Pop digests

PopDigests

PopDigests are short, comprehensive summaries of research results with a link to the original publication (if accessible online). This allows population experts and other interested audiences to be able to easily access information to the latest research results. 

Do Close Individuals Influence Each Other’s Fertility Decisions?

Do Close Individuals Influence Each Other’s Fertility Decisions?

Going deep into the mechanisms beyond the role of social networks on fertility
Do family, friends or work colleagues influence each other’s fertility decisions? If so, to what extent does this generate a multiplying effect in societies? In a study published in Demography, Zafer Buyukkececi (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin), Thomas Leopold (University of Amsterdam), Ruben van Gaalen (Statistics Netherlands) and Henriette Engelhardt (University of Bamberg) answered these questions with data from the System of social statistical data sets (SSD), an integrated longitudinal database of various registers and surveys provided by Statistics Netherlands.

Do family, friends or work colleagues influence each other’s fertility decisions? If so, to what extent does this generate a multiplying effect in societies? In a study published in Demography, Zafer Buyukkececi (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin) and colleagues answered these questions with data from the system of social statistical data sets provided by Statistics Netherlands.

The Smoking Epidemic

The Smoking Epidemic

Smoking is the major reason for sex differences in last decades in high income countries
Of all lifestyle behaviours, smoking caused the most deaths in the last century. Because of the time lag between the act of smoking and dying from smoking, and because males generally take up smoking before females do, male and female smoking epidemiology often follows a typical double wave pattern dubbed the ‘smoking epidemic’. Our research aimed to answer the questions: How are male and female deaths from this epidemic differentially progressing in high-income regions on a cohort-by-age basis? and How have they affected male-female survival differences?

Because of the time lag between the act of smoking and dying from smoking, and because males generally take up smoking before females do, male and female smoking epidemiology often follows a typical double wave pattern dubbed the ‘smoking epidemic’. Research from Maarten Wensink (CPop) et al. aimed to answer the questions: How are male and female deaths from this epidemic differentially progressing in high-income regions on a cohort-by-age basis? How have they affected male-female survival differences?

The More the Merrier? Perhaps So!

The More the Merrier? Perhaps So!

Fertility patterns & later-life loneliness
Thijs van den Broek (Erasmus University Rotterdam) and Marco Tosi (Collegio Carlo Alberto) analysed data from the Generations & Gender Programme (GGP) of older parents from eight eastern European countries. By using an instrumental variable approach, the authors show that for women, having multiple children had a causal protective effect against loneliness.

Thijs van den Broek (Erasmus University Rotterdam) and Marco Tosi (Collegio Carlo Alberto) analysed data from the Generations & Gender Programme (GGP) of older parents from eight eastern European countries. By using an instrumental variable approach, the authors show that for women, having multiple children had a causal protective effect against loneliness.

Baby Makes Five

Baby Makes Five

The effects of specific family policies in Hungary
Zsolt Spéder and Lívia Murinkó (Hungarian Demographic Research Institute, HDRI) and Livia Sz. Oláh (Stockholm University Demography Unit, SUDA) used data from the Hungarian Generations and Gender Survey to study whether two policies, a flat-rate cash support and a tax rebate, increased the likelihood of women in Hungary giving birth to a third child.

Zsolt Spéder and Lívia Murinkó (Hungarian Demographic Research Institute, HDRI) and Livia Sz. Oláh (Stockholm University Demography Unit, SUDA) used data from the Hungarian Generations and Gender Survey to study whether two policies, a flat-rate cash support and a tax rebate, increased the likelihood of women in Hungary giving birth to a third child.

The Long Arm of the Family

The Long Arm of the Family

Nurture, not nature, explains why some societies have more social mobility than others
The question of how life-course outcomes depend on the institution of the family is central to sociology and social demography. Few outcomes are more important in life than one's educational attainment, and a large literature studies how it depends on the family of origin – so-called intergenerational mobility research. In this field there have always been two opposing views. One seeing intergenerational transmission as "mostly in the genes" and thereby difficult to influence by policy levers; another seeing outcomes as heavily dependent on social forces.

Does the balance of "nature" and "nurture" depend on whether you grew up in a society with high or low social mobility?In a recent study in PNAS, Per Engzell and Felix Tropf explore the roles of family of origin and genetics on educational attainment. 

 

 

It's Not Just Income That Matters

It's Not Just Income That Matters

Income poverty is an important but insufficient measure of economic hardship for children
In a study just published by the prestigious journal Demography, Anika Schenck-Fontaine (Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories) and Lidia Panico (Institut National d’Études Démographiques) looked at multiple economic hardship combinations and how they are associated with children’s behavior problems between ages 3 and 7.
Work and Play

Work and Play

Child and adolescent time use in Finland, Spain and the UK
To investigate how child and adolescent time use differs across societies, Gracia and colleagues used 2009-2015 time-diary data on children and adolescents aged 10-17 from Finland, Spain and the UK. They find very strong cross-national differences in child and adolescent time use, net of multiple demographic factors. Consequently, they argue that cross-cultural variations are critical to understand cross-country differences in children’s daily activities.

To investigate how child and adolescent time use differs across societies, Gracia and colleagues used 2009-2015 time-diary data on children and adolescents aged 10-17 from Finland, Spain and the UK. They find very strong cross-national differences in child and adolescent time use, net of multiple demographic factors. Consequently, they argue that cross-cultural variations are critical to understand cross-country differences in children’s daily activities.

Closing the Fertility Gap

Closing the Fertility Gap

A comparative study of 19 European countries and the United States
A recent study by Eva Beaujouan and Caroline Berghammer looked at the fertility gap among women in 19 European countries and the United States. Their results indicate that on average, compared to earlier expectations and intentions, women had fewer children and were childless more often. Fertility gaps differed by country & education level, leading to possible structural explanations.

A recent study by Eva Beaujouan and Caroline Berghammer looked at the fertility gap among women in 19 European countries and the United States. Their results indicate that on average, compared to earlier expectations and intentions, women had fewer children and were childless more often. Fertility gaps differed by country & education level, leading to possible structural explanations.

Neighbourhood Conditions and Old-Age Depression

Neighbourhood Conditions and Old-Age Depression

What role do childhood experiences play in how individuals react to their environment?
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, i.e., higher poverty, more neighbourhood problems (e.g., crime, noise, littering) or higher air pollution, had a 36 per cent increased chance of developing depression.

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.

Education Gap, Integration Gap

Education Gap, Integration Gap

The role of teachers in migrant students’ school achievement
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.

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.