Puts the magic back into life: Fathers’ experience of planned home birth

BackgroundIn Ireland, planned home birth is seen as an alternative but safe choice of maternity care. Women's experience of home birth is reported as positive but little is known about fathers’ thoughts and feelings about planned home birth.AimThe aim of the study was to explore fathers’ experience of planned home birth.MethodHermeneutic phenomenology was selected to explore the experiences of eight fathers whose partners had a recent planned home birth. Data were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA).ResultsThemes identified were ‘negotiating the decision’, ‘ownership of the birth’ and ‘changed way of being’. Fathers overcame their initial reservations about home birth before the decision to plan a home birth was agreed. They were actively involved with their partner in labour which gave themselves a sense of ownership of the experience and a valued post-birth intimacy. Their belief in natural birth was reaffirmed and the experience gave them a new perspective on life.ConclusionWhen men have a positive experience of childbirth they benefit personally and emotionally. This experience can strengthen their relationship with their partner and the family. Midwives are ideally placed to involve fathers actively in birth either in a home or hospital setting.     

Trends in differentials in the workforce participation of mothers with young children in Australia 2002–2008

This paper analyses changes in the employment rates and hours worked of mothers with pre-school age children in Australia between 2002 and 2008, using data from Waves 2 to 8 of the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey, a large-scale longitudinal survey of the household population. The employment rate of mothers with young children rose considerably over the period considered. However, the hours per employed mother changed relatively little on average. There are significant differentials in the mother??s employment rate by the number and ages of children, and by mother??s education, marital status and birthplace. Hours worked per employed mother vary with the mother??s age, education, marital status and birthplace, by the youngest child??s age, and the number of children under five. The paper pays particular attention to the change in these differentials over time. It finds the change over time for the mother??s employment rate varies significantly by the number of children, while for the hours worked it varies by mother??s education and marital dissolution, and the age of the youngest child. The implications of these patterns are discussed.     

“The decline of the size of the domestic group in England”

This paper examines the relationship between the number of partnerships ever engaged in and fertility, as measured by the average number of live births. It was found that the larger the number of partnerships in which a woman had been engaged the higher is her fertility. This relationship between partnerships and fertility remains even when such variables as present age, age at first partnership, age at first pregnancy, time lost between unions, time spent in partnerships, time since entry into the first partnership, type of sexual union at first pregnancy, present type of sexual union, and current use or non-use of contraceptives are controlled by cross tabulation. Correlation analysis also bears out the positive relationship between partnerships and fertility. The data for this study came from a sample survey of 4,199 women of lower, and lower middle, socio-economic status who were interviewed in 1971 on the island of Barbados. The authors have confidence in the reliability and validity of their data and hence in their findings and conclusions.

The authors believe that their findings contradict the previously established positive relationship between patterns of stability of sexual unions and fertility in English-speaking Caribbean societies. They conclude that the relationship was either not rigorously examined in the past or else has undergone changes as these societies modernize economically and socially.     

Changes in world inequality in length of life: 1970–2000

Previous research has revealed much global convergence over the past several decades in life expectancy at birth and in infant mortality, which are closely linked. But trends in the variance of length of life, and in the variance of length of adult life in particular, are less well understood. I examine life-span inequality in a comprehensive panel of 180 countries observed in 1970 and 2000. Convergence in infant mortality has unambiguously reduced world inequality in total length of life starting from birth, but world inequality in length of adult life has remained largely unchanged. Underlying both of these observations is a growing share of total inequality attributable to between-country variation. Especially among developed countries, the absolute level of between-country inequality has risen over time. The sources of widening inequality in length of life between countries remain unclear, but signs point away from changes in income, leaving patterns of knowledge diffusion as a likely candidate.     

Does the recording of parallel activities in Time Use Diaries affect the way people report their main activities?

It is widely recognised that studies based ontime diaries form the most valid and reliabledata source concerning peoples' timeallocation, but it is also documented thatvarious designs give somewhat divergentresults. Usually both main activities andpossible parallel activities are captured intime diaries. Much research has been undertakento evaluate various aspects of the design ofsuch surveys, but there has been littlesystematic investigation on the possibleeffects of recording parallel activities on theway people report their main activities. Asmost analyses focus mainly on primaryactivities, validity in this area is of utmostimportance. Utilising the Norwegian Time UseStudy from 1990–1991 we discuss in this paper if,and possibly how, the registration of secondaryactivities influences the picture we get ofpeople's main activities. Also the role of theexamples presented to participants isinspected. Our findings indicate that therecording of parallel activities does affectthe way people report their main activities.Especially indistinct and fuzzy activities likechildcare, socialising and television viewingseem to be sensitive, but effects differ forwomen and men. Undoubtedly, information onsecondary activities is needed in order tofully reflect people's time patterns, but it isimportant that guidelines for diary keeping andexamples presented to participants aredeveloped carefully so that information onprimary activities is not distorted.     

Is Leave for Fathers Pronatalist? A Mixed-Methods Study of the Impact of Fathers’ Uptake of Parental Leave on Couples’ Childbearing Intentions in South Korea

Population Research and Policy Review - While many countries with low birth rates have implemented policies incentivizing fathers to take parental leave with the anticipation that it will...     

Stability and Change of Regional Quality of life in Switzerland, 1978–1996

Data from surveys on local quality of life (QOL) in Switzerland amongthree age cohorts of a combined 87 000 recruits doing their basicmilitary training in 1978, 1987 and 1996 are used in this study in orderto answer the following questions: How stable was the QOLprofile of the whole country since 1978, and how much QOLprofiles changed since then at the four disaggregationlevels of the 26 cantons, 106 regions, 169 urban communities and 91neighborhoods or suburbs of the 7 largest urban agglomerations ofSwitzerland? At the first three disaggregation levels, most of theone-item measures used seem to be rather valid, i.e., they tended infact to generate stable as well as plausible results in unchangingsituations, or to react sensitively to “objectively” changingconditions of life. Where in public discourse QOL attributes arediffuse, i.e. where they are only loosely coupled to acertain village, town, region etc., or where the QOL profiles of smallerterritories are only based on answers of a few respondents, the strongerimpact that unknown measurement errors have under these conditions makesinterpreting the results of some single variables moredifficult. Especially at the level of cantons and regions, however, QOLprofiles defined by spatially well-focused sets of subjectiveindicators are easily interpretable and very stable. Through all threesurveys, they depict and preserve the distinctive characteristics of acanton or region remarkably well. In general, interpreting these surveyresults from the perspective of discursive social psychology proves tobe advantageous.

     

Social inequalities in disability-free life expectancy in the french male population, 1980–1991

We calculate aggregate indicators of population health for occupational groups to gauge changes in health disparities during the 1980-1991 period. The study is based on the experiences of French adult men in three major occupational classes: managers, manual workers, and an intermediary occupational group. Life table models show that managers have longer life expectancy and disability-free life expectancy (DFLE) than manual workers, and a shorter life expectancy with disability. The concurrent increases in life expectancy and DFLE during the period maintained the occupational disparities in health; the years lived with disability, however, declined for all groups, as for the entire French population.     

Comment on ‘expectancy of life at birth in 36 nationalities of the Soviet Union: 1958–60’

In D. Peter Mazur's recent article, ‘Expectancy of Life at Birth in 36 Nationalities of the Soviet Union: 1958–1960’, crude rates of death and expectancies of life for nationalities are derived from a scant base of data that includes crude rates of natural increase for administrative units and various ratios of composition of the populations of both administrative units and nationalities. Students of Soviet demography genuinely appreciate Mazur's attempt to derive rich results from meagre data. Of course, to do this strong assumptions are required and Mazur warns that ‘the quantitative results ... are valid only to the extent that the underlying methodology is theoretically sound’. One way to test the quantitative results is to examine how well the crude death rates for the nationalities calculated by Mazur reproduce the crude death rates for administrative units with which Mazur started. Mazur feels that the estimated death rates for nationalities closely agree with the death rates for administrative areas. The present author is sceptical. Application of the method described below does not show close correspondence, and this matter, which is crucial in the evaluation of Mazur's results, seems problematical.     

Fathers’ Use of Childbirth Leave in Spain. The Effects of the 13-Day Paternity Leave

This article investigates, for the case of Spain, to what extent the introduction in March 2007 of a non-transferable 13-day paternity leave has encouraged men to make greater use of childbirth leave. Data were drawn from the Spanish Economically Active Population Survey, covering the period 2005–2009. We use a natural experiment approach, comparing the behavior of wage earners fathers with children of less than 1 year of age before and after the reform and using mothers as control group. After estimating a difference-in-differences logistic regression model we obtain statistical evidence that there is a higher percentage of males on leave in the reference week in the post-reform period (after 2007). The article also analyzes some of the personal and socio-economic determinants of the fathers’ use of childbirth leave. Fathers are more likely to be on leave if they have stability in employment, if there are facilities for reconciling work and family life (working in the public sector) and if the partner is employed. The father’s age has an interesting U-shaped influence.     

Gender differences in life expectancy at birth in Greece 1994–2017

In this paper, we analyse the difference in life expectancy at birth between females and males in the Greek population between the years 1994–2017. After constructing life tables per gender, we used the method of Arriaga in order to decompose life expectancy’s differences by age and sex. We found that the gender gap increased until 2009 and decreased afterwards. Moreover, we estimated the differential contribution of the broad age groups of the population to the regulation of gender inequalities in longevity and studied the different effect of the causes of death. Besides age, the most important regulators are the neoplasms and the diseases of the circulatory system, followed by the external causes of morbidity and mortality, as well as the diseases of the respiratory system. All other causes of death play a marginal role. The results of the analysis indicate the need for the development and expansion of several public interventions and programs in order, not only to reduce the gender inequalities in longevity, but also to reduce the prevalence of several preventable diseases in the population.

     

The effect of women’s participation in the labour market on the postponement of first childbirth: a comparison of Italy and Hungary

This paper analyses the effect of increasing female participation in the labour market on the transition to first childbirth. Regional perspectives are considered to help us understand how postponement behaviour is changing over time and at different paces in each region. The analysis is based on the first wave of the Generations and Gender Survey of Italy and Hungary. We use a multilevel event history random intercept model to examine the effect of individuals’ positions in the labour market on the transition to motherhood, controlling for differences in macrolevel factors related to regional backgrounds in the two countries. The regional data for Italy came from the Italian National Statistical Institute, and for Hungary from our imputation developed from the time series available at the national and the regional levels (Hungarian Central Statistical Office, KSH). The postponement of first childbirth is strongly linked to the increasing involvement of women in paid work, but with opposite effects in the two countries. Even if we control for changes in women’s levels of education over time and for shifts in women’s aspirations and levels of attainment in the labour market, we find that being employed remains a risk factor for the postponement of the first birth among Italian women, and a strong protective factor among Hungarian women. At the contextual level, the variables that take into account the regional socio-economic changes provides evidence of important effects on individual behaviour among Italian women, and of only minor effects among Hungarian women. All of the regional breakdowns in both Italy and Hungary show that the postponement of motherhood goes hand-in-hand with the acceptance of deep cultural and socio-economic changes.     

The effect of World War I and the 1918 influenza pandemic on cohort life expectancy of South Australian males born in 1881–1900

Cohort lifetime distribution functions have been estimated for the twenty separate calendar year cohorts of South Australian males born in 1881–1900. A cohort life expectancy at birth was calculated from each of these distribution functions, and a composite assessment made of the reduction in cohort life expectancy at birth due to both World War I 1914–1918 and the 1918 Influenza Pandemic. By partitioning each cohort, the cohort life expectancy at birth of the subgroup that had overseas military service is estimated to be 85 to 90 per cent of the cohort life expectancy at birth of the subgroup that remained in South Australia.     

Social Aspects of Sustainable Competitiveness in the Selected European Countries in the Period 2012–2015

Social Indicators Research - The paper examines the impact of the social dimension of sustainable competitiveness on the economic dimension, where the social dimension is represented by Indicators...     

Changes in the Living Arrangements of Elderly People in Greece: 1974–1999

During the period 1974–1999 two contrasting trends were observed with respect to the living arrangements of older people in Greece. On the one hand the proportion of older people living with their unmarried children had been slightly rising while on the other hand the proportion of older people living with their married children declined substantially. As a result of the declining trend in the incidence of co-residence with married children the percentage of older people living with their children or other members of their extended family fell by 25% points (from a 58% in 1974 to about 33% in 1999). Our analysis suggests that the main driving force behind the decrease in co-residence between older people and their married children was the rise in the incomes of older people (which resulted from some important exogenous policy changes which increased substantially pension incomes). On the other hand, the main driving force behind the slight increase in the co-residence with unmarried children was the increase in the percentage of unmarried younger people (which is associated with the postponement in the age of marriage) and the high and in some cases increasing needs of children’s generation.     

Measuring the spatial integration of the China-born population in Australia, 1981–2016

Journal of Population Research - The China-born population have a long history of migrating to and settling in Australia, and have recently grown to become the third largest overseas-born...     

Loss of life expectancy due to respiratory infectious diseases: findings from the global burden of disease study in 195 countries and territories 1990–2017

Journal of Population Research - Understanding of the patterns of and changes in mortality from respiratory infectious diseases (RID) and its contribution to loss of life expectancy (LE) is...     

Are the Real Time Costs of Children Equally Shared by Mothers and Fathers?

This article attempts to estimate the time cost of children in France for couples who do not forgo any income, on the basis of the INSEE 1998–1999 time use survey. Having a child involves an increase in domestic work and/or the dedication of occupational income to pay for childcare. The reduction in “time for oneself”—leisure and personal care, i.e. 24 h less working hours paid or unpaid—is modelled for a dual-earner couple in full-time employment who do not use childcare services to increase his/her leisure time. Taking a couple in full-time employment avoids income endogeneity bias, since income is reduced by career interruption and part-time employment. These estimates account for this selection by full-time paid work. The article shows that time cost is roughly 1 h 30 min a day for a child aged 3–14, and is 4 h a day for each younger child. As this cost rises, the more fathers sacrifice some of their free time. The father and mother of two young children with a childminder thus each have only 11 hours of free time (including sleep) per day. The time cost of a large family (3 children) is equivalent to a full-time job on the labour market. In France, work-life balance policies and family pension entitlements only cover a small part of this cost.     

The Evolution of the Occupational Structure in Italy, 2007–2017

Social Indicators Research - Many advanced economies have experienced significant job polarization in the last decades, with an increase in the employment share and relative wage of both low-wage...