It is often assumed that families migrate to improve their economic and social prospects, and that these additional resources can benefit the whole family. However, existing research suggests that many children who have experienced (internal) migration underperform compared to their non-migrating peers in terms of different socioeconomic outcomes. In this article, we study the effects … Read more
Geographical mobility and children’s non-completion of upper secondary education in Finland and Germany: Do parental resources matter?
Sibling similarity in education across and within societies
The extent to which siblings resemble each other measures the omnibus impact of family background on life chances. We study sibling similarity in cognitive skills, school grades, and educational attainment in Finland, Germany, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. We also compare sibling similarity by parental education and occupation within these societies. … Read more
Does re-partnering behavior spread among former spouses?
This study investigates whether divorcees who re-partner play a role in their former spouse’s decisions to do the same. The researchers used administrative data from Statistics Netherlands to look at divorcees who remarried or lived with a new partner and the likelihood of their former spouse doing the same soon after and showed this was … Read more
The role of partnering and assortative mating for income inequality: The case of Finland, 1991–2014
This paper considers why, contrary to expectations, relationships between people with similar backgrounds, especially similar levels of education, hasn’t done more to increase income inequality. It finds that what matters more for inequality is a combination of background characteristics and a consideration of who partners in the first place. The research uses Finnish register data … Read more
Gender 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
Socioeconomic Background and Gene–Environment Interplay in Social Stratification across the Early Life Course
This study finds that genetic inheritance has more influence than the shared social environment alone in perpetuating social inequalities. However, the importance of genes varies according family environment: genetic influences are stronger among those growing up in the most advantaged families. The researchers studied 6,500 pairs of twins born in Finland between 1975 and 1986. They used … 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
The complexity of employment and family life courses across 20th century Europe: More evidence for larger cross-national differences but little change across 1916‒1966 birth cohorts
This paper looks at whether the work and family lives of people living in Europe became more unstable across the 20th century. It finds that family and work lives have become more unstable and unpredictable, but not nearly to the extent thought by scholars and the general public alike. However, there were large differences between … Read more
The heterogeneous effects of parental unemployment on siblings’ educational outcomes
This study looks at the long-term effects of parental unemployment on children’s education. It finds that while there are negative impacts if the unemployment is during adolescence, there are, on average, none if it happens in early childhood. The researchers used data based on a 10 per cent sample of the adult population of Finland, … Read more
Sibling influence on family formation: A study of social interaction effects on fertility, marriage, and divorce
This study looked at whether getting married, having children or getting divorced is likely to influence a sibling to do the same. The analysis on more than 4,000 individuals living in Germany showed that siblings were more likely to become parents or get married if their brother or sister had done the same especially up … Read more