La riquesa de les nacions i la grandesa ètica de la política

Partint d’una breu repàs diacrònic de la història dels Estats-nació, l’autor analitza l’aparició gradual de l’ètica en el debat públic des del punt de vista de les dinàmiques que caracteritzen les relacions entre la nació majoritària i les nacions minoritàries al si dels Estats-nació democràtics contemporanis. Finalment, formula algunes propostes normatives que permetin la construcció i la consolidació de models de cohabitació més justos per als Estats caracteritzats per la diversitat nacional, cultural i lingüística, atès que la cohabitació constitueix el principal repte del segle XXI

Memòria, identitat i ciutadania al Quebec. Elements de comparació amb Catalunya

Quebec constitueix un exemple pertinent per Catalunya en tant que ja ha celebrat dos referèndums sobre el seu estatus polític al si de la federació canadenca  i que segueix buscant el seu ple reconeixement en tant que nació. Per mitjà de l’anàlisi de quatre eixos principals  –memòria i construcció nacional, els esdeveniments clau de la història de Catalunya i els de la història del Quebec i, finalment, el constitucionalisme– l’autor subratlla les semblances i diferències entre ambdós processos de construcció nacional

Examining the Role of Early Life Social Conditions on Adult Mortality through Historical Record Linkage: Implications for Contemporary Public Policy

This study examines the effect of early life conditions on adult mortality. The individual, household and community details of children residing in Quebec in 1901 are linked to their subsequent ages at death in late adulthood using the 1901 Canadian Census and Quebec death registers. Preliminary results of logistic regression and Cox proportional hazards regression analyses indicate that childhood poverty status is not significantly associated with risk of death after age forty. Sex, birth cohort, parental literacy status, farm status and number of siblings in the childhood household are found to significantly effect mortality after age 40. Gender differentials in the role of early life conditions are found, with males being affected by a greater number of childhood conditions than females. A forthcoming updated analysis will contain approximately 3-4 times the amount of cases available for the preliminary analyses

Familial and Environmental Influences on Longevity in a Pre-industrial Population

Data from historical populations provide an adequate context for the examination of the familial and environmental components of longevity. We have investigated the relation between sibling survivorship and longevity through French-Canadian children of a completed fertility cohort born between 1625 and 1704. The Cox regression model was used to analyze the effects of sibling survivorship on the survival time of these early Canadian inhabitants. Other covariates such as regional variation, secular trends (i.e. period effects), parental and spousal survival were also taken into consideration. Our findings show that individuals with at least one sibling surviving beyond 85 years of age had a life-long sustained mortality advantage over the general population. The risks of death after age 50 was 55% and 60% lower for females and males, respectively, having a long-lived sibling. In comparison, the parental of origin effects were negligible. Only the mother-son association in age at death was found significant among the four possible parent-child pairs. Overall, the various models provided better fit to male than to female data. Biological as well as social explanations are explored in order to account for the various results

Why Should Men and Women Marry and Have Children? Parenthood, Marital Status and Self-perceived Stress among Canadians

Based on the Canadian Community and Health Survey (2000), this study examines the stress perceived by parents and non-parents across marital statuses, adjusting for for age, education, work, income, and sense of community belonging. Results show that fatherhood increases perceived stress in all marital statuses, particularly among singles. Motherhood does not affect perceived stress among married or cohabitating women but single and postmarried mothers endure appreciably higher levels of stress. Interactions between working and parental or marital statuses are also observed. The sense of community belonging appears as an important coping mechanism lowering stress levels. Results are discussed in the context of changing familial roles

Influences of Early Life Conditions on Old Age Mortality in Old Québec

Increasingly, bio-demographers are turning to infancy and childhood to gain a better understanding of old age mortality. However, evidence of a link between early life conditions and survival until old age is fragmentary, and the intervening mechanisms remain unclear. Drawing from data on a cohort of French-Canadian children born in the 17th and 18th centuries, we study the effects of infant exposure to infectious diseases (as revealed by the infant mortality rate in the year of birth) on later life mortality. A series of Cox proportional hazard models are used and we control for other familial and environmental conditions prevalent in childhood, as well as in adulthood. Results point to a slight, but not significant effect of a disease load in infancy for females born in years of exceptionally high infant mortality. The results are also not conclusive for males. More generally, a trend of increasing infant mortality over time correlates with general decreases in post-reproductive mortality rates, which are probably due to period improvements in later life conditions. Our study supports the view that period changes have stronger relevance than cohort effects in the study of historical variations in old age mortality