| 1. |
- Gardner, Eugene J., et al.
(författare)
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Reduced reproductive success is associated with selective constraint on human genes
- 2022
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Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 603:7903, s. 858-863
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Genome-wide sequencing of human populations has revealed substantial variation among genes in the intensity of purifying selection acting on damaging genetic variants1. Although genes under the strongest selective constraint are highly enriched for associations with Mendelian disorders, most of these genes are not associated with disease and therefore the nature of the selection acting on them is not known2. Here we show that genetic variants that damage these genes are associated with markedly reduced reproductive success, primarily owing to increased childlessness, with a stronger effect in males than in females. We present evidence that increased childlessness is probably mediated by genetically associated cognitive and behavioural traits, which may mean that male carriers are less likely to find reproductive partners. This reduction in reproductive success may account for 20% of purifying selection against heterozygous variants that ablate protein-coding genes. Although this genetic association may only account for a very minor fraction of the overall likelihood of being childless (less than 1%), especially when compared to more influential sociodemographic factors, it may influence how genes evolve over time.
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| 2. |
- Barclay, Kieron, 1986-, et al.
(författare)
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Birth order and mortality : a population-based cohort study
- 2015
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Ingår i: Demography. - : Duke University Press. - 0070-3370 .- 1533-7790. ; 52:2, s. 613-639
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study uses Swedish population register data to investigate the relationship between birth order and mortality in adulthood over the ages 30 to 69 for Swedish cohorts born between 1938 and 1960, using a within-family comparison. The main analyses are conducted with discrete-time survival analysis using a within-family comparison, and the estimates are adjusted for age, mother's age at the time of birth, and cohort. Focusing on sibships ranging in size from two to six, we find that mortality risk in adulthood increases with later birth order. The results show that the relative effect of birth order is greater amongst women than amongst men. This pattern is consistent for all the major causes of death, but is particularly pronounced for mortality attributable to cancers of the respiratory system, and external causes. Further analyses where we adjust for adult socioeconomic status and adult educational attainment suggest that social pathways only mediate the relationship between birth order and mortality risk in adulthood to a limited degree.
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| 3. |
- Barclay, Kieron, 1986-, et al.
(författare)
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Birth spacing and health outcomes : differences across the life course and developmental contexts
- 2020
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Ingår i: Handbook on Demographic Change and the Lifecourse. - : Edward Elgar Publishing. - 9781788974868 - 9781788974875 ; , s. 170-181
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this chapter the authors discuss research on the effects of long and short birth spacing from the perspective of children (the time interval between the births of adjacent siblings). Recent research has placed doubt on previous findings of adverse effects of short birth intervals on birth outcomes as well as short-, medium-, and long-term health, educational, and socioeconomic attainment outcomes. They summarize recent findings with a particular focus on impacts over the lifecourse, and the extent to which findings are applicable at various levels of social and economic development. The authors also briefly discuss the effects of birth spacing in the broader context of research examining the effects of early life conditions on adult outcomes.
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| 4. |
- Barclay, Kieron, 1986-, et al.
(författare)
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Birth Spacing and Parents' Physical and Mental Health : An Analysis Using Individual and Sibling Fixed Effects
- 2024
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Ingår i: Demography. - 0070-3370 .- 1533-7790. ; 61:2, s. 393-418
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- An exten sive lit er a ture has exam ined the rela tion ship between birth spac ing and sub se quent health out comes for par ents, par tic u larly for moth ers. However, this research has drawn almost exclu sively on obser va tional research designs, and almost all stud ies have been lim ited to adjusting for observ able fac tors that could con found the rela tion ship between birth spac ing and health out comes. In this study, we use Nor we gian reg is ter data to exam ine the rela tion ship between birth spac ing and the num ber of gen eral prac ti tioner con sul ta tions for moth ers' and fathers' phys i cal and men tal health con cerns imme di ately after child birth (1-5 and 6-11 months after child birth), in the medium term (5-6 years after child bear ing), and in the long term (10-11 years after child bear ing). To exam ine short term health out comes, we esti mate indi vid ual fixed-effects mod els: we hold con stant fac tors that could influ ence par ents' birth spacing behav ior and their health, com par ing health out comes after differ ent births to the same par ent. We apply sib ling fixed effects in our anal y sis of medium- and long-term out comes, hold ing con stant moth ers' and fathers' fam ily back grounds. The results from our ana ly ses that do not apply indi vid ual or sib ling fixed effects are con sis tent with much of the pre vi ous lit er a ture: shorter and lon ger birth inter vals are asso ci ated with worse health out comes than birth inter vals of approx i ma tely 2-3 years. Estimates from indi vid ual fixed-effects mod els sug gest that par tic u larly short inter vals have a mod est neg a tive effect on mater nal men tal health in the short term, with more ambig u ous evi dence that par tic u larly short or long inter vals might mod estly influ ence short-, medium, and longterm phys i cal health out comes. Overall, these results are con sis tent with small to neg li gi ble effects of birth spac ing behav ior on (nonpreg nancyrelated) parental health outcomes.
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| 5. |
- Hällsten, Martin, 1980-, et al.
(författare)
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The Shadow of Peasant Past : Seven Generations of Inequality Persistence in Northern Sweden
- 2023
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Ingår i: American Journal of Sociology. - 0002-9602 .- 1537-5390. ; 128:6, s. 1716-1760
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The authors use administrative data linked to parish records from northern Sweden to study how persistent inequality is across multiple generations in education, occupation, and wealth, going from historical to contemporary time. The data cover seven generations and allow the authors to follow ancestors of individuals living in Sweden around the new millennium back more than 200 years, covering the mid-18th century to the 21st century. In a sample of around 75,000 traceable descendants, they analyze (a) up to fifth cousin correlations and (b) dynastic correlations over seven generations based on aggregations of ancestors’ social class/status. With both approaches, the authors find that past generations structure life chances many generations later, even though the results align with traditional stratification research in that mobility across multiple generations is high. The results imply that today’s inequality regime may have been formed many generations back.
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| 6. |
- Andersson, Gunnar, 1962-, et al.
(författare)
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Trends in Childbearing and Nuptiality in Sweden : An Update with Data up to 2007
- 2011
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Ingår i: Finnish Yearbook of Population Research. - Helsinki : The Population Research Institute. - 1796-6183. ; XLVI, s. 21-29
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present an update of the main features of recent trends in vital family-demographic behavior in Sweden. For this purpose, time series of relative risks of childbearing, marriage, and divorce by calendar year are updated with another five years of observation added to previously published series. We demonstrate that fertility in Sweden continued its upward trend during much of the first decade of the 21st century. The rise pertains to all birth orders. It is driven by the halt in postponement of first childbearing at the younger ages and the continued fertility recuperation at higher ages. Marriage propensities increased as well, reversing a decades-long trend of decreasing marriage rates. The trend reversal comprises first marriages and remarriages alike. Interestingly, the increased popularity of marriage and childbearing is accompanied with a slight decline in divorce risks during the first decade of the new century.
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| 7. |
- Andersson, Gunnar, 1962-, et al.
(författare)
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Trends in Childbearing, Marriage and Divorce in Sweden : An Update with Data up to 2012
- 2015
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Ingår i: Finnish Yearbook of Population Research. - : Finnish Yearbook of Population Research. - 1796-6183 .- 1796-6191. ; 50, s. 21-30
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present an update of the main and parity-specific trends in vital family-demographic behavior in Sweden presented in Finnish Yearbook of Population Research 2011. Based on Swedish register data, previous time series of relative risks of childbearing, marriage, and divorce by calendar year are updated with another five years of observation. We demonstrate that more than a decade of increasing fertility levels turned into moderate fertility declines in 2011. This trend change pertains to all main birth orders. Marriage propensities continued to increase for mothers but stagnated for the childless. Since the turn of the century, trends in divorce risks seem to have leveled off, altogether reflecting a more prevalent role of marriage in recent Swedish family dynamics.
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| 8. |
- Andersson, Linus, 1985-, et al.
(författare)
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Kinship and socio-economic status : Social gradients in frequencies of kin across the life course in Sweden
- 2023
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Ingår i: Population Studies. - 0032-4728 .- 1477-4747.
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The influence of kin on various outcomes is heavily debated. However, kinship size itself conditions the probability of potential effects. Socio-economic gradients in the prevalence, variance, and types of kin are, therefore, a vital aspect of the functions of kin. Unfortunately, these parameters are largely unknown. We used Swedish register data to enumerate consanguine and in-law kin across the life course of the 1975 birth cohort. We calculated differences in kinship size between this cohort’s income quartiles and educational groups. We decomposed how specific kin relations, generations, and demographic behaviours contributed to these differences. Among low socio-economic status (SES) groups, higher fertility in earlier generations resulted in more kin compared with high-SES groups. Low-SES groups had more horizontal consanguine kin, while high-SES groups had more in-laws. Lower fertility and higher union instability among low-SES men substantially narrowed SES differences in kinship size. Kinship size varied substantially within SES groups.
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| 9. |
- Barclay, Kieron, 1986-, et al.
(författare)
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Reproductive history and post-reproductive mortality : A sibling comparison analysis using Swedish register data
- 2016
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Ingår i: Social Science and Medicine. - : Elsevier BV. - 0277-9536 .- 1873-5347. ; 155, s. 82-92
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A growing body of evidence suggests that reproductive history influences post-reproductive mortality. A potential explanation for this association is confounding by socioeconomic status in the family of origin, as socioeconomic status is related to both fertility behaviours and to long-term health. We examine the relationship between age at first birth, completed parity, and post-reproductive mortality and address the potential confounding role of family of origin. We use Swedish population register data for men and women born 1932-1960, and examine both all-cause and cause-specific mortality. The contributions of our study are the use of a sibling comparison design that minimizes residual confounding from shared family background characteristics and assessment of cause-specific mortality that can shed light on the mechanisms linking reproductive history to mortality. Our results were entirely consistent with previous research on this topic, with teenage first time parents having higher mortality, and the relationship between parity and mortality following a U-shaped pattern where childless men and women and those with five or more children had the highest mortality. These results indicate that selection into specific fertility behaviours based upon socioeconomic status and experiences within the family of origin does not explain the relationship between reproductive history and post-reproductive mortality. Additional analyses where we adjust for other lifecourse factors such as educational attainment, attained socioeconomic status, and post-reproductive marital history do not change the results. Our results add an important new level of robustness to the findings on reproductive history and mortality by showing that the association is robust to confounding by factors shared by siblings. However it is still uncertain whether reproductive history causally influences health, or whether other confounding factors such as childhood health or risk-taking propensity could explain the association.
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| 10. |
- Barclay, Kieron, et al.
(författare)
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The Long-Term Cognitive and Socioeconomic Consequences of Birth Intervals : A Within-Family Sibling Comparison Using Swedish Register Data
- 2017
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Ingår i: Demography. - : Duke University Press. - 0070-3370 .- 1533-7790. ; 54:2, s. 459-484
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We examine the relationship between birth-to-birth intervals and a variety of mid- and long-term cognitive and socioeconomic outcomes, including high school GPA, cognitive ability, educational attainment, earnings, unemployment status, and receiving government welfare support. Using contemporary Swedish population register data and a within-family sibling comparison design, we find that neither the birth interval preceding the index person nor the birth interval following the index person are associated with any substantively meaningful changes in mid- or long-term outcomes. This is true even for individuals born before or after birth-to-birth intervals of less than 12 months. We conclude that in a contemporary high-income welfare state, there appears to be no relationship between unusually short or long birth intervals and adverse long-term outcomes.
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