Desperate Housewives and Happy Working Mothers: Are Parent-Couples with Equal Income More Satisfied throughout Parenthood? A Dyadic Longitudinal Study

2020 ◽  
pp. 095001702097154
Author(s):  
Laura Langner
Keyword(s):  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Multilevel Analysis ◽  
Working Mothers ◽  
High Status ◽  
Equal Income ◽  
First Time

Are parent-couples with equal income more satisfied as their children grow up, than those who prioritize the father’s career (specialize)? For the first time, 384 German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) study couples were categorized into life-course coupled earnings types, by tracing how earnings were divided within couples between the ages of 1 to 15 of their youngest child. Multivariate, multilevel analysis showed that, unlike mothers pursuing an (eventually) equal earnings division, mothers in an (eventually) specialized arrangement experienced a strong decline in life satisfaction. Hence, particularly high-status mothers (having invested heavily into their career) were eventually up to two life satisfaction points less satisfied if they prioritized their partner’s earnings, than those who shared earnings equally with their partner. Paternal life satisfaction was not significantly different between patterns of earnings (in)equality. For most couples, earnings equality led to a win-win situation: mothers’ life satisfaction was higher than for specialized mothers without negatively affecting paternal satisfaction.

scholarly journals Life course socioeconomic position and incidence of mid–late life depression in China and England: a comparative analysis of CHARLS and ELSA

2019 ◽  
Vol 73 (9) ◽  
pp. 817-824 ◽  
Author(s):  
Milagros Ruiz ◽  
Yaoyue Hu ◽  
Pekka Martikainen ◽  
Martin Bobak
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Socioeconomic Position ◽  
Depression Scale ◽  
Late Life ◽  
Depression Symptom ◽  
High Status ◽  
Late Life Depression ◽  
Incident Cases

BackgroundDespite the growing prevalence of depression in the Chinese elderly, there is conflicting evidence of life course socioeconomic position (SEP) and depression onset in China, and whether this association is akin to that observed in Western societies. We compared incident risk of mid–late life depression by childhood and adulthood SEP in China and England, a country where mental health inequality is firmly established.MethodsDepression-free participants from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (N=8508) and the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (N=6184) were studied over 4 years. Depressive symptoms were classified as incident cases using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale criteria. Associations between SEP (education, wealth, residence ownership and childhood/adolescent deprivation) and depression symptom onset were assessed using Cox proportional hazards models. In China, we also investigated children’s government employment status as a SEP marker.ResultsHigher education and wealth predicted lower incidence of depression in both countries. The association with non-ownership of residence appeared stronger in England (HR 1.61, 95% CI 1.41 to 1.86) than in China (HR 1.11, 95% CI 0.95 to 1.29), while that with childhood/adolescent deprivation was stronger in China (HR 1.43, 95% CI 1.29 – 1.60) than in England (HR 1.33, 95% CI 0.92 to 1.92). Chinese adults whose children were employed in high-status government jobs, had lower rates of depression onset.ConclusionsConsistent findings from China and England demonstrate that SEP is a pervasive determinant of mid–late life depression in very diverse social contexts. Together with conventional measures of SEP, the SEP of children also affects the mental health of older Chinese.

scholarly journals Age-Graded Transitions and Turning Points in Polish Offenders’ Criminal Careers from the Standpoint of Life Course Theory

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (11) ◽  
pp. 6010
Author(s):  
Krzysztof Pękala ◽  
Andrzej Kacprzak ◽  
Piotr Chomczyński ◽  
Jakub Ratajczak ◽  
Michał Marczak ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Turning Points ◽  
Criminal Activity ◽  
Juvenile Detention ◽  
Criminal Careers ◽  
Social Adaptation ◽  
Life Course Theory ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Individual Choices ◽  
First Time

Both juvenile and adult criminal careers show regularities in the origins of delinquency, the dynamics of the criminal pathway, and the turning points that lead to desistance/persistence in crime. Research shows that family, education, and friendship environments contribute significantly to the individual choices that create criminal biographies. Our aim was to apply core aspects of life course theory (LCT): trajectory, the aged-graded process, transitions, institutions, and ultimately how desistance/persistence factor into explaining the criminal careers of Polish offenders. The research is based on in-depth interviews (130) carried out with both offenders (90) and experts (40). The offenders were divided into two groups: 30 were juveniles, and 60 were adults of whom half were sentenced for the first time (30) and half were recidivists (30) located in correctional institutions or released. The experts group (40) includes psychologists, educators, social rehabilitators, and prison and juvenile detention personnel working with offenders. We used triangulation of researcher, data, and methodology. Our data revealed that similar biographical experiences characterized by an early socialization, family and friends-based circles laid the groundwork for their entry and continued participation in criminal activity. Juvenile and adult first-time sentenced offenders led criminal careers significantly different from those of recidivists, who faced problems with social adaptation caused by lack of family and institutional support.

“Girls Are Like Flowers; Boys Are Like footballs”

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-62
Author(s):  
Florencia Herrera
Keyword(s):  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Hegemonic Masculinity ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Gender Practices ◽  
First Time ◽  
Masculine Gender

To contribute to the discussion about how masculinity—understood as a configuration of gender practices (Connell 2000)—is reproduced, this paper analyzes fathers’ discourse about the gender of their sons and daughters. I carried out a qualitative longitudinal study in Chile during which 28 first-time fathers were interviewed before and after their child’s birth or arrival (adoption). I suggest that these fathers see gender in essentialist, dichotomous, and hierarchical terms. They expect to shape their sons’ gender practices according to hegemonic masculinity (discouraging gender practices associated with femininity or homosexuality). In the study, no attempt to reformulate masculine gender practices was observed but, rather, an interest on the fathers’ part in maintaining the patriarchal gender order.

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