A Chinese Second Demographic Transition? A Holistic Approach to Family Life Courses

Family formation in China has undergone dramatic changes. Despite increasing academic attention, few studies have taken a holistic approach to study cohort change in Chinese family life courses. In this study, we assess how family life course patterns, complexity, and diversity have changed across birth cohorts. Moreover, we evaluate whether changing norms, economic constraints, or institutional reforms are driving cohort differences. Data from the China Family Panel Studies and sequence analysis are applied to identify family life course patterns and to calculate sequence complexity and diversity. While we found a shift in family life course patterns across nearly a century of birth cohorts, there is no evidence that Chinese family lives have become more complex or diverse. To the contrary, our results demonstrate that family life courses have become less complex and are relatively standardized around marriage and a single child. We find that factors associated with economic constraints – not ideational change or institutional reforms – account for a considerable portion of cross-cohort variation in diversity and complexity. Rather than a second demographic transition, Chinese family demographic behaviour is marked by continuity despite change.

Three-Stage Transitional Theory: Egalitarian Gender Attitudes and Housework Share in 24 Countries

How does the association between gender attitudes and housework share vary across countries and time? We examine the second demographic transition as it unmasks in the association between gender attitudes and housework participation. Using data of the 2002 and 2012 International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) for 24 countries, we find that the association between gender attitudes and housework share became stronger over time in most countries, signifying that the Second Demographic Transition was in place. The results also show that the association varied across the 24 countries, reaching an equilibrium in many but at different stages. Our findings suggest that equilibria in the domestic division of labour take various forms and paces in the ISSP countries.

“Does Everybody Want the Hollywood Fairytale?” Same-Sex Couples Hinting at the Second Demographic Transition in Brazil

This article examines same-sex couples as a sign of the Second Demographic Transition, investigating how gay and lesbian couples living together in Brasília build their family, whether they intend to have children, and what challenges they face. We conducted semi-structured interviews online to investigate the family formation process and parenting intentions of 42 couples living together in Brasília in 2019, 20 lesbian and 22 gay couples. The organizing themes in the interviews were marriage, children, work, and stigma. This study advances existing scholarship on families by articulating points of connection between the legal institution of same-sex marriage in Brazil, changing social norms regarding family life, and parental gender expectations as signs of the Second Demographic Transition. Studying same-sex couples contribute to a more complex understanding of the family, the gendered division of labor, and the dimension of fertility and parenting intentions.

Szuburbanizációs folyamatok és társadalmi konfliktusok magyarországon a rendszerváltás után

Research carried out this far in Hungary focusing spatial structures were mainly displayed concerning settlements struggling with poverty. Lately, these works have been expanded to examine settlements which are beneficiary of the process of suburbanization.Mostly young citizens with higher social status move into these suburban settlements escalating the number of conflicts with the native inhabitants. Local communities weaken as the newcomers grow in number seeking primarily self-realization or recreation purposes. The exposing social tensions are substantially similar to the axiological characteristics change occurred during the second demographic transition. Beyond the heterogeneous demographic characteristics of the native inhabitants and the immigrants, politics deepens these conflicts by acting on self-interest in these suburban settlements.This paper aims to demonstrate the process of suburbanization by analysing the literature review of the centre-periphery model applied on the Hungarian settlement patterns, revealing the local challenges of two suburban settlement: Budajenő and Tinnye. Exploring and understanding the conflicts caused by segregation and migration on suburban settlements may aid us resolve or ease those tensions.

Pet Parenting in the United States: Investigating an Evolutionary Puzzle

Fertility rates continue to decline globally amidst the second demographic transition, marked by urbanization, increased educational attainment, and most importantly, a new flexibility in life-course organization. As a result, some individuals are choosing to bring companion animals in the home rather than raising children. Purpose The purpose of this study is to explore whether these transitions result in differential companion animal attachment and caregiving behavior in the homes of parents (or those who desire to become parents) and nonparents or childfree “pet parents.” Methods A total of 917 respondents completed an online survey via Qualtrics that included demographic questions, the Lexington Attachment to Pets Scale (LAPS), and Likert-scale questions designed to probe direct and indirect caretaking behaviors. Results Nonparents reported more Generalized Attachment and more Affective Responsiveness to their companion animals, as well as increased investment in General Care. They also reported more People Substituting on the LAPS. Parents and nonparents reported similar agreement regarding Animal Rights/Welfare and Training and Play. Conclusion I conclude that nonparents' investment in companion animals much like parents invest in children, but in ways that meet species-specific needs. This supports the notion that nonparents may be nurturing companion animals as a trade-off to raising children, but not as a substitute. This is an evolutionarily novel application of parenting strategies in a new, flexible environment.

Using Spatial Autocorrelation for identification of demographic patterns of Functional Urban Areas in Poland

Functional Urban Areas (FUAs) leads to a better knowledge of urban spatial organisation, which may play a significant role in regional policy making and may be helpful in understanding the connection between urbanisation and demographic development. An explanation of population change in urban regions can be associated the second demographic transition comprising fertility decline below replacement level and postponement of births. The aim of this paper is to focus on establishing similarity patterns and anomalous values of selected demographic variables in the cores and peripheral areas of Functional Urban Areas. At the background of this study lies an assumption that population development of FUA's is shaped by different factors connected with second demographic transition and migrations. To achieve the aims the following demographic characteristics were used: population growth rate, dependency ratio, rate of natural increase, the net migration rate, and the dynamic economic ageing index, Spatial methods play an increasingly important role in contemporary socio-demographic research. In order to identify spatial systems Global Moran Statistics and the Local Indicators of Spatial Association (LISA) including Local Moran statistics as well as Getis-Ord Gi* statistics were used. The research showed global and local autocorrelation of demographic processes in Functional Urban Areas in Poland, namely population growth, natural increase, net migration and population ageing. The use of local Moran's I statistic and the Getis-Ord Gi* method has led to identification of spatial clusters and dispersions representing different demographic variables. Spatial autocorrelation methods can be useful in an analysis of demographic variables including changes in time. The main contribution of this study to the research on demographic processes in urban areas was an application of spatial groupings techniques not only to find out similarity and dissimilarity patterns of demographic indicators but also to apply this findings for the needs of spatial planning.

The Decline of Early Marriage and Motherhood in Latin America: Decomposing Second Demographic Transition Characteristics

BackgroundUntil recently, marriage was nearly universal, and occurred early in life for women in Latin America. A significant proportion of women were both married and mothers before reaching adulthood. Girls married under the age of 18 are victims of Child Early and Forced Marriage, a violation of their human rights. The changes predicted by Second Demographic Transition theory may have reduced the prevalence of early marriage and motherhood as well as decoupled the institution of marriage from motherhood. This article contributes to the understanding of early marriage and motherhood in Latin America by describing the relationship between these characteristics and the emergence the Second Demographic Transition among young women from 1980-2010. MethodsI use CEPALSTAT data on marriage and motherhood in Latin America to calculate statistics on marriage and motherhood for young women in the three youngest age groups, those ages 10–14, 15–19, and 20–24. Using these statistics, I assess changes in three classic SDT dimensions (Postponement of Marriage, Postponement of Motherhood, and increased Unmarried Motherhood). I then decompose the Overall Motherhood Prevalence Rate to determine which contributed more to the changes observed, the postponement of marriage, or the postponement of motherhood. ResultsSustained decreases in the prevalence of marriage and motherhood were observed for all groups, but also an increase in unmarried mothers. Declines in marriage were largely responsible for declines in motherhood rates for all age groups in all decades. The changes observed in the data correspond to the SDT predictions and indicate that postponement of marriage is driving the postponement of motherhood for young women in Latin America. Reducing the prevalence of CEFM has played a major role in reducing early motherhood during this transition.ConclusionThis article provides a novel approach to evaluating the impact of the SDT on early marriage and motherhood. It shows that the prevalence of CEFM declined dramatically during this period, although the absolute numbers of child brides increased. The results provide evidence of postponement of marriage and motherhood, the decoupling of marriage and motherhood, and the potential for sustained fertility decline in Latin America.

Country differences in the link between gender-role attitudes and marital centrality: Evidence from 24 countries

This study investigates factors that could explain why the association between the egalitarian gender-role attitudes and the attitudes toward the importance of marriage (marital centrality) differs across societies. Using data from the International Social Survey Programme for 24 countries in 2002 and 2012 and multilevel modeling, we explore whether the Gender Revolution and the Second Demographic Transition frameworks could explain the country-level differences in the association between gender-role attitudes and marital centrality. We find that the negative association between the egalitarian gender-role attitudes and marital centrality is stronger in countries with a higher gender equality level and a higher fertility level. This work highlights the importance of considering the progress of the gender revolution and the second demographic transition to understand the relationship between gender equality and family formation.