Maria Brandén

Gender, Gender Ideology, and Couples’ Migration Decisions

Couples generally move to accommodate men’s, rather than women’s, career opportunities. Using Swedish panel data including 1,039 married or cohabiting individuals, this study examines the importance of traditional gender ideology and behavior in explaining this pattern. Two dimensions of gender and migration are examined: (a) the willingness to move for a partner’s career and (b) the likelihood of couple migration for one’s own work or educational opportunities. Findings show that women are more willing to move for their partner’s career. Childless women are more likely to move with their partners to pursue their own work or education than childless men, whereas mothers are less likely to report this than fathers. Gender ideology and division of household responsibilities do not explain the gender differences in migration behavior. They are more important for individuals’ willingness to move for their partners, with particularly pronounced gender differences among nonegalitarian respondents.

Does Unequal Housework Lead to Divorce? Evidence from Sweden

The lack of couple-level data hinders direct exploration of how inconsistencies in couples’ housework reports structure their relationship quality. We address this limitation by applying Swedish data from the 2009 Young Adult Panel Study (N = 1057 couples) matched with Swedish register data (2009–2014) to extend equity theory by estimating mismatch in couples’ housework reports on relationship satisfaction and stability. We find women who report performing more housework are less likely to be satisfied with their relationships, and are more likely to consider breaking up. These unions are also more likely to dissolve. Using both partners’ housework reports, we document discrediting women’s housework contribution, or reporting she does less than she reports, is associated with lower relationship satisfaction. Women in these partnerships also consider breaking up, and the unions are more likely to dissolve. Our results identify the gendered impact of housework inequality on relationship stability.

Who Moves to Whom? Gender Differences in the Distance Moved to a Shared Residence

Although the migration of couples and families is well examined, the migration that occurs at the start of co-residence has only been minimally studied. This study examines (1) whether women move more often and move over longer distances at the start of co-residence and (2) whether gender differences (if any) stem from compositional differences between women and men, such as gender differences in ties, or if they are the consequence of the within-couple distribution of bargaining power. The analyses are performed on Swedish population register data from 1991 to 2008, including longitudinal information on the residence of all couples who either married or had a child as cohabitants in 2008, backtracking them to the year of union formation. The results indicate that women are more prone to move for the sake of their male partner in the process of union formation than vice versa. If partners lived in close proximity prior to co-residence, the woman’s increased likelihood of moving and longer distance moved is nearly completely explained by power imbalances in the couple. Gender differences in ties only have minor importance in explaining gender differences in these types of migration patterns. If partners lived far apart prior to co-residence, gender differences are particularly pronounced. These differences remain after adjusting for the two partners’ relative resources. We contribute to the family migration literature by suggesting that women’s higher propensity to move and their longer distance moved are indications that even couples’ decisions at the start of co-residence are made in favour of the man’s career.

Sharing the Caring: Attitude–Behavior Discrepancies and Partnership Dynamics

Even though ideals in favor of gender equality in the private sphere are wide spread, discrepancies between ideals and actual behavior are common. Such discrepancies and potential dissatisfaction with gender unequal behavior within a couple are expected to influence partnership dynamics negatively. This study examines how discrepancies between the perceived ideal sharing of parental leave and the actual division of leave, as well as satisfaction with the division are associated with (a) relationship satisfaction, (b) continued childbearing, and (c) union dissolution, using Swedish panel data. The findings cannot confirm an effect of discrepancies on partnership dynamics. However, men who wish they had used a larger share of the parental leave have lower relationship satisfaction, lower continued childbearing, and higher probability of union dissolution. Women are seemingly not affected by their (dis)satisfaction with the division. The findings may reflect a changing father role related to the policy setting and norms in Sweden.

The Sharing of Attitudes and Relationship Quality

This study examines how the sharing of attitudes matter for relationship satisfaction and union dissolution among Swedish couples. It utilizes a data set from 2009 (the Young Adult Panel Study) containing information on 1055 opposite-sex couples (married or co-residential), and registered union dissolutions up until 2014. Results indicate that couples who share notions on the importance of being successful at work; on the importance of having children; or on the importance of having enough time for leisure activities are more likely to be satisfied with their partner relationship than couples who do not share these attitudes. However, there are no effects from sharing attitudes on the importance of living in a good partner relationship or doing well economically, nor any impact on actual breakups. The study concludes that sharing priorities matter for relationship quality, although this cannot be generalized to all attitudes or even to work-family related attitudes in general.

Committing to marriage? The role of marriage attitudes and gender equality among young cohabiters in Sweden

Abstract: Marriage is commonly perceived as a more committed form of union than cohabitation. Individualization perspectives suggest that this makes couples refrain from marriage, while gender perspectives propose that gender equality within couples may increase the willingness to commit to a partner through marriage. We address these differing standpoints by studying the role of commitment and gender equality for marriage formation among cohabiting men and women born in Sweden 1968-1980. We use survey data from the 2003 Young Adult Panel Study to examine how cohabiters perceive the level of commitment in cohabitation versus marriage, as well as gender equality in their current relationship, and link this to population register data showing their propensity to marry up to 2007. Men and women, with and without children, are more likely to marry if they believe that marriage demonstrates seriousness but less likely to marry if they see marriage as more difficult to leave than cohabitation. Living in a gender equal relationship seems positively related to getting married although the association depends on the measure used. Whether gender equality moderates the association between marriage attitudes and marriage formation remains unclear. In conclusion, commitment can both encourage and discourage marriage formation depending on what aspect of commitment is addressed, and gender equality may play a role in this association, but further investigation is needed.

Ethnic Composition of Schools and Students’ Educational Outcomes: Evidence from Sweden

We examine the impact of ethnic school composition on students’ educational outcomes using Swedish population register data. We add to the literature on the consequences of ethnic school segregation for native and immigrant students by distinguishing social interaction effects from selection and environmental effects through one- and two-way fixed effects models. Our findings demonstrate that native and immigrant students’ grades are relatively unaffected by social interaction effects stemming from the proportion of immigrant schoolmates. However, we find nontrivial effects on their eligibility for upper secondary school. Immigrants’ educational outcomes are weakly positively affected by the proportion of co-ethnics in school.

Do high levels of home-ownership create unemployment? : Introducing the missing link between housing tenure and unemployment

Abstract A large number of studies have demonstrated that the proportion of home-owners in a region tend to be positively associated with the unemployment levels in that region. In this paper, we introduce a missing piece of explaining this commonly found pattern. By analysing individual-level population register data on Sweden, we jointly examine the effects of micro- and macro-level home-ownership on individuals’ unemployment. The findings indicate that even though home-owners have a lower probability of being unemployed, there is a penalty for both renters and home-owners on unemployment in regions with high home-ownership rates. Differences in mobility patterns cannot explain this pattern. However, when labour market size is considered, the higher probability of unemployment in high home-owning regions is drastically reduced. This suggests that high home-ownership regions tend to coincide with small labour markets, affecting the job matching process negatively.