Telemedicine Readiness Across Medical Conditions in a US National Representative Sample of Older Adults

Telemedicine has provided older adults the ability to seek care remotely during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. However, it is unclear how diverse medical conditions play a role in telemedicine uptake. A total of 3379 participants (≥65 years) were interviewed in 2018 as part of the National Health and Aging Trends Study. We assessed telemedicine readiness across multiple medical conditions. Most chronic medical conditions and mood symptoms were significantly associated with telemedicine unreadiness, for physical or technical reasons or both, while cancer, hypertension, and arthritis were significantly associated with telemedicine readiness. Our findings suggest that multiple medical conditions play a substantial role in telemedicine uptake among older adults in the US. Therefore, comorbidities should be taken into consideration when promoting and adopting telemedicine technologies among older adults.

Self- and Other-Directed Ageism and Worries Concerning COVID-19 Health Consequences

Worries associated with COVID-19 health consequences are well-justified. They may motivate people to take safety precautions, but may hinder if they become too intense. Current research examined mainly age and gender as potentially associated with worries. This study instead, focuses on self-perceptions of ageing (SPA) and perceived age discrimination as potential predictors of worry, in light of the ageism pandemic which co-occurred with the COVID-19 outbreak. The study is based on a national representative sample of 1,092 adults aged 50+ in Israel. Phone interviews were conducted between March – May 2020, when Israel gradually moved from strict to partial lockdown. Our findings show that SPA and age-based discrimination in the healthcare system were significant predictors of worries. The findings point to the potentially negative impact of the ageism pandemic in relation to worries. Interventions that address ageism directed by self or others might alleviate people's worries in the COVID-19 pandemic.

Love Match, Marriage Distance, and Marriage Payment: Evidence from Rural China

The excessive marriage payment indicated by brideprice/dowry imposes a huge family financial burden, especially on rural households. Although some determinants have been examined, the relationship between matching types of couples and marriage payment is rarely known. The goal of this study is to analyze this relationship and the role of marriage distance in it. We adopt Logit, Tobit, and SUR models with the database across 70 years in rural China from a nearly national representative sample. The results show that love-match couples are 10.7% and 10.3% less likely to pay brideprice and dowry than that of parental matchmaking, respectively, and they pay less amount of brideprice and dowry. There is an inverted U-shaped relationship between marriage distance and brideprice/dowry, and love match has the largest correlation with marriage payment behaviors for couples with long marriage distance.

Prevalence and Associated Factors of Sexual Victimization: Findings from a National Representative Sample of Belgian Adults Aged 16–69

Sexual victimization is a major public health, judicial, and societal concern worldwide. Nationally representative and comparable studies are still lacking. We applied a broad definition of sexual violence, including hands-off and hands-on victimization, and behaviorally specific questions to assess sexual victimization. Lifetime and 12-month prevalence estimates were obtained that are representative of the Belgian general population aged 16 to 69 with regard to sex and age. These estimates indicate that 64% experienced some form of sexual victimization in their lives, and 44% experienced some form of sexual victimization in the past 12 months. Logistic regression analysis revealed significant associations for sex, age, sexual orientation, the number of sexual partners, and the financial situation with sexual victimization. Furthermore, our data show that mental health is significantly worse in persons with a history of prior sexual victimization. Prevalence estimates for all forms of sexual victimization are presented and compared to other national and international studies on sexual victimization. This comparison suggests that prevalence rates may have been underestimated in extant research. The prevalence estimates obtained in this study demonstrate that all sexes and ages are affected by sexual victimization.

Characteristics and associated factors of self-disclosed sexual aggression in a national representative sample of Belgian adults aged 16-69

Sexual violence is a major public health, societal, and judicial problem worldwide. Studies investigating the characteristics of its offenders often rely on samples of convicted offenders, which are then biased by low reporting and conviction rates of sexual offences. The reliability of self-report studies of undetected sexual offenders, however, is threatened by underreporting of sexually aggressive acts. Despite these limitations, we argue that it is important to publish available data on self-disclosed sexual aggression to learn more about those who are more likely to report own sexual aggression and to further improve self-report methods. Based on a self-report study conducted in a representative sample (n = 4,693) of the Belgian general population aged 16 to 69, we provide lifetime and past-year prevalence rates of sexual aggression and report the characteristics of the events, including type, target, and the applied coercion strategies. A logistic regression analysis revealed factors associated with self-disclosed sexual aggression. Almost 4% of all participants reported at least one incident of hands-on sexual aggression. Men were more likely than women to report sexual aggression (aOR: 5.33 (95% CI:3.62-7.86). Furthermore, a history of sexual victimization was associated with sexual aggression. In most cases, the target was an (ex)partner or friend. About 4 in 5 perpetrators indicated that none of the given coercion strategies (i.e., force, threat, verbal pressure, or exploiting the victim’s incapacitation or the own position of authority) applied to the incident. Further research is needed to clarify under which circumstances sexual aggression occurs and which factors increase reporting thereof.