scholarly journals The Role of Fertility in the Demography of Grandparenthood: Evidence from Italy

Author(s):  
Giorgio Di Gessa ◽  
Valeria Bordone ◽  
Bruno Arpino

Abstract Grandparents play an important role in their family’s lives. However, little is known about the demography of grandparenthood. Given dramatic recent changes in fertility, we explore the role of number of children and age at first birth in the timing of the transition into grandparenthood focusing on Italy, a country with well-known North-South fertility differentials. We used data from the 2009 Italian Survey ‘Family and Social Relations’ (N = 10,186) to estimate median ages of grandparenthood across three birth cohorts of parents (1920–29; 1930–39; 1940–49). Findings show an overall postponement of age of grandparenthood of 5 years, shifting for women from early to mid- or late-50s (in the South and North, respectively). Such postponement is largely driven by family compositional changes: although the age of grandparenthood among mothers of three or more children has not changed much over cohorts, the percentage of mothers with such characteristic decreased significantly. The heterogeneity in experiencing the transition to grandparenthood has implications for intergenerational transfers and other roles in later life.

1987 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 427-438 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Vaninadha Rao ◽  
Komanduri S. Murty

SummaryAnalysis of data from the Guyana Fertility Survey on the trends and covariates of age at first birth among various birth cohorts of women ever in union indicates that an early entry into union is associated with young age at first birth and higher number of children born. Multivariate analysis showed that women with highér education, urban residence, and entry into union at age 20 or older among younger cohorts experienced lower risks for first birth compared to others, and that young women are delaying their first birth for longer durations than older women. Work status of women before first birth and the starting age of union seem to be the two major contributory factors for age at first birth. Noticeably, the role of education has changed and is now more significant among younger cohorts than among older ones for first birth timing.


Author(s):  
Zachary Van Winkle

Abstract The diversity of early family life courses is thought to have increased, although empirical evidence is mixed. Less standardized family formation is attributed to compositional changes in educational attainment, labour market participation, and childhood living conditions. I investigate whether and why family trajectories have become more or less standardized across birth cohorts in Sweden. I combine sequence metrics with Oaxaca–Blinder decompositions to assess the compositional shifts that drive changes in family formation standardization. Family trajectories of individuals born in 1952, 1962, and 1972 from age 18 to 35 are reconstructed using Swedish register data. My results demonstrate that early family formation has become more standardized across birth cohorts. Further, compositional differences between birth cohorts partially account for this standardization, especially for women. For example, higher levels of educational attainment are associated with family formation standardization. This substantiates arguments that family formation may re-standardize following the second demographic transition.


2018 ◽  
Vol 41 (5) ◽  
pp. 419-442 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ioana van Deurzen ◽  
Bram Vanhoutte

Are challenging life courses associated with more wear and tear on the biological level? This study investigates this question from a life-course perspective by examining the influence of life-course risk accumulation on allostatic load (AL), considering the role of sex and birth cohorts. Using biomarker data collected over three waves (2004, 2008, and 2012) of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing ( N = 3,824) in a growth curve framework, AL trajectories over a period of 8 years are investigated. Our results illustrate that AL increases substantially in later life. Men have higher AL than women, but increases are similar for both sexes. Older cohorts have both higher levels and a steeper increase of AL over time. Higher risk accumulation over the life course goes hand in hand with higher AL levels and steeper trajectories, contributing to the body of evidence on cumulative (dis)advantage processes in later life.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 609-609
Author(s):  
Marja Aartsen ◽  
Gražina Rapolienė

Abstract Loneliness in later life is two times more prevalent in Eastern and Southern European countries than in Northern and Western European countries. One explanation that is put forth is the difference in expectations about social relations. We examine a not often evaluated role of trust in society as factor contributing to the country differences in loneliness. We adopt the trust-as-antecedent model of social integration, and assume that social integration is associated with loneliness. We use data of respondents aged 65 and over participating in the European Social Survey and conduct a latent factors path analysis to examine the effect of trust in the system and trust in people on social capital and loneliness. Loneliness is two times more prevalent in Eastern Europe than the rest of Europe (26% vs 10%), levels of trust are substantially lower in Eastern European countries, which in turn is associated with higher levels of loneliness.


2020 ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Dora Sampaio

Abstract This article foregrounds the role of migration and transnational cultural exchange in the (trans)formation of cultures of ageing. It argues that sustained emigration and return to the Azores archipelago have contributed to the transnational production of hybrid cultures of ageing. The paper suggests that understanding transnational cultures of ageing in the context of return requires a broader field of enquiry that considers return migrants’ discursive framings in tension with transnational and local contexts. Returnees’ accounts of ageing, produced in relation to transnational exchange and local interactions, emphasise three intersecting themes – health and the ageing body, ageing and care, and mindset and work ethic in later life – which reveal a cultural shift towards forms of active ageing. The discussion shows that new, hybrid lexicons of ageing are articulated through practices and languages of othering and negotiating that are conducive to unsettling social relations and economic contexts in the homeland.


2022 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vegard Skirbekk ◽  
Éric Bonsang ◽  
Bo Engdahl

AbstractThere is a lack of studies assessing how hearing impairment relates to reproductive outcomes. We examined whether childhood hearing impairment (HI) affects reproductive patterns based on longitudinal Norwegian population level data for birth cohorts 1940–1980. We used Poisson regression to estimate the association between the number of children ever born and HI. The association with childlessness is estimated by a logit model. As a robustness check, we also estimated family fixed effects Poisson and logit models. Hearing was assessed at ages 7, 10 and 13, and reproduction was observed at adult ages until 2014. Air conduction hearing threshold levels were obtained by pure-tone audiometry at eight frequencies from 0.25 to 8 kHz. Fertility data were collected from Norwegian administrative registers. The combined dataset size was N = 50,022. Our analyses reveal that HI in childhood is associated with lower fertility in adulthood, especially for men. The proportion of childless individuals among those with childhood HI was almost twice as large as that of individuals with normal childhood hearing (20.8% vs. 10.7%). The negative association is robust to the inclusion of family fixed effects in the model that allow to control for the unobserved heterogeneity that are shared between siblings, including factors related to the upbringing and parent characteristics. Less family support in later life could add to the health challenges faced by those with HI. More attention should be given to how fertility relates to HI.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-35
Author(s):  
Marja Aartsen ◽  
Kieran Walsh ◽  
Feliciano Villar ◽  
Ariela Lowenstein ◽  
Ruth Katz ◽  
...  

PLoS ONE ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (12) ◽  
pp. e0244371
Author(s):  
Martin Wetzel ◽  
Bram Vanhoutte

Background The cumulative (dis)advantage (CAD) perspective more and more is examined in a comparative way, to highlight the role of context in generating inequality over the life course. This study adds to this field of research by examining trajectories of activities of daily living (ADL) in later life by educational level in a country comparison of England and Germany, emphasizing differing institutional conditions. Method Data used are the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA; 11,352 individuals) and the German subsample of the Survey of Health and Retirement in Europe (SHARE; 5,573 individuals). Using population averaged Poisson panel regression models, 12-year trajectories of six birth cohorts are investigated, covering the age range of 50 to 90 years. Results Respondents in England have a higher level of limitations at age 50, and more limited increases over age than in Germany. An educational gradient exists in both countries at age 50. Notably, the educational gradient increases for more recently born cohorts, but declines with increasing age in England, while in Germany educational differences increase for more recently born cohort only. Discussion The current study indicates that CAD processes between educational groups are context sensitive. While England showed convergence of disparities with increasing age, in Germany no differential development was found.


2006 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 134-134
Author(s):  
L SCELSI ◽  
L TAVAZZI ◽  
A MAGGIONI ◽  
D LUCCI ◽  
G CACCIATORE ◽  
...  

Somatechnics ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 288-303
Author(s):  
Michael Connors Jackman

This article investigates the ways in which the work of The Body Politic (TBP), the first major lesbian and gay newspaper in Canada, comes to be commemorated in queer publics and how it figures in the memories of those who were involved in producing the paper. In revisiting a critical point in the history of TBP from 1985 when controversy erupted over race and racism within the editorial collective, this discussion considers the role of memory in the reproduction of whiteness and in the rupture of standard narratives about the past. As the controversy continues to haunt contemporary queer activism in Canada, the productive work of memory must be considered an essential aspect of how, when and for what reasons the work of TBP comes to be commemorated. By revisiting the events of 1985 and by sifting through interviews with individuals who contributed to the work of TBP, this article complicates the narrative of TBP as a bluntly racist endeavour whilst questioning the white privilege and racially-charged demands that undergird its commemoration. The work of producing and preserving queer history is a vital means of challenging the intentional and strategic erasure of queer existence, but those who engage in such efforts must remain attentive to the unequal terrain of social relations within which remembering forms its objects.


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