1,721,043 research outputs found
Becoming an adult in Europe: A macro(/micro)-demographic perspective
No full textExtreme cases in demography are important challenges for researchers, and the still important heterogeneity of European societies is a blessing for scholars interested in studying the importance of cultural and institutional factors. In the transition to adulthood the "latest-late" pattern of Southern Europe cohabits with its opposite "earliest-early" pattern of the Nordic countries. In this paper, I discuss multifaceted approaches to the explanation of why becoming an "adult" in Europe appears so diverse. I use secondary data analyses and present cross-country correlations: welfare state and institutional arrangements, historical and deeply rooted cultural differences, as well as economic and policy factors, and ideational change. Moreover, micro-level determinants play different roles in different societies. Future research on the transition to adulthood in Europe needs to be multilevel, comparative and interdisciplinary, and to consider the potential implication of persistent differences in patterns. © 2004 Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
Patterns of low and lowest-low fertility in Europe
No full textIn this paper we conduct descriptive aggregate analyses to revisit the relationship of low and lowest-low period fertility to cohort fertility and key fertility-related behaviour such as leaving the parental home, marriage, and women's labour force participation. Our analyses show that the cross-country correlations in Europe between total fertility and the total first marriage rate, the proportion of extramarital births, and the labour force participation of women reversed during the period from 1975 to 1999. By the end of the 1990s there was also no longer evidence that divorce levels were negatively associated with fertility levels. We argue that lowest-low fertility has been particularly associated with a 'falling behind' of cohort fertility at higher birth orders and later ages. From these analyses we conclude that the emergence of lowest-low fertility during the 1990s was accompanied by a disruption or even a reversal of many well-known relationships that have been used to explain cross-country differences in fertility patterns. © 2004 Population Investigation Committee
Should I stay or should I go? The impact of age norms on leaving home
No full textThis article studies the association between social norms and the timing of leaving home. Although largely overlooked by most recent studies on leaving home, life-course theory suggests that age norms and age grading influence life-course decisions in general and leaving home in particular. We use Fishbein and Ajzen's model of "reasoned behavior" to integrate this strand of research with the more individualistic view that dominates current thinking. Using data from a Dutch panel survey, we use a Cox regression model with a control for sample selection to estimate the association between perceived age norms and the timing of leaving home. We show that perceived opinions of parents are associated with the actual timing of leaving the parental home but that societal norms and friends 'norms concerning the timing of leaving home are not. In addition, the timing of leaving home is also associated with the perceived costs and benefits of leaving home and with the perceived housing market situation
Timing, sequencing, and quantum of life course events: A machine learning approach
No full textIn this paper we discuss and apply machine learning techniques, using ideas from a core research area in the artificial intelligence literature to analyse simultaneously timing, sequencing, and quantum of life course events from a comparative perspective. We outline the need for techniques which allow the adoption of a holistic approach to life course analysis, illustrating the specific case of the transition to adulthood. We briefly introduce machine learning algorithms to build decision trees and rule sets and then apply such algorithms to delineate the key features which distinguish Austrian and Italian pathways to adulthood, using Fertility and Family Survey data. The key role of sequencing and synchronization between events emerges clearly from the analysis. © Springer 2006
The interrelations between cohabitation, marriage and first birth in Germany and Sweden
No full textWe study the interrelationships between union-formation forms and fertility in Swedish and West German female cohorts born in 1949-1971. We apply simultaneous hazard models, permitting the presence of correlated unobserved heterogeneity. This method allows us to control for country-specific composition of the population with respect to several socio-economic variables, as well as with respect to unobserved factors jointly affecting childbearing and union formation behavior. Our results confirm that partnership formation and the transition to parenthood are partially interchangeable. Net of those selection effects, we find that the impact of being in a union on first birth is higher in Sweden than in Germany, in particular for cohabitation. © 2004 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc
Leaving home, moving to college, and returning home: Economic outcomes in the United States
Full text linkLeaving the parental home is a milestone in the transition to adulthood. Historical changes in leaving home have been well documented in the literature. However, research investigating the consequences associated with the timing and pathway of leaving (and returning) home is still scant. Building mainly on capital accumulation and life course theories, we analyse data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 on young Americans born between 1980 and 1984, who are 27–31 years old in 2011. We find an M-shaped relationship between age at leaving home and working and economic conditions later on: Leaving “too early,” “too late,” or at nonnormative ages is negatively associated with labour market outcomes. Also, among those who have been enrolled in college, leaving home to go to college, during college, or after college is positively associated with subsequent income, compared with leaving before college. Moving back in with parents is negatively associated with economic outcomes
The "wedding-ring": An agent-based marriage model based on social interaction
No full textIn this paper we develop an agent-based marriage model based on social interaction. We build an population of interacting agents whose chances of marrying depend on the availability of partners, and whose willingness to marry depends on the share of relevant others in their social network who are already married. We then let the typical aggregate age pattern of marriage emerge from the bottom-up. The results of our simulation show that micro-level hypotheses founded on existing theory and evidence on social interaction can reproduce age-at-marriage patterns with both realistic shape and realistic micro-level dynamics. © 2007 Billari et al
Approaching the limit: Long-term trends in late and very late fertility
No full textThis article has three goals. First, we compare late childbearing in the
United States and several European countries. We then discuss the physiological
aspects of late fertility and review recent analyses of the extent to which
assisted reproductive technologies affect the probabilities of conceiving and
having successful pregnancies at advanced childbearing ages. Finally, we present
analyses of late and very late fertility in Sweden, a country for which the
relevant data are of high quality, cover a long time period, and permit calculation
of conventional age-specific fertility rates, as well as occurrence-exposure
rates that eliminate the influences of shifts in the parity distribution
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