Is the Association Between Education and Fertility Postponement Causal? The Role of Family Background Factors

A large body of literature has demonstrated a positive relationship between education and age at first birth. However, this relationship may be partly spurious because of family background factors that cannot be controlled for in most research designs. We investigate the extent to which education is causally related to later age at first birth in a large sample of female twins from the United Kingdom (N = 2,752). We present novel estimates using within–identical twin and biometric models. Our findings show that one year of additional schooling is associated with about one-half year later age at first birth in ordinary least squares (OLS) models. This estimate reduced to only a 1.5-month later age at first birth for the within–identical twin model controlling for all shared family background factors (genetic and family environmental). Biometric analyses reveal that it is mainly influences of the family environment—not genetic factors—that cause spurious associations between education and age at first birth. Last, using data from the Office for National Statistics, we demonstrate that only 1.9 months of the 2.74 years of fertility postponement for birth cohorts 1944–1967 could be attributed to educational expansion based on these estimates. We conclude that the rise in educational attainment alone cannot explain differences in fertility timing between cohorts.     

Intergenerational Profiles of Socioeconomic (Dis)advantage and Obesity During the Transition to Adulthood

Investigations of socioeconomic status (SES) and health during the transition to adulthood in the United States are complicated by the later and more varied transitions in residence, employment, schooling, and social roles compared with previous generations. Parental SES is an important influence during adolescence but cannot sufficiently capture the SES of the independent young adult. Typical, single SES indicators based on income or education likely misclassify the SES of young adults who have not yet completed their education or other training, or who have entered the labor force early with ultimately lower status attainment. We use a latent class analysis (LCA) framework to characterize five intergenerational SES groups, combining multidimensional SES information from two time points—that is, adolescent (parental) and young adult (self) SES data. Associations of these groups with obesity, a high-risk health outcome in young adults, revealed nuanced relationships not seen using traditional intergenerational SES measures. In males, for example, a middle-class upbringing in adolescence and continued material advantage into adulthood was associated with nearly as high obesity as a working poor upbringing and early, detrimental transitions. This intergenerational typology of early SES exposure facilitates understanding of SES and health during young adulthood.     

Environmentalism among nation-states

This article attempts to offer a better understanding of international environmental cooperation by measuring state environmentalism. We examine whether there is a structural response by nation-states to various international agreements on the environment. Using alpha and theta reliability scaling, we create an environmental scale that measures the propensity of a nation-state to take political action in support of the environment, as indicated by the ratification of key international treaties. Our work suggests that environmentalism is, in fact, a structural characteristic of nation-states that leads them to respond in a patterned way to environmental policies.     

Transition to First Marriage in Reform-Era Urban China: The Persistent Effect of Education in a Period of Rapid Social Change

The negative association between education and marriage timing is often explained by an economic independence theory: education provides women with independent economic resources to reject the caregiver role in marriage. However, cross-national evidence shows the importance of cultural and historical continuity in marriage formation. This article examines the relationship between educational attainment and the timing of first marriage in reform-era urban China since the 1980s. Reform-era urban China provides a strong case to examine both theories: it has a strong marriage norm, but it has also experienced a rapid increase in gender inequality in the labor market during the economic reform. Using detailed education and work histories of 3,808 respondents from two waves of the Chinese General Social Survey, this article uses discrete-time hazard regressions to contrast the marriage experience between two cohorts that faced different labor market constraints. The evidence fits better with a path dependence theory. Specifically, the effect of education on marriage timing, for both women and men, is not significantly different between these two cohorts. The results encourage attention to local institutions and local culture in understanding the relationship between conditions in the labor market and marriage formation.     

Educational expansion and changes in occupational returns to education in Korea

We use data from the Korean Labor and Income Panel Study (KLIPS) conducted in 1998 by the Korean Labor Institute to examine the school-to-work transition across three labor market entry cohorts of Korean men and women. Taking into account the dramatic expansion of educational system and economic changes Korean society has experienced during the last few decades, we develop hypotheses about possible changes in the effects of educational qualifications on first occupational attainment. We first conduct an OLS regression of first occupational prestige scores on education. We then look at the effects of education on the odds of entering an occupational class using multinomial logit models. The results of the two analyses indicate that educational qualifications strongly affect occupational attainment for both men and women. The effects of education, particularly junior college and university, on first occupation have declined across three labor market cohorts for women but not for men.     

Healthier, Wealthier, and Wiser: A Demonstration of Compositional Changes in Aging Cohorts Due to Selective Mortality

The gradual changes in cohort composition that occur as a result of selective mortality processes are of interest to all aging research. We present the first illustration of changes in the distribution of specific cohort characteristics that arise purely as a result of selective mortality. We use data on health, wealth, education, and other covariates from two cohorts (the AHEAD cohort, born 1900–1923 and the HRS cohort, born 1931–1941) included in the Health and Retirement Survey, a nationally representative panel study of older Americans spanning nearly two decades (N = 14,466). We calculate sample statistics for the surviving cohort at each wave. Repeatedly using only baseline information for these calculations so that there are no changes at the individual level (what changes is the set of surviving respondents at each specific wave), we obtain a demonstration of the impact of mortality selection on the cohort characteristics. We find substantial changes in the distribution of all examined characteristics across the nine survey waves. For instance, the median wealth increases from about $90,000 to $130,000 and the number of chronic conditions declines from 1.5 to 1 in the AHEAD cohort. We discuss factors that influence the rate of change in various characteristics. The mortality selection process changes the composition of older cohorts considerably, such that researchers focusing on the oldest old need to be aware of the highly select groups they are observing, and interpret their conclusions accordingly.     

Rural–Urban Migration and Cross-National Variation in Infant Mortality in Less Developed Countries

The relationship between migration and child health in individual countries is well known, but the cross-national variation in this relationship is largely untested. Using Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data from 52 medium and low income countries, this study examines the effect of rural–urban migration on infant mortality and whether its effect varies cross-nationally. A secondary objective is to determine whether there is a relationship between the time a child is born in the migration process and infant mortality. Hypotheses are developed on the basis of competing theories on the relationship between migration and health. There are modest, but significant cross-national effects of rural–urban migration on infant mortality, which were better revealed in the presence of family- and child-level variables. The results also show that the unadjusted effects of rural–urban migration are quite substantial, but were largely accounted for by family- and child-level factors including education, socioeconomic status (SES), marital status, birth order, maternal age at child’s birth, and inter-births intervals. The results largely point to a selection process, which is further confirmed by results showing that the hazards of infant death increase with length of urban residence. Programs that target increasing maternal education, improving household SES, and lengthening interbirth intervals would therefore greatly benefit child survival in less developed countries.     

Overeducation,Skills and Wage Penalty: Evidence for Spain Using PIAAC Data

Despite well documented high levels of socioeconomic inequalities, health gradients by socioeconomic status (SES) in contemporary China have been reported to be limited. Using data from the 2010–2012 China Family Panel Studies, we reexamine associations between three sets of SES—human capital, material conditions, and political capital—and self-rated health among Chinese adults 18–70 years old, capitalizing on anchoring vignette data to adjust for reporting heterogeneity. We find strong evidence of substantial variations in reporting behaviors by education, cognition, and family wealth but not by family income or political capital. Failing to correct for reporting heterogeneity can bias the estimates of SES gradients in self-rated health as much as nearly 40 %. After vignette adjustment, we find significantly positive associations of education, family income, wealth, and political capital with self-rated health. Individuals’ cognitive capacity, however, does not predict self-rated health.     

What are the determinants of delayed childbearing and permanent childlessness in the United States?

This paper presents estimates of delayed childbearing and permanent childlessness in the United States and the determinants of those phenomena. The estimates are derived by fitting the Coale-McNeil marriage model to survey data on age at first birth and by letting the parameters of the model depend on covariates. Substantively, the results provide evidence that the low first birth fertility rates experienced in the 1970s were due to both delayed childbearing and to increasing levels of permanent childlessness. The results also indicate that (a) delayed childbearing is less prevalent among black women than among nonblack women; (b) education is an important determinant of delayed childbearing whose influence on this phenomenon seems to be increasing across cohorts; (c) education is positively associated with heterogeneity among women in their age at first birth; (d) the dispersion of age at first birth is increasing across cohorts; (e) race has an insignificant effect on childlessness; and (f) education is positively associated with childlessness, with the effect of education increasing and reaching strikingly high levels for the most recent cohorts.     

Are Happier People More Willing to Make Income Sacrifices to Protect the Environment?

There is considerable amount of debate about the effect of affluence on environmental concern. The empirical literature is inconclusive on this debate. Increasingly, more studies are examining individual level correlates of environmental concern. On the other hand, a large number of studies examine the correlates of happiness. An important aspect of the economics of happiness literature emphasizes the relationship between environmental quality or concern and happiness. A few scholars suggest that happiness may influence environmental concern. Yet studies on whether happiness affects environmental concern are lacking. This paper empirically investigates the effect of happiness on environmental concern in a cross-national sample. Using data for 18 countries, I find that happier people are more willing to make income sacrifices to protect the environment. This finding holds for residents of both African and developed countries.     

Differential Survival in Europe and the United States: Estimates Based on Subjective Probabilities of Survival

Cross-country comparisons of differential survival by socioeconomic status (SES) are useful in many domains. Yet, to date, such studies have been rare. Reliably estimating differential survival in a single country has been challenging because it requires rich panel data with a large sample size. Cross-country estimates have proven even more difficult because the measures of SES need to be comparable internationally. We present an alternative method for acquiring information on differential survival by SES. Rather than using observations of actual survival, we relate individuals’ subjective probabilities of survival to SES variables in cross section. To show that subjective survival probabilities are informative proxies for actual survival when estimating differential survival, we compare estimates of differential survival based on actual survival with estimates based on subjective probabilities of survival for the same sample. The results are remarkably similar. We then use this approach to compare differential survival by SES for 10 European countries and the United States. Wealthier people have higher survival probabilities than those who are less wealthy, but the strength of the association differs across countries. Nations with a smaller gradient appear to be Belgium, France, and Italy, while the United States, England, and Sweden appear to have a larger gradient.     

Environmental concern and fertility intentions among Canadian university students

Little is known about how environmental concern in young adulthood may shape childbearing attitudes and intentions. Here, we examine the relationship between individual environmental concern, fertility intentions, and attitudes toward reproduction in a sample of Canadian university students, N?=?139. General environmental concern and pollution-related health concerns both predicted a less positive attitude toward having children. Further, attitude toward having children mediated the negative relationship between pollution-related health concerns and personal fertility intentions. This study offers an important early step in empirical examination of the association between environmental concern and fertility.     

Mother's professional career versus reproductive behaviour in the family life cycle

A nationally representative survey of 2753 urban married women aged 20-54 years was conducted in 1989 in Poland. The family life cycle is described as family formation stage (first child is born), family development stage, family stabilization stage (last child is born and first child leaves home), and family shrinking stage (all children leave home). The sample included 69.1% in the family development stage, 20.2% in the stabilization stage, and 10.7% in the shrinking stage. Employment of women increased from 81.1% during the development stage to 89.9% during the stabilization stage. Labor force activity increased over time. The highest professional activity was 93% during the first stabilization stage. Only 5.6% of the sampled women had never worked. 54.8% had worked continually without breaks. Differences in parity among working and nonworking mothers changed over the life cycle. The parity of working mothers during the development stage was 1.85 compared to 2.12 among nonworking mothers. During the stabilization stage parity was 1.87 among working mothers and 2.57 among nonworking mothers. During the shrinking stage, parity was 2.57 among working mothers and 3.23 among nonworking mothers. The average number of children decreases in subsequent cohorts. The average number of children was 2.83 for cohorts married after 1959, 2.25 for cohorts married during 1960-69, and 2.08 for cohorts married during 1970-79. Birth decreases by cohort were quicker among working mothers. The difference between first and last cohort was 0.55 children for working mothers and 0.89 children for nonworking mothers. For all families of working and nonworking mothers in all cohorts and at all family life cycle stages, parity decreased with increased level of education. Little change occurred among mothers who never worked (inactive mothers). Working mothers' families completed reproduction 30 months earlier than inactive mothers. The entire reproductive period shortened between the first and last cohort from 100.4 months to 48.8 months. The differences between working and nonworking mothers reproductive years declined from about 3 years to about 2 years between the first and last cohort. The probability of bearing subsequent children is found to be irregular.     

The Changing Pattern of Educational Differentials in Divorce in the Context of Gender Egalitarianization: The Case of Taiwan

Regarding educational differentials in divorce, similar trends have been reported across countries. Some report increasing educational differentials, while others identify an educational crossover pattern. The commonality is that education seems to play a role of stabilizing marriage more than ever before. Using data from the Women??s Marriage, Fertility, and Employment Survey, this study investigates the case of Taiwan by portraying the changing pattern of women??s educational differentials in divorce. There are three major findings. First, among previous marriage cohorts, women with relatively higher levels of formal education are significantly more likely to divorce. Second, the marital-dissolution rates for less educated women are rising faster than the corresponding rates for women with more education. Third, this trend does not stop at the catch-up point and eventually leads to a reversal in the association between education and divorce from positive to negative. In short, such educational differentials in divorce vary dramatically across marriage cohorts. A pattern of educational crossover in divorce has been displayed during the rapid social change in Taiwan. Other than William Goode??s argument raised a half-century ago, the marriage model transformation from specialization toward symmetry in the context of gender egalitarianization has to be taken into consideration in order to obtain a full understanding of the phenomenon.     

Sense of Place and Health in Hamilton, Ontario: A Case Study

The concept of sense of place has received considerable attention by social scientists in recent years. Research has indicated that a person's sense of place is influenced by a number of factors including the built environment, socio-economic status (SES), well-being and health. Relatively few studies have examined sense of place at the neighbourhood level, particularly among communities exhibiting different levels of SES. This article investigates sense of place among three neighbourhood groups in Hamilton, Ontario representing areas of low, mixed and high SES. It analyses data from a 16-point sense of place scale derived from the Hamilton Household Quality of Life Survey carried out in 2010-2011 among 1,002 respondents. The paper found that sense of place was highest among residents of the high SES neighbourhood group as well as among home owners, people residing in single-detached homes, retired residents and those living in their neighbourhood for more than 10?years. From a health perspective, the paper found that a strong association existed between sense of place and self-perceived mental health across the three neighbourhood groups. Furthermore, by way of regression modeling, the paper examined the factors influencing health-related sense of place. Among the sample of respondents, a strong connection was found between housing, particularly home ownership, and high levels of health-related sense of place.     

Cigarette Smoking in Same-Sex and Different-Sex Unions: The Role of Socioeconomic and Psychological Factors

Cigarette smoking has long been a target of public health intervention because it substantially contributes to morbidity and mortality. Individuals in different-sex marriages have lower smoking risk (i.e., prevalence and frequency) than different-sex cohabiters. However, little is known about the smoking risk of individuals in same-sex cohabiting unions. We compare the smoking risk of individuals in different-sex marriages, same-sex cohabiting unions, and different-sex cohabiting unions using pooled cross-sectional data from the 1997–2010 National Health Interview Surveys (N = 168,514). We further examine the role of socioeconomic status (SES) and psychological distress in the relationship between union status and smoking. Estimates from multinomial logistic regression models reveal that same-sex and different-sex cohabiters experience similar smoking risk when compared to one another, and higher smoking risk when compared to the different-sex married. Results suggest that SES and psychological distress factors cannot fully explain smoking differences between the different-sex married and same-sex and different-sex cohabiting groups. Moreover, without same-sex cohabiter’s education advantage, same-sex cohabiters would experience even greater smoking risk relative to the different-sex married. Policy recommendations to reduce smoking disparities among same-sex and different-sex cohabiters are discussed.     

The Changing Context of Fatherhood in Canada: A life Course Analysis

Arabs in Israel are a heterogeneous but largely underprivileged minority with a history of disadvantage in several domains, including education and employment. In this paper, we document changes in their attainment of various educational levels across cohorts born from the mid-1920s to the 1970s. We make comparisons among different Arab religious groups, between men and women, and between Arabs and the majority Jewish populations in Israel. We find that over consecutive birth cohorts, substantial ethnic differences in educational attainment have narrowed at the lower levels of schooling, but have increased at higher levels. Moreover, the results indicate that the disadvantage of Muslim Arabs in terms of entry into and completion of high school can be accounted for only partially by differences in the social status of their parents and characteristics of their neighbourhoods. The findings suggest that long-term historical differences among groups and discriminatory practices towards Arabs are important factors in explanations of disparities in educational attainment.     

Educational stratification among Arabs and Jews in Israel: historical disadvantage, discrimination, and opportunity

Arabs in Israel are a heterogeneous but largely underprivileged minority with a history of disadvantage in several domains, including education and employment. In this paper, we document changes in their attainment of various educational levels across cohorts born from the mid-1920s to the 1970s. We make comparisons among different Arab religious groups, between men and women, and between Arabs and the majority Jewish populations in Israel. We find that over consecutive birth cohorts, substantial ethnic differences in educational attainment have narrowed at the lower levels of schooling, but have increased at higher levels. Moreover, the results indicate that the disadvantage of Muslim Arabs in terms of entry into and completion of high school can be accounted for only partially by differences in the social status of their parents and characteristics of their neighbourhoods. The findings suggest that long-term historical differences among groups and discriminatory practices towards Arabs are important factors in explanations of disparities in educational attainment.     

Compulsory Schooling Laws and Migration Across European Countries

Educational attainment is a key factor for understanding why some individuals migrate and others do not. Compulsory schooling laws, which determine an individual’s minimum level of education, can potentially affect migration. We test whether and how increasing the length of compulsory schooling influences migration of affected cohorts across European countries, a context where labor mobility is essentially free. We construct a novel database that includes information for 31 European countries on compulsory education reforms passed between 1950 and 1990. Combining this data with information on recent migration flows by cohorts, we find that an additional year of compulsory education reduces the number of individuals from affected cohorts who migrate in a given year by 9 %. Our results rely on the exogeneity of compulsory schooling laws. A variety of empirical tests indicate that European legislators did not pass compulsory education reforms as a reaction to changes in emigration rates or educational attainment.     

What’s happening to the age at first birth in the United States? A study of recent cohorts

This paper analyzes cross-cohort trends in the age pattern of women at first birth in the United States. The analysis involves fitting the Coale-McNeil marriage model to the age distribution of first birth frequencies for a number of recent white and nonwhite cohorts. Methodologically, the results (a) provide support for the application of the Coale-McNeil marriage model to first birth data, and (b) demonstrate the ability of the model to accurately project first birth fertility for cohorts which have yet to complete their childbearing years. Substantively the results indicate (a) that the proportion of women who will never have a first birth is increasing across cohorts and can be expected to be as high as .25 and .20 for recent white and nonwhite cohorts respectively; (b) that recent nonwhite cohorts have an appreciable number of first births at earlier ages than their white counterparts, as well as a lower mean age at first birth and increasingly less dispersion (across cohorts) in their age at first birth; and (c) that the mean age at first birth and the proportion of first births occurring between ages 25 and 34 is increasing across cohorts of white women but is stable across cohorts of nonwhite women.