Benoît Laplante

Factors related to union formation among single mothers in Canada.

Using data on 1257 women from the 1984 Family History Survey our study attempts to identify the factors that are associated with union formation among single mothers in Canada. Particular attention is given to disentangling the impact that three factors--the event at the origin of the episode of single parenthood its time of occurrence and the parental responsibilities borne by single mothers--exert on their propensity to start living with a partner. The analysis is carried out using proportional hazards models. (EXCERPT)

Work Intensity and Non-Completion of University: Longitudinal Approach and Causal Inference.

Researchers focused upon the work–dropping out connection tend to show a U-shaped relationship between the likelihood of dropping out and the number of hours worked outside school, with a higher exit rate for both non-working students and for students whose working hours pass a critical threshold. Yet the data typically used by these researchers are drawn mainly from cross-sectional surveys, and as a result does not allow for any causal interpretation. The present article uses an event history analysis of Canadian longitudinal data covering seven years of a cohort, and offers original findings on the causal work–dropping out relationship at the university level. We find evidence showing that the evolution of the exit rates and the factors influencing the decision to quit a particular university programme differ substantially between students who want to enrol in another programme and those who do not. For the latter, we observe a critical threshold of 24 h of work, beyond which negative effects in terms of non-completion start to appear. We find no negative effects arising from not working vs. working a few hours. Our findings thus tend to show that the higher exit rate among non-working students evidenced in cross-sectional data should be attributed to the fact that academic difficulties cause some potential university dropouts to stop working and to devote more time to school.

The Evolution of Beliefs and Opinions on Matters related to Marriageand Sexual Behaviour among French-speaking Catholic Quebecersand English-speaking Protestant Ontarians

The authors argue that the important changes in behaviour related to family and sexual life that were seen in Quebec during the second half of the 20th century are a consequence of a major transformation of the foundation of the normative system shared by the members of Quebec’s main socio-religious group, Frenchspeaking Catholics. Using data from Gallup polls, the authors compare the evolution of the opinions of French-speaking Quebec Catholics and Englishspeaking Ontario Protestants on matters related to sexual and family behaviour from the 1950s to the beginning of the 2000s. The general result is that the evolution of the differences between the two groups is compatible with the hypothesis.

An Introduction to the Use of Linear Models with Correlated Data

Correlated data originate when observations are not selected independently because of sampling design, study design (especially panel studies), or spatial distribution of the population. In these situations, conventional methods for estimating the parameters of linear models are inappropriate, and the conventional methods for estimating the variances of these estimates may yield biased results. These two problems are different, but they are related. This paper provides an introduction to the problems caused by correlated data and to possible solutions to these problems. First, we present the two problems and try to specify the relations between the two as clearly as possible. Second, we provide a critical presentation of random effects, mixed effects and hierarchical models that would help researchers to see their relevance in other kinds of linear models, particularly the so-called measurement models.

Les déterminants socio-économiques de la sortie du célibat à Dakar

Antoine (Philippe), Djire (Mamadou), Laplante (Benoit).- Los determinantes socio- economicos del fin de la solteria en Dakar Utilizando datos biograficos que permiten confrontar historias matrimoniales, resi- denciales y profesionales, el articulo analiza el aumento de la edad al primer matrimonio en Dakar para tres grupos de generaciones de hombres y mujeres. Las mutaciones que afectan a la vida matrimonial deben ser analizadas bajo una perspectiva dinamica e inscribirse en el ciclo de vida del individuo para mostrar la interaccion entre los matrimonios y la evolucion de la situacion economica y social del individuo. El aumento de la edad al primer matrimonio depende poco de factores culturales (en particular para los hombres) y esta fuertemente relacionado con las dificultades economicas crecientes (especialmente debidas a problemas de empleo y de vivienda); ante la importancia de la crisis, los hombres dudan mas en com- prometerse con una union.

A tale of two logics: social reproduction and mobilisation in university access in Quebec, 1945–2000

The 2012 Quebec students’ protests against university tuition fees fostered a debate on access to higher education in Quebec, and specifically on the Quebec ‘educational lag’. Using census data, we show that degree-holding is the same among Quebec French-speaking and Ontario English-speaking populations. Using event history analysis, we show that, during the second half of the twentieth century, university access increased at a different rhythm in each province and, within each province, within socio-linguistic groups. Quebec current education policy should not focus on the ‘educational lag’, which past policies have helped make up for, but on inequality in university access.

Disentangling the Quebec fertility paradox: The recent evolution of fertility within marriage and consensual union in Quebec and Ontario

This article analyzes the relation between conjugal status and fertility in Quebec. We use data from three censuses to estimate a series of fertility measures within marriage and within cohabitation. We use a comparative approach and look at the relationship between conjugal status and fertility within groups defined by language, place of birth, and place of residence. Results show that childbearing within cohabitation is typical of French-speaking Quebeckers, and that in this group, fertility is now mainly concentrated among cohabiting couples. Given that fertility is now currently slightly higher in Quebec than in Ontario, cohabitation cannot be deemed the cause of low fertility.

Household Surveys as a Source of Data for Event History Analysis The Study of Family-Related Life Events in Argentina Using the Encuesta Permanente de Hogares

The authors introduce a method that allows the use of data from rotating panel surveys, a design used in many household or labour force surveys, to realize statistical analyses similar to event history analysis. The method is illustrated with two examples, one on the dynamics of poverty — the effect of demographic and socioeconomic factors on the hazard of becoming poor in Argentina — and the other on family dynamics — the conversion of consensual unions into marriages. Both examples use data from the Argentinean Encuesta Permanente de Hogares, a national survey that is not designed to collect prospective or biographical data. The method allows for the use of time-varying independent variables and thus allows one to estimate the effect of an event on the hazard of another event, as in conventional event history analysis; several examples are provided.

Cohabitation and Marriage in Canada: The Geography, Law and Politics of Competing Views on Gender Equality

In this chapter, we look at unmarried cohabitation in Canada with a focus on regional differences. The high level of unmarried cohabitation in Quebec is known since the 1980s. Consequently, a substantial part of the research on unmarried cohabitation in Canada has actually focused on Quebec, and most of the research that has not focused on Quebec has dealt with Canada as a single unit. We use data from census and two surveys to examine the individual factors that could explain the differences in the spread of unmarried cohabitation between Quebec and the rest of Canada. Analyses lead to conclude that the differences arise from the institutional settings rather than being related to individual characteristics. Quebec law uses unmarried cohabitation and marriage to accommodate two competing views of gender equality—one that rests on the assumption that spouses should be as economically independent as possible during and after marriage, while the other contends that equality implies dependence even after separation or divorce—whereas in the rest of Canada, law implements only the second one, more in marriage, but also in unmarried cohabitation. The analyses also point to differences within English Canada that, as far as we know, had not been noticed in previous research: unmarried cohabitation seems to be more common in Eastern Canada than in Western Canada, which might be related to immigration.

The changing impact of conjugal status and motherhood on employment across generations of Canadian women

We use event history analysis and retrospective data from the 2001 General Social Survey to study the changing relationships between conjugal life and motherhood and the employment behaviour of Canadian women who were born between 1937 and 1976. Our results show thedecreasing importance of marriage to explain the rhythm of entry and return into the labour market among younger generations of women. However, marriage still appears to increase the rate of work interruption for those who had started working. The effect of motherhood on the key stages of women’s working lives was also found to vary across generations.