PopDigests

A close look at the ageing process betrays a complex interaction of demographic policies and factors. Old age care arrangements are a window into that interaction. But what does this mean when the ageing process also affects the migrant population?

If education is the key to a brighter future, then keeping kids in school is essential. It is obvious, but not always easy. The EU recognises dropping out of school as a "new social risk", a hazard for both growth and cohesion, and has accordingly made reducing it to less than 10% a Europe 2020 priority.

Long before we had the numbers, it was assumed more education among women would increase childlessness among them. More education means more autonomy and/or more to lose, the arguments go. Closer study in recent years has revealed a more complicated relationship.

Separation can strongly impact the environment in which a child grows up. In some cases, it can have the positive consequence of reducing the amount of parental conflict a child would experience. In other cases, parental separation can contribute to an increasing disadvantage for children due to a loss of financial resources or spending less time with a parent who moved out.

Numerous studies have confirmed that higher educated women are more likely to be involved in the labour market. However, the strength of education effects on women’s employment can be shown to vary across contexts. In a recent analysis, Nadia Steiber, Caroline Berghammer, and Barbara Haas analyze how and why education effects on women’s employment vary across countries and how these effects are modified by the presence and age of children.

Despite the recent expansion of education, children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds are still less likely to attend university than children from wealthier families. This persisting inequality in educational attainment led social scientists to explore a range of possible factors behind these unequal opportunities. Given that in many countries it is very common for children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds to live without at least one parent, family structure has often been held responsible for explaining part of the inequality of opportunities between socioeconomic groups.

Divorce rates in Western countries have been increasing in recent decades and more children are also born to parents who never cohabitate.  As a result, more and more children are living in joint or sole physical custody.  Existing research has suggested some of the negative effects of parental separation on child-wellbeing, such as an increased risk of social maladjustment and poor health. However, very little research has explored the influence of parental ill health and well-being on children’s mental health as a result of differing family structures.

Researchers have identified 12 specific areas of the DNA sequence that are robustly related with the age at which we have our first child, and the total number of children we have during the course of our life.

Forscher haben 12 Bereiche in der DNA-Sequenz identifiziert, die stabil damit verbunden sind, in welchem Alter wir unser erstes Kind und wie viele Kinder wir im Laufe unseres Lebens haben.

Un groupe de chercheurs a identifié 12 régions spécifiques de notre ADN qui sont fortement liées à notre âge à la naissance de notre premier enfant, ainsi qu’au nombre total d’enfants que l’on aura durant notre vie.