🎉 We're attending #EPC2026 in Bologna this week! The PopHel team has a packed programme across three days. Come say hi or catch our talks 👇 #demography #populationhealth #EPC2026 1/5

👩‍🎓 Maria Ponkilainen successfully defended her PhD thesis "Childbearing and Divorce among Same-Sex and Different-Sex Couples in the Nordic Context : A Register-Based Analysis" at the University of Helsinki in March 2026. Her thesis can be read here: hdl.handle.net/10138/627822 🥳🌈

🧑‍🎓 @xuzong.bsky.social successfully defended his PhD thesis at the University of Helsinki in March 2026. His thesis "Early-life determinants of socioeconomic health inequalities in Europe, Israel, and China : A machine learning approach" can be read here: hdl.handle.net/10138/628682 🥳

Los Pollos Hermanos! 🐓 Our new cohort study published in JECH: Parental death is linked to increased psychotropic medication use in adults (ages 35–55), especially among those with fewer siblings, highlighting the role of family as a support network. jech.bmj.com/content/earl...

PopHel Talks: Next Monday, 13th of April, @joandamiens.bsky.social presents with title: Housing pathways and mental health across the life course - evidence from Finnish registers 13th of April, 02:00-02:45 PM (UTC+2) Please register for a Zoom link: elomake.helsinki.fi/lomakkeet/13...

Earlier #ADHD diagnosis was associated with higher school performance, more academic educational track selection, and reduced risk of school dropout, while later diagnosis indicated greater dropout risk. ja.ma/4sTLI5f

📢 PopHel Newsletter for October 2025 - March 2026 is out! 📰 To receive our newsletter you can subscribe to our mailing list by sending an email to mila.lyytinen@helsinki.fi 📩 You will also receive information on upcoming public talks 👩‍🏫 and open positions at PopHel. www.helsinki.fi/en/helsinki-...

PopHel Newsletter: October 2025 - March 2026 | Helsinki Institute for Demography and Population Health | University of Helsinki

This newsletter shares our research activities at the Helsinki Institute for Demography and Population Health (PopHel).

helsinki.fi

New paper out! We found that severe mental disorders are more strongly related to childlessness than common mental health disorders, and that accounting for partnership and partner's mental health partly explains the association. @flux-consortium.bsky.social @pophel.bsky.social

Journal of Family Research@familyresearch.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Published: "Linking mental health disorders to childlessness: The roles of disorder type and partnership" by @kailaheimosanna.bsky.social, @jessicanisen.bsky.social, @niinametsasimola.bsky.social, P. Martikainen & M. Myrskylä (doi.org/10.20377/jfr...). #openaccess #openscience #sociology #demography

🚨New paper out in Demographic Research🚨 and my first foray into demographic methods. It develops a new method to quantify how specific subpopulations drive demographic gaps. www.demographic-research.org/articles/vol... @demresjournal.bsky.social @pophel.bsky.social #demography #methods

“More Education & Fewer Children?”: Beck @juliahellstrand.bsky.social & Myrskyla assess how educ. enrollment/attainment contributed to fertility in Norway, finding that fertility decline is mainly linked to behavioral change. @pophel.bsky.social @mpidr.bsky.social read.dukeupress.edu/demography/a...

A new study providing a comprehensive assesment of different behavioral, psychological and social polygenic indices on mortality by @pophel.bsky.social researchers @hlaht.bsky.social, Kaarina Korhonen, Karri Silventoinen and Pekka Martikainen, among others, out in @elife.bsky.social .

Hannu Lahtinen@hlaht.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Our new paper "Heterogeneous associations of polygenic indices of 35 traits with mortality: a register-linked population-based follow-up study" doi.org/10.7554/eLif... now published in eLife! PGIs related to the established mortality risk phenotypes had the strongest associations with mortality.

PopHel Talks: Next Monday, 2nd of February, @xuzong.bsky.social presents with title: AI in Health Inequality Research - Promises, Challenges, and an Agenda. 2nd of February, 02:00-02:45 PM (UTC+2) Please register for a Zoom link: elomake.helsinki.fi/lomakkeet/13...

We led an international effort to analyse changes in the parental socioeconomic composition of babies conceived during the COVID-19 pandemic across 15 countries. The results may have long-term implications for these birth cohorts. Read more here -> doi.org/10.1038/s414...

Parental socioeconomic composition of birth cohorts changed during the COVID-19 pandemic - Nature Communications

The authors show that babies conceived during the COVID-19 pandemic have a different parental socioeconomic composition than expected had the pandemic not occurred.

doi.org

PopHel Talks: Next Monday, Elina Einiö will be presenting with title: Gendered housing consequences of divorce - An analysis of marital dyads from different-sex and female same-sex couples 🌈 8th December, 02:00-02:45 PM (UTC+2) Please register for a Zoom link: elomake.helsinki.fi/lomakkeet/13...

🎓🎓🎓Congratulations, @philippdierker.bsky.social🎉🎉🎉 He successfully defended his doctoral thesis “Partnership Dynamics and Changes in Health and Well-Being: A Bidirectional Relationship”. His findings are relevant to family sociology, public health, social policy. www.demogr.mpg.de/en/news_even...

A new pre-print from @soc-misc.bsky.social project! We compare the number of self-reported miscarriages to healthcare records in Finland to better understand the quality of #miscarriage data. More info 👇 My co-authors: Hanna Remes, Lara Lehtoranta, @mccompans.bsky.social, Pekka Martikainen

SOC-MISC@soc-misc.bsky.social · 9mo ago

📣New pre-print from SOC-MISC: Measuring miscarriages: A comparison of self-reported and healthcare register data in Finland. More info below 👇🧵 Read full paper here: osf.io/preprints/so... 1/2

♻️🧠Thrilled to publish my first sole-authored paper in Socail Science & Medicine. This study revealed the link of childhood indoor air pollution with later-life cognitive health and its mechanisms, using national data and a machine learning approach. @pophel.bsky.social @helsinki.fi

Our new study finds a strong association between voting in elections and subsequent mortality risk. Not formally open access, unfortunately but the publisher has generously made this (temporarily?) free to read! doi.org/10.1136/jech...

@pophel.bsky.social members @hlaht.bsky.social, Isa Yang, Lasse Tarkiainen and Pekka Martikainen published apparently the first population-based individual-level survival analysis assessing to what extent voting in an election predicts future mortality. It strongly does. doi.org/10.1136/jech...

Voting is a stronger determinant of mortality than education: a full-electorate survival analysis with 21-year follow-up

Background Although voting is recognised as a social determinant of health, the association between electoral participation and subsequent mortality at an individual level has not been established. O...

doi.org

✝️ Our study found: While religion may help those raised in difficult family environments to cope, it cannot fully offset the health risks associated with childhood adversity (e.g,parental mental health issues). @pophel.bsky.social @helsinki.fi @share-eric.bsky.social www.helsinki.fi/en/news/fair...

Religious upbringing linked to better physical health in old age | University of Helsinki

Could a religious upbringing offer a path to healthier ageing? While religion may help those raised in difficult family environments to cope, it cannot fully offset the health risks associated with po...

helsinki.fi

📣Excited to share that our paper on widowhood, its gender and educational inequalities, and evolution over time in Finland is out now in @readdemography.bsky.social !✨

Demography - the flagship journal of PAA@readdemography.bsky.social · 10mo ago

In “Evolution of Widowhood Lifespan," @morettimarg.bsky.social K Korhonen, @alysonvanraalte.bsky.social @timriffe1.bsky.social & P Martikainen find widowhood is less common & occurs later in life. @pophel.bsky.social @mpidr.bsky.social @opik-ikerketa.bsky.social read.dukeupress.edu/demography/a...

In “Evolution of Widowhood Lifespan," @morettimarg.bsky.social K Korhonen, @alysonvanraalte.bsky.social @timriffe1.bsky.social & P Martikainen find widowhood is less common & occurs later in life. @pophel.bsky.social @mpidr.bsky.social @opik-ikerketa.bsky.social read.dukeupress.edu/demography/a...

📢Doctoral Defence: Ulla Suulamo - "Long-term trends in mortality differences - Register-based studies in Finland, 1970–2020" 16 October 2025 at 12:00 Address: Porthania, PIII, Yliopistonkatu 3, Helsinki

PopHel Talks: Next Monday, 13th October, Joonas Pitkänen will be presenting at PopHel Talks on family-based designs in childhood adversity research. 13th October, 02:00-02:45 PM (UTC+2) Please register for a Zoom link: elomake.helsinki.fi/lomakkeet/13...

📣 Our new preprint used machine learning across 30 countries to reveal key life-course social determinants of loneliness among older adults. We also developed a Streamlined Loneliness Predictive Model for future applications. @pophel.bsky.social @share-eric.bsky.social doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Machine Learning to Investigate Life-Course Social Determinants of Loneliness among Older Adults in the US, England, Israel, and 27 European Countries during the Pandemic

Background: Loneliness in later life is common and shaped by social determinants, with the COVID-19 pandemic and regional contexts further influencing disparities. Yet the role of life-course social d...

doi.org

🚨Job alert!🚨 Helsinki Institute for Demography and Population Health is recruiting 2 postdocs. Join our team and investigate social inequalities in health! jobs.helsinki.fi/job/Helsinki... #postdoc #demography #socialsciences #socialdata

Two Postdoctoral Researchers on Health Inequalities

Two Postdoctoral Researchers on Health Inequalities

jobs.helsinki.fi

📢 PopHel Newsletter for March - September 2025 is out!! 📰 To receive our newsletter you can subscribe to our mailing list by sending an email to mila.lyytinen@helsinki.fi 📩 You will also receive information on upcoming public talks 👩‍🏫 and open positions at PopHel‼️ www.helsinki.fi/en/helsinki-...

PopHel Newsletter | Helsinki Institute for Demography and Population Health | University of Helsinki

This newsletter shares our research activities at the Helsinki Institute for Demography and Population Health (PopHel).

helsinki.fi

🚆🚀 Thrilled to share our paper has been published in Social Science & Medicine, as well as my second paper in this journal. We first reveal the olders' cognitive health externalities of high-speed rail and related mechanisms using ML causal approach and national data. @pophel.bsky.social

🔥Suomi rakentaa maailman parasta rekisteritutkimuksen alustaa! #FIRE syntyy #FIONA juurille yhteistyössä @utu.fi @stat.fi @aalto.fi i @uniuef.bsky.social @uniofjyvaskyla.bsky.social @vatt-tutkimus.bsky.social @helsinki.fi #Tampereenyliopisto 👉 invest.utu.fi/fi/news/fire... #rekisteritutkimus

FIRE-hanke tehostaa suomalaista rekisteritutkimusta vahvistaen sen kansainvälistä asemaa - INVEST

Suomeen rakennetaan uusi FIRE-infrastruktuuri vauhdittamaan ihmisten elämästä kertovien rekistereiden käyttöä tutkimuksessa. FIRE kehittää rekisteriaineistoja, kouluttaa tutkijoita rekisteriaineistoje...

invest.utu.fi

📢Doctoral Defence: Juha Luukkonen: Alcohol Reforms and Health - Register studies about exposure to changing alcohol policies in adolescence and pregnancy 26 September 2025 at 12:00 University Main Building, room 3003 (Tekla Hultin), Fabianinkatu 33.