Xu Zong

Empowering women entrepreneurs: The impact of integrated medical insurance system in China China’s urban-rural Integrated Medical Insurance System (IMIS) has expanded universal health coverage, reducing disparities in healthcare access between urban and rural populations and addressing chal...

👩 Our new paper treats China’s Urban–Rural Integrated Medical Insurance System as a large-scale quasi-natural experiment, covering roughly 650 million women, to examine its causal impact on women’s entrepreneurship.
dx.plos.org/10.1371/jour...

All are welcome, both online and in person!

🪵➡️♻️ Our study highlights that transitioning to cleaner fuels goes beyond cleaner air. It is a long-term investment in cognitive wellbeing and an upstream strategy to protect brain health in an ageing society. @pophel.bsky.social @helsinki.fi

What, Why, and How: An Empiricist’s Guide to Double/Debiased Machine Learning | Information Systems Research pubsonline.informs.org/doi/10.1287/...

The long arm of childhood: The association between early-life indoor air pollution exposure and cognitive performance in later life A large number of poor people all over the world rely on solid fuels, such as coal and wood, for cooking, directly bringing exposure to indoor air pol…

These results highlight the importance of improving access to clean household energy as a potential long-term investment in brain health and healthy ageing.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

♻️🧠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

Unravelling the association between internet use and loneliness among Chinese older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic: the role of potentially moderating and mediating factors - BMC Geriatrics Background The benefits of Internet use in reducing loneliness among older adults have been well-documented, particularly during COVID-19 lockdowns. However, most existing research has focused on high...

👩‍💻Our new paper in BMC Geriatrics shows that Internet use can 'heal' loneliness among older Chinese adults, especially married ones. Social participation & online connections partly explain this. Notably, WeChat Moments use is key for lowering loneliness. @pophel.bsky.social @helsinki.fi

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...

✝️ 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...

Congratulations, very interesting findings!!

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...

📣 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...

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).

📢 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-...

Interestingly, it’s becoming popular in China for young adults to buy iPods for their parents or grandparents instead of hearing aids. Not only do they provide better hearing aids, but they also look fashionable😅

Great work,I’m thinking about the very low rate of hearing aid use in China. This may be due to CHARLS’s sample structure, which shows that 60–70% of olders live in rural areas. Hearing aids are expensive for them in China, and of course, the social stigma of wearing hearing aids is also an issue

the full text: doi.org/10.1016/j.so...

🚆🚀 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

Home • SoGreen SoGreen is a European research collaboration integrating the four leading longitudinal social science surveys to track how people across Europe experience and respond to climate change. By adding a gr...

We are live!

The SoGreen project website is now online:
🔗 sogreen-project.eu

We invite you to explore, share, and follow along as we build knowledge to support just and evidence-based policies in the green transition in Europe.

@ess-survey.bsky.social @ggp.bsky.social @guide-cohort.bsky.social

Mitä kuuluu, Suomi? - Gaudeamus Mitä kuuluu Suomi? piirtää tutkittuun tietoon pohjaavaa tilannekuvaa yhteiskunnasta ja auttaa ymmärtämään meihin vaikuttavia ajankohtaisia ilmiöitä. Tilaa kirja verkosta.

Uusi kirja “Mitä kuuluu, Suomi? Ihmiset ja yhteiskunta suurten murrosten keskellä” on nyt tilattavissa! 📚

Oma kappaleeni käsittelee Suomen väestötrendejä ja väestöennusteita sekä sitä, miten voimme varautua tulevaan.

www.gaudeamus.fi/teos/mita-ku...

blogs.helsinki.fi/zongx/introd...

⏳I will present new machine learning (ML)–based causal approach—double machine learning (DML)—with an applied example, at the ML-SDH Workshop on Oct 17, 2–3 PM, 2025 (Helsinki time, Zoom)! If you're interested in ML-based causal inference in health research, welcome to click link below to join us.

📮My email: xu.zong@helsinki.fi

Xu Zong

📣 I am seeking postdoctoral or faculty positions starting in 2026. My research focuses on aging, health, and machine learning, and published multiple papers in leading journals. Any opportunities would be appreciated, thank you for sharing! 😊
More about me: researchportal.helsinki.fi/en/persons/x...

Lack of childhood friendships linked to suicidal thoughts in over-50s | University of Helsinki An international University of Helsinki study has found that adverse childhood circumstances increase the risk of suicidal ideation in later life.

👶➡️🧑‍🦳 Our study shows that adverse childhood circumstances such as lack of friendships, poor housing, increase the risk of 💔 suicidal thoughts in later life, highlighting the need for a lifespan approach to suicide prevention. @pophel.bsky.social @share-eric.bsky.social www.helsinki.fi/en/news/fair...

🎤Thrilled to have delivered my oral presentation at the 30th International Population Conference (IPC) in Brisbane 🇦🇺today! The thoughtful comments and engaging discussions made it such a rewarding experience!
#IPC2025 #Brisbane #PopulationResearch

Very wonderful presentation! Look forward to its publication😊

#IPC2025 ⏰ I will present my paper about childhood exposure to air pollution and cognitive decline in old age, during Session Early Life Exposure and Cohort Change in Health and Mortality on 16/07/2025, from 08:30 to 10:00.
Look forward to everyone who have interest in this topic.😊 #IUSSP

Context matters: Longitudinal associations between childhood adversity and mental health outcomes of middle-aged and older adults in 26 countries during the COVID-19 pandemic Understanding the long-term impact of childhood adversity on mental health is crucial, particularly during public health crises like the COVID-19 pand…

I initially got the inspiration of doing this study during the lockdown of Shanghai (36% of residents aged 60+), also in the beginning of my PhD study. Nearly three years later, the paper is finally out!
Paper link www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

💚 publication in Journal of Affective Disorders! We provided novel evidence of dose-repsonse relationships between childhood adversity and 🦠COVID-19-related mental disorders, also uncovered some protective moderating factors
@pophel.bsky.social @share-eric.bsky.social

Congratulations, Yingjia !

Congrats! 🎉 can’t wait to hear more about your work on FRAILIFE!

Lack of breastfeeding, low birth weight and smoking during pregnancy predict behavioural difficulties for the child | University of Helsinki The researchers identified strong and often overlooked emotional and behavioural risk factors that can be predicted to be present in five-year-old children.

🧒 New publication in Journal of Affective Disorders !
We developed advanced machine learning model to investigate strong and often overlooked emotional and behavioural risk factors that can be predicted to be present in five-year-old children. @pophel.bsky.social
www.helsinki.fi/en/news/fair...