Eva Bernhardt

Inequalities in child mortality in Mozambique : differentials by parental socio-economic position

This study investigates the relation between socio-economic parental position (education and occupation) and child death in Mozambique using data from the Mozambican Demographic and Health Survey carried out between March and July 1997. The analysis included 9142 children born within 10 years before the survey. In spite of the Western system of classification used in the study, the results partly showed a parental socio-economic gradient of infant and child mortality in Mozambique. Fathers education seemed to reflect the familys social standing in the Mozambique context, showing a strong statistical association with postneonatal and child mortality. However, maternal education as a measure of socio-economic position was not statistically significantly associated with child mortality. This finding may partly be explained by the extreme hardships experienced by the country (civil war and natural disasters) and the implementation of the Economic Structural Adjustment Programme that have also affected the health of women and their children during the years covered by this study. Other measures of socio-economic position applicable to the rural African setting should be investigated.

Childhood Family Structure and Routes Out of the Parental Home in Sweden

Leaving home at a very young age, particularly when not in conjunction with attending school away from home, appears to have a variety of negative consequences for the trajectory of young adults into successful career patterns and stable families. In this article, we examine the relationship between childhood family structure and nest-leaving patterns in the Swedish context. To our knowledge, this has never been done before. Analyses show that individuals from disrupted childhood families leave their parental home earlier than other young adults. The present state of knowledge is extended with analyses of the impact of adding a stepparent and of family conflict, and we distinguish between young adults leaving home to enter a union, to attend school, or to form a household of their own.

Equitable Child Health Interventions : The Impact of Improved Water and Sanitation on Inequalities in Child Mortality in Stockholm, 1878 to 1925

Today, many of the 10 million childhood deaths each year are caused by diseases of poverty--diarrhea and pneumonia, for example, which were previously major causes of childhood death in many European countries. Specific analyses of the historical decline of child mortality may shed light on the potential equity impact of interventions to reduce child mortality. In our study of the impact of improved water and sanitation in Stockholm from 1878 to 1925, we examined the decline in overall and diarrhea mortality among children, both in general and by socioeconomic group. We report a decline in overall mortality and of diarrhea mortality and a leveling out of socioeconomic differences in child mortality due to diarrheal diseases, but not of overall mortality. The contribution of general and targeted policies is discussed.

Parental Divorce and Union Disruption Among Young Adults in Sweden

This article analyzes the impact of parental divorce on the disruption of marital and nonmarital unions among young adults in Sweden, using longitudinal data from repeated mail questionnaire surveys (1999 and 2003) with 1,321 respondents (aged 26, 30, and 34 in 2003). The study takes into account several possible mechanisms governing the parent—offspring union dissolution link, including indicators on life course and socioeconomic conditions, attitudes toward divorce, union commitment, and interpersonal behavior. Findings reveal that respondents with divorced parents exhibit an increased risk for their own union disruption of almost 40%. When controls for all mechanisms are added, the excess risk ceases to be statistically significant. The unique contribution of each mechanism, however, is limited. Rather, the mechanisms seem to operate jointly.

Love or Money? : Marriage Intentions among Young Cohabitors in Norway and Sweden

Using data from Sweden and Norway on cohabitors aged 25 to 35, we examine the association between socio-economic resources, relationship quality and commitment and cohabitors’ marriage intentions. The individualization process, i.e. the arguably growing importance of individual choice, leads us to assume that relationship assessments are more important predictors of marriage intentions than socio-economic variables. Nonetheless, multivariate results show that university education and having a partner whose education is higher than one’s own increase the likelihood that cohabitors intend to marry. Likewise, being satisfied with and committed to the union is positively related to having marriage plans. Separate analyses for men and women reveal that whereas commitment is positively related to women’s marriage intentions, men’s marriage intentions are significantly more influenced by their own education, income, as well as the income of their partners. In this sense, one conclusion to be drawn is that both love and money are associated with cohabitors’ intention to marry.

Splitting Up or Getting Married? Competing Risk Analysis of Transitions Among Cohabiting Couples in Sweden

In this article, we investigate which ideational variables influence the propensity of cohabiting couples to transform their union into marriage, separation or continued cohabitation. The question is particularly relevant in the Swedish context of considerable social acceptance of unmarried cohabitation even among parents. A two-wave panel study including 705 never-married respondents cohabiting at the time of the first survey shows that ideational factors influence subsequent behaviour, even when different sets of control variables are included in the model. Familistic attitudes, work-related values and reflections about the quality of the relationship prove to be predictors of the transition to either marriage or separation even when intentions are taken into account.

Education, Values, and Cohabitation in Sweden

We used data from the Swedish Young Adult Panel Study to investigate effects of educational attainment and enrollment in higher education on the formation of new cohabitations. In the Swedish context virtually all new unions are cohabitations, that is, cohabitation is an alternative to being single rather than to marriage. Our analyses are based on a random sample of 658 single, childless adults aged 22, 26, or 30 years at the time of the first survey in 1999; this sample was then reinterviewed in 2003. Our model incorporates several pathways from education to union formation and cohabitation in particular: competing opportunities and resources afforded by education, competing activities and the partnership market associated with enrollment, and values or preferences associated with educational experiences. We found that the risk of cohabitation over the 4-year period was not associated with prior educational attainment or ongoing enrollment. With one exception, cohabitation was also unrelated to attitudes toward family and work. Women who placed high value on demanding careers were more likely to enter new cohabiting partnerships than were other women. In a relatively family-friendly, gender-egalitarian welfare state, such women are more attractive as partners. That is, resources associated with education appear to matter more than opportunity costs. On the other hand, an analysis of educational differences between those who already had a child or were in a union at the first survey produced the expected educational differential. We conclude that in the contemporary Swedish context, educational differentials in cohabitation are found primarily in the very early years of adulthood and/or matter more for the stronger commitments of formal marriage and childbearing.

Still childless at the age of 28 to 40 years: A cross-sectional study of Swedish women's and men's reproductive intentions

BACKGROUND Delayed childbearing is associated with adverse reproductive outcomes. Our aim was to investigate Swedish womens and mens childbearing intentions at the age of 28, 32, 36 and 40 years, in terms of: (1) time point for a first child, (2) number of children, and (3) reasons for not yet having children. METHODS Cross-sectional data from the Swedish Young Adult Panel Study, including 365 childless women and 356 childless men aged 28, 32, 36 and 40 years who responded to a questionnaire in 2009. Descriptive and multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted. RESULTS Most 28- and 32-year-olds intended to have children, but only 32% of women and 37% of men aged 36/40 years (merged), many of whom still postponed childbearing. Reasons for remaining childless differed by age. Most prominent in the 36/40-year-olds were: lack of a partner (women 60%, men 59%), no desire for children (women 44%, men 44%), not mature enough (women 29%, men 35%), and wanting to do other things before starting a family (women 26%, men 33%). The 36/40-year-olds had the highest odds for infertility problems (OR 3.8; CI 95% 1.8-7.9) and lacking a suitable partner (OR 1.8 CI 95% 1.1-3.0), and lower odds for reasons related to work and financial situation. CONCLUSIONS Many childless 36- and 40-year-olds intended to have children but seemed to overestimate their fecundity. The most prominent reasons for being childless were: not having wanted children up to now, lack of a partner, infertility problems, and prioritising an independent life.

Studies of Men’s Involvement in the Family—Part 1 Introduction

This special issue (like the one to follow) is designed to highlight research on men’s increased involvement in their families, focusing both on the antecedents that are linked with their involvement and on the consequences that may follow. Thus we show that such research is consistent with our theoretical view that the ongoing gender revolution has two parts. The first half, in which the “separate spheres” are broached by women’s increased participation in paid work, strained the family, but the second, in which the separation between the spheres is finally dissolved by men’s taking an active role in their families, contributing to the care of their children and homes, strengthens the family. This issue focuses on Scandinavia, where both halves of the gender revolution are more advanced than in other industrialized countries; the second issue, although not neglecting Scandinavia, includes not only research on the United States but also cross-national studies.

Equitable Child Health Interventions

Today, many of the 10 million childhood deaths each year are caused by diseases of poverty--diarrhea and pneumonia, for example, which were previously major causes of childhood death in many European countries. Specific analyses of the historical decline of child mortality may shed light on the potential equity impact of interventions to reduce child mortality. In our study of the impact of improved water and sanitation in Stockholm from 1878 to 1925, we examined the decline in overall and diarrhea mortality among children, both in general and by socioeconomic group. We report a decline in overall mortality and of diarrhea mortality and a leveling out of socioeconomic differences in child mortality due to diarrheal diseases, but not of overall mortality. The contribution of general and targeted policies is discussed.