Separation and divorce have large consequences for the well-being of family members and for intergenerational exchanges. In France, almost one in five children whose parents have separated or divorced never see their father. Children with separated or divorced fathers often do not live with them but nonetheless see them frequently at young ages. However, the frequency of contact rapidly dwindles afterwards so that the proportion who never see their father reaches 19% at ages 18-21 and 32% at ages 30-34. This contrasts strongly with contact with their mother. With a few rare exceptions, children with separated or divorced mothers report living with their mothers until they are 18. When they are older, contact between children and their mothers remains strong with only 5% of children aged 18-34 never seeing their mother. Age 18 is a clear break-off point, perhaps because rights associated with parental custody which apply until the children’s 18th birthday.
Separation and divorce have large consequences for the well-being of family members and for intergenerational exchanges. In France, almost one in five children whose parents have separated or divorced never see their father. Children with separated or divorced fathers often do not live with them but nonetheless see them frequently at young ages. However, the frequency of contact rapidly dwindles afterwards so that the proportion who never see their father reaches 19% at ages 18-21 and 32% at ages 30-34. This contrasts strongly with contact with their mother. With a few rare exceptions, children with separated or divorced mothers report living with their mothers until they are 18. When they are older, contact between children and their mothers remains strong with only 5% of children aged 18-34 never seeing their mother. Age 18 is a clear break-off point, perhaps because rights associated with parental custody which apply until the children’s 18th birthday.
The contextual database for the Generations and Gender Programme contains over 100 macro indicators at the national and regional level. It draws on data from a number of sources and can be analysed either as a stand alone dataset or in conjunction with data from the Generations and Gender Survey. You can browse the data at ggp-i.org or you can choose to download the datafile itself in SPSS, STATA or CSV format (see page 3 for details). Data in the Contextual database streches back over four decades, enabling researchers to examine demographic change over time in Europe and beyond. Here we can see the dramatic change in fertility over the past 60 years and how the fall and subsequent recovery in fertility occured in different countries at different times. It is also possible to vizualise events that shaped Europe’s demography, such as the regime transitions of the early 1990’s. This data therefore adds a great deal of context to the rich individual level data within the Gender and Generations Survey and represents a useful research tool in understanding families and relationships at the macro level.
This month saw the release of wave 2 data for the Czech Republic, extending the number of countries for which have wave 2 data is available to nine. There are a further three countries (Italy, Austria and Russia) for which the data are currently being harmonised which will help extend this to twelve. Data from wave 2 allows researchers to examine one of the most compelling aspects of the Generations and Gender Programme which is the study of life plans and their realisation. Throughout the GGP questionnaire there are a number of questions relating to individuals intentions over the next 3 years and data from wave 2 helps researchers examine whether these plans are realised. Existing research from the GGP has suggested that there are considerable differences in realisation rates across countries, across socio-economic status and across gender. Data from countries like the Czech Republic therefore helps us expand this exciting and insiteful area of research.
Since wave 1, did you realise your intention to….
The GGP is now over 14 years old and yet it continues to grow with the release of new data and an ever increasing number of users. Did you know that the number of users of the GGP has grown by 33% in the last 12 months alone and recently passed the 2,000 mark? This number is expected to continue to increase over the next year as data from the Austria, Czech Republic, Italy, Russia and Sweden is made available to users. The use of the GGP by the research community is further evidenced by the number of presentations at this month’s European Population Conference where 45 presentations will draw on GGP data as well as a further 16 posters. The number of studies based on GGP data in top journals also continues to increase as can be seen on page 2 where a handful of recent articles are detailed.
Registered users of the Generations and Gender Program in 2014
One of the main subjects covered in the Generations and Gender Programme (GGP) is the interaction between work and family life. The graph below shows that maternal employment varies considerably across European Countries. These differences could be caused by a large variety of social, economic or cultural factors. The GGP is an invaluable tool for exploring this as it is the only data source that covers such a diverse range of indicators including values and attitudes, the distribution of household work, childcare availability and usage, policy indicators, work and educational histories, financial circumstances, social networks, housing conditions and the respondents beliefs, intentions andexpectations. These indicators, combined with the longitudinal and comparative design of the survey, make the GGP uniquely positioned to answer many pressing questions.
Percentage of Mothers with Children under 3 who are employed
Source: Generations and Gender Survey, Wave 1, – available here.
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