1,720,983 research outputs found
Happiness and childbearing across Europe
No full textIn this paper we analyse the relationship between childbearing and happiness taking a comparative perspective. We argue that fertility and happiness are linked and that there are important differences across European countries. Using happiness as a welfare measure offers important benefits over income especially when interest lies in understanding how individuals’ wellbeing is associated with childbearing outcomes. We use the European Social Survey (ESS) and apply simple regression techniques, controlling for country differences, and find indeed strong country differences. The analysis shows that parents are happier in Social Democratic countries
Happiness and childbearing across Europe
No full textIn this paper we analyse the relationship between childbearing and happiness taking a comparative perspective. We argue that fertility and happiness are linked and that there are important differences across European countries. Using happiness as a welfare measure offers important benefits over income especially when interest lies in understanding how individuals’ wellbeing is associated with childbearing outcomes. We use the European Social Survey (ESS) and apply simple regression techniques, controlling for country differences, and find indeed strong country differences. The analysis shows that parents are happier in Social Democratic countries
Explaining attitudes towards demographic behaviour
No full textIn recent decades, Europe has witnessed dramatic changes in demographic behaviour manifested by postponement of childbearing, cohabitation replacing marriage together with increased divorce rates. It is often argued, especially in the demography literature, that these new behaviours are driven by fundamental changes in attitudes and value orientations. This article uses data from the third round of the European Social Survey to assess the drivers behind attitudes to demographic behaviour. There are large differences across countries, and we find that economic development is indeed a strong predictor for modern attitudes. However, attitudes towards demographic behaviour correlate with many other country-specific characteristics, some challenging popular wisdom in the demography literature
Institutional change, happiness, and fertility
No full textBuilding on existing theories of fertility dynamics, this article provides a theoretical perspective that connects two recent strands of the literature. The first concerns gender equity and equality where institutions play a critical role. The second is that subjective well-being matters in explaining childbearing behaviour (and vice versa). Our key argument is that subjective well-being is a direct function of the discrepancy between aspirations and attainment, here interpreted as a potential mismatch between gender equity and equality. As aspirations change over time, discrepancy arises in so far institutions are unable to follow suit with new emerging preferences. This lowers subjective well-being associated with childbearing, and hence leads to lower levels of fertility. Our empirical analysis is based on the European Social Survey, and although taking an indirect approach, we provide support for this idea. Fertility and happiness are higher where institutions appear to have adapted to women’s new preferences and aspirations, which is further supported by strong gender differences in happiness associated with parenthood. Fathers are always happier than non-fathers—no matter the circumstances of the country where they reside—whereas mothers are happier only when relevant institutions are in place
Do couples who use fertility treatments divorce more? Evidence from the US National Survey of Family Growth
Full text linkBACKGROUND Undertaking fertility treatment is a stressful process and may lead to couple instability, but high levels of couple satisfaction have usually been observed during or just after treatment. However, the evidence on divorce is scarce.OBJECTIVES We investigated the association between the use of a wide range of fertility treatments and marital dissolution in a representative sample of American women in their first marriage. METHODS We applied discrete-time event history analysis to data from the US National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG), collected from 2002 through 2013-2015, to compare divorce rates among women who experienced successful treatments or unsuccessful treatments and a natural birth or no birth within the marriage (N = 13,784).RESULTS Women who used fertility treatments had a lower risk of divorce up to 20 years after the marriage, compared to the other groups. The probability was especially low when the treatment was successful, but women who did not conceive after the treatment also showed a lower risk of divorce.CONCLUSION We found evidence that undertaking fertility treatment is associated with a lower risk of divorce, suggesting that it might strengthen couples' relationships. The sociodemographic characteristics of couples undertaking treatment partly explained the association, but we were not able to control for the quality of the relationship before the treatment, which is likely to play a role.CONTRIBUTION Our study contributes to knowledge about the consequences of fertility treatment by comparing the long-term risk of divorce of women who have experienced successful and unsuccessful treatments, childless women, and those who have had a natural birth. Furthermore, it is the first to examine this in the US context
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Household composition, couples’ relationship quality, and social support during lockdown
No full textWhile the majority of respondents reported that their household compositionhad remained stable, any reported change in living arrangements differedsubstantially across the cohorts. About two-fifths of 19-year-olds, who wereliving independently of their parents prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, moved inwith their parents (or parents-in-law).• Nearly one-fifth of the youngest generation reported more conflict with peoplearound them since the outbreak whereas the vast majority (90% or more) ofthe older generations reported either no change or less conflict. A change inhousehold composition appeared to be related to raised levels of conflict.• The age 19 cohort was the least likely to be in a romantic relationship and ifthey were, they had the lowest relationship satisfaction.• The youngest generations, those from the age 30 and age 19 cohorts, had thehighest frequency of reporting more arguments with their partner since beforethe pandemic. Moreover, more women than men reported an increase inarguments since the start of the pandemic. For the age 62 cohort, inparticular, more relationship conflict was reported if they also experiencedchanges in household composition, compared with cohort members who hadstability in their household arrangements.• Most respondents reported a great deal of perceived social support if theywere sick or needed someone to talk to about their problems. Cohortmembers who were not in a relationship, and particularly among the age 62cohort, had the least emotional support compared to their peers who were inrelationships, irrespective of cohabitation status
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
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