Gina Potarca

Multidimensionality of Well-Being and Spillover Effects Across Life Domains: How Do Parenthood and Personality Affect Changes in Domain-Specific Satisfaction?

Whether having children improves our well-being is a long-standing topic of debate. Demographic and sociological research has investigated changes in individuals’ overall well-being and partnership satisfaction when they become parents. However, little is known about how becoming parent may produce vulnerability—observable as an enduring decrease in well-being—in life domains that are strongly interdependent with the family domain, such as work and leisure. Linking life-course and personality psychology perspectives, the authors examine the trajectories of subjective well-being—measured as satisfaction with life, work, and leisure—3 years before and 3 years after the transition to parenthood. The authors particularly focus on the moderating effects of gender and personality. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (1984–2013) and multilevel growth curve modeling, the authors show strong gender-based vulnerability in how people react to parenthood. Although men display a nonlinear pathway of decreasing life satisfaction and a stable trajectory of job satisfaction, women experience more changes in their satisfaction with work and more dramatic decreases in leisure satisfaction. Contrary to most of our expectations, the moderating effects of personality were modest. Extraversion influenced the trajectories of work satisfaction, whereas neuroticism and conscientiousness affected the pathway of leisure satisfaction for women only. This article shows that the transition to parenthood influences well-being trajectories in specific domains, and this influence differs between women and men.

The (Un)Healthy Migrant Effect. The Role of Legal Status and Naturalization Timing

The current evidence on immigrant health in Europe is mixed, with some studies indicating a healthy migrant effect, and others pointing out that immigrants experience worse health outcomes compared to natives. Very few studies however have investigated the potential existence of a migrant health paradox in Switzerland, a country with one of the highest shares of both foreign- and native-born immigrants in Europe, as well as a restrictive and increasingly negative immigration context. Research is also yet to assess the role played by legal status, particularly the acquisition of Swiss citizenship and the life course stage at which it occurs, in moderating the health gradient between natives and immigrants. In this chapter, we use data from the Swiss Household Panel (1999–2014) and a sample of 10,010 respondents between 18 and 60 years old at the time of entry into the panel, to perform multilevel logistic models of self-rated health. Results do not show a migrant health paradox. Migrants display worse health than natives, even after adjusting for differences in socio-economic status. Furthermore, legal status has a significant influence on the health disparities between Swiss natives and immigrants. Whereas immigrants that hold Swiss nationality since birth or those who were naturalized early in life are not significantly different in health compared to natives, immigrants who are not naturalized or were naturalised later in life display worse health than natives.

Educational Sorting in Mixed Marriages in Switzerland

Abstract According to status-caste exchange theory, intermarriages involve transactions in which higher educated immigrants trade status for the ethnic advantage of the less-educated native partners. Looking at 2 836 currently married Swiss immigrants, we find that the highly skilled “exchange” their status only when pairing with a medium-educated native. Results also show that younger cohorts of immigrants are more likely to choose hypogamy when marrying a same-origin immigrant than when partnering a native.

The Choices and Constraints of Secondary Singles Willingness to Stepparent Among Divorced Online Daters Across Europe

Using a large-scale sample of online daters in eight European countries (N = 196,777), we examine willingness to stepparent among divorcees in relation to both gender and number of children, as well as a set of contextual determinants. We find evidence that having one’s own resident children increases the readiness to partner someone with children. Contrary to previous findings, women are generally less willing to stepparent than men, but when resident children are present, gender dissimilarities fade. Notable national differences are also found. Divorced mothers living in Sweden, the Netherlands, Austria, or France are more open to having a partner with children, whereas Polish and Spanish divorced mothers would be less willing to stepparent. These results are interpreted in light of each country’s institutional background.