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Nearly every European country has experienced some increase in nonmarital childbearing, largely due to increasing births within cohabitation. Relatively few studies in Europe, however, investigate the educational gradient of childbearing within cohabitation or how it changed over time. Using retrospective union and fertility histories, we employ competing risk hazard models to examine the educational gradient of childbearing in cohabitation in eight countries across Europe. In all countries studied, birth risks within cohabitation demonstrated a negative educational gradient. When directly comparing cohabiting fertility with marital fertility, the negative educational gradient persists in all countries except Italy, although differences were not significant in Austria, France, and West Germany. To explain these findings, we present an alternative explanation for the increase in childbearing within cohabitation that goes beyond the explanation of the Second Demographic Transition and provides a new interpretation of the underlying mechanisms that may influence childbearing within cohabitation.

The article describes the rise of unmarried cohabitation in Latin American countries during the last 30 years of the twentieth century, both at the national and regional levels. It documents that this major increase occurred in regions with and without traditional forms of cohabitation alike. In addition, the striking degree of catching up of cohabitation among the better-educated population segments is illustrated. The connections between these trends and economic (periods of high inflation) and cultural (reduction of stigmas in ethical domains) factors are discussed. The conclusion is that the periods of inflation and hyperinflation may have been general catalysts, but no clear indications of correlation were found between such economic factors and the rise in cohabitation. The shift toward more tolerance for hitherto stigmatized forms of conduct (e.g., homosexuality, euthanasia, abortion, single-parent household) is in line with the rise of cohabitation in regions of Argentina, Chile, and Brazil where cohabitation used to be uncommon. Further rises in cohabitation during the first decade of the twenty-first century are expected in a number of countries (e.g., Mexico) despite conditions of much lower inflation.

This article connects two current debates: the rise of single-person households or of 'solitaries', and the so-called 'loneliness epidemic'. It raises questions about how these are associated, via social-science literature on loneliness as a social, contextual and subjective experience, and findings in that literature about the relevance of lone-person households. The article is concerned to explore the history of living alone as a form of family structure, via analysis of European, North American and Japanese pre-industrial and industrial listings of inhabitants, and the post-1851 British censuses to 2011. It also does this cartographically via British mapping of lone-person households in 1851, 1881, 1911 and 2011. It documents dramatic rise across many countries in single-person households during the twentieth century, notably since the 1960s. Many pre-industrial settlements had no single-person households, and the average was around 5 percent of households. The current western proportions of such households (e.g. 31 percent in the UK) are wholly unprecedented historically, even reaching to 60 percent or more of households in some modern European and North American cities. The discussion examines this trend - which has very wide ramifications - and raises issues about its relevance for modern problems of loneliness as a social and welfare concern.

BackgroundBeing married is associated with healthier lifestyle behaviours and lower mortality and may reduce risk for dementia due to life-course factors. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies of the association between marital status and the risk of developing dementia.MethodsWe searched medical databases and contacted experts in the field for relevant studies reporting the relationship, adjusted for age and sex, between marital status and dementia. We rated methodological quality and conducted random-effects meta-analyses to summarise relative risks of being widowed, divorced or lifelong single, compared with being married. Secondary stratified analyses with meta-regression examined the impact of clinical and social context and study methodology on findings.ResultsWe included 15 studies with 812 047 participants. Compared with those who are married, lifelong single (relative risk=1.42 (95% CI 1.07 to 1.90)) and widowed (1.20 (1.02 to 1.41)) people have elevated risk of dementia. We did not find an association in divorced people.Further analyses showed that less education partially confounds the risk in widowhood and worse physical health the elevated risk in lifelong single people. Compared with studies that used clinical registers for ascertaining dementia diagnoses, those which clinically examined all participants found higher risk for being unmarried.ConclusionsBeing married is associated with reduced risk of dementia than widowed and lifelong single people, who are also underdiagnosed in routine clinical practice. Dementia prevention in unmarried people should focus on education and physical health and should consider the possible effect of social engagement as a modifiable risk factor.

Objectives The coronavirus disease (COVID‐19) pandemic has forced many employees to alter both their work style and lifestyle. This study aimed to examine how the combination of changes in overtime working hours and social interaction affects the full‐time employees’ mental well‐being, focusing on the difference in household composition. Methods In November 2020, we conducted a cross‐sectional Internet survey that included 4388 Japanese men and women aged 25–64 years, who continued the same full‐time job during the pandemic. We performed a logistic regression analysis using a combination of the changes in overtime working hours and social interaction as an independent variable, and the presence/absence of deterioration of mental well‐being as the dependent variable. Results Overall, 44% of participants reported the deterioration of mental well‐being compared to before the outbreak. The multivariate analysis revealed that the participants coded as “increased overtime/decreased interaction” were significantly associated with the deterioration of mental well‐being compared to those with “unchanged overtime/unchanged interaction” (odds ratio [OR] 2.14, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.59–2.89). Moreover, this association was relatively stronger among single‐person households (OR 2.66, 95% CI 1.50–4.69). Conclusions The negative combination of increasing overtime working hours and decreasing social interaction may have an impact on the deterioration of mental well‐being during the COVID‐19 pandemic, and this association was comparably strong among single‐person households. In the pandemic, it is necessary to pay close attention to both overtime working hours and the presence of social interaction to address the mental well‐being among employees.

Japan has the world’s largest old population ratio; thus, aging is an urgent societal issue. As global trends seem to be following Japan’s social changes, there is an emphasis on municipalities becoming more age-friendly. Hence, we examine the age-friendliness of 135 Japanese municipalities, selecting 240 resident architectural designers and constructors to assess their municipalities using the Age-Friendly Cities and Communities Questionnaire (AFCCQ). The findings indicate that Japan lacks “outdoor spaces and buildings”. Additionally, the evaluation of “housing”, “community support and health services”, and “transportation” in populated municipalities in the past five years was found to be significantly higher than that in depopulated ones. Age-friendliness is significantly affected by the AFCCQ total score (hereafter, Score) based on “housing”, “social participation”, “community support and health services”, “transportation”, and “financial situation” evaluations. High specificity (0.939) was found when the score was treated as a marker of depopulation; an age-friendly approach is a necessary condition for preventing depopulation. Furthermore, a lack of “communication and information” was observed in municipalities with a higher rate of single-person households aged 65 years and older. Therefore, resident architectural designers’ and constructors’ assessments, combined with the AFCCQ, will be a powerful tool for evaluating the age-friendliness of municipalities.

Depression is a prevalent and debilitating mental illness affecting young women worldwide. This study aimed to identify psychosocial determinants of major depressive disorder (MDD) among young women in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, India. Data from \"Understanding the Lives of Adolescents and Young Adults\" (UDAYA) study (2018-19) for young women aged 12-23 years, both married and unmarried was used for this paper. MDD was evaluated using the Patient Health Questionnaire PHQ-9 with a cut-off score of ≤10. The determinants of MDD were identified through multilevel binary logistic regression analysis. The prevalence of MDD was 13.6% (95% CL 12.2-15.2) and 5.1% (95% CL 4.2-6.1) for young married women and unmarried girls, respectively. Among the young married women, community-level variables like dowry-related humiliation (1.74, 95% CI 1.15-2.64), and sexual assaults (2.15, 95% CI 1.24-3.73) were significantly associated with MDD. For unmarried girls, reporting of family violence <10% of participants (0.45, 95% CI 0.24-0.85), family violence (≥10% of participants) % (0.35 95% CI 0.19-0.68) and interpartner violence (>25% of participants) (0.42; 95% CI 0.23-0.74) remain significant predictors of MDD. At individual level, for both the groups, age, participation in decision making (on education), social capital (currently attending school/educational course and number of friends), self-efficacy, telephonic harassment, and physical activity were associated with MDD. Wealth index, job seeking, participation in decision making (on health-seeking), parental interactions and physical abuse (for unmarried girls only) and education, reported last sexual intercourse, pressure from the in-laws' to conceive (for young married women only) were associated with MDD. For young married women, community level targeted interventions should focus on the social ecology to foster a sense of safe community environment. For unmarried girls, additionally, interventions should aim to optimize their family environment for effective mental health outcomes.

Introduction Generating unbiased and accurate assessments of sexual behavior among unmarried individuals is a major challenge, as it is governed by many social, moral, legal conventions and restrictions. These estimates are particularly susceptible to Fieldworker-induced social desirability bias. Accurate estimation of pre-marital sexual behavior is crucial for evaluating many aspects of sexual and reproductive health. The National Family Health Survey (NFHS) is the only reliable source of information on pre-marital sexual behavior in India, especially in the absence of any other comparative large-scale survey. This study provides us with an opportunity to understand the Fieldworker-level bias in the reporting of pre-marital sex among unmarried men and women. Data and methods This study uses nationally representative data from the fifth round of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5). The analysis included 2950 female and 2073 male fieldworkers, as well as all unmarried women and men of reproductive age. Bayesian cross-classified multilevel modelling was performed to examine the Fieldworker’s effect on the reporting of premarital sex among unmarried respondents. Additionally, Multivariate decomposition analysis was used to quantify the effect of various fieldworker characteristics in reporting pre-marital sex. Results The fieldworker effect accounted for around 31.7% of total variation in the reporting of intimate partner violence for females and 24.6% for IPV reporting among males. Results from the decomposition analysis indicated that age and residence of fieldworker were associated with a 2.4% increase and 1.3% decrease in the likelihood of reporting pre-marital sexual activity, respectively. After adjusting fieldworker and individual-level characteristics, an association between an age difference of greater than ten years and higher reporting of ever having had sexual intercourse was observed for both sexes. Conclusion Although we believe that NFHS surveys are a potentially valuable source of information on pre-marital sexual behavior, especially in the absence of proven alternatives, the evidence from this study suggests that fieldworker effects may bias reporting of ever-had sexual intercourse. Therefore, estimates from these surveys should be evaluated carefully and interpreted in the context of other available information, given their wide use in policy formulation and monitoring in India.

A large proportion of adults in Japan remain unmarried even though they intend to marry during their lifetime. To provide data for policy makers and those searching for partners in the Japanese marriage market, we estimated the number and characteristics of unmarried women and men with marriage intention and assessed their partner preferences. Based on the findings, we hypothesized regarding potential mismatches between the individuals available in the marriage market and the type of partners they are looking for. We used data from the National Fertility Survey (2015), a nationally representative survey in Japan, and included 20,344 participants aged 18-49 years, of which 6,568 were unmarried with marriage intention. We estimated the total number of unmarried women and men who intend to marry, extrapolated their characteristics to the Japanese population, and assessed their partner preferences, as well as their ideal age of marriage and the ideal age of their partner. In 2015, there were 8.48 million unmarried women and 9.83 million unmarried men aged 18-49 years with marriage intention in Japan. Surpluses of around 600,000 men were observed in non-densely inhabited areas (men-to-women ratio: 1.31) and in the Kanto region (1.23). Most of the women and men in the marriage market had annual incomes lower than 3,000,000 JPY (28,000 USD) and only 263,000 women (3%) and 883,000 men (9%) had an income of 5,000,000 JPY (47,000 USD) or more; 167,000 men (2%) had an income of 7,000,000 JPY (66,000 USD) or more, with roughly three-quarters of them having a university degree. When asked about eight items that one may consider in a potential partner, the proportion of women listing an item as \"important\" tended to be larger than those of men across all items (education, occupation, finances, personality, mutual hobbies, cooperation/understanding regarding one's work, and attitude towards/skills in housework and childrearing) except appearance. The largest differences were observed for finances (proportion of women vs. men listing the item as \"important\" or \"would consider:\" 94.0% vs. 40.5%, p<0.001), occupation (84.9% vs. 43.9%, p<0.001), and education (53.9% vs. 28.7%, p<0.001). While women, on average, preferred men who were around 1-3 years older than themselves, men preferred women around their own age until the age of 26 years, at which point men preferred women who were younger than themselves, with the preferred age difference increasing substantially with age. As such, the number of men preferring a younger partner was larger than the number of women who preferred an older partner. By providing data on the number, characteristics and partner preferences of individuals in the marriage market, our study could inform decisions for those searching for marriage partners in Japan. Moreover, we hypothesize that mismatches in geographical location, the supply-demand disparity for partners with higher income, and age preferences could partly explain the large number of Japanese women and men who remain unmarried despite intending to get married. Further studies are needed to assess if, and to what extent, the identified mismatches may affect marriage rates.

Previous findings have shown a strong relationship between sports and interpersonal cooperative behavior. Physical activity is the basic form of sport. In this study, we investigated the effect of physical activity on interpersonal cooperative behavior and its inter‐brain correlates. Eighty college students were recruited and randomly divided into the experimental or control group (20 dyads per each). The experimental group performed a 30‐min of moderate intensity single‐person cycling exercise, while the control group performed a 30‐min single‐person sitting. Interpersonal cooperative behavior was measured by a Prisoner's Dilemma task before and after the intervention, while neural activities in the frontal cortex in each dyad were measured by the near‐infrared spectroscopy‐based hyperscanning approach. The results showed that the average cooperation rate and cooperation efficiency of the experimental dyads were significantly higher after the exercise intervention compared to that before intervention, but not in control group. Meanwhile, the interpersonal neural synchronization (INS) in the left frontal cortex was significantly increased after intervention only in experimental dyads. Moreover, the INS increased in left frontal cortex was positively correlated with the cooperation improvement. Taken together, these results indicate that one single‐person bicycling can improve interpersonal cooperation behavior, which may be associated with enhanced interpersonal neural synchronization in the left frontal cortex. Here, we investigated the effect of individual acute aerobic exercise on interpersonal cooperative behavior and its inter‐brain correlates. Interpersonal cooperative behavior was measured by a Prisoner's Dilemma task before and after the intervention, while neural activities in the frontal area in each dyad were measured by the functional near‐infrared spectroscopy‐based hyperscanning approach. Our findings indicate that individual acute aerobic exercise can promote interpersonal cooperation behavior, which may be associated with enhanced interpersonal neural synchronization in the left frontal polar.