The 'generational contract' is the most important and also the most contentious dimension of contemporary welfare systems. Much of the debate on how to reform it is still truncated, however, by focusing on its public dimension only, especially on pensions and health-care provisions. For a full account, the transfer of resources between adult generations in the family needs to be included as well. So far, research on family transfers has almost exclusively been limited to singlecountry studies. In this article, we present a comparative study of financial transfers and social support in ten Western European countries based on the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) conducted in 2004. Our results confirm, at the European level, the existence of a common transfer pattern. There is a net downward flow from the older to the younger generations, both by inter vivos financial transfers and by social support. Transfers from the elderly parents to their children are much more frequent and also usually much more intense than those in the opposite direction. The positive balance decreases with age but even those over the age of 70 clearly remain net givers. Our results also demonstrate that country-specific transfer patterns follow the typology of welfare regimes. Transfers from parents to children are less frequent but more intense in the Southern European countries than in the Nordic ones, with the Continental European countries being somewhere in between the two. This welfare regime effect still holds after controlling for the most relevant characteristics of the parents.

Background: For children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a reduction of inattention, impulsivity and hyperactivity by neurofeedback (NF) has been reported in several studies. But so far, unspecific training effects have not been adequately controlled for and/or studies do not provide sufficient statistical power. To overcome these methodological shortcomings we evaluated the clinical efficacy of neurofeedback in children with ADHD in a multisite randomised controlled study using a computerised attention skills training as a control condition. Methods: 102 children with ADHD, aged 8 to 12 years, participated in the study. Children performed either 36 sessions of NF training or a computerised attention skills training within two blocks of about four weeks each (randomised group assignment). The combined NF treatment consisted of one block of theta/beta training and one block of slow cortical potential (SCP) training. Pre-training, intermediate and post-training assessment encompassed several behaviour rating scales (e.g., the German ADHD rating scale, FBB-HKS) completed by parents and teachers. Evaluation ('placebo') scales were applied to control for parental expectations and satisfaction with the treatment. Results: For parent and teacher ratings, improvements in the NF group were superior to those of the control group. For the parent-rated FBB-HKS total score (primary outcome measure), the effect size was .60. Comparable effects were obtained for the two NF protocols (theta/beta training, SCP training). Parental attitude towards the treatment did not differ between NF and control group. Conclusions: Superiority of the combined NF training indicates clinical efficacy of NF in children with ADHD. Future studies should further address the specificity of effects and how to optimise the benefit of NF as treatment module for ADHD. Keywords: Neurofeedback, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), slow cortical potentials (SCPs), theta/beta training, randomised controlled trial (RCT), EEG.

We investigate the relationship between religion and trust. Using a questionnaire, we measure: i) general religiosity, and; ii) the extent of religious beliefs, experience, and ritual. These are then analyzed with behavior in a trust game (Berg et al., Games and Economic Behavior, 1995), which we also extend by providing information of a potential trustee's religiosity in certain tasks. We find that trusting increases with the potential trustee's religiosity. The extent to which trusting increases with a trustee's religiosity, in turn, increases with a truster's religiosity. Trustworthiness also increases with religiosity, and at an increasing rate.

OBJECTIVEUse of automated bolus advisors is associated with improved glycemic control in patients treated with insulin pump therapy. We conducted a study to assess the impact of using an insulin bolus advisor embedded in a blood glucose (BG) meter on glycemic control and treatment satisfaction in patients treated with multiple daily insulin injection (MDI) therapy. The study goal was to achieve >0.5% A1C reduction in most patients.RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODSThis was a 26-week, prospective, randomized, controlled, multinational study that enrolled 218 MDI-treated patients with poorly controlled diabetes (202 with type 1 diabetes, 16 with type 2 diabetes) who were 18 years of age or older. Participants had mean baseline A1C of 8.9% (SD, 1.2 [74 mmol/mol]), mean age of 42.4 years (SD, 14.0), mean BMI of 26.5 kg/m2 (SD, 4.2), and mean diabetes duration of 17.7 years (SD, 11.1). Control group (CNL) patients used a standard BG meter and manual bolus calculation; intervention group (EXP) patients used the Accu-Chek Aviva Expert meter with an integrated bolus advisor to calculate insulin dosages. Glucose data were downloaded and used for therapy parameter adjustments in both groups.RESULTSA total of 193 patients (CNL, n = 93; EXP, n = 100) completed the study. Significantly more EXP than CNL patients achieved >0.5% A1C reduction (56.0% vs. 34.4%; P < 0.01). Improvement in treatment satisfaction (Diabetes Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire scale) was significantly greater in EXP patients (11.4 [SD, 6.0] vs. 9.0 [SD, 6.3]; P < 0.01). Percentage of BG values <50 mg/dL was <2% in both groups during the study.CONCLUSIONSUse of an automated bolus advisor resulted in improved glycemic control and treatment satisfaction without increasing severe hypoglycemia.

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has led to profound changes in individuals’ lives and might have meaningful implications for well-being. We investigated if and how two major indicators of well-being (life satisfaction and depressive symptoms) changed in Germany from a prepandemic measurement occasion (2017) to June/July 2020, the time of the fading first wave of COVID-19. This change was compared with prepandemic change between 2014 and 2017. We also analyzed whether change in well-being varied according to age, self-rated health, corona-specific attitudes, and subjective standard of living. Ten thousand seven-hundred and ninety three individuals had taken part in at least one of the measurement occasions between 2014 and 2020 (mean age in 2014: 64.30 years; SD = 11.58 years). Based on latent change score models controlling for baseline well-being and sociodemographic indicators, we found, across both time intervals (2014–2017, 2017–2020) and independent of individuals’ age, a small mean-level increase in life satisfaction. In contrast, depressive symptoms increased from 2017 to 2020, particularly among older participants, whereas they remained, on average, stable between 2014 and 2017. Individuals with a poorer self-rated health, who felt more threatened by the pandemic and whose subjective standard of living was lower revealed a decrease in life satisfaction and a steeper increase in depressive symptoms between 2017 and 2020. Our findings thus suggest that whereas life satisfaction remained quite stable, the pandemic was, already 3–4 months after its onset in Germany, accompanied by an increase in depressive symptoms, particularly among adults who were older, felt less healthy and were more concerned about COVID-19.