Support for new mothers and fertility in the United Kingdom: Not all support is equal in the decision to have a second child

Low fertility across Europe highlights the need to understand reproductive decisions in high-income countries better. Availability of support may be one factor influencing reproductive decisions, though within high-income countries availability varies between environments, including socio-economic environments. We test whether receiving higher levels of support, from different sources (informal and formal) and of different types (practical and emotional), is positively correlated with second births in the United Kingdom (UK) Millennium Cohort Study, and whether these relationships differ by socio-economic position (SEP). Our hypothesis is only partially supported: receiving emotional support correlates with higher likelihood of second birth, but the opposite is true for practical support. Availability of different types of support varies across SEP, but relationships between support and fertility are similar, with one exception: kin-provided childcare increases the likelihood of birth only among lower-SEP women. Our results highlight that not all support is equal in the decision to have a second child.     

Gradients in Depressive Symptoms by Socioeconomic Position Among Men Who Have Sex With Men in the EXPLORE Study

ABSTRACT

This study examines gradients in depressive symptoms by socioeconomic position (SEP; i.e., income, education, employment) in a sample of men who have sex with men (MSM). Data were used from EXPLORE, a randomized, controlled behavioral HIV prevention trial for HIV-uninfected MSM in six U.S. cities (n = 4,277). Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale (short form). Multiple linear regressions were fitted with interaction terms to assess additive and multiplicative relationships between SEP and depressive symptoms. Depressive symptoms were more prevalent among MSM with lower income, lower educational attainment, and those in the unemployed/other employment category. Income, education, and employment made significant contributions in additive models after adjustment. The employment-income interaction was statistically significant, indicating a multiplicative effect. This study revealed gradients in depressive symptoms across SEP of MSM, pointing to income and employment status and, to a lesser extent, education as key factors for understanding heterogeneity of depressive symptoms.     

Who Enjoys the Fruits of Growth? Impact of Governments and Markets on Living Standards in Germany,The Netherlands and the U.S.A., 1987–1996

The 1980s and 1990s have been decades of quitegood economic growth in North America and muchof Western Europe. But how have the fruits ofgrowth been shared? This paper reviews changingincome distributions in the U.S., Germany and theNetherlands. These three countries may be takenas exemplars and leading economic performers in``the three worlds of welfare capitalism''(Esping-Andersen, 1990). The U.S. is a liberalwelfare-capitalist state, Germany a corporatiststate, and the Netherlands (less clearly) asocial democratic welfare-capitalist state. Thepaper focuses particularly on income changes inthe bottom, middle and top quintiles and takesa ten year period into account.Previous analyses have shown that labor andmarket income dispersion are increasing, withincreased returns to human capital. Thepotential impact of government through thetax-transfer system has been largely ignored.All three governments redistribute income fromthe rich to the poor. However, the paper showsthat only the Dutch government hasredistributed sufficiently to ensure that thebottom quintile has gained along with others.In Germany and the U.S. the poorest quintile wasconsiderably worse off in absolute terms at theend of the decade.than the beginning. TheGerman government somewhat counteracted thetrend towards greater income dispersion byredistributing to the poorest quintile, so theloss of market income was partly compensated. In the U.S. the impact of government on thepoorest quintile stayed about the same, so thisgroup ended up with about the same decrease indisposable income as market income.The U.S., Germany and the Netherlands are theonly three countries for which ten or moreconsecutive years of panel data are available.The data come from the PSID-GSOEP EquivalentFile 1980-97 and from a comparable fileconstructed from the Dutch SEP data.

     

Do Generous Welfare States Generate Efficiency Gains which Counterbalance Short Run Losses? Testing Downside Risk Theory with Economic Panel Data for the U.S., Germany and The Netherlands

The purpose of the paper is to assess the theory that the downside risk insurance provided by more generous welfare states generates long run efficiency gains, which counterbalance the short run efficiency losses caused by work disincentives in these states (Feldstein 1974, 1976; Sinn 1995, 1996). Testing downside risk theory requires long term data, so the paper makes use of the three longest running national socio-economic panel surveys. These are the American Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID, 1968-), the German Socio-Economic Panel (1984-) and the Dutch Socio-Economic Panel (SEP, 1984-). The paper focusses on prime age households (heads 25–59) and assesses their participation in and returns to adult education and job training. Our results indicate some support for the theory in so far as Dutch and German prime age adults, living in more generous welfare states, were much more likely than Americans to take the risk of foregoing current earnings and investing in additional education. In all three countries returns on investment were substantial.

Differential Item Functioning of a Family Affluence Scale: Validation Study on Data from HBSC 2001/02

Methodology for making cross-national comparisons is an area of increasing interest in social and public health related research. When studying socio-economic differences in health outcomes cross-nationally, there are several methodological issues of concern, especially when data is derived from self-reported questionnaires. Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (Currie et al. 1998) is a WHO cross-national study using school samples. HBSC provides comparable data, and thereby a unique opportunity to study associations between social indicators and health outcomes within an international perspective. In 2001/02 data was collected from a total of 162,323 children in 32 countries (Austria, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Greenland, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom, USA.). Studies of social inequalities requires that a comparable measure of socio-economic position (SEP) is in use. HBSC has developed a proxy for social position measuring material wealth, the Family Affluence Scale (FAS). This paper studies FAS and whether it is comparable across population subgroups defined by country, age and gender. Initial analysis revealed that an item measuring perceived family wealth was a valid FAS item. Including this item in the FAS score will improve the reliability of FAS. Graphical log-linear Rasch models (GLLRM) showed that FAS contain differential item functioning (DIF) with respect to country, age, and gender as well as local dependency (LD) between items. During the analysis, test equating techniques where used to adjust for the test bias generated by DIF. We recommend that the equated scores are used whenever FAS is included as a variable. This study suggests that HBSC-FAS should contain five items (additional item: perceived family wealth) when analysing data from HBSC 2001/02, and furthermore that each country should adjust for the DIF or make use of the converted FAS scores provided. If using FAS as a proxy for social position at an international level, it is not advised to compare the absolute levels of FAS, but weigh the scale by ridit transformation.

Is There a Trade-Off Between Economic Efficiency and a Generous Welfare State? A Comparison of Best Cases of `The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism’

A crucial debate in policy-making as well as academiccircles is whether there is a trade-off betweeneconomic efficiency and the size/generosity of thewelfare state. One way to contribute to this debate isto compare the performance of best cases ofdifferent types of state. Arguably, in the decade198594, the US, West Germany and the Netherlands were best cases best economic performers in whatEsping-Andersen (1990) calls the three worlds ofwelfare capitalism. The US is a liberalwelfare-capitalist state, West Germany a corporatiststate, and the Netherlands is social democratic in itstax-transfer system, although not its labor marketpolicies. These three countries had rates of economicgrowth per capita as high or higher than other richcountries of their `type, and the lowest rates ofunemployment.At a normative or ideological level the three types ofstate have the same goals but prioritise themdifferently. The liberal state prioritises economicgrowth and efficiency, avoids work disincentives, andtargets welfare benefits only to those in greatestneed. The corporatist state aims to give priority tosocial stability, especially household incomestability, and social integration. The socialdemocratic welfare state claims high priority forminimising poverty, inequality and unemployment.Using ten years of panel data for each country, weassess indicators of their short (one year), medium(five year) and longer term (ten year) performance inachieving economic and welfare goals. Overall, in thistime period, the Netherlands achieved the bestperformance on the welfare goals to which it gavepriority, and equalled the other two states on most ofthe goals to which they gave priority. This resultsupports the view that there is no necessary trade-offbetween economic efficiency and a generous welfarestate.The three panel studies are the American Panel Studyof Income Dynamics (PSID), the German Socio-EconomicPanel (GSOEP) and the Dutch Socio-Economic Panel(SEP). They all have samples of over 15,000 and arethe only national panels to have run for tenconsecutive years or more, so making it possible toassess the longer term performance ofwelfare-capitalist states.     

Return migration and metropolitan-nonmetropolitan population composition

This paper examines the extent to which female "return migrants" to Puerto Rico return to their area of birth or to a different area, thereby contributing to a redistribution of the island's population, and the extent to which those who do return to their area of birth have different socioeconomic characteristics than those who return to a different area.     

Reactive, anxious and possessive forms of jealousy and their relation to relationship quality among heterosexuals and homosexuals

The present study examined the relationship between relational quality and three different types of jealousy-reactive, anxious and possessive jealousy. The sample consisted of 76 gay men, 79 lesbians, 70 heterosexual women and 70 heterosexual men. Findings show that different types of jealousy affect relationship quality differently and do so differently for homosexuals and heterosexuals. Among heterosexuals and especially gay men--but not among lesbians--anxious jealousy was negatively related to relationship quality. In contrast, among heterosexuals--but not among gay men or lesbians--reactive jealousy was positively related to relationship quality. The present study shows that distinguishing between different types of jealousy is necessary to entangle the diverse effects of jealousy on the quality of homosexual and heterosexual relationships.     

我国人口就业与不同产业经济增长的实证分析

为了协调我国人口就业与不同产业经济增长的关系,对1978～2005年期间我国的人口就业与不同产业经济增长之间进行了协整分析,得出我国人口就业与第二、第三产业经济增长之间存在长期的均衡关系;同时构建模型对我国不同产业的GDP与就业人数进行了回归分析,利用我国不同产业的GDP就业弹性,比较分析了我国不同产业对就业吸纳作用的差异;以及利用得出的结论提出保持适度的经济增长,进行产业结构调整,扩大劳务输出等政策建议是缓解和扩大我国人口就业的必然途径。     

Emergent and effective properties in ecology and evolution

Emergent properties are often discussed in arguments concerning relationships among different levels. However, the different definitions of emergent properties sometimes confuse the arguments about macro-level phenomena, since some authors regard emergent properties not only as observable global patterns but as properties that affect and cause change in ecological and evolutionary processes. Thus it is important to distinguish higher-level or larger-scale properties that can influence particular ecological and evolutionary processes from those that cannot. I call the former properties effective properties. I gave examples that show why the distinctions between effective and non-effective properties are important.     

Demographic Differentials and Demographic Integration of Turkish and Kurdish Populations in Turkey

The objectives of the study are threefold: (1) to provide estimates of the total populations and spatial distributions of different language groups in Turkey, (2) to test whether the commonly held belief that Turkish-speaking and Kurdish-speaking populations are “actors” of different demographic regimes is true, and (3) to assess whether a process of integration, in the form of intermarriage of Turks and Kurds is under way in Turkey. Data come mainly from the 2003 Turkish Demographic and Health Survey (TDHS-2003). Based on the assumption that the mother tongue composition of women is also representative of that of the whole population, the results of the TDHS-2003 imply that of the population of Turkey, 83% are Turkish-speaking, 14% are Kurdish-speaking, 2% are Arabic-speaking and the remaining 1% belong to other language groups. Results show that despite intensive internal migration movements in the last 50 years, strong demographic differentials exist between Turkish and Kurdish-speaking populations, and that the convergence of the two groups does not appear to be a process under way. Turks and Kurds do indeed appear to be actors of different demographic regimes, at different stages of demographic and health transition processes.     

中日两国人才与文化交流研究

中日建交以来,两国人才与文化交流不断扩大,这是双方的共同利益所在。两国人才与文化交流覆盖多个领域,促进了双方的相互理解及共同发展。由于两国经济发展程度、文化及历史背景不同,在一些问题上仍然存在分歧。因此,进一步推动中日两国人才与文化交流向纵深发展是两国发展中的现实需求。     

人口与生育政策变动对代际关系的影响

人口与生育政策直接影响着人们的生育需求和生育观念 ,不同的政策有不同的生育动机 ,所追求的孩子数量、质量也不一样 ,从而导致父母与子女之间的代际关系各异。本文以 1 973年为界论述了我国 1 973年前后的人口与生育政策变化及生育观念的转变对代际关系的影响     

Migration and mobility on the Amazon frontier

Migration patterns within tropical forest frontiers are highly complex and multidirectional, with movements to, from, and within these regions likely driven by different macro and micro factors. As such, several different conceptual models have been suggested to explain these dynamics. This paper uses data from a panel survey of households in a frontier region of the western Brazilian Amazon along with “second hand” reports on where people have moved to evaluate these conceptual models. Our rich data set, collected over nearly a decade from hundreds of households, allows us to compare households who arrived at different ages to assess predictions of the life cycle hypothesis; those who have been in the state (or on their properties) for different numbers of years to investigate the turnover hypothesis; those who arrived with different levels of capital to examine path dependence as suggested by conceptual models that focus on wealth dynamics; and the destination and purpose for moves from and within the study region to look for evidence of the frontier expansion hypothesis. We do not find any evidence for the turnover hypothesis, perhaps due to the favorable biophysical and market conditions in our study region. However, patterns in this region are consistent with all of the other conceptual models, reflecting the overlapping theoretical foundations of the models, and the complexity of migration and mobility on the frontier.     

不同生活工作条件下女性流动人口生囊健康状况的调查和思考——上海浦东新区四街道调查

本文通过对上海浦东新区1070名女性流动人口生殖健康的调查研究,指出不同生活工作环境下女性流动人口的生殖健康知识、行为及其对社区服务机构认同感的差异,并提出了提高女性流动人口生殖健康水平的对策建议.     

Population, Nomadic Pastoralism and the Environment in the Mongolian Plateau

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between population, economic activity and the environment in the Mongolian Plateau. This analysis provides a valuable case study for several reasons. First, it elucidates a specific ecosystem—the steppe—that has not received much attention in the literature and a traditional economic activity consistent with such environment: nomadic pastoralism. Second, the Mongolian Plateau is shared by two entities, with two different economic and social organisation: the Republic of Mongolia and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. Third, these two entities have also experienced two different population dynamics that have resulted in different population densities and population pressure on natural resources. Fourth, environmental degradation does not seem to be a problem in the Republic of Mongolia, while in Inner Mongolia the quantity and quality of the grasslands are in decline.The argument discussed here is that the difference in resource depletion and environmental degradation between the two regions is mainly the result of different population dynamics, which has resulted in different human and animal population densities.     

中国户籍制度改革地方实践的时空演进模式及其启示

改革开放之后的中国户籍制度改革历程中,地方政府逐步取代中央政府成为改革的积极推行者,因地制宜实施不同内容的户口政策成为户籍制度改革的新趋势。因此,对户籍改革地方实践的研究就显得尤为重要。文中借助于搜集到的大量地方户籍制度改革法规规章文件,选取暂住证制度、蓝印户口政策、小城镇户口改革、人才居住证制度这四项户口政策作为研究对象,对户籍制度改革的时空发展关系及改革内容的演进进行了分析,试图从政策扩散的视角分析其演化和扩散规律,最后得出了几点启示。     

中国超大城市常住外来和常住户籍人口居住－就业的空间错位--基于北京、上海和广州的实证

以北京、上海、广州作为中国超大城市的代表，探讨中国超大城市常住外来和常住户籍人口居住－就业空间错位的差异及其影响因素。总体而言，常住外来人口的居住－就业空间错位要高于常住户籍人口，且不同户籍属性人口的错位形态存在差异。分行业来看，公共管理和社会组织等公共服务业常住外来人口居住－就业空间错位程度相对较高，而制造业、居民服务和其他服务业常住户籍人口居住－就业空间错位程度相对较高。由计量分析发现，住房价格水平、就业集聚规模、高端产业比重和地区地方财政支出对不同户籍属性人口就业－居住空间分布差异均产生相似的影响；而租赁户数比重和低端产业比重对不同户籍属性人口的就业－居住空间分布则产生差异性的影响。     

新疆民族混合家庭户的分布与构成

本文根据人口普查数据及调研资料对新疆民族混合家庭户的分布与构成进行了描述：近年来混合户数量明显上升，并以民汉混合户增长更快；在全疆分布区域性差别较大，与当地的民族成份种类、城市化水平以及民族构成有关。同时，人口数量少的民族更易与其他民族组成混合家庭；同一宗教信仰的民族更易组成混合家庭，但回族例外。民汉混合户相对规模较小，结构简单。预计新疆民族混合家庭的数量将进一步增多，主要表现为族际婚姻增多。     

Accounting for migration in cohort-component projections of state and local populations

Migration is the most difficult component of state and local population growth to forecast accurately because it is more volatile than either births or deaths, and subject to much larger fluctuations within a short period of time. In addition, migration rates can be based on several different measures of migration and the base population. The choice of the appropriate base population has received little attention from demographic researchers, but can have a tremendous impact on population projections. In this article, I develop three different models for projecting migration, each using a different denominator for migration rates. Population projections for ten states are made, using identical data and cohort component techniques, except for the different formulations of migration rates. Differences among the three sets of projections are noted, and conclusions are drawn regarding their usefulness as forecasts of population growth.