Despite shifting attitudes towards men taking up unpaid work, there remains a persistent gender gap in informal caregiving for older adults. We investigate how individual gender role attitudes of women and men influence their provision of care to parents and whether this relationship is moderated by the national context. Using data from the Generations and Gender Survey and logistic regressions with country-fixed effects to a sample of nine European countries, we find that individual gender egalitarian views correspond with a significant decreased likelihood of providing care among women, but not with an increased probability among men. While we find some support for the moderating effect of country contexts for women, their role in increasing male involvement in care appears to be limited. Changing behaviours through shifts in individual gender role attitudes alone may not be sufficient to bring about greater gender equality in care for older people.

Using an original representative survey of 3,179 participants, we study the determinants of support for reintroducing inheritance taxation in Mexico. Two scenarios are analysed: a universal tax and a progressive tax applied only to inheritances exceeding USD 1 million (purchasing power parity [PPP]). While support for the universal tax is low (13.3 per cent), the progressive tax garners significant backing (41.8 per cent), reflecting a preference for progressivity. Regression and lasso models reveal that perceptions of tax evasion among the wealthy are the strongest predictors of support for the progressive tax. At the same time, trust in government is critical for the universal tax. Contrary to findings in high-income countries, fairness concerns such as the proportion of wealth from inheritance or corruption or reasons for poverty play a limited role in shaping attitudes. These findings provide valuable insights for tax policy design in unequal societies and emphasise the importance of addressing perceptions of compliance.

Young people who are neither in employment nor in education or training (NEET) are at risk of long-term exclusion and poorer wellbeing. Besides individual costs and adverse later life consequences, NEET can impose significant societal costs, making it a major public policy concern and an important indicator of social exclusion. Using high-quality register data on Finnish birth cohorts born between 1987 and 1992, we compared the risk of being NEET at ages 21–27 amongst those born with very low birth weight (VLBW, < 1500 g), low birth weight (LBW, 1500–2499 g) and normal birth weight (NBW). We further studied whether the effects of birth weight on NEET were moderated by parental socioeconomic status (SES), measured as maternal education. To address potential confounding due to unobserved characteristics, we employed Poisson regression with sibling fixed effects. Results indicated that LBW was associated with an increased incidence rate ratio (IRR) of 1.26 (95% CI 1.15–1.38) and VLBW with an IRR of 2.02 (95% CI 1.66–2.40) for NEET status, compared with NBW. The relationship between birth weight and NEET did not vary by parental SES. Findings underline the importance of early health in contributing to the risk of NEET, regardless of parental SES.

Persons with mental illnesses may experience stigma from their immediate family members in addition to other forms of stigma. The researchers used semi-structured interviews to investigate the experiences of familial mental illness stigma among 15 people diagnosed with mental illnesses in a mid-sized city in Canada. Five themes that spoke to participants’ experiences of familial mental illness stigma and ways to reduce it were identified by the investigators. The themes included: diagnosis as a ‘double-edged sword,’ potential familial isolation, familial stigma as societal stigma localized, stories of acceptance and support, and confronting potential familial mental illness stigma. Participants’ narratives indicate that familial mental illness stigma is rooted in the broader social or public stigma, which sees its way into familial relations as well. This stigma takes various forms, including relationship bias or unfair treatment, breakdown in romantic relationships, loss of status, verbal and emotional abuse, exclusion from decision-making, and alienation within their immediate and extended families. Familial mental illness stigma experiences negatively impact participant’s psychological well-being and personal empowerment. However, participants also shared ways that family members create supportive environments or actively confront or prevent stigma. Overall, this study has contributed to knowledge on mental illness stigma, particularly familial mental illness stigma from the perspective of participants living with a mental illness in a high-income country. Suggestions for future research include a focus on strategies to prevent ongoing familial mental illness stigma, and large-scale studies to explore familial mental illness stigma to understand why families might themselves at times perpetrate stigma.

Self-rated health (SRH) is a validated epidemiological measure that captures an individual’s overall health perception and predicts morbidity and mortality. Despite extensive research on SRH among older adults in India, evidence on its transition across the life course remains limited. Using data from 70,595 individuals aged 45 years and above from the Longitudinal Aging Study in India (LASI) 2017–2018, this study examined transitions in SRH from childhood to older adulthood. An adverse SRH trajectory was defined as a shift from good childhood health to poor or fair health in later life. Descriptive, bivariate, and multivariable logistic regression analyses were conducted. Overall, 51% of older adults experienced an adverse SRH trajectory. Higher odds were observed among women (AOR: 1.30), individuals with substance consumption (AOR:1.24), chronic multimorbidity (AOR: 3.37), functional limitations (AOR: 2.03), and depression (AOR: 1.51). Early-life disadvantages – child labour, child marriage, and persistent household poverty – were also significant risk factors. In contrast, higher education and participation in social and physical activities were protective. These findings indicate that an adverse subjective health trajectory is shaped by cumulative life-course exposures rather than ageing alone. Strengthening early-life social investments and community-based wellness initiatives is vital to promote healthy and equitable ageing in India.

How did Protestant female missionaries influence women’s political participation in colonial Korea? Under Joseon Confucian norms, women were excluded from education and public life. The first Western female missionary arrived in 1885 and trained Korean “Bible women,” creating spaces for women’s education and organization during colonial rule (1910–1945). While existing research examines missionary effects on education and fertility, impacts on political participation remain unexplored. Using historical mission records and data on independence activists, I find that greater exposure to female missionaries led to greater female political activism. Gender-specific ordinary least squares analysis reveals that female missionary exposure strongly predicts women’s activism, whereas it has no effect on men. To strengthen causal identification, I employ missionary children as an instrumental variable. Mechanisms operate through female role models and informal networks, including Bible classes and home visits. These findings provide the first systematic evidence linking Protestant missions to women’s political empowerment before suffrage, with effects persisting in female political representation after 1945.

The article examines the tax policies the UK Labour government pursued in its first year in office in the context of its economic and fiscal inheritance. It presents the promises of the 2024 Labour Party Manifesto and the government’s main tax policies to June 2025. The article considers several possible interpretations of the government’s tax policies including the desire both to raise revenues and to establish fiscal credibility and assesses whether tax measures have been used to address social policy goals. The article concludes that, while cautious and even conservative, Labour’s approach to tax and tax policy making did not appear to be based on a cohesive plan, was not accompanied by a coherent or compelling narrative, and failed to seize the opportunity for a bolder strategy.

Economic liberalisation and labour market reforms have radically transformed China’s socio-economic landscape. Although awareness of disability equality has improved – particularly following the introduction and enforcement of disability quota schemes – existing research has not yet adequately explored the lived experiences of disabled individuals within these frameworks. This deficiency is especially glaring in the context of public-sector employment, which is often considered a more stable and secure option for workers. Using institutional theory and its three-pillar framework from W.R. Scott’s Institutions and organizations: Ideas, interests, and identities, this paper aims to fill this research gap by investigating key institutional features of public-sector employment, focusing on bianzhi, pre-employment physical examinations and workplace social dynamics. By doing so, it aims to assess the real-world impact of progressive policies such as disability quotas on disabled workers. Our findings indicate that structural institutional barriers continue to impede and marginalise disabled employees in the public-employment sector, underlining the need for a more robust and collaborative strategy to elevate awareness of disability equality in China.