The Impact of Perceived Costs and Rewards of Childbearing on Entry into Parenthood: Evidence from a Panel Study

The impact of perceived costs and rewards of having a child on the actual timing of entry into parenthood is examined among women and men. To this end, data are used from a five-wave panel survey among Dutch young adults spanning 13 years. Expected costs and rewards are found to influence the timing of parenthood among both women and men. Anticipated costs to one’s career and to one’s level of individual autonomy and an anticipated increase in one’s sense of security affect the timing of entry into motherhood. Anticipated costs to one’s career and spending power, and anticipated rewards in terms of one’s sense of security and quality of the partner relationship affect the timing of entry into fatherhood.     

Employment After Parenthood: Women of Migrant Origin and Natives Compared

Motherhood negatively affects female employment in majority populations across Europe. Although employment levels are particularly low among women of migrant origin, little is known about the motherhood–employment link in migrant populations. This paper investigates whether family formation differentially affects the labour market position of migrant women and their descendants compared to natives. Using longitudinal microdata from the Belgian social security registers, 12,167 women are followed from 12 months before until 48 months after the birth of their first child for the period 1999–2010. Levels of activity (versus inactivity), employment (versus unemployment) and full-time employment (versus part-time employment) are compared between natives and first- and second-generation women of Southern European, Eastern European, Turkish and Moroccan origin. We find that activity and employment levels decrease to a larger extent following the transition to parenthood among women of migrant origin than among natives. With respect to activity levels, differences between second-generation women and natives are largely explained by socio-demographic and pre-birth job characteristics, while differences between first-generation women and natives are not, suggesting that other factors such as tied migration patterns determine labour market attachment among first-generation mothers. With respect to employment levels, unemployment is increasing more among women of migrant origin of both generations than among natives, also when controlling for background characteristics, which signals differential access to stable job positions as well as to family policies. In sum, the results draw attention to the challenge that parenthood creates for mothers of migrant origin in terms of retaining and gaining employment, but also to the role of labour market entry and early career positions.     

What’s in a Name? The Negative Implications of Gender Neutrality in the Intimate Partner Violence Prevention and Intervention Literature

Research and interventions for intimate partner violence in current use largely consist of practices aimed at getting victims to leave their abusers, rather than helping perpetrators stop their violence. In the context of parenthood, the focus on programs targeting women experiencing violence has resulted in an emphasis on mothers’ responsibility for mitigating the adverse effects of witnessing violence on children. This has led to insufficient understanding of violent men’s identities as fathers. This narrative review employed content analysis to analyze the discursive constructions of men and women as parents in a selection of peer reviewed articles about the prevention of intimate partner violence during childbearing years that were published between January 2000 and January 2015 (N = 37). A quantitative word count was conducted in order to determine the frequency with which these articles referred to men and women in their parental roles when employing prevention and intervention strategies. Women were consistently identified as mothers in all areas of the literature, while the prevalence of men’s identities as fathers was confined only to the specific, specialized area of the literature that is aimed at men alone. The implications of these findings for future research and practice in the area of prevention and intervention of intimate partner violence specifically in the context of parenthood are discussed.     

Anticipated (Grand-)Parental Childcare Support and the Decision to Become a Parent

Based on a cost-reduction argument, this study explored whether anticipated childcare support from their mothers influenced adult daughters’ decisions to have their first child. Using six waves of the German Family Panel (pairfam), discrete-time hazard models (N = 3155 women) were estimated for the transition to the decision to have the first child. Anticipated childcare support from the women’s mothers was approximated by the travelling distance between adult daughters and their mothers, a measure whose suitability was tested empirically. The results indicated that women in a position to anticipate having access to childcare support in the future decided to make the transition to parenthood earlier. This finding highlights both the strength of social interaction effects on fertility decision-making and the importance of intergenerational relationships for individual fertility histories already at their very beginning.     

Cognition,Health, and Well-Being in a Rural Sub-Saharan African Population

Cognitive health is an important dimension of well-being in older ages, but few studies have investigated the demography of cognitive health in sub-Saharan Africa’s growing population of mature adults (= persons aged 45+). We use data from the Malawi Longitudinal Study of Families and Health to document the age and gender patterns of cognitive health, the contextual and life-course correlates of poor cognitive health, and the understudied linkages between cognitive and physical/mental well-being. Surprisingly, the age pattern of decline in cognitive health is broadly similar to that observed in the USA. We also find that women have substantially worse cognitive health than men and experience a steeper age gradient in cognitive ability. Strong social ties and exposure to socially complex environments are associated with higher cognitive health, as is higher socioeconomic status. Poor cognitive health is associated with adverse social and economic well-being outcomes such as less nutrition intake, lower income, and reduced work efforts even in this subsistence agriculture context. Lower levels of cognitive health are also strongly associated with increased levels of depression and anxiety and are associated with worse physical health measured through both self-reports and physical performance. Our findings suggest that cognition plays a key—but understudied—role in shaping late-life well-being in low-income populations.     

Gender Differences in the Transition to Adulthood in France: Is There Convergence Over the Recent Period?

Numerous studies have shown that educational attainment and labour force status have a strong impact on the timing of family formation for both men and women. The effects of educational level, school enrolment and employment seem to be different for men and women. The aim of this article is to investigate how gender-specific differences in family formation have changed over time, and more particularly, whether these differences have disappeared in recent years. We use a large-scale survey (more than 240,000 men and women born after 1940) conducted within the French 1999 census and apply event history techniques. The sample size allows us to test our hypotheses with more sophisticated models that cover several interactions. Our data fully support the convergence hypothesis for men and women with regard to the effects of educational attainment and working status (working/not working). However, it is only partly relevant for the effects of their school enrolment status on entry into first union and parenthood. For both men and women, the impact of work experience on first union disappears over time, but remains important for first parenthood.     

The Effect of Competing Intentions and Behaviour on Short-Term Childbearing Intentions and Subsequent Childbearing

This article examines the effect that intentions to start studying and to enter into employment may have on childbearing intentions and subsequent childbearing. The analysis also includes the impact of the corresponding behaviour: currently studying or being employed. The theoretical background draws on Barber’s study of competing attitudes, with an emphasis on competing intentions. Based on survey and register data for Bulgaria, the analyses reveal the effect of competing intentions. For example, the intention to start studying hampers the construction and subsequent realisation of intentions to have a child within 2 years. The actual behaviour of currently studying has the same effect; both effects are most pronounced for intentions to become a parent and for actual entry into parenthood. Inversely, an intention to enter into employment facilitates childbearing intentions and, for men, so does the behaviour of being employed. The latter result holds for women’s intention to have a second child. The findings indicate that when childbearing intentions and realisation are analysed, it is preferable to consider persons with a competing intention to start studying either as a separate group or group them with those who are currently studying, not with those who are not. Logistic regression models and interaction effects are applied for the analyses.     

Comparing the Childrearing Lifetimes of Britain's Divorce-Revolution Men and Women

British men and women who became parents in the 1960s and 1970s were about to experience a new regime of marital instability. The effect of this on the balance between men's and women's contributions to childrearing is potentially very large. This study estimates the co-residential foundations of the new gender balance, focusing on the measurement of lifetime number of years of living with dependent-aged children. A variant of the family-status life table is used to combine two data sources: census panel observations of family status across three points ten years apart, and survey data on the years between censuses. One-quarter of women who became parents in the 1960s, and one-third of women who became parents in the 1970s, have been or will be a lone mother at some point. Lone parenthood is the main way in which women's childrearing lifetimes differ from men's, with seven and eight years respectively of lone motherhood per ever-lone-mother of the 1960s and 1970s parenting cohorts. Men's lone-father years and greater numbers of years spent in second families together provide an average of two years offset against women's lone mother years.     

我国女性休闲生活的历史变迁及其当代形态

女性休闲是休闲文化的重要组成部分.我国古代女性是无闲阶层或少闲阶层;到了现代,女性的观念发生了深刻变化,生活方式也发生了飞跃,于是她们已成为学习、体育、服饰、艺术、旅游等休闲生活和休闲消费的参与主体,同时也是美容美发、服装和旅游业等休闲产业的经营主体.     

Who, What, Where, and When? Specifying the Impact of Educational Attainment and Labour Force Participation on Family Formation

This article studies the impact of educational attainment and labour force participation on the timing of entering a union, marriage, and parenthood, using data from Flemish and Dutch young adults born between 1961 and 1965. This impact is hypothesized to be contingent on sex, the event under consideration, the societal context in which family formation occurs, and the age of young adults. As expected, educational attainment has a stronger negative effect on women's entry into parenthood than on their entry into a union, a stronger negative effect on women's entry into marriage and parenthood in the Netherlands than in Flanders, and a stronger effect during the early stages of young adulthood than later on. Men's educational attainment did not show the expected positive effect on family formation. Enrollment in full-time education delays family formation, but more so in Flanders than in the Netherlands. Unemployment delays family formation among men, but only in Flanders.     

休闲与幸福:错综复杂的关系

幸福感概念构建在人具有主动性这一假定上,即人们若欲获得幸福,必须积极行动,唯有借助个人努力才可实现。幸福感亦为目标,一旦达成便可证明一个人整体的幸福。因此,我们愿意朝着幸福和良好的生活品质而努力这一事实,也更深刻地诠释了幸福的本质。另外,心理和社会的双重积极是幸福感的源泉。幸福的人总能积极地对待生活,不论眼前还是今后。休闲能够带来幸福,但休闲并非幸福本身。事实上,休闲是一种活动,是人们在空闲时间为了让生活变得更精彩、更有意义而做的事情。总体而言,我们如果因某种休闲活动而感到幸福,表明我们至少在一定程度上得到了满足。虽然休闲并不等同于幸福,但毋庸置疑,它对创造幸福至关重要。我们在休闲研究中绝不能忽略休闲与幸福这个当今生活中最具活力领域之间的联系,否则,我们将会丧失提升休闲与科学及公众之间关联性的机会。     

社会转型下浙江省女性的生活方式

根据浙江省第三期妇女社会地位调查结果,对选取的浙江省2567名对象的研究结果和数据,从活动范围及社会交往、生活时间分配、休闲方式、消费方式和宗教信仰五个维度进行考察,研究社会转型下浙江省女性的生活方式,以及对在生活方式方面存在的性别和城乡差异进行分析,并与2000年浙江省第二期妇女社会地位的调查结果进行比较。研究显示,十年来,浙江女性的生活方式有较大的发展,在生活方式各维度上存在的两性之间、城乡之间的差别将随着人们社会性别意识的提高不断缩小,由生活方式折射出的女性的社会地位有了较大的提高。     

Gender Inequality in the Home: The Role of Relative Income,Support for Traditional Gender Roles,and Perceived Entitlement

Drawing on relative resources and gender construction theories, we examined economic and psychological factors that affect married parents’ domestic labor. Married parents from the United States (N = 801) reported whether they earned less, equal, or more income than their spouses, as well as the proportion of housework and childcare they performed. In line with a relative resources perspective, participants reported doing less domestic labor as their relative income increased. Yet, in line with gender construction theories, women reported doing more domestic labor than their spouses, regardless of their relative income. Moreover, support for traditional gender roles mediated the effect of income on domestic labor for women, but not men. In contrast, perceived domestic entitlement (feeling justified doing less domestic labor than one’s spouse) mediated the effect of income on domestic labor for men, but not women. The implications for the future of gender equality are discussed.     

试论休闲对于城市发展的文化意义

休闲文化就是使人回归人的本性、使人成为人的休闲活动及其要素的总和,它具有三重结构和三种基本特征。休闲文化包含的主要内容有 :恰当的休闲观念,普遍认同的休闲价值,自觉遵循的生活方式和政府决策的休闲导向。休闲文化对城市发展的价值与意义,既表现在对城市的物质形态的影响上,更深刻地体现在城市的精神层面上。休闲文化最基本的价值在于它能改变城市形象,让城市更宜居,使城市更具创新活力,并提升生活品质和城市境界。如果说休闲的经济价值是休闲城市发展的外驱力和催化剂,那么,休闲的文化价值就是城市发展的原动力和 DNA。     

Partner Choice and the Transition to Parenthood for Second-Generation Women of Turkish and Moroccan Origin in Belgium

Studies on fertility among second-generation migrant women across Europe have mainly treated the second generation as a rather homogenous group, not linking and distinguishing fertility patterns by type of partner. This study investigates how and to what extent the origin and generation of the partner (endogamous or exogamous as well as diversity in endogamy) of Turkish and Moroccan second-generation women in Belgium is related to first-birth rates. We distinguish three types of partnerships: those in an endogamous union with a first-generation partner, those in an endogamous union with a second-generation partner, and those in an exogenous union where the partner is of native Belgian origin. We use linked Census-Register data for the period 2001–2006. Applying event history models, our findings reveal clear differences between the endogamous and exogamous unions with respect to the timing of first births. Second-generation women of both origin groups have the lowest parenthood rates when the partner is of native Belgian origin. However, no variation is found within endogamous unions. For endogamous unions with a first-generation partner, the parenthood rates are approximately the same (and not higher, as was expected) compared to when the partner is also of second generation.     

论女性、性别与休闲问题

在过去的近三十年里,女性、性别与休闲研究经历了不同的发展阶段。学术界已经开始从女性主义视角来研究女性、性别和休闲,其目的就是要了解这些现象,从而推进男性和女性这两种不同的休闲生活的社会变化。在探讨女性及休闲的不同研究阶段的同时,总结英语国家的研究收获,并就如何从不同文化视角来探讨上述观点提出几点建议。     

Job Insecurity and the Timing of Parenthood: A Comparison between Eastern and Western Germany

This article contributes to the ongoing debate on the economic determinants of fertility behavior by addressing the role of job insecurity in couples’ intentions concerning parenthood and its timing. It starts from the hypothesis that cultural values moderate individuals’ reactions to job insecurity and the way it is related to family formation. With a systematic thematic content analysis of a set of semi-structured interviews with childless men and women around the age of 30 in eastern and western Germany, we are able to show that there are substantial differences in the consequences of job insecurity on intentions to have a first child. In western Germany, a relatively secure job career is expected to precede family formation, and this sequence of transitions is rather rigid, whereas in eastern Germany job security and family formation are thought of and practiced as parallel investments. We suggest that the lack of convergence in family formation patterns between eastern and western Germany after the unification of the country in 1990 is partially related to different attitudes toward job insecurity in the two contexts.     

闲暇与幸福的关系：一个被遗忘的德性伦理问题

在亚里士多德的学说中,闲暇与幸福的关系是作为一个德性伦理问题被提出和探讨的。亚里士多德认为闲暇既是实现幸福的手段,也是幸福本身,两者通过德性达成统一。现代休闲研究也关注休闲与幸福之间的关系,这种关注看似是对亚里士多德关于闲暇与幸福关系探讨的延续,但实际上更偏向于从社会心理学或历史角度研究,缺乏德性伦理学的理论基础。当代德性伦理研究中虽有学者提倡恢复亚里士多德论及的德性与幸福的概念,却未体现出对闲暇概念的足够重视。这一方面是因为闲暇内在包含的古典精英主义论调在现代社会的不适用性;另一方面则是因为闲暇在当代德性伦理学的发展中失去了其对于实现幸福的必要性。重返亚里士多德的德性伦理框架,有助于厘清休闲与幸福的关系,从而引导人们理性判断休闲活动的适当性,合理安排休闲时间,并通过休闲实现美好生活。     

论休闲与审美

当前,休闲已成为审美文化的一个重要组成部分,越来越被人们重视。休闲具有一定的审美蕴含和审美情趣。审美是休闲的最高层次和最主要方式。休闲不仅是个简单的时间概念和社会现象,更是一个美学概念和文化范畴。从休闲和审美的目的和构成条件上来看,二者有很大的差异性;但是从价值取向和最高境界上来解析,二者却达到了完美的融合。休闲能使人在精神的自由中历经审美的、道德的、创造的、超越的生活方式,其根本内涵就是生存境界的审美化。     

论孔子的休闲活动及休闲理念

孔子不仅是我国的思想家和教育家,而且还是一位善于休闲的大家。孔子一生有着丰富的休闲活动,且其休闲活动蕴含着颇有价值的休闲理念。孔子认同并践行休闲活动,并在休闲实践中用礼制教化和休闲淡然的方式规范休闲,提倡人与自然和谐的休闲理念,继而在休闲中发展了休闲的美学、哲学意境。孔子的休闲活动及休闲理念对于我们今天的休闲有着启示和借鉴的作用。