Children’s Sex and the Happiness of Parents

Demographers are interested in sex preferences for children because they can skew sex ratios and influence population-level fertility, parenting behavior, and family outcomes. Based on parity progression ratios, in most European countries, there are no sex preferences for a first child, but a strong preference for mixed-sex children. We hypothesize that mixed-sex preferences also influence parental happiness. Parents’ disappointment with a second child of the same sex as the first could have negative effects for parents and children. We use longitudinal data from the German Socio-Economic Panel and the British Household Panel Study to examine parental happiness by the children’s sex and analyze whether these effects differ by parent’s sex, age, nativity, and educational attainment. The results are only partially consistent with predictions from parity progression ratios. As expected, parental happiness does not depend on the sex of the first child. We find weak evidence suggesting that two boys decrease happiness, but the findings are not consistent across German and British data or across subpopulations. Moreover, two girls do not reduce happiness. Although sex preferences influence fertility, they appear to have little impact on happiness, perhaps because of unobserved positive factors associated with having same-sex children.     

Couples’ First Child Intentions and Disagreement: An Analysis of the Italian Case

The aim of this article is to examine the determinants of couples’ childbearing intentions, by explicitly taking into account the agreement or disagreement of the two members of the couple. The relevance of the partner’s reproductive intentions has been well recognised in the literature, but few studies have provided in-depth analyses of the fertility plans of both partners. In our study, we used the household-level data from a survey on “Family and Social Subjects”, carried out by the Italian National Statistical Office in 2003, which provides characteristics on both partners. We adopted a couple’s perspective which allows us to give a unitary picture of the concordant or discordant nature of partners’ first child intentions. We found that a lack of agreement in the reproductive decision-making process is likely to occur in the Italian couples where the role of the woman is less traditional. In particular, cohabitant, highly educated and working women are more likely to be in disagreement with their partners in the decisions concerning having a first child. Being religious may be also a source of discordance in the couples’ reproductive plans. Our findings support the utility of taking a couple-based approach in studies on fertility intentions.     

Who Delays Childbearing? The Associations Between Time to First Birth,Personality Traits and Education

Using data from a large-scale survey, the British Household Panel Survey, this paper assesses the influence of personality traits on the timing of first childbirth and investigates whether, and in what way, personality traits explain the differences in maternity timing across educational groups. We estimate a log-logistic model of the time to first childbirth and show that there is a statistically significant relationship between the Big Five personality traits and the timing of motherhood. The results also show that highly qualified women who are ‘open-minded’ have the lowest hazards of childbirth, lower than similar less educated counterparts.     

“It’s Time to Ease Your Fears—and Your Sphincter”: Gender and Power in Contemporary Media Discourses of Heterosexual Anal Sex

Gender Issues - Heterosexual anal sex has become fashionable within popular culture, with unprecedented visibility in the media landscape. In this article I map the meanings ascribed to it across a...     

Misogyny: It’s Still the Law—An Empirical Assessment of the Missouri Juvenile Court System’s Processing of Rape and Robbery Offenders

Patriarchal societies have long used their legal systems as a vehicle of oppression. This article examines the extent to which bias against women can still be discerned in the content of the criminal law by comparing and contrasting Missouri??s forcible rape and robbery in the first degree statutes. The study then analyzes the application of these statutes by examining all of the forcible rape and robbery in the first degree cases processed by Missouri??s juvenile court system between January 1, 2001 and December 31, 2004 (N?=?617). The results of these analyses suggest that Missouri??s robbery statute is more protective of victims than is its rape statute. They also indicate that at least among juveniles, robbery offenders are sanctioned more severely than rape offenders in terms of detention, informal adjustment and adjudication.     

Italy’s Path to Very Low Fertility: The Adequacy of Economic and Second Demographic Transition Theories

The deep drop of the fertility rate in Italy to among the lowest in the world challenges contemporary theories of childbearing and family building. Among high-income countries, Italy was presumed to have characteristics of family values and female labor force participation that would favor higher fertility than its European neighbors to the north. We test competing economic and cultural explanations, drawing on new nationally representative, longitudinal data to examine first union, first birth, and second birth. Our event history analysis finds some support for economic determinants of family formation and fertility, but the clear importance of regional differences and of secularization suggests that such an explanation is at best incomplete and that cultural and ideational factors must be considered.     

Voyage to Moral Autonomy: Education in Pride and Prejudice

D. D, Devlin in his book Jane Austen and Education claims that "all Jane Austen's novels, and many of her minor works, unfinished piece and juvenlia, are about education." The statement may sound surprising, for people nowadays are apt to think that education is something that takes place only in school. Fortunately, Jane Austen did not think the way many of u do now; she thought that education began at home, and the first teachers were parents; she held that education was both an intellectual experience and mo     

Navigating New Socio-Demographic Landscapes: Using Anthropological Demography to Understand the ‘Persistence’ of High and Early Fertility Among British Pakistanis

British Pakistanis continue to have earlier and higher fertility than other ethnic groups in the UK, despite a recent rise in educational and employment opportunities for British Pakistani women. In this paper we present findings from an interview-based study with 91 British Pakistani women and men in the Northeast of England, in order to throw some light on the reproductive choices and constraints that underlie this apparent demographic anomaly. Drawing on detailed reproductive narratives, we show that, contrary to common assumptions within the literature, relatively high and early fertility does not necessarily indicate a passive acceptance of ??cultural norms?? or a reluctance to engage with new social and economic opportunities. For some young women at least, early motherhood represents a deliberate and strategic choice: a way of managing different sets of family-building and other aspirations, embedded within a complex interplay of relationships between individuals, couples and wider families. This study contributes to the emerging ??inter-discipline?? of anthropological demography, which offers important insights into population processes that neither discipline can do alone.     

Eminent Social Scientists’ Views on Immigration Issues: 1985 and 2006

Following up on a research note by Stephen Moore published in 1985, this article compares the results of the survey conducted in 1985 against one carried out in 2006 on the views of eminent social scientists (economists, political scientists, psychologists, sociologists, historians and anthropologists) on immigration issues. Specifically, the surveys report on whether the respondents are likely to favor an increase in the number of immigrants who are allowed into the United States and other issues such as whether immigrants improve the economy.

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The Human Capital Model and Federal Employees’ Pay: Gender, Veteran Status, and Occupation

Do the human capital variables education and experience, and the chosen occupations for which male and female veterans and nonveterans qualify affect pay in the federal civil service? Are the strength and direction of relationships similar before and after the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? When compared to federal employees in other agencies, are differences in pay based on gender and veteran status the same for those who work for the Department of Defense (DOD)? This is an ordinary least squares regression analysis of Office of Personnel Management records for a 1 % random sample of federal employees in 2000 and 2009. These regression models based on the Human Capital Model, data from years before and after the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and separate analyses for DOD and non-DOD agencies differ from earlier analyses. Whether or not an employee works for the DOD, years of education and experience are significantly related to pay. In addition, between 2000 and 2009 the gender-based wage gap for nonveterans decreased while the gap between the pay of the reference group and male and female veterans grew for federal employees who did not work for the DOD. In the same years, for DOD employees there are fewer differences in pay based on veteran status and gender and race. With some exceptions for the DOD, the significant positive relationships between pay and occupation became significant negative relationships when the pay of women in each occupation was analyzed.     

‘Unnatural’, ‘Unwomanly’, ‘Uncreditable’ and ‘Undervalued’: The Significance of Being a Childless Woman in Australian Society

Childlessness is an increasing trend, internationally and in Australia. The few studies exploring the lived experiences of childless women have been conducted in America, Canada and the United Kingdom; predominantly during the 1980s and 1990s. The experiences of childless women in contemporary Australia remain under-researched. This hermeneutic phenomenological study sought to enhance understanding of the lived experience of being a childless woman in contemporary Australia. In-depth interviews with five childless women revealed five key themes as significant facets of the experiences of childless women: notions of ‘natural’ and ‘unnatural’; woman = mother; childlessness as a discrediting attribute; feeling undervalued; and the significance of being childless. By privileging the experiences of childless women in a pronatalist society, it is apparent that misconceptions and stereotypes about childlessness continue to pervade. This study contributes to understanding this growing population group; highlighting that while childlessness is increasingly acknowledged, it is still not completely understood.     

Between ‘Pioneers’ of the Cardiovascular Revolution and Its ‘Late Followers’: Mortality Changes in the Czech Republic and Poland Since 1968

After several decades of stagnation, mortality in most Central European countries started to decrease after 1989. The Czech Republic and Poland were the first former Communist countries in this region to experience a rapid and sustained increase in life expectancy. This study focuses on the trends in cause-of-death mortality that have contributed to the recent progress in these two countries. The analysis is based on the cause-of-death time series (1968–2013) reconstructed in accordance with the 10th ICD revision, which makes the data fully comparable over the full period under study. Actual trends in cause-specific mortality are presented, and age, sex and causes of death components of life expectancy changes are disentangled. In both countries, the reduction in cardiovascular mortality at adult and old ages was crucial for the increase in life expectancy after 1991. Results are discussed in the context of institutional changes that occurred after the fall of Communism, such as the reorientation of health policies and the emergence of non-governmental organizations. Changes in health-related attitudes and behaviours as well as structural changes in societies, notably the rising share of persons with tertiary education, are also discussed.