The effect of COVID-19-related school closures on students’ well-being: Evidence from Danish nationwide panel data

New research from Denmark suggests that in some respects students’ wellbeing improved during the Spring 2020 lockdown, and that this effect was strongest among students of lower socioeconomic status. The study used data from the Danish Student Wellbeing Study, which is carried out nationwide on an annual basis. It compared responses from students aged 12-15 … Read more

Educational differentiation in secondary education and labour-market outcomes

Authors: Steffen Schindler,
Issue: 2021
Themes: , ,

Countries differ in the way in which they organise their education systems. With this special issue, we want to pay particular attention to the period of secondary education, the different institutional approaches that countries pursue during that phase and the long-term consequences for individual labour-market outcomes that follow from it. Secondary education is probably the … Read more

Facts and Myths in the Popular Debate about Inequality in Sweden

This paper presents a critical assessment of the public debate on income and wealth inequality in Sweden. The authors scrutinize ten often-heard claims in the debate by contrasting them against facts in available databases and results in the research literature. The paper also addresses specific measurement problems in the Swedish income statistics and suggests possible … Read more

Association of Very Preterm Birth or Very Low Birth Weight With Intelligence in Adulthood: An Individual Participant Data Meta-analysis

Question Is very preterm birth or very low birth weight vs term birth associated with intelligence in adulthood? Findings In this meta-analys is of individual participant data from 8 cohorts comprising 2135 adults with and without very preterm birth or very low birth weight in 7 countries, IQ was significantly lower among adults who were … Read more

Faith No More? The divergence of political trust between urban and rural Europe

Authors: Frieder Mitsch, Liz Morrow, Neil Lee,
Issue: 2021
Themes:

This paper looks the divergence in political trust levels between rural and urban areas since 2008. It concludes that this increasing rural-urban divide has important implications for European democracies. The research uses data gathered between 2008 and 2018 bythe European Social Survey, accounting for a total population of 433 million and allowing a final sample of just over 125,000 people aged over 16 years … Read more

Lives on track? Long‐term earnings returns to selective school placement in England and Denmark

This paper looks how selective schooling affected the lifetime earnings of people born in the 1950s, and finds it did little to improve earnings or to increase social mobility in England. The researchers used data from the National Child Development Study on 15,000 people  born in England and Wales in a single week in March … Read more

Gendered division of housework during the COVID-19 pandemic: temporary shocks or durable change?

This paper looks at the gender gap in housework during Covid-19. It finds that there was some increased input from men during the early stages of lockdown, but families with young children were the first to return to previous patterns. The researchers used data gathered by the Understanding Society COVID-19 study in April, May, June … Read more

LGBTQI+ Healthcare (in)Equalities in Portugal: What Can We Learn from Asexuality?

Authors: Rita Alcaire,
Issue: 2021
Themes: ,

The main purpose of this article is to analyse how healthcare providers in Portugal perceive asexuality. To do so, the author makes use of qualitative data from both the CILIA LGBTQI+ Lives project and The Asexual Revolution doctoral research on asexuality in Portugal, namely, a focus group conducted with healthcare providers, drawing from their assessment … Read more

Social origins, tracking and occupational attainment in Italy

This study looks at the long-term effects of pupils’ choices between academic and vocational tracks at age 14. It finds that while there is no difference in employability between the two groups, those on the academic track gain advantages even if they do not go on to gain a degree. The analysis is based on … Read more

Double Trouble: Does Job Loss Lead to Union Dissolution and Vice Versa?

Does relationship breakdown lead to job loss, and job loss to relationship breakdown? Links between the two events are well documented, but this study looks more closely at the data and concludes other factors are at play. Using a large sample of working-age adults who took part in British household surveys between 1991 and 2018, … Read more