Image 03/05/2016 Disadvantaged for Being the Youngest? The impact of one’s month of birth on the chances of being continuously promoted throughout primary education in France How does a child’s birth month affect their chances of success in primary school? And to what extent is their success dependent on their socioeconomic background? In this study, Fabrizio Bernardi explores the chances of students to be successfully promoted after every grade in primary school in France. The analysis is based on the concept of compensatory advantage, which states that the lives of individuals from privileged socioeconomic backgrounds are less dependent on prior negative events. Read more about Disadvantaged for Being the Youngest?
Image 27/04/16 European Policy Brief: Intergenerational Linkages in the Family This policy brief highlights recent research findings from the project "FamiliesAndSocieties" on the role of laws and policies in shaping gendered interdependencies in families; the way the "sandwich generation" (those who are likely to raise a child or a grandchild and care for parents at the same time) cares for older parents across countries; transfers in Europe from ageing parents to adult children and vice versa; and, the extent to which the financial crisis has affected intergenerational patterns of family support across households. Read more about European Policy Brief: Intergenerational Linkages in the Family
Image 15/04/16 Children of older mothers do better New MPIDR study Children of older mothers are healthier, taller and obtain more education than the children of younger mothers, a new study from the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR) in Rostock finds. Mikko Myrskylä, MPIDR-Director, and his colleague Kieron Barclay from the London School of Economics and Political Science conclude that the reason for this surprising finding is the continuous increase of educational opportunities and good health for people in industrialised countries.
Image 15/04/16 ERC Advanced Grants for Population Europe Researchers Professor Billari (University of Oxford) and Professor Aassve (Bocconi) win prestigious grants The European Research Council (ERC) has announced today (14 April 2016) the awarding of its prestigious Advanced Grants to 277 senior researchers, worth in total € 647 million. Among the grantees are two senior Population Europe researchers: Professor Francesco Billari (University of Oxford) and Professor Arnstein Aassve (Bocconi University).
Image 16/03/16 Draft scientific programme for the European Population Conference is now available The draft of the scientific programme for the 2016 European Population Conference in Mainz is now available online. You can find more information here: https://epc2016.princeton.edu/topics.
Image 09/03/16 Social Attitudes Toward Adoption by Same-Sex Couples in Europe By examining social attitudes on same-sex adoption in 28 European countries, researchers Judit Takács, Ivett Szalma and Tamás Bartus highlighted individual and country-level factors that can determine the level of social acceptance or rejection of this specific kind of adoption. Their article contributes to the literature on social acceptance of lesbian women, gay men, and their adoption practices in Europe and directs attention to several previously under-researched aspects of social attitudes on same-sex parenting rights.
Image 04/03/2016 Happy Even After (Kids) by Ester Rizzi and Malgorzata Mikucka Do our children make us happier? It is a loaded question, but one with important policy implications—and therefore worth exploring. There is ample evidence to suggest that the birth of a child increases parents’ happiness in general. Survey results show a spike in happiness in the year of the birth of the first child. This jump is especially high for mothers, who reported an increase in happiness comparable to the drop reported following a divorce, about half a point (see Figure 1). Read more about Happy Even After (Kids)
Image 29/02/16 The Closer the Better A Life-Course Analysis of Geographical Distance to Siblings, Parents, and Grandparents in Sweden A new study by researcher Martin Kolk makes a contribution to the demography and geography of kinship by studying how internal migration and demography shape the geographical availability of kin in contemporary Sweden.
Image 26/02/2016 So They Never Wanted Kids Childlessness and the ex-post rationalisation problem by Patrick I. Dick A couple of weeks ago, television on (the ever-encroaching) Valentine’s Day was predictably replete with romantic comedies. Most of the films I recognised had happy endings—appropriate on a day of upbeat marketing. In many cases, happy endings meant children, or at least the commitment to start a family. One network bucked the trend, however, apparently deciding that childlessness fit the bill. Read more about So They Never Wanted Kids
González-Ferrer Amparo Family and Children Migration and Integration Society and Solidarity Working Life