only 67.2% and 73.8% had received a vaccine, with adjusted odds of not being vaccinated at 5.01 (95% CI 4.86 to 5.16) and 4.85 (4.75 to 4.96) times greater than the white British group. The proportion of individuals self-identifying as Muslim and Buddhist who had received a vaccine was 79.1% and 84.1%, respectively. Older age, greater area deprivation, less advantaged socioeconomic position (proxied by living in a rented home), being disabled and living either alone or in a multigenerational household were also associated with higher odds of not having received the vaccine.ConclusionResearch is now urgently needed to understand why disparities exist in these groups and how they can best be addressed through public health policy and community engagement.

Early marriage and displacement�a conversation: how Syrian daughters, mothers and mothers-in-law in Jordan understand marital decision-making

Conflict and forced migration threaten to reverse the decline of early marriage in the Middle East. In some Syrian refugee communities, protracted displacement and precarious livelihoods, together with pre-war traditions of early marriage, push families to arrange matches for their adolescent daughters, and sometimes sons. Drawing on thirteen ethnographic interviews with young Syrian women, mothers, mothers-in-law and grandmothers in Jordan, we develop a multi-perspective approach to the study of early marriage. A feminist outlook has informed our fieldwork and the way its results are presented: around a conversation with Syrian women of different ages and from different generational groups. While humanitarian reports often use women�s voices in a tokenistic way, we stay attentive to the complex nature of their stories and ambitions, contrasting them with insights from interviews with Jordanian academics, aid workers and policymakers. Our study adds nuance to existing humanitarian narratives by drawing attention to the interplay of multigenerational household dynamics, legal and economic constraints in host countries, but also younger and older women�s aspirations, that shape marital decision-making within displaced families.

Grandparenting and Mortality: How Does Race-Ethnicity Matter?

Little is known about whether and how intergenerational relationships influence older adult mortality. This study examines the association between caring for grandchildren (i.e., grandparenting) and mortality and how the link differs by race-ethnicity. Drawing from the Health and Retirement Study (1998–2014, N = 13,705), I found different racial-ethnic patterns in the effects of grandparenting on mortality risk. White grandparents who provide intensive noncoresident grandparenting (i.e., over 500 hours of babysitting per two years) and multigenerational household grandparenting have a lower risk of mortality compared to noncaregiving grandparents. In contrast, black grandparents have a higher mortality risk than their noncaregiving counterparts when providing intensive noncoresident, multigenerational household, and skipped-generation household (i.e., grandparent-headed family) grandparenting. Caregiving Hispanic grandparents are not significantly different from their noncaregiving counterparts in mortality risk. These findings suggest that important variations in social and cultural contexts for racial-ethnic groups shape the consequences of grandparenting for older adult mortality.

Traditional and Non-traditional Forms of Political Participation in Multigenerational Households

The relationship between demographic trends and political participation is seldom overlooked, as even minute movements within the population can result in the systematic alteration of behavior among the American electorate. Throughout the past two decades, the United States has experienced consistent growth in the number of multigenerational households, seemingly correlated with cultural and economic changes across the country. According to one Census report, more than 4.3 million households, or roughly 5.6\% of all households in the United States, are multigenerational. Surprisingly, the political behavior of such a significant demographic subgroup has yet to be analyzed in any meaningful way. It is unknown if and how such households differ from traditional households with regard to political participation and engagement. Using data from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series Current Population Survey (IPUMS-CPS) Voter Supplement for years 2000-2016 and Civic Engagement Supplement for the years of 2008-2011 and 2013, I am able to identify the individuals living in multigenerational households and assess their propensity to engage in a variety of political acts. Across a multitude of regression models and specifications of participation, I show that those living in multigenerational households participate at a significantly lower rate than those living in traditional households controlling for key demographics variables that have previously been shown to influence participation. Additionally, the panel structure of the IPUMS-CPS microdata creates the unique opportunity for a conditional differences-in-differences analysis with matching, so those who were not living in a multigenerational household at time $t$ but were in time $t+1$ can be compared to similar individuals who don't live in such a household in either time period. Those living in multigenerational households vote at a lower rate in presidential, midterm, and local elections, and are also less likely to engage in other forms of political engagement such as talking to family about politics, contacting an elected official, and being a part of organizations.