Abstract: BACKGROUND This is the introduction to a special collection of articles produced within a large-scale collaborative research project, FamiliesAndSocieties, funded by the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme in 2013‒2017. OBJECTIVE The special collection addresses (1) the gendered outcomes of employment for fertility, well-being, and partnership stability, and (2) the new role of men in various socioeconomic positions and its implications for family life. METHODS International micro-level datasets (ESS, GGS) are analyzed in two comparative studies, while four country-case studies rely on country-specific datasets. The Swedish study also involves analyses of interview narratives of parental couples.
Abstract: BACKGROUND Age misreporting affects population estimates at older ages. In Brazil, every citizen must be registered and show an identity document to vaccinate against COVID-19. This requirement to present proof of age provides a unique opportunity for measuring the oldest-old population using novel administrative data. OBJECTIVE To offer critically assessed estimates of the Brazilian population aged 80 and older based on data from the vaccination registration system (VRS). To uncover discrepancies between the number of vaccinated oldest-old people and the projections used to estimate target populations for COVID-19 vaccination. METHODS We calculate data quality indicators based on data from the VRS – namely, 100+/80+ and 90+/80+ population proportions, sex ratios, and the Myers blended index – and compare them to those based on data on target populations from Brazilian censuses and demographic projections, and from Sweden – a country with high-quality data. We also estimate vaccination coverage ratios using population projections adjusted to excess deaths as the denominators. RESULTS Requiring documentation reduces age heaping, age exaggeration, and sex ratios marginally. However, it cannot solve the problem of the misreporting of birth dates due to the absence of long-standing birth registration systems in Brazil, particularly in the northern and central regions. In addition, we find a mismatch between the projected populations and numbers of vaccinated people across regions. CONCLUSIONS Despite improvements in data quality in Brazil, we are still not confident about the accuracy of age reporting among the oldest old in the less advantaged Brazilian regions. The postponement of the 2020 census reduced the ability of authorities to define the target populations for vaccinations against COVID-19 and other diseases.
Abstract: BACKGROUND Previous research has derived bounds on the remaining life expectancy function e(x) that connect survivorship and remaining life expectancy at two age values and therefore can be used to, among other things, estimate life expectancy at birth when the population’s full mortality trajectory is not known. RESULTS We show that the aforementioned bounds emerge from using particular two-node closed quadrature rules and prove a theorem that establishes conditions for when an n-node closed rule respects those bounds for e(x). This enables the usage of known high-accuracy rules that stay within the bounds and provide new high-accuracy estimates for e(x). We show that among this set of rules are ones that yield exact estimates for e(x). We illustrate our work empirically using life table data from French females since 1816 and discover a new empirical regularity linking life expectancy at birth in the data set to survivorship and remaining life expectancy at age 20.
Abstract: BACKGROUND A classic debate concerns whether absolute or relative income is more salient. Absolute values resources as constant across time and place while relative contextualizes one’s hierarchical location in the distribution of a time and place. OBJECTIVE This study investigates specifically whether absolute income or relative income matters more for health and well-being. METHODS We exploit within-person, within-age, and within-time variation with higher-quality income measures and multiple health and well-being outcomes in the United States. Using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and the Cross-National Equivalent File, we estimate three-way fixed effects models of self-rated health, poor health, psychological distress, and life satisfaction. RESULTS For all four outcomes, relative income has much larger standardized coefficients than absolute income. Robustly, the confidence intervals for relative income do not overlap with zero. By contrast, absolute income mostly has confidence intervals that overlap with zero, and its coefficient is occasionally signed in the wrong direction. A variety of robustness checks support these results. CONCLUSIONS Relative income has far greater predictive validity than absolute income for self-reported health and well-being.
Abstract: BACKGROUND Intergenerational social mobility, or the inheritance of status characteristics, is well-studied in Sweden. However, it accounts for just one aspect of the process of intergenerational reproduction of social inequality. The role of socially stratified fertility in this process remains underexplored. OBJECTIVE I address the gap in knowledge by replicating the approach pioneered by Skopek and Leopold (2020) in the context of Germany in order to study the relative contributions of the mobility component vis-à-vis the fertility component in the educational reproduction of Swedish cohorts born between 1930 and 1950. METHODS The approach involves estimating several components of a stylized population renewal model using retrospective data and performing counterfactual simulations. I utilize data from the Swedish samples of the Generations and Gender Survey, the European Social Survey, and the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe. RESULTS My findings for Sweden reveal a relatively strong degree of intergenerational transmission of educational attainment, increasing for men and decreasing for women, coupled with an overall weak but stable educational gradient in fertility. Educational reproduction in Sweden is thus mostly driven by the mobility component.
Abstract: BACKGROUND The components of urbanisation are important to understand, since urbanisation is closely related to development. Internal migration was key in historical urban transitions, while in contemporary transitions the balance of births and deaths has been the main driver of urbanisation. Reclassification of rural areas and international migration also contribute to urbanisation. OBJECTIVE Unlike previous work based on indirectly measured net migration estimates, we directly estimate in- and out-migration rates between rural and urban areas across Africa and Asia by age and sex, and evaluate the contribution of the balance of these flows to urbanisation. METHODS We use 67 census samples from IPUMS International for 28 countries in Africa and Asia between 1970 and 2014 to estimate in- and out- migration between rural and urban areas, based on available questions of residence. We then model age- and sex-specific migration rates using Poisson regression and estimate net migration through marginal effects. RESULTS Results confirm that, in both continents, urbanisation is not generated by rural-to-urban migration but by the urban population itself, be it through natural growth or through expansion to peripheral areas. In Asia, urbanisation reflects internal migration trends and reclassification decisions to a greater extent than in Africa, where natural growth is the key contributor. CONCLUSIONS In Asia, urbanisation reflects internal migration trends and reclassification decisions to a greater extent than in Africa where natural growth is the key contributor.
Abstract: BACKGROUND Several studies show that cohabiting adult children have less frequent contact with their mothers than married adult children. We argue that these findings might be spurious due to confounding. OBJECTIVE Our aim is to replicate earlier research using more robust statistical instruments from the family of multi-level models with fixed effects, which are known to offer better control of omitted-variable bias. We also want to show the extent to which union-type effects vary across countries and by parenthood status. METHODS We use data from the SHARE survey. Mothers are the primary respondents and report on contact with all their children as well as on their children’s union type. We apply mother-level fixed effects (i.e., within-mother comparisons) to see if the frequency of contact depends on the child’s union type (distinguishing marriage and unmarried cohabitation). RESULTS We find no overall association between the adult child’s union status and the frequency of intergenerational contact with the mother. While there are some differences across countries in this effect, these are uncorrelated with the prevalence of unmarried cohabitation, any typology of family systems, or the prevailing type of unmarried cohabitation. CONCLUSIONS We failed to replicate previously reported associations between children’s union type and frequency of intergenerational contact. We conclude that the earlier findings are spurious and cannot be interpreted causally.
Abstract: BACKGROUND The assessment of relationship quality is a key construct in family research and relies on several indicators. As answer behavior for sensitive and subjective questions can be biased by the interview situation, the emerging switch from face-to-face mode to web or mixed mode in surveys challenges the comparability of measurements. OBJECTIVE This study investigates the impact of two modes of data collection – face-to-face mode and web mode – on central measurements of relationship quality in quantitative family research. METHODS In a German experimental pilot study (2018) within the Generations and Gender Programme, target persons were randomly assigned to face-to-face or online interviews. Mode differences are assessed by comparing distributions for various indicators of relationship quality. To adjust for confounders, post-stratification weighting and multivariate regression analysis are applied. RESULTS Findings reveal consistent mode effects for almost all indicators of relationship quality even after adjusting for confounders. Respondents in web mode assess their relationship quality substantially lower than respondents in face-to-face mode, thinking more often about breaking up and reporting lower satisfaction and more conflicts. CONCLUSIONS Web mode seems to support less socially desirable reflections on respondents’ relationships compared to face-to-face mode. Family researchers should consider survey design decisions when evaluating intimate relationships, particularly in longitudinal and cross-national studies.
Abstract: BACKGROUND The consequences of declining parent–child ties after divorce have primarily been studied for children’s well-being and not for parents’ well-being. Some parents lose contact with their children after divorce, and one would expect that such a decline in contact hampers their emotional well-being, in particular when parents are older and children are adults. OBJECTIVE This study aims to describe the association between how much contact divorced fathers and mothers have with their children and parents’ well-being in old age. METHODS This report uses a survey with a register-based oversample of divorced parents and children from the Netherlands in 2017 (N = 4,641). Parents (mean age 62) reported about life satisfaction, health, and loneliness and on contact with two adult children (mean age 34). RESULTS A sizeable minority of older divorced parents had little or no contact with their children, although this was more common among fathers than mothers. Parents who had little or no contact with their adult children had substantially lower levels of well-being than parents who had regular contact with their adult children. A negative association was present for mothers and fathers. Divorced parents with a (new) partner were less strongly affected by the lack of contact with children, pointing to the compensating role of partners. CONCLUSIONS Reduced contact with adult children after divorce is strongly associated with parents’ well-being. In a more general sense, the findings point to a vulnerable segment of the divorced population that is currently aging.
Abstract: OBJECTIVE A comprehensive and thorough investigation of the key trends in family patterns in Western Germany. METHODS Descriptive analyses of educational differences in marital status, cohabitation, partnerlessness, and children in the household in Western Germany from 1976 to 2019. We analyze unique data from the German Microcensus with information from more than 1.7 million individuals. RESULTS In the 1970s, men with higher education were moderately more likely to live with a partner and be married, and less likely to be divorced. The reverse was mainly the case for women. Over time, higher education levels for men and women became increasingly associated with living with a partner, being married, and living with children; lower levels of education became increasingly associated with divorce, partnerlessness, and single parenthood. Today, men with lower levels of education are least likely to live with a partner, be married, or have children in the household. Women with lower education levels are most likely to be single parents. CONCLUSIONS Education is turning more and more into a generalized life resource: those with higher education are not only the winners in the labor market but are also increasingly more likely to achieve those partnership and family outcomes to which the majority of young people aspire – a stable partnership and children.
Abstract: BACKGROUND Although women’s empowerment is one of the key concepts in development, it has proven challenging to measure it. Empirical studies have tended to focus on a cause-and-effect analysis of empowerment and using composite measures to compare different national contexts. More recent works suggest new conceptual and methodological approaches to women’s empowerment that better reflect contextual factors, intersectionality, and life course perspectives. OBJECTIVE We conduct cross-national comparative research on women’s empowerment using a new approach: by examining how women’s household decision-making power, education, and work – major components of empowerment – relate to each other across 28 low- and middle-income countries. Through this, we explore what the different relationships might imply for women’s empowerment in different contexts and circumstances. METHODS We utilize latent class analysis, a person-centered approach, to identify an unobserved class membership structure that classifies women into typologies to account for the different contexts and multidimensionality of women’s empowerment within and between countries. RESULTS We find substantial within-country differences in household decision-making power and how this aligns with women’s education and work. Across countries, we find work and education are not always positively associated with each other or with decision-making power, which suggests a need to contextualize the associations within the different dimensions of women’s empowerment.
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