Parasites and Raven Mothers: A German-Japanese Comparison on (Lone) Motherhood

Having a child out of wedlock used to be associated with shame and scorn. This is mostly not the case anymore in the western world. Therefore, freed from social sanctions, single motherhood has become an additional family-choice alternative for women, along with marriage and childlessness. Yet, the institutions that influence women's decisions differ across countries. We compare the institutional frame, in particular labor-market characteristics and family law, in Germany and Japan and, in addition, the interaction between culture and institutions. Both countries had a very traditional (one-earner) family system until the second half of the 20th century. Now we can observe that social changes that happened in Germany decades ago are happening only now in Japan. We analyze if and how the consequences in terms of family structures and fertility rates that resulted in Germany can be transfered to Japan.Dieser Artikel vergleicht die institutionellen Rahmenbedingungen in Deutschland und Japan, die die Fertilitätsentscheidung von Frauen beeinflussen können. Wir richten unser Augenmerk speziell auf Familienrecht, Arbeitsmarktcharakteristika und die Interaktion zwischen Institutionen und kulturellen Faktoren. Daraus leiten wir Implikationen für die relative Attraktivität von Ehe und Mutterschaft in beiden Ländern ab. Wir stellen fest, dass soziale Veränderungen, die in Deutschland vor einigen Jahrzenten vor sich gingen - insbesondere die Aufweichung der traditionellen Alleinverdiener-Familie - in Japan derzeit passieren. Wir analysieren, ob sich die Konsequenzen für Familienstruktur und Geburtenrate von Deutschland auf Japan übertragen lassen

Web-based alcohol intervention:study of systematic attrition of heavy drinkers

Background: Web-based alcohol interventions are a promising way to reduce alcohol consumption because of their anonymity and the possibility of reaching a high numbers of individuals including heavy drinkers. However, Web-based interventions are often characterized by high rates of attrition. To date, very few studies have investigated whether individuals with higher alcohol consumption show higher attrition rates in Web-based alcohol interventions as compared with individuals with lower alcohol consumption. Objectives: The aim of this study was to examine the attrition rate and predictors of attrition in a Web-based intervention study on alcohol consumption. Methods: The analysis of the predictors of attrition rate was performed on data collected in a Web-based randomized control trial. Data collection took place at the University of Konstanz, Germany. A total of 898 people, which consisted of 46.8% males (420/898) and 53.2% females (478/898) with a mean age of 23.57 years (SD 5.19), initially volunteered to participate in a Web-based intervention study to reduce alcohol consumption. Out of the sample, 86.9% (781/898) were students. Participants were classified as non-completers (439/898, 48.9%) if they did not complete the Web-based intervention. Potential predictors of attrition were self-reported: alcohol consumption in the last seven days, per week, from Monday to Thursday, on weekends, excessive drinking behavior measured with the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT), and drinking motives measured by the Drinking Motive Questionnaire (DMQ-R SF). Results: Significant differences between completers and non-completers emerged regarding alcohol consumption in the last seven days (B=-.02, P=.05, 95% CI [0.97-1.00]), on weekends (B=-.05, P=.003, 95% CI [0.92-0.98]), the AUDIT (B=-.06, P=.007, 95% CI [0.90-0.98], and the status as a student (B=.72, P=.001, 95% CI [1.35-3.11]). Most importantly, non-completers had a significantly higher alcohol consumption compared with completers. Conclusions: Hazardous alcohol consumption appears to be a key factor of the dropout rate in a Web-based alcohol intervention study. Thus, it is important to develop strategies to keep participants who are at high risk in Web-based interventions

Experimentally manipulated self-affirmation promotes reduced alcohol consumption in response to narrative information

Background: Health-risk information is increasingly being conveyed through accounts of personal experiences or narrative information. However, whether self-affirmation can enhance the ability of such messages to promote behavior change has yet to be established. Purpose: This study aims to test whether self-affirmation (a) promotes behavior change following exposure to narrative information about the risks of excessive alcohol consumption and (b) boosts message acceptance by increasing narrative engagement. Methods: In an experimental design, female drinkers (N = 142) reported their baseline alcohol consumption and were randomly allocated to condition (Self-Affirmation, Control). All participants next watched an extract of a genuine narrative piece in which the central character discussed her liver disease and its link with her previous alcohol consumption. Then, participants completed measures assessing engagement with the narrative and message acceptance. The primary outcome was alcohol consumption, assessed at 7-day follow-up. Results: Self-affirmed participants reported consuming significantly less alcohol at follow-up compared to baseline (mean 7-day decrease = 5.43 units); there was no change in alcohol consumption for the control group. Immediately post-manipulation, self-affirmed participants (vs. control) showed more message acceptance and reported greater engagement with the information. The impact of self-affirmation on message acceptance was mediated by narrative engagement. Conclusions: Self-affirmation can promote behavior change following exposure to health information, even when presented in narrative form

Household Labor Supply and Home Services in a General-Equilibrium Model with Heterogeneous Agents

We propose a new explanation for differences and changes in labor supply by gender and marital status, and in particular for the increase in married women's labor supply over time. We argue that this increase as well as the relative constancy of other groups' hours are optimal reactions to outsourcing labor in home production becoming more attractive to households over time. To investigate this hypothesis, we incorporate heterogeneous agents into a household model of labor supply and allow agents to trade home labor. This model can generate the observed patterns in US labor supply by gender and marital status as a reaction to declining frictions on the market for home services. We provide an accounting exercise to highlight the role of alternative explanations for the rise in hours in a model where home labor is tradable

Sacrificing their Careers for their Families? An Analysis of the Family Pay Penalty in Europe

This paper examines the extent of and the mechanisms behind the penalty to motherhood in six European countries. Each country provides different levels of support for maternal employment allowing us to determine institutional effects on labour market outcome. While mothers tend to earn less than non-mothers, the penalty to motherhood is considerably lower in countries with policy support for working mothers. The paper establishes the United Kingdom and West Germany to have the least policy support for working mothers as well as the largest penalties to motherhood

Delayed First Birth and New Mothers’ Labor Market Outcomes: Evidence from Biological Fertility Shocks

We investigate the impact of delaying the first birth on Italian mothers' labor market outcomes around childbirth. The effect of postponing motherhood is identified using biological fertility shocks, namely the occurrence of miscarriages and stillbirths. Focusing on mothers' behavior around first birth our study is able to isolate the effect of motherhood postponement from that of total fertility. Our estimates suggest that delaying the first birth by one year raises the likelihood of participating in the labor market by 1.2 percentage points and weekly working time by about half an hour, while we do not find any evidence that late motherhood prevents a worsening of new mothers' job conditions (the so-called mommy track). Our findings are robust to a number of sensitivity checks, among which including controls for partners' characteristics and a proxy for maternal health status

Prevalence and Correlates of At-Risk Drinking Among Older Adults: The Project SHARE Study

At-risk drinking, excessive or potentially harmful alcohol use in combination with select comorbidities or medication use, affects about 10% of elderly adults and is associated with higher mortality. Yet, our knowledge is incomplete regarding the prevalence of different categories of at-risk drinking and their associations with patient demographics. To examine the prevalence and correlates of different categories of at-risk drinking among older adults. Cross-sectional analysis of survey data. Current drinkers ages 60 and older accessing primary care clinics around Santa Barbara, California (n = 3,308). At-risk drinkers were identified using the Comorbidity Alcohol Risk Evaluation Tool (CARET). At-risk alcohol use was categorized as alcohol use in the setting of 1) high-risk comorbidities or 2) high-risk medication use, and 3) excessive alcohol use alone. Adjusted associations of participant characteristics with at-risk drinking in each of the three at-risk categories and with at-risk drinking of any kind were estimated using logistic regression. Over one-third of our sample (34.7%) was at risk. Among at-risk individuals, 61.9% had alcohol use in the context of high-risk comorbidities, 61.0% had high-risk medication use, and 64.3% had high-risk alcohol behaviors. The adjusted odds of at-risk drinking of any kind were decreased and significant for women (odds ratio, OR = 0.41; 95% confidence interval: 0.35-0.48; p-value < 0.001), adults over age 80 (OR = 0.55; CI: 0.43-0.72; p < 0.001 vs. ages 60-64), Asians (OR = 0.40; CI: 0.20-0.80; p = 0.01 vs. Caucasians) and individuals with higher education levels. Similar associations were observed in all three categories of at-risk drinking. High-risk alcohol use was common among older adults in this large sample of primary care patients, and male Caucasians, those ages 60-64, and those with lower levels of education were most likely to have high-risk alcohol use of any type. Our findings could help physicians identify older patients at increased risk for problems from alcohol consumption

The Intensive and Extensive Margin of European Labour Supply

Labour supply is determined by two factors: the participation of workers in the labour market (extensive margin), and the number of hours supplied by those working (intensive margin). Based on the European Union Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS), we analyse which margin is more decisive in determining overall labour supply in 24 Member States. The results reveal large diff erences between countries, even after controlling for composition eff ects in terms of socio-demographic and household characteristics. In addition to individual labour supply, our focus is on diff erences between EU Member States concerning household labour supply. Joint determination of the number of hours worked between spouses can be observed for dual-income couples in Austria, the Netherlands and Spain.Das Arbeitsangebot wird grundsätzlich durch zwei Faktoren bestimmt: Die Partizipation am Arbeitsmarkt (extensives Arbeitsangebot) und die Anzahl der gearbeiteten Stunden der Beschäftigten (intensives Arbeitsangebot). Auf Basis der Arbeitskräfteerhebung der Europäischen Union (EU-LFS) analysieren wir für 24 Mitgliedstaaten, welcher der beiden Faktoren bestimmend für das gesamte Arbeitsangebot ist. Die Ergebnisse deuten auf signifikante Unterschiede im Arbeitsangebot zwischen den Ländern hin, auch nachdem für Kompositionseffekte aufgrund sozio-demographischer und haushaltsspezifischer Charakteristika kontrolliert wird. Neben dem individuellen Arbeitsangebot liegt ein weiterer Schwerpunkt auf Unterschieden zwischen den EU Mitgliedsstaaten in Hinblick auf das Arbeitsangebot von Haushalten. In Österreich, den Niederlanden und Spanien kann im Gegensatz zu den anderen Ländern eine gemeinsame, simultane Entscheidung bezüglich des Arbeitsangebots bei Doppelverdienern mit kleinen Kindern im Vorschulalter beobachtet werden