| 1. |
- Stanfors, Maria, et al.
(författare)
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A century of divorce : long-term socioeconomic restructuring and the divorce rate in Sweden 1915-2010
- 2020
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Increased divorce rates over the past century are linked to changing macroeconomic conditions, increased female independence and welfare state expenditure, but few studies have assessed these long-term relationships at the macro level. Research has focused on Anglo-Saxon contexts and not considered developments in vanguard countries like Sweden that determined their role as sociodemographic precursors and early representatives of a society with a high divorce rate. We examine the impact of macroeconomic conditions together with increased female independence and welfare expenditure on the divorce rate by performing time series analysis, using annual aggregate data from Sweden covering almost acentury (1915-2010). We separate between short-run (business cycle), medium-run, and longrun (structural) impacts. Results show that separating between time horizons is important for understanding the determinants of divorce. Increasing divorce rates were part of a structural process, affecting the family through increasing state support for families and work opportunities for women. In the short to medium run demographic factors were key determinants. It is important to consider contexts like Sweden to understand how welfare state expansion can counterbalance economic cycles and modify the relationship between economic conditions and divorce by making divorce accessible through subsidies and services, even in times of recession.
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| 2. |
- Sandström, Glenn, 1971-, et al.
(författare)
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Growing More Equal and Growing Apart? : Socioeconomic Status and the Rise of Divorce in Sweden
- 2020
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- A negative association between socioeconomic status (SES) and divorce has been established for most Western nations after 1960, yet we know little about this relationship further back in time when divorce was rare. In low divorce contexts, we expect a positive association between SES and divorce because higher social strata are better equipped to overcome barriers to divorce. According to socioeconomic growth theory, this relationship reverses with industrialization and modernization since the economic and normative barriers to divorce diminish for many. We investigate SES and other micro-level determinants of divorce among men and women in Sweden, 1880-1960, making use of longitudinal data from parish registers covering Västerbotten County. Results confirm a positive association between SES and divorce, which shifted to a negative association among couples who divorced from the mid-1930s onwards. This reversal resulted in an increase in the divorce rate as it extended to broader layers of the population.
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| 3. |
- Sandström, Glenn, 1971-, et al.
(författare)
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Socio-economic status and the rise of divorce in Sweden : the case of the 1880–1954 marriage cohorts in Västerbotten
- 2023
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Ingår i: Population Studies. - : Routledge. - 0032-4728 .- 1477-4747. ; 77:3, s. 417-435
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- An established negative association between socio-economic status (SES) and divorce has applied to most Western nations since 1960. We expected a positive association between SES and divorce for low-divorce contexts historically because only individuals in higher social strata had the resources to overcome barriers to divorce. According to Goode’s socio-economic growth theory, this relationship was reversed as industrialization and modernization began removing the economic and normative barriers. Making use of longitudinal data from parish registers, we investigated SES and other micro-level determinants of divorce among men and women in northern Sweden who married between 1880 and 1954. Results indicated a positive association between SES and divorce among those who married 1880–1919, with the middle class, not the elite, featuring the highest divorce risks. This association changed for couples who married in the 1920s, for whom divorce became more common and the working class faced similar divorce risks to the higher social strata.
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| 4. |
- Stanfors, Maria
(författare)
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Education, Labor Force Participation and Changing Fertility Patterns. A Study of Women and Socioeconomic Change in Twentieth Century Sweden.
- 2003
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This book deals with women and socioeconomic change in twentieth century Sweden. The main focus is on how women’s education and labor force participation have affected fertility over time. Although many perceive Sweden as a country where men and women have equal opportunities, traditional gender roles continue to constrain male and female activities and opportunities. The gender division of labor within the family, as well as within society as a whole, is central to the conceptual framework for the theoretically oriented analysis that is founded in neoclassical theory. Another theoretical feature is the application of a long-term historical as well as a gender perspective. Empirically, this study analyzes fertility change, labor force participation and transitions in connection with childbirth, educational segregation, and leaving home; using quantitative, macro-level and micro-level, data as well as qualitative sources. During the twentieth century, women’s advances in education overtook the lead position of men, female labor force participation increased, and the gender wage gap narrowed considerably. These economic changes generated demographic responses, notably timing effects on fertility that made the period fertility rate fluctuate, as the incentive structure for potential mothers changed and the relative cost of children increased. Change was, however, concentrated to distinct periods, namely the 1920s, the post-war 1940s, and the 1960s and 1970s. The 1990s also emerges as an important period of change. The results of this study indicate that women changed their behavior much more than men during these periods as opportunities for women to partake in production increased through economic structural change. Moreover, policy reforms that facilitated the combination of productive and reproductive activities were effectuated. Against the background of structural change in the Swedish economy, women over time chose different strategies, meaning different combinations over the life cycle of education, career and fertility. This study of the long-term development of education, labor force participation and fertility contributes to our understanding of important facets of the twentieth century and why the road to gender equality has been so slow.
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| 5. |
- Labbas, Elisa, et al.
(författare)
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Who cares for mum and dad? Unpaid caregiving and labor supply among the working-age population in Europe
- 2019
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Population ageing affects most European countries, pressurizing pension and care systems. This combination fuels demand for formal and informal care, implying that many, particularly women, are faced with dual responsibilities of paid work and unpaid caregiving. We study the relationship between unpaid caregiving for parents and labor supply (in terms of employment and work hours) among older adult men and women (40-65) across Europe. Data from the Survey of Health, Retirement, and Ageing in Europe (SHARE) 2004-2015 are analyzed through OLS and 2SLS estimations. We find regional variation in the association between unpaid caregiving and labor supply. Intensive caregiving among women is generally negatively associated with paid employment, though this is not the case for less intensive care. Care for an elderly parent impact both women’s and men’s labor supply negatively. Our findings indicate that more extensive social infrastructure for caring may diminish labor supply effects of intensive unpaid care.
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| 6. |
- Saarela, Jan, et al.
(författare)
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Ethnic Composition of Couples and Mutual Health Benefit Receipt : Register-Based Evidence from Finland
- 2022
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Ingår i: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. - : MDPI AG. - 1661-7827 .- 1660-4601. ; 19:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The literature on health dependencies among partners typically ignores diversity of partnership characteristics. One salient example is the ethnic composition. We extend prior work on partnerships and health by investigating how married and cohabiting partners mutually influence each other’s receipt of health-related benefits, focusing on how such correlations vary with the couple’s ethnic composition. We study partners’ mutual receipt of sickness allowance and disability pension in ethnically endogamous and exogamous couples in Finland. The population consists of native individuals in similar socioeconomic positions but belonging to two different ethnic groups—Finnish and Swedish speakers—who differ in health and family life. Using data from population registers, we estimate discrete-time hazard models for first-time benefit receipt, as related to partner’s benefit receipt, among midlife couples. We found evidence of mutual receipt of health benefits in both endogamous and exogamous couples, the correlation being strongest for disability pension. Partner correlation in disability pension receipt is slightly stronger in endogamous Swedish than in endogamous Finnish couples, while women in exogamous couples are slightly less sensitive to men’s receipt than vice versa. The results show that mutual health may be heterogeneous across couples that differ in ethnic composition.
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| 7. |
- Saarela, Jan, et al.
(författare)
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‘In Sickness and in Health’: Partners’ Mutual Receipt of Sickness Allowance and Disability Pension in Present-Day Finland
- 2019
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- We study married and cohabiting partners’ mutual receipt of sickness allowance and disability pension among people aged 40-65 years in Finland in 1987-2011. Discrete-time hazard models are estimated on population-register based data that include several sociodemographic control variables. We find strong interrelations, irrespective of gender. The risk of receiving sickness allowance is approximately 50 per cent higher in the first five years after the partner’s receipt of the same benefit, while the risk of receiving disability pension is approximately 100 per cent higher in the first five years after the partner had become a disability pensioner. There are also strong dependencies across the two benefit types. Women’s risk of receiving either benefit tends to be stronger related to the male partner’s receipt than vice versa. This pattern signals that there is a caregiving effect also in the Nordic context, governed by women’s higher responsibilities for the household and the family.
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| 8. |
- Saarela, Jan, et al.
(författare)
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In sickness or in health? Register-based evidence on partners' mutual receipt of sickness allowance and disability pension
- 2019
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Ingår i: Social Science and Medicine. - : Elsevier BV. - 0277-9536 .- 1873-5347. ; 240
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Studies on partners' mutual receipt of benefits constitute a growing research field in the way individual health and health-related decisions depend on social relations. This paper provides the first study on the mutual receipt of sickness allowance. We analysed married and cohabiting couples' receipt of sickness allowance and disability pension by estimating discrete-time hazard models for individuals aged 40-65 years, using longitudinal register data from Finland. The data cover the period 1987-2011, and allowed us to explore socioeconomic and demographic variables at both the individual and couple level. We found strong and long-term interrelations in receipt behaviour and dependencies across benefit types. The risk of receiving sickness allowance increases by 50 per cent during the first years after the partner's first receipt of the same benefit, while the risk of receiving disability pension is twice as high even five years after the partner's receipt of the same. Women appear to be more instrumental than men in the production of health within the couple, even in a context of high level of state support, gender equality and female labour force participation. Their receipt of disability pension is more related to the male partner's receipt than vice versa. For sickness allowance receipt, the gender asymmetry is small. Mutual benefit receipt of benefits may relate not only to collateral health effects but also to shared preferences and partner selection. We cannot distinguish between the mechanisms. However, couples with more economic and social resources seem to be more efficient in joint decision making. Correlations are particularly strong in the immediate term, and for couples who are highly educated, for those with high income, and for those with children in the household. More effective policies may be needed to equalise information regarding benefits, and monitor the use, and potential misuse, of these health benefits.
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| 9. |
- Stanfors, Maria, et al.
(författare)
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Between voluntarism and compulsion : membership in mutual health insurance societies in Swedish manufacturing, c. 1900
- 2023
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Ingår i: Economic history review. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 0013-0117 .- 1468-0289.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Membership in mutual health insurance societies spread among industrial workers in the late nineteenth century. We study determinants of such membership among male workers in Swedish manufacturing by using matched employer–employee data from three industries covering all workers (i.e. members and non-members, N > 12 000) and firms around 1900. We find remarkably high rates of membership overall, and especially among married workers. The association between marital status and health insurance suggests that selection into health insurance societies was ‘propitious’ rather than ‘adverse’. Many workers became members well before the age of 40 years, when their health began to deteriorate, and this coincided with the average age of first marriage for men, occurring in their late twenties. Being married and having membership was more marked in firms with voluntary membership and was important for the viability of the mix of voluntary and compulsory health insurance societies emerging in Nordic countries around 1900. Findings support the idea that health insurance can attract high levels of membership under voluntary schemes and suggest why it took so long before statutory health insurance covering sickness absence and workplace accidents was introduced in Sweden.
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| 10. |
- Stanfors, Maria
(författare)
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Gendered parenthood in the 21st century: Everyday time use and stress in Sweden
- 2019
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This paper examines gender differences in everyday stress among parents in Sweden. Recently, maternal stress has become a public health concern. One of the explanations to why mothers more than fathers get stress-related diagnoses is the unequal division of labor at home. This paper investigates mothers’ and fathers’ time allocation and its association with everyday stress in Sweden, using time diary data from the 2000/01 and 2010/11 Swedish Time Use Survey (SWETUS), including self-reported stress on the diary day. Mothers were more likely to experience stress than fathers, especially during weekdays in 2010/11. Mothers’ excess everyday stress experiences during weekdays were partly due to their childcare responsibilities and that their time was fragmented. Differences between mothers and fathers were significant in 2010/11 but not in 2000/01.
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