Partner Choice in Sweden Following a Failed Intermarriage

This paper is based on the assumption that divorced and separated individuals bring with them the experience of a failed union which may shape their future choices on the marriage market. It aims to contribute to our knowledge of intermarriage, and social interaction in Sweden in general, by comparing the repartnering choices of immigrants and natives in Sweden who had made what is still considered an atypical choice of entering a native-immigrant union with the partner choices of natives and immigrants whose previous union was endogamous. The empirical analysis in this paper is based on the Swedish register data from the STAR data collection (Sweden over Time: Activities and Relations) and covers the period 1990–2007. All the analyses in the paper include individuals aged 20–55 at the time of union dissolution. The multivariate analysis is based on discrete-time multinomial logistic regression. The results show that for all four groups defined by sex and nativity (native men, native women, immigrant men, and immigrant women), there is a positive association between the previous experience of intermarriage and the likelihood of initiating another intermarriage after union dissolution. Another important finding is that the magnitude of this positive association increases with the degree of social distance between the groups involved in the union. Gender differences are modest among natives and somewhat more pronounced among immigrants.     

Why do Socioeconomic Differences in Women’s Living Standards Converge After Union Dissolution?

Union dissolution is a critical event for women’s living standards. Previous work has found that women in high-income unions lose more from union dissolution than women in low-income unions. This study proposes two mechanisms to explain this “convergence” in living standards. The compensation mechanism concerns the ability to compensate the loss of partner earnings with alternative sources of income, whereas the partner independence mechanism concerns how much women stand to lose from dissolution in the first place. To test these mechanisms, the author drew on a unique administrative dataset from the Netherlands, covering women who experienced dissolution within ten years after union formation (N = 57,960). A decomposition analysis showed that convergence was not driven by compensation: women from all income groups decreased their household size and re-partnered, women from low-income unions increased transfer income, and women from high-income unions increased personal earnings and decreased tax payments. Instead, convergence was driven by partner independence: women from lower-income unions depended relatively less on their partners because they relied more on transfer income prior to dissolution. These results demonstrate how partners’ interdependence moderates the consequences of life events. The welfare state plays a crucial role in this process.     

For Better and for Worse: The Relationship Between Union Dissolution and Self-Assessed Health in European Panel Data

We investigate the association between union dissolution and self-assessed health in European panel data. Previous studies suggest that this association might be negative, yet it is unclear to what extent this reflects causation (an effect of union dissolution of health) and/or selection (an effect of health on union dissolution). We analyzed the relationship between self-assessed health and 3,894 union dissolutions in about 60,000 respondents aged 18–59 across eight waves of the European Community Household Panel (ECHP). Fixed-effect panel analyses show that the negative association between dissolution and self-assessed health is not due to a general negative effect of divorce on health. Rather, after union dissolution self-assessed health improves among some individuals, while for others it declines. Compared to being in a union continuously, union dissolution seems to cause increases and decreases in health. We also find evidence for a negative effect of self-assessed health on dissolution risks. This selection effect appears to be associated with being in poor self-assessed health for a prolonged period of time rather than by the immediate effect of a health decline. Our results support the idea that the association between union dissolution and self-assessed health is an outcome of both causation and selection and that the effect of union dissolution on self-assessed health is heterogeneous.     

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 Effects of Divorce on Men’s Employment and Social Security Histories

Analyses of the economic consequences of divorce have emphasized the negative effect of divorce for women. For men, consequences of divorce are most often believed to be social or psychological. This is not consistent with an economic literature showing the positive effects of marriage on men’s wages. Using a nationally representative life-history survey among men in the Netherlands, this paper reanalyzes the possible negative effects of a divorce for the careers of men. Complete life histories provide information on upward and downward occupational mobility as well as on unemployment and disability. Multivariate event history models show that after divorce, men experience an increased chance of becoming downwardly mobile, an increased chance of becoming unemployed, and an increased chance of becoming disabled. Additional analyses are done to assess whether these effects are spurious, due to the influence of earlier problems that men experienced in their lives, as measured by indicators of employment problems, health problems, and problems in social relationships. While these variables have an effect on the future career, they are not strong enough to eliminate the divorce effect. Implications are discussed for different theoretical hypotheses about the importance of marriage and divorce for men’s employment. Kalmijn, M., 2005, Les effects du divorce sur les histoires professionnelle et socio-médicale des hommes, Revue Européenne de Démographie, 21: 347–366.     

Socioeconomic Resources and the Dissolution of Cohabitations and Marriages

A large body of research focuses on the (socio)economic antecedents of marriage dissolution. Less is known about the factors that affect the stability of cohabitations. The focus in this study, which is based on Finnish register data, is on whether the socioeconomic resources of the partners affect the stability of cohabitations and marriages in a similar way. According to the results, a lower level of education, unemployment (of the man in particular) and the male partner’s (or the couple’s) low income increased dissolution rates in unions of both types. The stabilizing effects of each partner’s high educational level as well as the male partner’s employment and high income were stronger in marriages. The union types also seemed to differ in that the separation-promoting effect of the female partner’s high (absolute or relative) income was stronger in marriages, but high-income women are few and the interactions between union type and the income of the female partner were statistically insignificant. The overall conclusion is that in the Finnish context, the socioeconomic antecedents of union dissolution are remarkably similar in cohabitations and marriages, but socioeconomic resources are somewhat more important for the stability of marriages. Only weak support was found for the idea that cohabitations are more compatible with income equality.     

略论法学教育中性别平等意识的培养

我国法律笼统规定男女两性在各方面享有平等的权利,然而这样的法律规定并未完全实现男女平等的立法目的,男女两性在政治、经济、文化等社会生活领域仍然存在着诸多不平等。教师在教授学生法学理论与法律制度的同时,应注意将性别平等的意识纳入法学教育过程中,为学生讲解分析法律制度的同时引领学生观察和思考法律制度的实施后果,引导学生发掘并反思法律制度在中性化规定背后隐藏的性别不平等。     

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.     

The Effect of Children on Men’s and Women’s Chances of Re-partnering in a European Context

This work examines what role children play in the re-partnering process in five European countries (Norway, France, Germany, Romania, and the Russian Federation) by addressing the following research questions: (1) To what extent do men and women differ in their re-partnering chances?; (2) Can gender differences in re-partnering be explained by the presence of children?; (3) How do the custodial arrangements and the child’s age affect the re-partnering chances of men and women? We use the partnership and parenthood histories of the participants in the first wave of the Generations and Gender Survey (United Nations, Generations and Gender Programme: Survey Instruments. United Nations, New York/Geneva, 2005) to examine the transition to moving in with a new partner following the dissolution of the first marital union, separately for men and women. The story that emerges is one of similarities in the effects rather than differences. In most countries, men are more likely to re-partner than women. This gender difference can be attributed to the presence of children as our analyses show that childless men and women do not differ in their probability to re-partner. Mothers with resident children are less likely to re-partner than non-mothers and a similar though often non-significant effect of resident children is observed for fathers. In most countries we find that as the child ages, the chances to enter a new union increase. In sum, our study indicates that children are an important factor in re-partnering and a contributor to the documented gender gap in re-partnering, and this holds throughout distinct institutional and cultural settings.     

How Similar are Cohabiting and Married Parents? Second Conception Risks by Union Type in the United States and Across Europe

The increase in births within cohabitation in the United States and across Europe suggests that cohabitation and marriage have become more similar with respect to childbearing. However, little is known about additional childbearing after first birth. Using harmonized union and fertility histories from surveys in 15 countries, this study examines second conception risks leading to a live birth for women who have given birth within a union. Results show that women who continue to cohabit after birth have significantly lower second conception risks than married women in all countries except those in Eastern Europe, even when controlling for union duration, union dissolution, age at first birth, and education. Pooled models indicate that differences in the second conception risks by union type between Eastern and Western Europe are significant. Pooled models including an indicator for the diffusion of cohabitation show that when first births within cohabitation are rare, cohabiting women have significantly lower second conception risks than married women. As first births within cohabitation increase, differences in second conception risks for cohabiting and married women narrow. But as the percent increases further, the differentials increase again, suggesting that cohabitation and marriage are not becoming equivalent settings for additional childbearing. However, I also find that in all countries except Estonia, women who marry after first birth have second conception risks similar to couples married at first birth, indicating that the sequence of marriage and childbearing does not matter to fertility as much as the act of marrying itself.     

Why do Socioeconomic Differences in Women’s Living Standards Converge After Union Dissolution?

European Journal of Population - Union dissolution is a critical event for women’s living standards. Previous work has found that women in high-income unions lose more from union dissolution...     

Early Union Formation in Canada: Links with Education

This article examines the link between early union formation and education using a new Canadian longitudinal data set, the Youth in Transition Survey (YITS). Educational transitions and early union formation occur around the same time in young adulthood, yet the roles of student and conjugal partner are often thought to be incompatible. We examine the effect of two important educational indicators (exit from full-time school and level of achieved education) on the timing of the first conjugal union. In addition, we incorporate several more direct measures of educational commitment. Results from proportional hazard models reveal that exit from full-time school greatly increases the transition to first union, especially marriage. Similarly, obtaining a post-secondary degree/diploma also significantly increases the risk of forming a union, especially for women. More direct measures of educational commitment show that skipping classes in high school has a negative effect on the risk of marriage, but a positive effect on cohabiting unions. A greater aspiration for future education, meanwhile, has a negative impact on union formation in general.     

Norwegian Elderly Less Likely to Live Alone in the Future

We analyse the future household status of elderly men and women in Norway. An important finding is that persons aged 80+ are less likely to live alone in the future, and more often with a partner. The level of mortality, the mortality sex gap, union dissolution at young and intermediate ages, and entry into and exit from institutions for the elderly are possible determinants for this new trend. We use the macro simulation program LIPRO to simulate the household dynamics in Norway to 2032, and investigate the demographic reasons for the increased likelihood of living with a partner among Norwegian elderly. Mortality plays an important role, but part of the trend is already embodied in the household structure of the current population.     

Does Citizenship Still Matter? Second Birth Risks of Migrants from Albania, Morocco, and Romania in Italy

In this article we investigate the propensities to have the second child in Italy for foreign women from Albania, Morocco, and Romania. Our study contributes to the international debate on migrant fertility by testing the main competing hypotheses present in literature, using the Italian case as an illustration. Italy is an important case study because it has been a country of immigration for only a few decades and because the literature on this topic was limited in Italy by the difficulties in obtaining proper longitudinal data. An important component of our work was therefore to build a new data set, using record linkage procedures that allow us to improve the information from Survey on Birth and Resident Permit Registers and to study the individual childbearing trajectories. Our results confirm the importance of the mother??s citizenship. The impact remains strong after controlling for the main demographic and migratory characteristics. We found that older cohorts experience a disruption effect but that a native Italian partner can promote an adaptation process such as a convergence in fertility behavior toward that of native Italian women.     

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.     

Parenthood and Well-Being: The Moderating Role of Leisure and Paid Work

This study contributes to our knowledge on the association between parenthood and psychological well-being by examining whether pre-parenthood lifestyles (leisure and paid work) moderate the transition to parenthood. We expected that people with less active lifestyles would find it easier to adapt to the demands of parenthood. Using eleven waves of the Swiss Household Panel (N = 1332 men and 1272 women; 1999–2008, 2010), fixed effects models are estimated for men and women separately. Results show that—on average—parenthood was not associated with well-being for men, whereas it increased well-being for women. As expected, the well-being premium/cost to parenthood was contingent upon individuals’ lifestyle before the transition to parenthood. For men, parenthood reduced well-being, but only if they frequently participated in leisure before the birth of the child. For women, motherhood had a beneficial effect on well-being but this effect was weaker for women who combined leisure with working long hours before motherhood.     

Diverse Effects of Women’s Employment on Fertility: Insights From Italy and Poland

In this paper, we look into how country-specific factors shape the interrelationship between childbearing and women’s labor supply. To this end, we compare Italy and Poland, two low-fertility countries where the country-specific obstacles to work and family reconciliation are similarly strong but which differ in the history of women’s labor supply and the extent to which couples’ material aspirations are satisfied by men’s earnings. Our findings show that women’s employment clearly conflicts with childbearing in Italy, while in Poland women tend to combine the two activities, despite the similar difficulties they face. These results challenged the standard microeconomic explanations and point to the importance of other country-specific factors, apart from conditions for work and family reconciliation, in shaping women’s employment and fertility decisions, such as economic incentives or culturally rooted behavioral patterns. Overall, our study provides thus foundations for explaining the variation in the relationship between women’s employment and fertility in an enlarged Europe.     

Second Unions Now More Stable than First? A Comparison of Separation Risks by Union Order in France

The frequency of union dissolutions increased sharply over the past 40 years in Western Europe and North America, resulting in a rapid growth in the number of persons living with a second partner. In studies of the 1980s, primarily conducted within the context of marriage, second partnerships were generally found to be less stable than first unions, but more recent studies provide more conflicting evidence. Taking the example of France, we study whether the relationship between first and second union stability indeed reversed between the 1970s and the 2000s, and how union and individual characteristics contributed to changes over time. The analysis presented here is based on the French Generations and Gender Survey (2005). The article first provides an overview of the differences in marriage, childbearing and breakup behaviours in first and second unions. Second, a piecewise linear model for repeated events is used to compare women’s dissolution risks in first and second unions. The results show that over time, the higher instability of second compared to first unions disappeared. Further, women in second unions adopted unmarried cohabitation as a living arrangement more often across the whole period and were more likely to have stepchildren, which was associated with less stable unions. Taking into account this diversity of family situations, i.e. controlling for family form and children, second unions were more stable than first unions, even during the past. At both union orders, marriage breakup risks tended to stabilise despite a continuing increase in the prevalence of separation, which suggests that cohabitation increasingly acts as a filter for marriage.     

实现男女平等是构建和谐社会的重要任务

男女平等是促进我国经济社会发展的一项基本国策,是构建社会主义和谐社会的一项重要内容。目前,在构建社会主义和谐社会的伟大实践中,男女平等事业仍然存在许多突出的问题,这些问题严重影响了和谐社会的构建,亟待加以解决。全社会要大力贯彻男女平等基本国策,采取有效的措施实现男女平等,促进社会和谐。