Paul Boyle

A Cross-National Comparison of the Impact of Family Migration on Women's Employment Status

In this paper we consider the effects of family migration on women’s employment status, using census microdata from Great Britain and the United States. We test a simple hypothesis that families tend to move long distances in favor of the male’s career and that this can have a detrimental effect on women’s employment status. Unlike many previous studies of this question, our work emphasizes the importance of identifying couples that have migrated together, rather than simply comparing long-distance (fe)male migrants with nonmigrant (fe)males individually. We demonstrate that women’s employment status is harmed by family migration; the results we present are surprisingly consistent for Great Britain and the United States, despite differing economic situations and cultural norms regarding gender and migration. We also demonstrate that studies that fail to identify linked migrant couples are likely to underestimate the negative effects of family migration on women’s employment status.

Controls on the distribution of surge-type glaciers in Svalbard

We analyzed the possible controls on the distribution of surge-type glaciers in Svalbard using multivariate logit models including 504 glaciers and a large number of glacial and geological attributes. Specifically we examined the potential effect of geological boundaries, mass-balance conditions and thermal regime on surging. It was found that long glaciers with relatively steep slopes overlying young fine-grained sedimentary lithologies with orientations in a broad arc clockwise from northwest to southeast are most likely to be of surge type. No relation between lithological boundaries and surge potential could be established. Possible explanations for length being conducive to surging are transport-distance-related substrate properties, distance-related attenuation of longitudinal stresses and the possible relation between thermal regime and glacier size. Analysis of glaciers with recorded radioecho sounding reveals that a polythermal regime, accumulation-area ratios close to balance and a large elevation span increase the surge potential. The logit models also enabled us to detect 19 new surge-type glaciers, to reclassify six glaciers as normal and to identify unusual surge-type glaciers. Our model results suggest that a polythermal regime and fine-grained potentially deformable beds are conducive to the surge potential of Svalbard glaciers.

Moving and Union Dissolution

This paper examines the effect of migration and residential mobility on union dissolution among married and cohabiting couples. Moving is a stressful life event, and a large, multidisciplinary literature has shown that family migration often benefits one partner (usually the man) more than the other. Even so, no study to date has examined the possible impact of within-nation geographical mobility on union dissolution. We base our longitudinal analysis on retrospective event-history data from Austria. Our results show that couples who move frequently have a significantly higher risk of union dissolution, and we suggest a variety of mechanisms that may explain this.

Does migration exaggerate the relationship between deprivation and limiting long-term illness? A Scottish analysis

Few epidemiological studies of the links between health and environmental variables account for the potentially confounding effects of population migration. Here we explore the relationship between self-reported limiting long-term illness and material deprivation, using individual-level 1991 census data extracted for Scotland. The aim is to investigate whether the migration patterns of ill individuals influences the relationship between limiting long-term illness and material deprivation. Specifically, we seek to determine whether individuals who are well are more likely to migrate away from deprived areas and whether ill individuals are more likely to migrate towards deprived areas. If true, this would suggest that the apparent relationship between deprivation and limiting long-term illness is exaggerated by the effects of migration. We then examine the issue controlling for individual-level characteristics expected to influence limiting long-term illness and pay special attention to the role of public housing in these relationships.

Untying and retying family migration in the New Europe

This special issue comes at a time when political debates on the future of a ‘United Europe’ are raging. As more countries are gradually being introduced into the EU superstate, old questions take on new importance. The focus of this issue is on migration and, in particular, family migration. We suggest that this is a critical topic in the European research agenda. We consider both how family‐related migration affects the social, demographic, and economic contours of the emerging European superstate, and also how the superstate and its political functioning itself influences family migration. We argue that the transformation of Europe into a single market represents a significant conceptual challenge for those accounts of family migration that wish to inform social policy. However, to date, research on family migration in Europe lacks the coherent theoretical focus exhibited by case‐study research from North America. Also, despite the recent recognition that most geographic mobility implicitly and explicitly involves families, the role of the household in migration continues to be poorly understood, particularly in the European context.

The incidence of glacier surging in Svalbard: evidence from multivariate statistics

Abstract Surge-type glaciers switch between long periods of slow flow and short periods of fast flow. The spatial distribution of surge-type glaciers is markedly non-random. The clustering of surge-type glaciers in certain glaciated regions and their complete absence from other regions, suggests that environmental factors control surging. To identify factors that control surging, the relationship between surging, glacial variables and geological environment was tested using logit regression models. In the analysis we used 132 surge-type and 372 normal glaciers identified from the literature and aerial photographs in the High Arctic archipelago of Svalbard. We calculated that approximately 13% of the glaciers of Svalbard are of surge-type. In the analysis we used 13 variables collected from glacier inventories and geology maps. Variables that are significantly associated with surging in Svalbard are glacier length, surface slope and the lithology of the underlying bedrock. Multivariate analyses show that long glaciers overlying shale or mudstone with steep surface slopes have the highest probabilities of surging. Surge-type glaciers are significantly less likely to overlie rocks older than Devonian. These findings do not support Kambs linked cavity theory of surging but lend some support to soft-bed surge theories.

A LONGITUDINAL ANALYSIS OF FAMILY MIGRATION AND THE GENDER GAP IN EARNINGS IN THE UNITED STATES AND GREAT BRITAIN

This article uses longitudinal data for the United States and Great Britain to examine the impact of residential mobility and childbirth on the earnings of women, their family earnings, and the related division of earnings by gender. This project is the _ rst to compare explicitly the impact of childbirth and family migration on women’s earnings, and it extends prior cross-sectional and longitudinal studies on isolated countries by providing a direct contrast between two major industrialized nations, using comparable measures. The results indicate that families respond in similar ways in both countries to migration and childbirth. In response to both migration and childbirth, women’s earnings fall at the time of the event and recover slowly afterward, but the magnitude of the impact is roughly twice as large for childbirth as for migration. However, migration but not the birth of a child is also associated with a significant increase in total family earnings because of increased husbands’ earnings. As a result, the effect of migration on the relative earnings of wives to husbands is similar to the effect of childbirth. These results suggest that family migration should be given consideration in the literature on the gender earnings gap.

Effect of population mixing and socioeconomic status in England and Wales, 1979–85, on lymphoblastic leukaemia in children

Abstract Objectives: To examine the effects of migration, diversity of migrant origins, commuting, and socioeconomic status on the incidence of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in childhood. Design: Poisson regression analysis of incidence rates in relation to the variables of interest. Setting: The 403 county districts of England and Wales during 1979–85. Subjects: Children aged under 15 years. Results: There were significant trends in the incidence of lymphoblastic leukaemia at ages 0–4 and 5–9 years with the proportion of children in a district who had recently entered the district. While there was no consistent relation between the proportion of recent incomers in the total population of a district and its incidence rate, the combination of higher migration with greater diversity of origins or distance moved was associated with higher incidence in both age groups. Incidence increased significantly at age 0–4 with the level of employment in a district and at age 5–9 with the proportion of households with access to a car. No significant trends were found with commuting. Conclusions: The results for level of child migration and diversity of total migration provide evidence of an effect of population mixing on the incidence of childhood leukaemia which is not restricted to areas experiencing the most extreme levels of mixing. Key messages Population mixing even at relatively low levels may be important in the aetiology of childhood leukaemia The results provide further epidemiological evi- dence that childhood leukaemia might be a rare response to infection Previous studies finding increased incidence in more affluent areas may have been indirectly observing a population mixing effect

Do Pedometers Increase Physical Activity in Sedentary Older Women? A Randomized Controlled Trial

OBJECTIVES: To determine the effectiveness of a behavior change intervention (BCI) with or without a pedometer in increasing physical activity in sedentary older women.

Mixing housing tenures: is it good for social well-being?

Mixing tenures is now a widely accepted policy designed to tackle problems of social exclusion in disadvantaged neighbourhoods. However, the evidence base for mixing tenures is fragmented and ambiguous. With few exceptions, studies of mixed-tenure effects have been small, one-off investigations of individual communities, providing only a rudimentary basis for comparative evaluation. In attempting to address these issues, a national-level, ecological analysis of mixed tenure in Great Britain was conducted, using aggregate data from two decennial censuses and geocoded vital registrations. Asking the question whether mixing housing tenures is good for social well-being, the objective of the research is to establish under what, if any, circumstances tenure mixing is positively related to indicators of the social well-being of an areas population. The findings provide little support for positive outcomes and lead the authors to question the efficacy of mixing tenures as a policy for improving social well-being.