scholarly journals Public Childcare Expansion and Changing Gender Ideologies of Parents in Germany

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gundula Zoch ◽  
Pia S. Schober
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Attitude Change ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Family Policy ◽  
West Germany ◽  
College Degree ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Gender Ideologies ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
The Life Course

This study investigates whether the expansion of public childcare in Germany has been associated with an individual-level change in parents’ gender ideologies. We extend the literature by developing and testing a theoretical framework of the short-term impact of family policy institutions on attitude change over the life course. The analysis links the German Family Panel pair-fam (2008 to 2015) with administrative records on childcare provision at county-level and applies fixed-effects panel models. Our findings show that the childcare expansion has been associated with moderate changes towards less traditional gender ideologies only among mothers in West Germany and mostly so among mothers without a college degree. Surprisingly, in East Germany, we found tentative evidence of more traditional gender ideologies among mothers without a college degree as the childcare reform unfolded. The results provide evidence that policy reforms may alter gender ideologies also in the short-term over the life course.

scholarly journals Thirty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall - Do East and West Germans still differ in their attitudes towards women’s employment and the division of housework?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gundula Zoch
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Maternal Employment ◽  
Well Being ◽  
West Germany ◽  
Female Employment ◽  
Gender Ideologies ◽  
East And West Germany ◽  
East And West ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
East West

Previous cross-sectional studies show less traditional gender ideologies among East Germans after German reunification and even suggest slightly increasing East-West disparities. These findings challenge the assumptions of stable ideologies over the life-course as well as cohort replacement-based convergence over time. This study expands on previous research by analysing differences and trends in gender ideologies in the context of East and West Germany using data from the German Family Panel pairfam (2008-2018). It distinguishes between three cohorts born in the early 1970s, 1980s and 1990s who have different socialisation experiences before and after reunification. The results show smaller East-West differences in gender ideologies for the youngest cohort compared with larger gaps for the two older cohorts born before reunification. Convergence of ideologies is partly due to modernisation trends in West Germany and re-traditionalisation effects in East Germany across cohorts, but also due to attitudinal changes with age. Attitudes towards housework and female employment have particularly converged, while views on maternal employment and the consequences for children’s well-being continue to differ between East and West Germany. The findings underline the importance of persistent, long-lasting ideology differences due to the regime‐specific socialisation and composition resulting from the division of Germany, but also emphasizes the role of ideology change across cohorts and over the life-course for the overall converging trends in gender ideologies.

scholarly journals Persistent short-term imprisonment: Belonging as a lens to understand its shifting meanings over the life course

Incarceration ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 263266632198901
Author(s):  
Marguerite Schinkel ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Sense Of Belonging ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Criminal Punishment ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Looking Back

This article takes a life-course perspective to the meaning of persistent short-term imprisonment and introduces the significance of ‘penal careers’. Examining a total of 62 interviews with men and women in Scotland with long careers of (progression through) criminal punishment, it uses to the concept of belonging as a lens to interpret their experiences. While some participants already felt early on in their career that they belonged in prison because of their shared characteristics with other prisoners, the repetition of imprisonment meant that they increasingly felt displaced from life outside and saw life in prison as ‘easier’ and ‘safer’. Nevertheless, looking back on their many sentences, they felt their cumulative meaning was ‘a waste of life’. The article concludes by considering steps towards tackling the conditions that create this sense of belonging in a place of punishment.

scholarly journals Transpersonal Genetic Effects Among Older U.S. Couples: A Longitudinal Study

2019 ◽  
Vol 76 (1) ◽  
pp. 184-194
Author(s):  
Aniruddha Das
Keyword(s):  
Educational Attainment ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Growth Models ◽  
Late Life ◽  
Genetic Effects ◽  
Genetic Associations ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Genetics Research ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
The Life Course

Abstract Background Emerging social genetics research suggests one’s genes may influence not just one’s own outcomes but also those of close social alters. Health implications, particularly in late life, remain underexplored. Using combined genetic and survey data, this study examined such transpersonal genetic associations among older U.S. couples. Method Data were from married or cohabiting couples in the 2006–2016 waves of the Health and Retirement Study, nationally representative of U.S. adults over 50. Measures included a polygenic score for educational attainment, and self-rated health. Analysis was through parallel process latent growth models. Results Women’s and men’s genetic scores for education had transpersonal linkages with their partner’s health. Such associations were solely with life-course variations and not late-life change in outcomes. Moreover, they were indirect, mediated by educational attainment itself. Evidence also emerged for individual-level genetic effects mediated by the partner’s education. Discussion In addition to the subject-specific linkages emphasized in extant genetics literature, relational contexts involve multiple transpersonal genetic associations. These appear to have consequences for a partner’s and one’s own health. Life-course theory indicates that a person is never not embedded in such contexts, suggesting that these patterns may be widespread. Research is needed on their implications for the life-course and gene–environment correlation literature.

scholarly journals THE POWER OF LOOKING AHEAD? A FIXED-EFFECTS MODEL OF FUTURE ASPIRATIONS OVER THE LIFE COURSE AND INCOME

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S6-S6
Author(s):  
Ioana Sendroiu ◽  
Laura Upenieks
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Fixed Effects Model ◽  
Future Aspirations ◽  
Life Trajectories ◽  
Life Course Approach ◽  
The Face ◽  
Different Shapes ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract Perceived life trajectories are rooted in structural systems of advantage and disadvantage, but individuals also shape their futures through setting goals and expectations. “Future aspirations” have typically been used in life course research to refer to one’s conception of their chances of success across life domains and can serve as a resource to help individuals persevere in the face of hardship. Taking a life course approach and using three waves of data from the MIDUS study, we utilize hybrid fixed effects models to assess the relationship between future aspirations and income. We find that, net of age, health, and a host of other time-varying factors, more positive future aspirations are indeed related to higher income over time, but that this relationship takes different shapes in different contexts. In particular, in lower quality neighborhoods, higher future aspirations lead to worse economic outcomes over the life course, while in higher quality neighborhoods, higher aspirations are indeed related to higher incomes. We thus argue that aspirations are only helpful in some contexts, and are inherently contextual not just in their sources but also in their effects.

Life Course Events and Migration in the Transition to Adulthood

Social Forces ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Horowitz ◽  
Barbara Entwisle
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Life Events ◽  
Transition To Adulthood ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
Education And Employment ◽  
And Migration ◽  
And Behavior

Abstract Do life course events stimulate migration during the transition to adulthood? We identify nine specific life events in the family, education, and employment domains and test whether they lead to migration in the short term, using fixed-effects models that remove the influence of all stable individual-level characteristics and controlling for age. Marital and school completion events have substantively large effects on migration compared with individual work transitions, although there are more of the latter over the young adult years. Furthermore, young adults who are white and from higher class backgrounds are more likely to migrate in response to life events, suggesting that migration may be a mechanism for the reproduction of status attainment. Overall, the results demonstrate a close relationship between life course events and migration and suggest a potential role for migration in explaining the effect of life course events on well-being and behavior.

Differences in value and attitude change over the life course

1997 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 177-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark A. Konty ◽  
Charlotte Chorn Dunham
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Attitude Change ◽  
The Life Course

scholarly journals Once a Criminal Always a Criminal? A 15-Year Analysis of Recidivism Among Female Prisoners in Massachusetts

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Ellen Mastrorilli ◽  
Maureen Norton-Hawk ◽  
Nicole Usher
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Female Offenders ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Female Prisoners ◽  
Valuable Addition ◽  
Correctional Programming ◽  
Youthful Offenders ◽  
The Life Course

<p>The study of prisoner recidivism has long captured the interest of criminal justice researchers. Recidivism studies attempt to answer a variety of questions ranging from what are the characteristics of those who reoffend, what factors predict offender recidivism, and how long does a recidivist remain in the community before finding themselves in conflict with the law again. Unlike many studies that examine recidivism over a relatively short term – three to five years, this study investigates recidivism over a 15-year period among a group of female offenders released from a Massachusetts prison in 1995. Findings point to three propositions moving forward. First, correctional programming geared specifically toward youthful offenders might be necessary to promote desistance over the life course. Second, offender monitoring and accountability up to 36 months after release from incarceration may reduce the risk of re-offending. Third, studies with a follow-up period of ten years would be a valuable addition to the recidivism literature to advance our understanding of chronic offending among women.</p>

scholarly journals Family policies’ long-term effects on poverty: a comparative analysis of single and partnered mothers

2022 ◽  
pp. 095892872110356
Author(s):  
Hannah Zagel ◽  
Wim Van Lancker
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Single Mothers ◽  
Transition To Parenthood ◽  
Family Policy ◽  
Parental Leave ◽  
The Other ◽  
Family Policies ◽  
Child Benefits ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Over Time

This study investigates whether generous family policies at the transition to parenthood reduce single and partnered mothers’ economic disadvantages later in the life course. Previous research usually focused on the immediate effects of family policies and disregards potential longer-term effects. In this study, we suggest taking a life-course perspective to study the relationships between family policy and mothers’ poverty risks. We empirically investigate how investment in child benefits, childcare services and parental leave measures at the transition to parenthood are associated with poverty outcomes at later life stages and whether these associations hold over time. We draw on pooled EU-SILC data, and an original policy dataset based on OECD expenditure data for child benefits, childcare and parental leave from 1994 to 2015. We find that mothers’ observed increase in poverty over time is slower in countries with high levels of spending for childcare at the transition to parenthood than in lower spending countries. The gap between partnered and single mothers was also diminishing in contexts of high childcare expenditure. For the other two policies, we did not find these links. These results do lend support to the claim that childcare is a prime example of a social investment policy with returns later in the life course and represents a life-course policy that seems to be able to disrupt economic path dependencies. The results for the other two policies suggest, however, a limited potential of family policy spending at transition to parenthood to reduce the poverty gap between partnered and single mothers over the course of life.

scholarly journals PRECARITY AND LATER LIFE: UNDERSTANDING NEW INEQUALITIES AND RISKS IN LATER LIFE

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S588-S588
Author(s):  
Dale Dannefer ◽  
Christopher Phillipson ◽  
Dale Dannefer
Keyword(s):  
Older People ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Social Dynamics ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Academic Disciplines ◽  
Potential Contribution ◽  
Term Care ◽  
Economic Changes ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
The Life Course

Abstract This symposium addresses debates around the theme of precarity and its implications for understanding social and economic changes affecting the lives of older people. To date, the concept of precarity has been applied to several subpopulations by various academic disciplines but has yet to be systematically applied to later life. The symposium will give particular attention to the extent to which the lens provided by precarity can illuminate different types of inequalities experienced through the life course and reflected in public policies directed at older people. Chris Phillipson reviews theoretical perspectives relating to precarity, examining their potential contribution for the development of critical gerontology. His paper also considers the extent to which the concept of ‘precarious ageing’ offers a competing or complementary view to theories of ‘active’ and ‘successful ageing’. Larry Polivka examines the growing precarity of life for older Americans emanating from austerity budgets and privatization of public services. The paper suggests that policies such as health care and long term care are in jeopardy, creating a glide path toward the extension of precarious employment into a precarious retirement for millions of older people. Wenxuan Huang examines how the focus on agency and other individual-level foci obscure understanding of social dynamics. Finally, Amanda Grenier draws on a scoping review of precarity to outline conceptual distinctions between frailty, vulnerability, and precarity. She presents reflections on what these concepts offer in terms of understandings of late life the study of disadvantage across the life course.

scholarly journals AGENCY AS IDEOLOGY: PRECARITY AND DISEMBEDDEDNESS IN THE 21ST CENTURY LIFE COURSE

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S589-S589
Author(s):  
wenxuan huang
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Transition To Adulthood ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
Historical Time ◽  
Cultural Traditions ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Individual Agency ◽  
Transition Research ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Life Course

Abstract The “individualization” thesis has gradually merged into the discussion of increasing heterogeneity of the life course as well as growing inequality over historical time. As individuals are “disembedded” from both cultural traditions and more recently social institutions, individual agency has drawn revived interest in outlining “choice biography” that is seen as paramount to personal outcomes and even containing overcoming force against structure. This practice mutes the consideration of the ongoing forces of social structure that by their very nature continue to constitute individual selves and possibilities. The uncritical treatment of individual agency makes it problematic for the study of precarity, mystifying and obscuring the analysis of inequality-generating mechanisms, reducing them to the individual-level. We analyze current uses of the concept of agency in the life course research, and particularly in the areas of transition research, e.g., transition to adulthood/retirement, where individual agency is assumed to be most active.

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