Limited detraditionalization of intimacy: Growing socioeconomic differences in contraceptive use at first intercourse in Italy

This paper investigates links between social inequality and reproductive behavior. It complements the extensive research on the stratification of young adults' life chances in education and the labor market by considering changes over time in the stratification of contraceptive use at first intercourse by parental background. We seek to understand detraditionalization trends in young people’s sexually intimate behavior by investigating whether these trends were driven by particular social groups and how they were supported by policy initiatives. We study Italy from 1950-2006, which shows strong regional and socioeconomic disparities, and comparatively slow changes in religion and gender norms. Data from the “Survey on Italians’ Sexual Behavior” (2006) and macro indicators on family planning centers are used. The findings show a steep increase in contraceptive use at first sexual intercourse over time, stratified by parental background, but only for condom use. We did not find that family planning centers intervened in these relationships.

Exploring Higher Education Pathways for Coping With the Threat of COVID-19: Does Parental Academic Background Matter?

First-generation students (FGS) are more likely to feel misplaced and struggle at university than students with university-educated parents (continuous-generation students; CGS). We assumed that the shutdowns during the Coronavirus-pandemic would particularly threaten FGS due to obstructed coping mechanisms. Specifically, FGS may show lower identification with the academic setting and lower perceived fairness of the university system (system justification). We investigated whether FGS and CGS used different defenses to cope with the shutdown threat in a large sample of German-speaking students (N = 848). Using Structural Equation Modeling, we found that for all students, independent of academic parental background, high levels of system justification were associated with perceiving the learning situation as less threatening, better coping with failure, and less helplessness. However, in comparison to CGS, FGS showed small but significant reductions in system justification and relied more on concrete personal relationships with other students as well as their academic identity to cope with the threatening situation. We discuss implications for helping FGS succeed at university.

Inequalities in Access to and Outcomes of Higher Education in Africa

There have been very few studies of the socio-economic background and outcomes for students in Africa because of the lack of data. This chapter draws on an institute which has information about their parental background and subsequent careers collected from surveys. In terms of access, the combination of parents not having more than primary education, renting and not owning land identified less than 1% of students whilst the percentage of entrants reporting that their parents had a post-secondary qualification is considerably higher (around 57%) than the norm at the time the parents would have been studying (around 7%). These students were upper middle class. In terms of outcomes, both current students and alumni say that the curriculum only partly fits their employment needs, but 85% of alumni would recommend AIMS to other students. In general, employers are satisfied with AIMS interns, but the percentage of AIMS graduates who are unemployed has risen from 2% in 2011 to 29% in 2016. Finally, rather than contributing to Africa, over one-third of graduates since 2012 are in the West.

Higher education decisions and macroeconomic conditions at age eighteen

Using individual data from PIAAC and data on youth unemployment for 18 countries, we test how macroeconomic conditions experienced at age eighteen affect the following decisions in post-secondary and tertiary education: (i) enrollment (ii) dropping-out, (iii) type of degree completed, (iv) area of specialization, and (v) time-to-degree. We also analyze how the effects vary by gender and parental background. Our findings differ across geographies (Anglo-Saxon, Southern European, Western European, and Scandinavian countries), which shows that the impacts of macroeconomic conditions on higher education decisions depend on context, such as labor markets and education systems. By analyzing various components of higher education together, we are able to obtain a clearer picture of how during economic downturns potential mechanisms interact to determine higher education decisions.

Scope and determinant of career preferences for medical preclinical students at Udayana University

The medical field has wide career preferences as the medical world develops, making it attractive for students to study medicine. The breadth of career preferences in the medical field exposes students to various career options according to their wishes and abilities. Insight into medical career preferences will help students determine the right medical career. This study aims to determine the determinants of career preferences of medical preclinical students in general in Indonesia. This study used a method descriptive cross-sectional. The data is the result of the questionnaire in accordance with the inclusion criteria of the sample. The number of samples obtained was 145 medical preclinical students at the Faculty of Medicine, Udayana University. From the results of the study, it was found that 138 students (95.2%) chose a career as a clinician and 7 students (4.8%) chose a career as a non-clinical doctor. Students who choose clinicians, choose a pediatrician and internal medicine specialist as many as 22 students (16.2%). Pre-clinical blocks that are preferred by students are Behavior 87 students (60%) and Endocrine 24 students (16.6%). Parental background, cost, and time required for further education are not obstacles for respondents to choose their career preferences.

Generational variations in the timing of entry into homeownership in Shanghai: The role of family formation and family of origin

Radical housing reform has triggered tremendous changes in both housing supply and housing demand in China over the past four decades, leading to apparent generational fractures in homeownership. In contrast to the rising age of first dwelling purchasers in some Western countries, younger cohorts in China are entering homeownership at increasingly younger ages despite rising housing prices. Based on a retrospective survey conducted in Shanghai in 2018 and 2019, this study examines the changing roles of family formation and parental background in affecting the timing of entering homeownership across different cohorts. Employing event history analyses, this study demonstrates that transitions to first homeownership have become synchronised with family formation among younger cohorts, which implies the social norm of ‘marital home’. Furthermore, the results reveal that parental background is increasingly influential in determining the timing of first home purchase; men and individuals from one-child families are more likely to be the beneficiary of parental help to enter homeownership. Through the lens of cohort, this study contributes to understanding the changing role of family formation and family of origin, which are shaped by institutional and cultural transformations in China. The intensified intergenerational transmission leads to exacerbation of horizontal housing inequality, that is, some achieving homeownership at a younger age while others being shunned from homeownership in the context of worsening housing affordability.

P–724 The association between use of assisted reproductive techniques and childhood asthma: a Swedish nationwide register-based cohort study

Study question Are the previously reported greater risks of childhood asthma in children conceived by assisted reproductive techniques due to the intervention or unmeasured parental confounding? Summary answer After accounting for both measured and unmeasured parental factors we found no indication that the use of assisted reproductive techniques increases children’s risk of asthma. What is known already Several earlier studies have reported a higher risk of childhood asthma among children conceived by ART. However, only one previous study has attempted a sibling comparison to account for infertility as well as parental background factors, and their findings need to be replicated. Little is thus known on what underlies the higher risk of childhood asthma. Study design, size, duration In this nationwide register-based cohort, we identified all 1,671,532 live births between 1997 and 2013 in the Swedish Medical Birth Register (MBR) and followed them to the end of 2018. Participants/materials, setting, methods Infertility and ART use were ascertained from IVF clinic reporting, clinical diagnosis, and maternal self-report during the first antenatal visit. Childhood asthma was identified from diagnosis in hospitalization and outpatient specialist care records, and dispensations of asthma medication. Cox proportional hazard regression was used to estimate the association of ART and asthma in the population, in children of couples with known infertility, and in a sample of siblings conceived with and without ART (differentially exposed). Main results and the role of chance Of the 1,671,532 live births in the cohort, 11.7% were born to couples with known infertility, and 3.5% were conceived with ART. Compared with all other children, children conceived by ART had a small, elevated risk of asthma (adjusted hazard ratio (aHR)=1.14, 95% Confidence interval (CI) 1.11 to 1.16). When the comparison was restricted to children of couples with known infertility the difference in risk was even smaller (aHR=1.07, 95% CI 1.05 to 1.10), and in the comparison of siblings conceived with and without ART no difference in risk was seen (aHR=0.98, 95% CI 0.86 to 1.13). Among children conceived with ART, those in which intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) had been used had a slightly lower risk of asthma (aHR=0.93, 95% CI 0.90 to 0.97), and no difference in risk was seen between use of fresh and frozen-thawed embryo transfer. Limitations, reasons for caution Sibling comparison is sensitive to potential misclassification, unmeasured confounding and carryover effects, so should be interpreted with this in mind. Differences in treatment implementation across time and settings could affect the ability to extrapolate the conclusions to another clinical context (where e.g., single-embryo transfer policy is not implemented). Wider implications of the findings: This study found a modestly elevated risk of asthma in children conceived with ART to be largely explained by confounding from parental background factors. There were further no indications of adverse influence from increasingly utilized ART procedures such as ICSI or embryo-freezing, with respect to asthma in childhood. Trial registration number Not applicable

Personal income tax design and background-related earnings advantages: evidence from Italy and Poland

PurposeThe authors analyse how the association between parental background and adult children's earnings changes when net rather than gross children's earnings are considered and disentangle what such changes depend on: differences between pre and after taxes earnings inequality or reranking of individuals along the earnings distribution before and after taxes.Design/methodology/approachUsing data from European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) 2011, the authors focus on two large European countries, Italy and Poland, with comparable levels of inequality and background-related earnings premia but very different personal income tax (PIT) design and estimate – at both the mean and the deciles of the earnings distribution – the association between parents' characteristics and children's gross and net earnings.FindingsThe authors find that in Italy the PIT reduces the magnitude of the association between parental background and adult children's earnings at the top of the distribution, while no effects emerge for Poland, and the reduction is mostly due to a decrease in earnings inequality rather than to a re-ranking of children along the distribution. The findings are confirmed when the authors simulate the introduction of a “quasi flat tax” regime in Italy.Social implicationsThe findings suggest that the higher the tax progressivity, the higher the background-related inequality reduction and the lower the intergenerational association, signalling that the degree of progressivity amongst children may be an effective weapon to reduce intergenerational inequality.Originality/valueIn the literature on intergenerational inequality, the role of taxes is usually overlooked. In this paper, the authors try to fill this gap and enquire how the PIT design affects the association between parental background and adult children's earnings.

The Effect of Immigration on Education

Does a higher share of immigrants affect the school performance of both immigrants and natives? Do desegregation policies improve efficiency? The existing evidence suggests that a higher share of immigrants has a negative (and often sizable) effect on the school performance of immigrants and a negative but probably small effect on the performance of natives. When average school performance is considered, this asymmetry generates concave peer effects, a key condition for the efficiency of desegregating policies. The broad message from the empirical literature is that these policies are not only equitable, in that they provide better opportunities to individuals with relatively low parental background, but also efficient.