Explaining Conflicting Results in Research on the Heterogeneous Effects of Parental Separation on Children’s Educational Attainment According to Social Background

In recent years, researchers have become increasingly interested in how the effects of parental separation on children’s educational attainment vary with social background. On the one hand, parents with more resources might be better able to prevent possible adverse events like separation to affect their children’s outcomes. On the other hand, children from higher social backgrounds might have more resources to lose from a parental separation. A wide range of empirical studies on the issue have come to inconsistent conclusions, with support found for both perspectives. The aim of this paper is to monitor the influence of methodological and operational choices on the different results observed across studies. We focus on aspects such as the operationalization of key variables, the measurement of inequality in absolute and relative terms and the different strategies used to address endogeneity. We study the effects of parental separation on educational attainment for a cohort of British children born in 1970 and find that conclusions change depending on whether social background is measured using the mother’s or father’s characteristics and whether relative or absolute differences between groups are considered. Results are relatively insensitive to the operationalization of dependent variables and the treatment of missing data. When using data from Understanding Society instead of the British Cohort Study, results also did not change. We reflect on how these findings can explain the contradictory results from earlier studies on the topic, and how heterogeneity in the effects of parental separation by socio-economic background should be interpreted.     

Use It or Save It? Migration Background and Parental Leave Uptake in Sweden

Sweden is a welfare state with a family policy that strongly emphasizes equality without distinction by place of birth or gender. In this study, we investigate the differences in uptake of parental leave between native and immigrant mothers, and the connection to labour-market attachment. Sweden represents a unique case study, not only because of the strong effort to combine work and family for all women and men, the high level of fertility and the large presence of immigrants in the country; it also enables a detailed and sophisticated analysis based on the high-quality data derived from its population registers. We find that immigrant mothers use more parental leave benefit the first year after their child’s birth, but then fewer in the second year compared with native mothers. The differences diminish when labour-market activity is controlled for. Additionally, after a time in Sweden, immigrant mothers use leave more similarly to how native mothers do.     

Family Dynamics and Child Outcomes: An Overview of Research and Open Questions

Previous research has documented that children who do not live with both biological parents fare somewhat worse on a variety of outcomes than those who do. In this article, which is the introduction to the Special Issue on “Family dynamics and children’s well-being and life chances in Europe,” we refine this picture by identifying variation in this conclusion depending on the family transitions and subpopulations studied. We start by discussing the general evidence accumulated for parental separation and ask whether the same picture emerges from research on other family transitions and structures. Subsequently, we review studies that have aimed to deal with endogeneity and discuss whether issues of causality challenge the general picture of family transitions lowering child well-being. Finally, we discuss whether previous evidence finds effects of family transitions on child outcomes to differ between children from different socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds, and across countries and time-periods studied. Each of the subsequent articles in this Special Issue contributes to these issues. Two articles provide evidence on how several less often studied family forms relate to child outcomes in the European context. Two other articles in this Special Issue contribute by resolving several key questions in research on variation in the consequences of parental separation by socioeconomic and immigrant background, two areas of research that have produced conflicting results so far.     

Family Trajectories and Well-being of Children Born to Lone Mothers in the UK

We investigate how lone mothers’ heterogeneity in partnership trajectories is associated with children’s well-being. We use data from the Millennium Cohort Study, which follows a large sample of children born in the UK in 2000–2002. We divide children who were born to lone mothers into four groups based on their mothers’ partnership trajectories between birth and age seven, which cover more than 80% of these children’s family experiences. We then analyse how these trajectories are associated with markers of health, cognitive and socio-emotional outcomes measured at around age seven. We find that compared to the children that live continuously with lone mothers, children whose biological father stably joined the household have better cognitive and socio-emotional outcomes. In contrast, children in trajectories characterised by living with a stepfather or who experienced biological father joining in the family followed by biological parents’ dissolution had outcomes similar to children living continuously with lone mothers. The results underscore the importance of treating children born to lone mothers as a heterogeneous category.     

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.     

代际关系与跨文化冲突——以美国华人移民家庭为例

在美国,许多华人移民的家长对子女的教育和品行要求很严,期望他们日后事业有成,帮助家庭发财致富,并为父母养老送终。然而,在华人移民家庭中维护中华传统规范和行为准则以及执行此类家教并非易事。原因是父母为外来移民,而子女则在美国本土生长,两代人同化的取向和速度都不同。家中不仅充满任何家庭中常见的父子两代的代际冲突,也充满移民家庭特有的跨文化冲突。本文研究了美国移民家庭的代际关系与跨文化冲突问题,着重探讨矛盾重重的华人移民家庭中父母与子女如何处理复杂的、不断变动的家庭关系以及移民父母如何选择轻重缓急的策略,依靠社区的力量来确保下一代的健康成长。     

A Double Disadvantage? Immigration, Gender, and Employment Status in Israel

This article examines gender differences in employment status among immigrants in Israel, and how these differences vary across origin groups. Analysis of the 1995 population census indicates that, all else being equal, immigrant women exert a negative effect on activity in the annual labor force. As time elapses, the probability of immigrant women being employed improves but remains considerably lower than that of both immigrant and native-born men. However, after a few years in the country, immigrant women do close the gap with native-born women. For employment status in the last week, being an immigrant woman has a positive effect on full-time employment. A detailed analysis reveals substantial stratification by country of birth. Thus, the patterns of employment status for immigrant groups can reflect different levels (single, double, and triple) of disadvantage or advantage for women. I attach this stratification to cultural background and social values of country of birth as well as to economic and religious considerations, not fully indexed by the census data.     

中国西部农村家庭的儿童人力资本投资行为分析

家庭对儿童人力资本投资水平影响儿童未来的人力资本质量。受经济能力、效用偏好、文化水平及社会环境等变量影响,西部农村家庭对儿童的人力资本投资水平与其他地区相比存在差距。只有家庭、政府及社会的多维协作,才能逐步改善西部农村家庭对儿童人力资本投资行为,提升西部农村家庭对儿童的人力资本投资质量。     

流动儿童心理健康的队列分析

通过分析"人口迁移与儿童发展的跟踪研究"(PSDMC)的调查数据,讨论迁移行为、社会变迁与家庭教育对流动儿童心理健康的影响。结果表明,心理健康状况及其发展轨迹在儿童性质、年级和性别上存在着显著差异。研究结论认为:人口迁移行为对流动儿童心理健康具有异质性作用,且与儿童在迁入地所处的社会情境有关;社会变迁对流动儿童心理健康并未起到应有作用;家庭教育目前仍然是改善流动儿童心理健康的重要手段。在强调家庭教育并向流动儿童提供社会关怀与支持的同时,为流动人口制订并健全保障性社会政策、消除社会不公与歧视,才能真正改变流动儿童心理健康的不良处境。     

父母共情水平与幼儿安全感的关系研究

为了了解父母共情水平与幼儿安全感的现状,探究父母共情水平与幼儿安全感的关系,采用台湾地区学者吴静吉等人引进并且修改而成的“中文版人际反应指针量表”和洪艳丽编制的“3-6岁幼儿安全感量表”对随机抽取的河北省400名幼儿和幼儿父母进行了测量,最后得到有效问卷371份(92.75%),所得的数据使用SPSS 23进行了统计分析。主要发现:1)父母共情总体水平(M=3.67)和幼儿安全感总体水平(M=3.56)均处于中等偏上水平。2)父母共情水平在父母性别(t=-5.54,P<0.001),幼儿年级(F=15.33,P<0.001),幼儿是否由祖辈抚养(t=4.81,P<0.001)和幼儿是否为独生子女(F=3.42,P<0.05)上有显著差异;幼儿安全感水平在幼儿性别(t=-4.19,P<0.001),幼儿是否由祖辈抚养(t=3.82,P<0.001)和幼儿是否为独生子女(F=4.35,P<0.05)上有显著差异。3)父母共情总体水平与幼儿安全感总体水平之间呈显著的正相关(r=0.153,P<0.01)。基本结论:幼儿父母共情总体水平越高,幼儿安全感总体水平就越高。因此,提高父母的共情水平是有效增强幼儿安全感的重要途径。     

Marriage Migration Versus Family Reunification: How Does the Marriage and Migration History Affect the Timing of First and Second Childbirth Among Turkish Immigrants in Germany?

Our study focuses on the fertility of first-generation female and male Turkish migrants in Germany. To evaluate whether timing effects such as fertility disruption or an interrelation of marriage, migration and childbirth occur, we examine first and second births in the years before and after immigration to Germany. The Turkish sample of the Generations and Gender Survey which was conducted in 2006 offers the unique opportunity to examine Turkish immigrants as a single immigrant category. We question the common understanding that Turkish immigrants who arrived to Germany after 1973 mainly arrived for family reunification resulting in high birth intensities immediately after immigration. To distinguish different circumstances under which male and female immigrants have arrived to Germany, we include the combined marriage and migration history of the couple. We find that first birth probabilities are elevated during the years immediately following migration. But this effect is not universal among migrants with different marriage and migration histories. It appears that the arrival effect of high birth intensities is particularly high among female immigrants and is evident only among marriage migrants, that is Turks who married a partner who already lived in Germany at the time of the wedding. By contrast, among those who immigrated for family reunification, we do not find such an arrival effect.     

中外动画片中的父母角色形象研究——以《大头儿子小头爸爸》和《小猪佩奇》为例

动画片中的角色形象陪伴幼儿的成长,满足幼儿的想象、审美、社会性等的发展。其中的父母角色形象的塑造具有一定的家庭教育价值,影响幼儿对父母形象、父母关系的现实认知。在跨文化视角下,中外动画片对父亲形象都存在积极期待,对母亲形象的塑造存在文化差异,对父母关系的塑造表现出现实与理想的差异。对于我国动画片中的父母形象塑造来说,应关注时代发展中的父母形象、关注动画片的儿童叙事特点、塑造良好的父母关系。     

The Impact of Family Policies on Fertility Trends in Developed Countries

We examine how strongly fertility trends respond to family policies in OECD countries. In the light of the recent fertility rebound observed in several OECD countries, we empirically test the impact of different family policy instruments on fertility, using macro panel data from 18 OECD countries that spans the years 1982–2007. Our results confirm that each instrument of the family policy package (paid leave, childcare services and financial transfers) has a positive influence on average, suggesting that the combination of these forms of support for working parents during their children’s early years is likely to facilitate parents’ choice to have children. Policy levers do not all have the same weight, however: in-cash benefits covering childhood after the year of childbirth and the provision of childcare services for children under age three have a larger potential influence on fertility than leave entitlements and benefits granted around childbirth. Moreover, we find that the influence of each policy measure varies across different family policy contexts. Our findings are robust after controlling for birth postponement, endogeneity, time-lagged fertility reactions and for different aspects of national contexts, such as female labour market participation, unemployment, labour market protection and the proportion of children born out of marriage.     

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.     

家庭背景对学生高等教育选择的影响--以云南不同经济发展水平地州市5所中学为例

家庭经济收入水平、父母期望、父母职业及学历,作为家庭背景的重要因素对子女教育选择产生着主要影响。以云南省不同经济发展水平地州市的5所高中890名高三学生为研究样本,研究显示：高中毕业后上大学依然是高三学生的主流分流意向,家庭经济收入水平对高三学生高等教育选择影响较小;社会资助等渠道可以解决了上大学的费用问题,但学生担心上大学是“高成本”“高就业风险”的风险投资而选择放弃高考;家庭中父母亲对子女的学历期望对孩子的高等教育选择影响较大,就职业及学历而言,父亲对孩子的影响比母亲大。“没钱也要上且能上大学”暗示教育分流不合理让社会分工失灵,“能上大学也不上”暗示高等教育的社会流动功能无处发挥。高等教育机会公平需要政府的政策保障,让低收入群体的文凭发挥功效;父母高期望还需妙招指导孩子才能成才。     

The impact of resources and family-level cultural practices on immigrant women’s workforce participation

This article aims to assess the extent to which women's labor force participation reflects culturally or situationally induced family strategies above and beyond the well-known effects of opportunities and constraints associated with education and the life cycle. We focus particularly on women immigrants from the former Yugoslavia in Australia, and explore the family strategies by comparing the Yugoslav women systematically to immigrant women from other parts of the Mediterranean world and to immigrant women from other parts of the Slavic world. To this end, we use data from the one percent public use sample of individual records of the 1981 Australian Census. We find that the labor force particiaation patterns of immigrant women from the former Yugoslavia are more shaped by education and less shaped by the life course than is true of other groups, although the life course matters for all of them. Indeed, in the impact of education on labor force they closely resemble the Eastern Europeans across most of the range of education. But in the impact of life cycle stage on participation they more closely resemble the Greeks and the Italians. This emphasizes how important it is that statistical agencies release data at the greatest possible level of detail: A country may belong in one group for some purposes, but in a different group for other purposes. We assess a number of explanations for birthplace differences in participation patterns, and find most wanting. We suggest that they may reflect culturally conditioned intergenerational wealth flows and patterns of time investiment in children and the elderly. M.D.R. Evans's research focuses on comparative, international analyses of stratification, ethnicity, culture, and gender. Her book, Prejudice or Productivity, is forthcoming from Westview Press.     

Factors Associated with Return Migration of First-Generation Immigrants in Belgium (2001–2011)

Belgium is a country with a long and diverse history of migration. Given the diverse context of immigration to Belgium, reasons for return migration will most likely vary as well. With this study, we want to quantify the return migration of Belgium’s immigrants and assess whether socio-economic, sociodemographic and health factors are related to return migration. Individually linked census and register data comprising the total Belgian first-generation immigrant population aged 25+?were used. Age-standardized emigration rates (ASER) by migrant origin and gender were calculated for the period 2001–2011. Additionally, relative return migration differences were calculated by country of origin and gender, adjusted for age group, length of stay, household composition, socio-economic indicators (education, home ownership and employment status) and self-rated health in 2001. Return migration was most common among immigrants from Spanish descent and from the neighbouring countries and higher among men than among women. Return migration was highly selective in terms of older age, lower length of stay in Belgium, not living with a partner or children, being high-educated, unemployed and in good health. Key issues for future research include examining the reasons for return migration, identifying the country of destination and accounting for household characteristics.

     

Does Living in a Fatherless Household Compromise Educational Success? A Comparative Study of Cognitive and Non-cognitive Skills

This study addresses the relationship between various family forms and the level of cognitive and non-cognitive skills among 15- to 16-year-old students. We measure cognitive skills using standardized scores in mathematics; non-cognitive abilities are captured by a composite measure of internal locus of control related to mathematics. A particular focus lies on father absence although we also examine the role played by co-residence with siblings and grandparents. We use cross-nationally comparable data on students participating in the Programme for International Student Assessment’s release for 2012. By mapping inequalities by family forms across 33 developed countries, this study provides robust cross-country comparable evidence on the relationship of household structure with both cognitive and non-cognitive skills. The study produces three key results: first, the absence of fathers from the household as well as co-residence with grandparents is associated with adverse outcomes for children in virtually all developed countries. Second, this is generally true in terms of both cognitive and non-cognitive skills, although the disadvantage connected to both family forms is notably stronger in the former than in the latter domain. Finally, there is marked cross-national diversity in the effects associated with the presence in the household of siblings and especially grandparents which furthermore differs across the two outcomes considered.     

Immigration,Gender, and Earnings in Israel

This study describes and accounts for gender differences in earnings among the foreign-born in Israel and how these differences vary by origin countries. It expands on an earlier study that examined the effect of being foreign-born and female on employment status. I address three major questions: Do earnings corroborate the “double disadvantage” of immigrant women relative to both native-born women and native and foreign-born men? How do gender differences in earnings evolve with the prolongation of tenure in the new country? Does the combined effect of nativity status and gender act similarly among all foreign-born groups? Results of OLS regressions from the 1995 population census indicates that, everything else being equal, immigrants, including immigrant women, out-earn native-born men. The effect of tenure, by single year, shows that immigrant men and immigrant women follow very similar trajectories but the latter achieve similarity to native-born men much sooner. A detailed analysis reveals important stratification by country of birth. All the immigrant women who out-earned native men and native women originated in America or Europe. By contrast, all immigrant women who are at a disadvantage relative to native-born men are from Asia or Africa. The most common pattern, in which immigrant women earn as much as native-born men do but out-earn native-born women, characterizes immigrants from both Asia–Africa and Europe–America. The results are discussed in reference to three working hypotheses—“absorption climate,” “immigration motivation,” and “socio-cultural norms”—and in close connection with observations from the investigation on employment status.