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- Dabergott, Filip, 1987-
(författare)
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The widowhood effect : Studies on mortality among Swedish widows and widowers
- 2022
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Spousal loss is a common experience associated with old age, and a major life-event that entails a period of intense suffering for most individuals. In addition to emotional shock and grief, the period after spousal loss is often characterized by vast changes in many areas of the surviving spouse’s life, from everyday habits to financial security. Accordingly, several studies have shown that those who have lost a spouse suffer from a greater risk of dying themselves, compared to their married counterparts. This thesis explores different aspects of the association between widowhood and mortality (often referred to as the widowhood effect) using data from Swedish population registers. The overarching aim is to outline how the strength of the association has changed over time and how it varies between different social and demographic groups, and thereby contribute to a more detailed understanding of the pathways between widowhood and mortality and the importance of different mediating factors. The widowhood effect may be linked to several psychological, social and material mechanisms and individuals may have different capacities to deal with stressors such as grief, social isolation and financial strain depending on factors like sex, age, socioeconomic status and their social environment. In addition, how a specific factor influences the association between widowhood and mortality may in turn often depend on a combination of other factors.The empirical part of the thesis consists of three separate studies, focusing on i) the changing demography of widowhood, ii) the widowhood effect as it differs for men and women according to socioeconomic status and iii) period trends in the widowhood effect, with focus on the importance of education and duration of widowhood. The results show that the widowhood effect increased over the last five decades, especially among women and in younger age groups. During the same period, the relative number of women and younger individuals in the widowed population decreased, which partly offset the total observed effect of this trend. Higher socioeconomic status amplifies the widowhood effect for men, while the association for women remains ambiguous. Between the 1990s and the 2010s, the difference in excess mortality between those who had lost their spouse recently and those who had been widowed a longer period became somewhat larger. No systematic change in the association between socioeconomic status and excess mortality was evident during the same period.
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| 2. |
- Elveborg Lindskog, Elina, 1976-
(författare)
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Effects of violent conflict on women and children : Sexual behavior, fertility, and infant mortality in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo
- 2016
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis investigates the relationship between violent conflicts and sexual and reproductive health in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The aim of the thesis is to investigate how war affects demographic outcomes across individual life courses. The thesis contributes to the research field by linking macro level conflict data measuring the intensity and frequency of violent conflict with micro level data on women’s sexual and birth histories and infant deaths across time and place.The results show that war affects infants’ survival and women’s sexual and reproductive health and behavior. The first study finds an increase of premarital first sexual intercourse during the violent conflicts in Rwanda. The second study finds evidence of a delay in the fertility transition due to the Congolese war and the lingering conflicts in East DRC. The third study suggests that the Congolese war affects infant mortality, but only post-neonatal mortality.Despite consistent evidence that conflict affects the everyday life of women and children, the mechanisms that explain this relationship are largely unknown. This thesis identifies important gaps in the research that limit our understanding of the mechanisms at work.
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| 3. |
- Morosow, Kathrin, 1987-
(författare)
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Side Effects: Unintended Consequences of Family Leave Policies
- 2019
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The transition to parenthood is a major life event and a critical juncture in terms of gender equality within a couple. How a couple divides paid and unpaid work following the birth of a child has long lasting consequences for their relationship, their economic situation and their children’s development. Family policy plays a crucial part in this process. Today, job protected family leaves – maternity-, paternity-, parental- and/or childcare leave – are available across most developed countries to support parents in combining work and family and to enhance gender equality. However, there exists large variation in provision and leave lengths across countries, as well as disparities in take-up within countries. Further, different types of family leaves share different aims that may be contradictory. Whether family leaves achieve their stated objectives, or whether they produce unintended consequences or ‘side effects’ is an important part of policy research.This dissertation consists of an introductory chapter, followed by four empirical studies which analyse the consequences of family leave. The dissertation departs from a comparative study, before the case of Finland is investigated in the remaining three studies. Two main questions are addressed throughout this dissertation. First, do family leave policies have unintended consequences in terms of labour market and family outcomes? Second, are individuals with specific characteristics disproportionately advantaged or disadvantaged by family leave?Comparing 20 countries, Study I analyses the association between paid family leave length and mother’s labour force status. Existing research has yet to distinguish between the non-employment categories: unemployed and inactive. Results point towards a trade-off where longer leaves are associated with higher unemployment risks, while shorter leaves are associated with higher inactivity among mothers.Study II investigates whether single mothers are disproportionately disadvantaged by longer family leave compared to partnered mothers in Finland. This study finds heterogeneous leave consequences in terms of unemployment risks to single mothers’ detriment, which are not merely due to selection, but potentially due to discrimination or work-family reconciliation problems. No differences in earnings consequences were found for partnered and single mothers, however, conditional on being employed.Turning to fathers, Study III examines whether fathers’ fears of economic penalties when taking leave are justified. Assessing penalties across fathers’ wage distribution, this study finds that only fathers at the lower end of the distribution face wage penalties, while fathers at the upper end of the distribution show wage premiums. The study concludes that even some progressive policies fail to address the disproportional penalties among the least-advantaged fathers.Study IV turns to family outcomes and examines whether childcare leave affects family stability in the short and long run. Results suggest lower union dissolution risks during take-up but not thereafter, and indicate that the temporary gendered division of labour and income loss of mothers may lead to postponement of separation.Family leave policies are an important part of gender egalitarian policy schemes with great advantages. Nevertheless, this dissertation shows that family leave policies may have unintended consequences. Family leave can affect family stability temporarily, while lengthy family leaves lead to negative labour market effects for both men and women and can reproduce social inequality. Unintended consequences and disproportional disadvantages need to be evaluated in order to develop more universal and socially just forms of family leave.
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