Survivorship Of Sons Under Conditions Of Improving Mortality

The strong desire of fathers to be assured that at least one son will outlive them, coupled with the traditional belief in a high probability of sons predeceasing their father, is often a deterrent to restriction of family size. A calculation of the probabilities of survivorship of sons on the basis of the United Nations Model Life Tables, however, shows that the probabilities of a father being outlived by even one son are remarkably high, particularly after that son has survived the first two years of life. When cohort tables are used, reflecting expected mortality improvements, the probabilities are even higher. In general, it is found that the probability that a two-year-old son will outlive his father is 80% or better, subject to the current mortality level and the age of the father.Finally, this paper examines (1) probabilities of a father being outlived by at least one of two or three sons, (2) probabilities of a mother or of both parents being outlived by a son, and (3) the probability that at least one of two sons will outlive a father when allowance is made for the fact that mortality probabilities of the sons are not independent of one another.     

Missing time with parents: son preference among Asians in the USA

We study prevalence of son preference in families of East and South Asian origin living in the USA by investigating parental time investments in children using American Time Use Surveys. Estimates show that East and South Asian mothers spend an additional hour of quality time per day with their young (aged 0–2 years) sons than with young daughters; son preference in mothers’ time allocation declines as children get older. East and South Asian fathers’ time with young children is gender neutral. We find gender specialization in time with children aged 6–17 with fathers spending more time with sons and mothers spending more time with daughters.     

Child gender and father involvement in fragile families

In this article, we use data from the first two waves of the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study to examine the effects of child gender on father involvement and to determine if gender effects differ by parents' marital status. We examine several indicators of father involvement, including whether the father acknowledges "ownership" of the child, whether the parents live together when the child is one year old, and whether the father provides financial support when the child is one year old. We find some evidence that child gender is associated with unmarried father involvement around the time of the child's birth: sons born to unmarried parents are more likely than daughters to receive the father's surname, especially if the mother has no other children. However, one year after birth, we find very little evidence that child gender is related to parents' living arrangements or the amount of time or money fathers invest in their children. In contrast, and consistent with previous research, fathers who are married when their child is born are more likely to live with a son than with a daughter one year after birth. This pattern supports an interpretation of child gender effects based on parental beliefs about the importance of fathers for the long-term development of sons.     

Our experience with population censuses in 1953 and 1964]

We have accumulated some valuable experience through 2 successful population censuses in 1953 and 1964. A series of special census committees were established at each administrative level--from central government to local areas. Periodic 2-way telephone communication between higher and lower offices was planned. The census was conducted on the basis of permanent population in 1953 and 1964. A standard time of June 30, midnight was used in both cases. Census items must be clear, easy to use, and standardized. Name, relationship to head of household, sex, age, race, and present address were listed in 1954. Birth date, class, educational level, and occupation were added in 1964. For accurate data census districts and their boundaries must be clearly marked. Registering the whole family by head of household at the nearby temporary census station was found to be convenient, efficient, and accurate. Door-to-door visits by census clerks were also used. To complete such a cumbersome task in a short period of time high-quality census personnel were trained to fully understand the significance, the regulations, and the technical details of the task. Nationwide education and propaganda about the census were important for success. 3 levels of reporting (county, province, and central) in 1953 and 4 levels in 1964 were used to check results and correct mistakes. The announcement of the results to the public after the entire census was completed provided an opportunity for the public to confirm the data and correct mistakes. This process of confirmation is an essential quality control step.     

UNIVERSAL VERSUS ECONOMICALLY POLARIZED CHANGE IN AGE AT FIRST BIRTH: A FRENCH-BRITISH COMPARISON

France and the United Kingdom represent two contrasting institutional models for the integration of employment and motherhood, respectively the 'universalistic' regime type that offers subsidized child-care and maternity-leave benefits to women at all income levels, and the 'means-testing' regime type that mainly offers income-tested benefits for single mothers. Using the two countries as comparative case studies, we develop and test the hypothesis that the socio-economic gradient of fertility timing has become increasingly mediated by family policy. We hypothesize and find increasing polarization in age at first birth by pre-childbearing occupation between the 1980s and 1990s in the U.K. but not in France. Early first childbearing persisted in the U.K. only among women in low-skill occupations, while shifts towards increasingly late first births occurred in clerical/secretarial occupations and above. Increases in age at first birth occurred across all occupations in France, but this was still much earlier on average than for all but low-skill British mothers.     

外来人口的职业流动与就业适应——以武汉市为例的实证研究

运用武汉市2000年人口普查资料和2005年外来人口就业的调查资料,研究城市外来劳动力的职业过程及其适应性。由于其择业过程受到政策的限制和明显的歧视,外来劳动力进城后通常职业变动频繁,表现出不断寻求最小歧视和最大收益岗位的特征。但是,外来人口在职业流动中职业地位的变化并不大。外来人口要想真正适应城市生活,为城市文化所接纳,除了需要提供相应政策、制度以外,还需要解决一个质的匹配问题,也就是他们能否满足城市经济生活所必需的知识和技能积累。     

Recent patterns in downward income mobility: Sinking boats in a rising tide

This paper employs four measures of downward income mobility and 1984–1986 PSID data to examine the extent and possible causes of downward mobility. Despite modest economic growth during this period, a substantial number of Americans experienced downward income mobility, roughly 5% to 20%. The majority of the downwardly mobile initially lived with a nonelderly, Caucasian, male, less-educated, working household head. Logit analysis indicates that the following factors significantly increase the odds of downward income mobility: Male headship; minority headship; family dissolution; nest-leaving; and having a head who works in mining, construction, manufacturing, transportation, trade, or farming. The following factors significantly lower the odds of downward income mobility: Retaining the same household head; having a college-educated head; having a head who works in a professional, technical, or operative occupation; and having a head in the finance, insurance, and real estate industry.     

An Evolutionary Psychological Investigation of Parental Distress and Reproductive Coercion During the “Coming Out” of Gay Sons

The lack of success of the “coming out” studies over the last three decades to explain and predict parental responses has motivated an evolutionary psychological reconceptualization. According to this reconceptualization, it was predicted that (a) biological mothers would experience more distress and apply more pressure on gay sons to change than would biological fathers and; (b) obligate investment for fathers on dependent sons would cause fathers to experience more distress and apply more pressure on gay sons to change than it would fathers without this obligate investment. In contrast, a cultural-norm hypothesis predicted that fathers would experience more distress and apply more pressure on gay sons to change than mothers. The majority of predictions were tested using 787 participants from two-biological parent families, who were drawn from a total sample of 891 participants from various family backgrounds. As predicted by the evolutionary hypothesis, biological mothers were reported to have been more distressed and coercive than biological fathers, in spite of a strong, societal expectation to the contrary. Furthermore, the results supported the obligate investment argument for paternal reactions. The model not only correctly explained and predicted parental behavior during coming out, but also was shown to unify within its theoretical framework discrepant results from the literature previously considered inconsistent.     

A narrowing gap? Trends in the childlessness of professional women in Australia 1986–2006

This paper examines whether the gap in fertility between women with higher education and in professional occupations and other women has narrowed or widened over time in Australia. Using data from the Australian Census of Population and Housing 1986, 1996 and 2006, the paper focuses on levels of childlessness. Both working women (using occupational categories) and all women (using educational attainment) aged between 20 and 44 were examined. Focusing particularly on women working in, or qualified for, some selected high-prestige professions (doctors, lawyers, dentists and vets), as well as on women with other tertiary qualifications and working in other professional or managerial occupations, the findings suggest that, between 1986 and 2006, childlessness has grown at a slower rate for women with tertiary education than for all women, although women with tertiary education continue to have the highest proportion of childlessness. Our findings for working women were similar, with women working in selected prestigious occupations having the highest rates of childlessness of all working women, but with this growing at a slower rate than was the case overall.     

Socioeconomic background and war mortality during Vietnam’s wars

To understand the experience of North Vietnamese soldiers and civilians during the American war, I explore the paths leading Vietnamese men into battle by considering the relationship between socioeconomic status and war mortality. I use data obtained from retrospective information on kin survival and other socioeconomic characteristics given by respondents in the 1995 Vietnam Longitudinal Survey conducted in Vietnam’s Red River Delta. My findings are opposite to those often cited to describe the experience of young Americans who fought in the Vietnam war. In Vietnam, sons of better educated fathers bore the burden of war disproportionately in relation to sons of fathers with less education, both in proportion serving in the military and in diminished survival chances in combat. The Vietnamese experience during the American war testifies to the ability of a nation to reorder society temporarily and to persuade higher-status groups to contribute fully to the war effort. An appreciation of the meaning of this social reshuffling during the American war is critical for understanding the war, Vietnam, and that country’s political outlook.     

Mapping the diversity of gender preferences and sex imbalances in Indonesia in 2010

Indonesia is usually viewed as a country free of the acute forms of gender discrimination observed elsewhere in East or South Asia, a situation often ascribed to Indonesia's bilateral kinship system. I re-examine this hypothesis by focusing on ethnic and regional variations in sex differentials. New indicators of marriage practices and gender bias derived from 2010 census microdata highlight the presence of patrilocal patterns as well as a distinct presence of son preference in fertility behaviour in many parts of the archipelago. I also present evidence for excessive child sex ratios and excess mortality of females in some areas that appear to be related to son preference and patrilocal residence systems. The findings confirm the association between son preference, sex differentials in mortality, prenatal sex selection, and kinship systems. I conclude with a more regional perspective on demographic vulnerability of females, distinguishing bilateral South East Asia from more patrilineal Melanesia.     

Sex‐Selective Abortions in India

Provisional estimates from the 2001 census of India, which showed unusually high sex ratios for young children, have sparked renewed concern about the growing use of sex‐selective abortions to satisfy parental preferences for sons. According to the 1998–99 National Family Health Survey (NFHS‐2), in recent years the sex ratio at birth in India has been abnormally high (107–121 males per 100 females) in 16 of India's 26 states. Data from NFHS‐2 on abortions, sex ratios at birth, son preference, and the use of ultrasound and amniocentesis during pregnancy present compelling evidence of the extensive use of sex‐selective abortions, particularly in Gujarat, Haryana, and Punjab. The authors estimate that in the late 1990s more than 100,000 sex‐selective abortions of female fetuses were being performed annually in India. Recent efforts to expand and enforce government regulations against this practice may have some effect, but they are not likely to be completely successful without changes in the societal conditions that foster son preference.     

Intergenerational relations in urban China: Proximity, contact, and help to parents

Although most older Chinese parents live with an adult son or daughter, most adult offspring do not live with parents. We examine the relations of these noncoresident offspring with parents in terms of proximity, frequency of contact, and exchange of help. Based on a 1993 random sample survey conducted in two major Chinese cities, we find that although rates of coresidence are high, noncoresident sons and daughters live close to parents, have frequent contact with their parents, and provide regular help to parents. Relationships with noncoresident sons and daughters are unaffected by whether parents coreside with another child. There is some evidence of closer relationships with sons than with daughters, but parents without a son receive as much help from all children as do parents with sons. The effects of these and other predictors are estimated in multivariate analyses, and results are interpreted in terms of the persistence or change of traditional family norms.     

Son preference and the one child policy in China: 1979–1988

Using data from the Two-Per-Thousand National Fertility Survey, this research analyzes how son preference, a deep-rooted cultural norm for more than two thousand years, affects compliance with China's one child population policy for women at risk during the period of 1979 to 1988. Four events after the first live birth are used to evaluate compliance with the policy: (1) certificate acceptance (an indicator of future fertility intention); (2) the use of contraceptives (an indicator of intention to prevent a subsequent pregnancy); (3) the occurrence of a pregnancy subsequent to the first live birth (a potential violation of the one child policy), and (4) among those pregnant, the likelihood of an abortion (an indicator of compliance by preventing a second live birth). It is found that son preference is still prevalent in China. Although the effect of son preference is not the most important, urbanization, education, and occupation have not fundamentally changed its influence on women's compliance. In addition, the effect of son preference on the compliance is not altered by government control. Preference for sons continues to be a factor discouraging the compliance with the one child policy.This article is based on a paper presented at the annual meeting of the Population Association of America, 1–4 April 1993, Cincinnati, OH, USA.     

Spousal Mobility and Earnings

An important finding in the literature on migration has been that the earnings of married women typically decrease with a move, while the earnings of married men often increase with a move, suggesting that married women are more likely to act as the “trailing spouse.” This article considers a related but largely unexplored question: what is the effect of having an occupation that is associated with frequent migration on the migration decisions of a household and on the earnings of the spouse? Further, how do these effects differ between men and women? The Public Use Microdata Sample from the 2000 U.S. decennial census is used to calculate migration rates by occupation and education. The analysis estimates the effects of these occupational mobility measures on the migration of couples and the earnings of married individuals. I find that migration rates in both the husband’s and wife’s occupations affect the household migration decision, but mobility in the husband’s occupation matters considerably more. For couples in which the husband has a college degree (regardless of the wife’s educational level), a husband’s mobility has a large, significant negative effect on his wife’s earnings, whereas a wife’s mobility has no effect on her husband’s earnings. This negative effect does not exist for college-educated wives married to non-college-educated husbands.In the substantial literature on the relationship between migration and earnings, an important finding has been that the earnings of married women typically decrease with a move, while the earnings of married men often increase with a move. This is consistent with the notion that married women are more likely to act as the “trailing spouse” or to be a “tied mover.” This article considers a related but largely unexplored question: what is the effect of having an occupation that is associated with frequent migration on the migration decisions of a household as well as on the earnings of the spouse? And how do these effects differ between men and women?There are three reasons to move beyond the previous analysis of household moves to studying the effect of occupational mobility on migration and earnings. First, the analysis of changes in employment and earnings of movers is only part of a broader discovery concerning the extent to which the earnings of husbands and wives are affected by the ability to move to or stay in optimal locations. Second, the existing literature relies on the comparison of movers to nonmovers. Even longitudinal comparisons will not completely eliminate the bias in this comparison because movers likely differ in their earnings growth, not just the level of premigration earnings. Third, the methods used in the literature often do not adequately adjust for occupational differences between men and women, so it is difficult to know whether the current findings in the literature are the result of differences in jobs held by men and women, or rather are the result of differences in influence on location decisions. The question pursued in this article is, controlling for an individual’s own occupation and the earnings potential in that occupation, how does the migration rate in a spouse’s occupation affect one’s own labor market outcomes?This article uses the Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) from the 2000 U.S. decennial census to calculate mobility measures by occupation and education class. Mobility is measured by the fraction of workers who, in the past five years, have either (a) changed metropolitan area or (b) if in a nonmetropolitan area, changed Public Use Microdata Area (PUMA).¹ Using the sample of white, non-Hispanic married couples between the ages of 25 and 55 in the 2000 census, I perform migration and earnings analyses separately for four groups of couples: both have college degrees (“power couples”), only the husband has a college degree, only the wife has a college degree; and neither has a college degree.Results indicate that the mobility rates in both the husband’s and wife’s occupation affect the household migration decision, but mobility in the husband’s occupation matters considerably more. Comparison analysis for never-married individuals indicates that among individuals with college degrees, never-married men and women are equally responsive to occupation mobility in their migration behavior.The earnings analysis uses occupation fixed-effects and average wage in occupation-education class to control for substantial heterogeneity in earnings potential. For couples in which the husband has a college degree, the wife’s mobility has no effect on the husband’s earnings, regardless of the wife’s education. However, the husband’s mobility has a large, significant negative effect on the wife’s earnings. This negative effect does not exist for couples in which only the wife has a college degree.     

The Experiences and Meanings That Shape Heterosexual Fathers’ Relationships With Their Gay Sons in South Africa

ABSTRACT

Gay men’s relationships with their mothers are likely to be more positive than their relationships with their fathers, and fathers are less likely to be told, less likely to be told first, and more likely to react negatively to disclosure than mothers. Drawing on an interpretivist approach, an individual in-depth interview strategy was adopted in the study as a means of gathering data from six Afrikaans-speaking White fathers, between the ages of 53 and 61 years (median: 55.5 years), residing in Gauteng, South Africa. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed for later coding and analysis. Through thematic network analysis, eight organizing themes emerged and were explored. For the purpose of this article only three organizing themes are discussed, namely “subliminal awareness prior to coming out,” “epistemic rupture of internal systems of ideas/beliefs,” and “acceptance as a complex and ongoing dialectical and reconciliatory process.” The themes support the view that most parents are neither totally rejecting nor fully accepting of their gay sons. Although the fathers may have attained a level of “loving denial” in the relationships with their gay sons, most continue to struggle with the meaning and expression of same-sex sexuality. Despite these challenges, it is recognized that the fathers are adapting to changing circumstances and are trying to find ways to tolerate, accommodate, and in some ways accept their gay sons.     

Female migration in Chile: Types of moves and socioeconomic characteristics

This paper examines inter-provincial female migration in Chile for the 1965--1970 period, with a view to describing socioeconomic characteristics of migrant women and to determining differences and similarities in age, educational level, occupation, and type of move (first, return, or repeat) between movers to the capital and to other urban areas. Data are from a five percent sample of the 1970 Chilean census. Findings reveal that non-return migrants to other urban areas are differentiated from those to Santiago by an older age structure, higher educational levels, higher status occupations, and are more likely to be making a second (or higher-order) move. Moreover, educational measures suggest that recent female migration to urban Chile is more prevalent among the upper than the lower strata of the society.     

The First Fifty Years – A Tribute to E. Grebenik

India is a country with a pervasive preference for sons and one of the highest levels of excess child mortality for girls in the world (child mortality for girls exceeds child mortality for boys by 43 per cent). In this article, data from the National Family Health Survey are used to examine the effect of son preference on parity progression and ultimately on child mortality. The demographic effects of family composition are estimated with hazard models. The analysis indicates that son preference fundamentally affects demographic behaviour in India. Family composition affects fertility behaviour in every state examined and son preference is the predominant influence in all but one of these states. The effects of family composition on excess child mortality for girls are more complex, but girls with older sisters are often subject to the highest risk of mortality.     

The effects of motherhood timing on career path

This paper estimates the effects of motherhood timing on female career path, using biological fertility shocks to instrument for age at first birth. Motherhood delay leads to a substantial increase in earnings of 9% per year of delay, an increase in wages of 3%, and an increase in work hours of 6%. Supporting a human capital story, the advantage is largest for college-educated women and those in professional and managerial occupations. Panel estimation reveals both fixed wage penalties and lower returns to experience for mothers, suggesting that a “mommy track” is the source of the timing effect.     

农村独女户男孩偏好转化研究——基于湖北部分县市的抽样调查

在性别比居高不下的大环境下,湖北农村的独女户群体依然保持一定规模但其男性偏好呈现弱化走势,本文通过比较独女户群体和有几户群体在基本生存状况、生育意愿、性别平等观念等方面的差异和不同,来分析“独女户”这种家庭结构的选择对男孩偏好的影响的制约,以期为性别比控制政策的制定做出有益探索。