Population Europe Newsletter - December 2019

Does having highly educated adult children reduce mortality risks for parents with low educational attainment in Europe? Albert Sabater, Elspeth Graham, Alan Marshall investigate this question.

A study by Damiano Uccheddu, Anne H. Gauthier, Nardi Steverink and Tom Emery used data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) to identify the impact of the transition into and out of providing care for a spouse on the health of carers.

A study by Rahnu et al. looked at longitudinal register data from Statistics Findland to see how the share of immigrants in one’s workplace and in one’s residential neighbourhood influences the chances of a native Finn choosing a foreign-born partner. They found positive relationships for both domains.

Karhula, Erola, Raab and Fasang used Finnish register data and found similarities in socio-economic trajectories between siblings, with similarities proving strongest among the most and least advantaged. They concluded that taking a life course perspective is key to examining issues of social mobility.

Triventi looked at national data on the whole population of students enrolled in the fifth and sixth grade in Italy in 2012 to investigate whether teachers grade students with a migration background (SMBs) less generously than native students with comparable academic skills. He found that SMBs who achieved similar standardised test scores nevertheless received lower average grades in both reading and mathematics.

Gergő Baranyi and colleagues used data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) to assess longitudinal associations of neighbourhood nuisances and access to services with depression among older European adults. They found that those exposed to neighbourhood nuisances had a 36 per cent increased chance of developing depression.

Perelli-Harris et al. investigated whether individuals who cohabit have similar levels of subjective wellbeing (SWB) as married people. They studied events and characteristics correlated with entrance into marriage; whether marriage may be more advantageous for those with a lower or higher tendency to marry; and, finally, whether there is variation by country and gender between partnership type and SWB.

Gender pay gaps persist in high-income countries and beyond. Having children, in particular, seems to be one of the main factors dividing the careers of women and men. Mothers who return to work after giving birth often face substantial wage losses, whereas fathers have been found to enjoy modest wage gains after the birth of a child. However, most studies have overlooked whether such wage premiums have changed over time amid transformations in the policy context surrounding fatherhood.

Research looking at Western European countries tends to suggest that the negative effect of parenthood on individuals’ subjective well-being is one of the key factors explaining low fertility trends. In a new study, Márta K. Radó tested this association for Hungary, which is an especially case for two main reasons. First, low fertility is a long-term trend in the country. Second, this persistently low fertility rate is paired with one of the longest and most extensively used periods of parental leave in Europe.

To address the lack of research on how long young adults want to live, Bowen et al. conducted a survey of over 700 university students in Austria, Norway, Poland and Russia. They asked students how long they want to live (preferred life expectancy), how long they expect to live (subjective life expectancy) and how long they think an average person of the same age and sex will live (belief about average cohort life expectancy).

Since the onset of the recession in the late 2000s, youth "Not in Education, Employment or Training" (NEET) have received much public attention. A recent study by Joonas Pitkänen, Hanna Remes, Heta Moustgaard and Pekka Martikainen from the Population Research Unit at University of Helsinki investigates childhood determinants of NEET status after compulsory school in Finland.

In this study, Júlia Mikolai & Hill Kulu focus on the consequences of separation for individuals’ housing outcomes. Their findings suggest that regardless of cross-national differences in policies, welfare provisions and housing markets, individuals face a period of uncertainty regarding their housing outcomes following separation; they are less likely to be homeowners than those who are in a steady relationship.

Using administrative registers that covered the entire Norwegian population, Trude Lappegård and Tom Kornstad found that the higher the share of fathers using parental leave in the municipality (social norm), the more likely women were to have their first and second child. Looking at the decision to have a second child, the effect of father’s engagement is actually stronger compared to the decision of becoming parents for the first time.

Confirming previous assumptions and based on the migration population in Sweden, the paper finds that a majority of re‐emigration is in fact returning to the country of birth. However, onward migration is more common for some groups, such as among forced migrants and migrants from the horn of Africa and other sub‐Saharan countries.