Placement characteristics and stability: a longitudinal analysis of Norwegian children in foster homes

This paper investigates how enhanced support for foster parents, such as covering fees and providing consultants and relief, may reduce the number of replacements experienced by children in foster care. It also investigates the extent to which replacements are associated with family (kin) vs. non‐family foster parents, or with legal characteristics of the placement (i.e. forced administrative decisions vs. relief measures agreed upon by the parents). Statistical analyses of administrative data from Norway investigated the longitudinal relationships between these characteristics and the number of replacements at two levels – children (N = 16 109) and municipalities (N = 418) – over 5 years (2007–2011). The results reveal modest associations between enhanced support and fewer replacements; for example, replacement rates are lower for children placed in homes of kin than in non‐family homes. Replacements also tend to be fewer when the placement is forced rather than consensual.     

On the Question of the Feminization of Production on Part-time Farms: Evidence from Norway1

Abstract The argument that production on part-time farms has been feminized is evaluated using longitudinal and indepth interview data sets from communities throughout Norway. Time-series data suggest that traditional part-time farms are not being reproduced in Norway. Rather, there is a shift toward modern forms of part-time farming; in its most common form, women juggle off-farm, farm, and household work while men farm or combine farming with an off-farm job. As some women shift or reduce their labor input to the farm, others opt to become independent female farmers. What has emerged is an increasing number of two-career households with male and, less frequently, female farmers whose working spouses contribute some labor to die farm. In all cases, women continue to do most, if not all, of the domestic housework.     

Youth, unemployment and political marginalisation

The article investigates the impact of being unemployed on political marginalisation among young people. Are unemployed youth politically marginalised compared with employed youth? Is the impact of unemployment on political marginalisation related to the development of the welfare state? Based on Marshall’s concept of social citizenry, and Esping‐Andersen’s theory of decommodification politics, the impact of unemployment on political marginalisation was expected to be least in the most‐developed welfare states. In these countries, welfare policies were expected to counteract marginalisation among the unemployed. The analyses were based on the Eurobarometer survey Young Europeans from 1990. Three aspects of political marginalisation were investigated: political confidence, political interest and political extremism. Unemployed youth express less confidence in politics, they talk less about politics and they more frequently support revolutionary political ideas, compared with employed youth. The greatest difference in political confidence between unemployed and employed is found in Great Britain, while Italy represents a deviant case where the unemployed have more confidence than the employed. The development of the welfare state does not appear to be a crucial factor for political confidence among the unemployed.     

Partnership Transitions and Mental Distress: Investigating Temporal Order

The study uses 15 waves of the British Household Panel Survey and the General Health Questionnaire to investigate changes in mental distress over several years surrounding transitions both into and out of marital partnerships (marriages and cohabitations) using fixed effects models. Entering marital partnerships is associated with reduced distress in separated or divorced individuals but not with those not previously married. Partnership dissolution is associated with very high levels of distress, but most people experience levels of distress a few years after leaving a partnership similar to that of a few years before leaving. These results vary, however, between married and cohabiting individuals, between fathers and mothers, and between age and gender groups.