Political identity and the perceived significance of public events among middle-aged adults in Turkey

Our first guest-edited issue for Vol. 6 (2018) will address itself to the politics of space, language and identity in higher education, in Africa and globally. The contributions in the guest-edited issue will singularly and collectively grapple with the nuances attendant to the intersections amongst space, language and identity in higher education. Key topics to be pursued in this issue include: • Higher education spaces and the politics of space in higher education • Space and identity, symbols and signs in the post-colonial university • Politics of identity: student protests, language, institutional culture • Institutional policies and their impact on (the politics of) practice (e.g. language policies) • Social cohesion, diversity and citizenship • Intersections of language, curriculum, educational access and transformation • Curriculum, decolonisation, and epistemic injustices | freedoms • Student experience, student identity, and student politics of diverse student groups (e.g. LGBTIQ+ students).

This study aimed to identify determinants of influenza vaccination among older adults using nationally representative data from the Turkey Older Persons Profile Survey 2023. Data from 11 657 individuals aged 65 and over, collected by the Turkish Statistical Institute, were analysed. Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator regression was employed for variable selection, followed by binary logistic regression to identify significant predictors. Only 19.4% of older adults reported receiving an influenza vaccine during the 2022/2023 influenza season. Higher education, income sufficiency, social security coverage, regular medication use, physical activity, and use of mobile health (mHealth) applications were significantly associated with higher vaccination uptake. Former smoking, alcohol consumption, older age, higher body mass index, and greater independence in daily living were also positive predictors. Traditional barriers to healthcare access (e.g., transportation, waiting times) were not significantly associated. Regional disparities were evident, with lower vaccination rates in the eastern regions. Vaccine uptake among older adults in Turkey is low despite universal access. Promoting engagement with primary healthcare services and increasing the use of mHealth applications may contribute to increasing vaccination coverage. Special attention should be given to socially disadvantaged groups and underperforming regions to enhance preventive healthcare among the aging population.

Background and Objective : This study aimed to estimate the prevalence and correlates of underweight and overweight/obesity among middle aged and older adults in India. Materials and Methods : The cross-sectional sample consisted of 72,262 individuals (≥45 years) from the Longitudinal Aging Study in India Wave 1 in 2017–2018. Multinomial logistic regression was used to estimate the factors associated with underweight and overweight/obesity relative to normal weight. Results : The prevalence of normal weight (18.5–22.9 kg/m2) was 36.7%, underweight (<18.5 kg/m2) 20.8%, overweight (23.0–24.9 kg/m2) 14.2%, Class I obesity (25.0–29.9 kg/m2) 20.8%, and Class II obesity (≥30.0 kg/m2) 7.4%. In adjusted multinomial logistic regression, the factors positively associated with underweight were older age (≥70 years) (adjusted relative risk ratio [ARRR]: 1.94, confidence interval [CI]: 1.75–2.14), food insecurity (ARRR: 1.19, CI: 1.07–1.33), poor or fair self-rated health status (ARRR: 1.14, CI: 1.05–1.33), and current tobacco use (ARRR: 1.42, CI: 1.31–1.53). The factors negatively associated with underweight were higher education (≥10 years) (ARRR: 0.67, CI: 0.48–0.92), high subjective socioeconomic status (ARRR: 0.78, CI: 0.67–0.92), urban residence (ARRR: 0.72, CI: 0.61–0.84), high life satisfaction (ARRR: 0.83, CI: 0.75–0.91), hypertension (ARRR: 0.64, CI: 0.58–0.69), diabetes (ARRR: 0.50, CI: 0.42–0.59), and heart disease or stroke (ARRR: 0.74, CI: 0.61–0.89). The factors positively associated with overweight/obesity were higher education (≥10 years) (ARRR: 2.09, CI: 1.87–2.33), high subjective socioeconomic status (ARRR: 1.44, CI: 1.31–1.59), urban residence (ARRR: 1.94, CI: 1.79–2.11), high life satisfaction (ARRR: 1.12, CI: 1.04–1.20), hypertension (ARRR: 1.89, CI: 1.76–2.02), type 2 diabetes (ARRR: 1.80, CI: 1.59–2.04), and raised cholesterol (ARRR: 2.75, CI: 2.11–3.58). The factors negatively associated with overweight/obesity were older age (≥70 years) (ARRR: 0.44, CI: 0.39–0.49), male sex (ARRR: 0.59, CI: 0.54–0.64), food insecurity (ARRR: 0.85, CI: 0.76–0.94), vigorous physical activity (>once/week) (ARRR: 0.91, CI: 0.84–0.99), current tobacco use (ARRR: 0.69, CI: 0.64–0.74), and heavy episodic alcohol use (ARRR: 0.70, CI: 0.58–0.85). Conclusion : One in five middle-aged and older adults in India were underweight and more than two in five were overweight/obese, confirming a dual burden of malnutrition in India.

Although low socioeconomic status (SES) and decreased muscle strength have been found to be associated with the risk factors of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), including insulin resistance, obesity, and metabolic syndrome, the associations among SES, muscle strength, and NAFLD are still unclear. We aimed to investigate the combined effect of SES and relative handgrip strength (HGS) on the risk of NAFLD in middle-aged adults. Data from 5272 middle-aged adults who participated in the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (KNHANES) from 2014–2018 were analyzed. NAFLD was defined using the hepatic steatosis index (HSI) > 36 and the comprehensive NAFLD score (CNS) ≥ 40 in the absence of other causes of liver disease. SES was based on a self-reported questionnaire. Overall, individuals with low SES (odds ratio (OR) = 1.703, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.424–2.037, p < 0.001) or low HGS (OR = 12.161, 95% CI: 9.548–15.488, p < 0.001) had a significantly higher risk of NAFLD. The joint association analysis showed that a low SES combined with a low HGS (OR = 2.479, 95% CI: 1.351–4.549, p = 0.003) further significantly increased the risk of NAFLD when adjusted for all the covariates, compared with individuals with a high SES and a high HGS (OR = 1). The current findings suggest that both low SES and low HGS were independently and synergistically associated with an increased risk of NAFLD in middle-aged Korean adults.

BackgroundDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, the depression level among US adults has significantly increased. Age disparity in depression during the pandemic has been reported in recent studies. Delay or avoidance of medical care is one of the collateral damages associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, and it can lead to increased morbidity and mortality.ObjectiveThis study aimed to assess the prevalence of depression and delayed care among US middle-aged adults and older adults during the pandemic, as well as investigate the association of delayed care with depression among those 2 age groups.MethodsThis cross-sectional study used data from the 2020 Health and Retirement Study (HRS) COVID-19 Project (Early, Version 1.0). Univariate analyses, bivariate analyses, and binary logistic regression were applied. US adults older than 46 years were included. Depression was measured by the Composite International Diagnostic Interview-Short Form (CIDI-SF). Delayed care was measured by the following 4 items: delayed surgery, delayed seeing a doctor, delayed dental care, and other delayed care.ResultsA total of 3246 participants were identified. More than half of the participants were older than 65 years (n=1890, 58.2%), and 274 (8.8%) participants had depression during the pandemic. Delayed dental care was positively associated with depression among both middle-aged adults (OR 2.05, 95% CI 1.04-4.03; P=.04) and older adults (OR 3.08, 95% CI 1.07-8.87; P=.04). Delayed surgery was positively associated with depression among older adults (OR 3.69, 95% CI 1.06-12.90; P=.04). Self-reported pain was positively related to depression among both age groups. Middle-aged adults who reported higher education levels (some college or above) or worse self-reported health had a higher likelihood of having depression. While perceived more loneliness was positively associated with depression among older adults, financial difficulty was positively associated with depression among middle-aged adults.ConclusionsThis study found that depression was prevalent among middle-aged and older adults during the pandemic. The study highlighted the collateral damage of the COVID-19 pandemic by identifying the association of delayed surgery and dental care with depression during the pandemic. Although surgery and dental care cannot be delivered by telehealth, telehealth services can still be provided to address patients’ concerns on delayed surgery and dental care. Moreover, the implementation of telemental health services is needed to address mental health symptoms among US middle-aged and older adults during the pandemic. Future research that uses more comprehensive measurements for delayed care is needed to decipher the path through which delayed care is associated with depression.

This study examined the associations of cannabis use, alcohol use and alcohol problems with probable anxiety and mood disorders (AMD) in young, middle-aged and older adults. Method: Data are based on the CAMH Monitor, an ongoing cross-sectional telephone survey of Ontario adults aged 18 years and older. For the purposes of the current study, a merged dataset from the years 2001 through 2009 inclusive was separated into three individual datasets: 18-34 year olds (n=4,211), 35-54 year olds (n=7,874), and 55 years of age and older (n=6,778). The survey included the 12-item version of the General Health Questionnaire, which provides a measure of probable AMD for the general population. Logistic regression analyses examined the odds of probable AMD in three age groups associated with alcohol measures (number of drinks per day and alcohol problems (AUDIT 8+)) and cannabis use, while controlling for self-reported physical health, religious service attendance, and demographic factors. Due to listwise deletion, the logistic regression models were based on reduced samples. Results: Lifetime cannabis use and past year cannabis use predicted probable AMD in young and middle-aged adults, but only lifetime cannabis use predicted probable AMD among older adults. Alcohol problems predicted probable AMD among middle aged and older adults, but not among younger adults. No consistent link between recent alcohol consumption and probable AMD was observed. Conclusion: These analyses suggest that the impact of alcohol and cannabis use and problems on probable AMD may differ across age groups.

Background:The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, associated with the economic consequences of non-pharmaceutical interventions such as lockdown, has led to mental health consequences among people worldwide. Protecting the mental well-being of populations is an imperative component of fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. This scoping review attempts to present an overview of the existing tools to measure COVID-19-related mental health problems.Methods:Literature search was conducted in the PubMed electronic database using developed key search terms. Reference lists of the identified eligible articles were reviewed to locate relevant articles missed from the electronic database search. Fifteen scales measuring COVID-19-associated mental health problems, validated among diverse populations across the world, were included in this review.Results:The majority of these scales were validated among middle-aged adults in Turkey. Only a few validated scales encompass the negative socioeconomic consequences of COVID-19. None of the available scales focused on the aspects of suicidal ideation or behavioral responses/coping strategies, neither were they inclusive of participants from diverse age, geographic, and COVID-19 exposure groups.Conclusion:This scoping review highlights the need for future research to develop and validate comprehensive psychometric tools to assess COVID-19-associated mental health problems. Also, in view of the vulnerable nature of healthcare professionals for developing mental health concerns in the course of providing services for COVID-19-affected individuals, future psychometric research needs to concentrate on the development of measures specific for these professionals.

This study aims to examine the levels of environmental concern and environmentally conscious consumer behaviour among individuals engaged in outdoor sports, within the framework of a demographic segmentation approach. The sample of the research consists of 221 professional and serious leisure-level outdoor sports participants from various regions in Turkey involved in different types of outdoor sports. Data were collected through an online survey using the New Environmental Paradigm (NEP) and Environmentally Conscious Consumer Behavior (ECCB) scales. Statistical analyses, including independent samples t-test, ANOVA, correlation, multiple regression, and two-step cluster analysis, were conducted using SPSS software. The findings indicate that participation in outdoor sports supports both environmental concern and environmentally conscious consumption tendencies. According to multiple regression analysis, environmental concern and age significantly predict environmentally conscious consumer behaviour, whereas demographic factors such as income and education have limited effects. Two-step cluster analysis revealed that individuals over the age of 30 with higher income and education levels are more willing to engage in environmentally friendly consumption. The results demonstrate that outdoor sports play a significant role in shaping environmental attitudes; however, the phenomenon of the “green gap” between attitudes and behaviours persists.

The Attitudes of Political Parties towards Education: The 2011 Election Returns Examples of Justice and Development Party (AKP), Republican People's Party (CHP) and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP)

This paper investigates the impact the European Union (EU) accession process has had on Turkish political parties—the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the main opposition party, the Republican People’s Party (CHP)—as far as their internal structures and intra-party distribution of power are concerned. The paper contends that political parties in Turkey have not only been immune to any organizational adaptation that may have resulted from the accession process, but in the past decade, they have become increasingly de-Europeanized. This insularity from Europeanization impulses can be attributed to Turkey’s personalized political system and the ineffectiveness of the parliamentary institutions responsible for EU policy, especially the EU Harmonization Committee.

Doing Their Own Thing

An analysis of fieldwork research on the deliberations, policy option debates, and outcomes of the 2008 Sixth National Convention of the Justice and Development Party (PJD) crystallizes issues relevant to the party's recent transformations, with focus on the balance between its Islamist character and its democratic/governance merits, central to the leadership transition that occurred during convention. This investigation presents potential scenarios of this ambivalent Islamist democratic experiment in Morocco amid rapidly changing national and regional contexts in the wake of the Arab Spring in 2011 and the new politics that resulted. Outcomes were hardly predictable during the July 19-22, 2008 Sixth National Convention of the Islamic Justice and Development Party (PJD) in Morocco. Counter to all political speculations, the ten-year leader of the party, Sa'd al-Din al-Othmani (marketed during his visit to Washington DC in 2006 as the Erdogan), came second in votes for the Secretary General post to 'Abd al-Ilah Benkiran. Al-Othmani was later elected to head the party's national convention in succession of its previous leader, Mr. Benkiran himself. This outcome was far from being pre-engineered. On the contrary, this complete bombshell took all observers and party leaders, including al-Othmani and Benkiran, by surprise.1 The case of the Justice and Development Party (PJD) demonstrates how far non-violent Islamist movements have been integrated into Morocco's democratic transition process and how much they have transformed their ideological and organizational positions in the adaptation. That said, Islamism still challenges the religious hegemony of the Moroccan monarchy and the policies of the political establishment, but the movement has adapted well to new political circumstances and institutional constraints following the rise to power of King Muhammad VI in 1999. This investigation of the effects of the PJD's institutional structure and ideological choices on the broader question of democratization of Moroccan Islamism addresses several questions. First, does the democratic institutionalization of an Islamic movement reflect its de-Islamization or rather its considerable maturity in organization and objectives? Second, how were the deliberations, outcomes, and debates on policy options during the PJD's 2008 convention carried out,2 and how can they shed light on the potential scenarios of this Islamist democratic experiment? This article will start with an analysis of the institutional and ideological politics of the PJD in the lead up to the 2008 party convention, including politics/prosletyzing relations, PJD factional politics, and standpoints on questions of national democratic and constitutional reforms. Then, it shall proceed to explore the details and deliberations of the 2008 sixth national convention and contextualize its outcomes within the changing national and Islamist politics in Morocco before and through the Arab spring in 2011. THE END OF PROSELYTIZING AND THE BEGINNING OF POLITICS The separation of the Movement of Unity and Reform (MUR, founded in 1993) and the Party of Justice and Development (PJD, 1997) was an all-important and controversial issue. Critical to its democratic development, the PJD ventured to separate proselytizing from politics. Questions of Islamic identity were relocated as a function of the social and cultural movements operating in the proselytizing field. The party was to be responsible only for governance and administration. The theoretical merits of such a hypothesis are still controversial, but the practicalities precluded the awaited full separation. In a country like Morocco, identity politics are inescapable given the traditional ruling regime and the active secularization projects of the Francophone elites. In contrast, full separation was possible in the Turkish case. The Turkish Justice and Development Party (AKP), in its official discourse, presents itself as a center-right socially conservative party lacking any cultural agenda. …

BackgroundThe positive association of health with education level and socioeconomic status (SES) is well-established. Two theoretical frameworks have been delineated to understand main mechanisms leading to socioeconomic health inequalities: social causation and health selection but how these work in adolescence is poorly known. We studied if adolescent health and health behaviours predict higher education and higher SES in adulthood and if family background and school performance in adolescence explain these associations.MethodsSurveys on health and health behaviours were sent to representative samples of 12–18-year-old Finns in 1981–1997 every second year (response rate 77.8%, N = 55,682). The survey data were linked with the respondents’ and their parents’ socioeconomic data from the Finnish national registries. Both latent variables, namely, health (perceived health, health complaints, chronic disease), health-compromising behaviours (smoking status, drunkenness frequency), and family background (parents’ occupation-based SES, education, family type) and variables directly measuring health-enhancing behaviours (toothbrushing, physical activity) and school performance were used to predict higher education and higher occupation-based SES at age 34. Logistic regression analysis and structural equation models (SEM) were used.ResultsIn logistic regression analyses, good health, health-enhancing behaviours, and lack of health-compromising behaviours were related to higher education and SES, also after controlling for family background and school performance. In the SEM analyses, good health, health-enhancing behaviours, and lack of health-compromising behaviours directly predicted higher SES and higher education, although the standardised coefficients were low (from 0.034 to 0.12). In all models, health, lack of health-compromising behaviours, and health-enhancing behaviours predicted school performance, which in turn, predicted the outcomes, suggesting indirect routes to these. Good socioeconomic prospects in terms of family background predicted good health, healthy behaviours, and good school performance in adolescence and higher SES and higher education in adulthood.ConclusionHealth and health behaviours in adolescence predicted education and SES in adulthood. Even though the relationships were modest, they support the health selection hypotheses and emphasise the importance of adolescence for health inequalities during the life-course. Health and health behaviours were strongly associated with school performance and family background which together modified the paths from health and health behaviours to the outcomes.

The article is devoted to identifying the key demarcation lines between Ukrainian and Russian political identities. Particular attention is paid to the importance of conceptual demarcation between the notions of Ukrainian and Russian political identities in the context of Russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine. Political identities, like various forms of collective identities, are acquired phenomena. They undergo changes over a long period of time. It is noted that effective strategies for constructing political identities determine the formation of new traditions. A comparison of the phenomena of Ukrainian political identity and Russian political identity is carried out, in particular in a historical context. The main differences between the Ukrainian and Russian types of political identities are identified. It is argued that the categories of individualism, freedom, and rejection of authoritarian principles are key to Ukrainian political identity. For carriers of Russian political identity, the category of freedom does not hold significant value. On the contrary, servile obedience has long been considered a virtue within Muscovite society. Carriers of Ukrainian political identity adopt a critical attitude toward representatives of power. Accordingly, one should not expect automatic submission to authority from Ukrainians. For citizens of Ukraine, the authority and legitimacy of the head of power are important. For carriers of Russian political identity, the need for a supreme leader is essential. It is this leader who is expected to make all important decisions independently, while the population is required to execute them. This state of Russian political culture is determined by long-standing practices of authoritarianism. It is stated that one of the dominant features of Russian political identity is atomization, that is, the fragmentation of society. Such a situation makes the formation of large-scale protest actions in Russia impossible, since people are unable to trust one another. Carriers of Ukrainian political identity are characterized by the ability for cooperation and self-organization, which is formed in societies with a high level of social capital, where there is significant trust among people.

Education systems are largely shaped by the policies of political parties. Political parties try to express their policies regarding the structure and functioning of the education system through party programs. As in all countries, policies regarding the education system have an important place in party programs in Turkey. The aim of this study is to examine the programs of political parties in Turkey in terms of the structure of the Turkish National Education System; the aim is to present their views on “Pre-School Education”, “Primary Education”, “General Secondary Education”, “Vocational Technical Secondary Education”, “Higher Education” and “Non-Formal Education-Adult Education-Continuous Education”. In this context, it is important to express the similarities in the objectives of the political parties regarding the structure of the Turkish Education System. In this study, the qualitative research method was used. The data of the research were collected through document analysis. The study population consisted of all the political parties in The Grand National Assembly of Turkey (GNAT). The sample of the study consists of five political parties selected according to the criterion sampling method, which is one of the purposive sampling methods. These political parties can be listed as follows according to the number of members: 1.Justice and Development Party (JDP), 2.Republican People's Party (RPP) 3.Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) 4.National Movement Party (NMP) 5.Good Party (GP). The data sources of the study are the party programs of political parties. The documents regarding the party programs were taken from the official websites of the parties. In the context of suitability for the purpose of the study, the documents were analyzed by the content analysis method. The findings of the research are given without adding the researcher's comment, according to the themes and codes created. According to the findings, there are quite a lot of statements about the structure of the Turkish National Education System in the programs of political parties. As a result of the analysis, it has been determined that there are many similarities in the programs of the five parties, although there are many differences in the objectives of the parties regarding the structure of the Turkish Education System.