84 research outputs found
Educational Achievement of Immigrant Children in Western Countries: Origin, Destination, and Community Effects on Mathematical Performance
This paper explores the extent to which macro-level characteristics of destination countries, origin countries and immigrant communities can explain differences in the educational achievement of immigrant children. Using data from the 2003 PISA survey, we performed analyses on the mathematical performance of 7403 pupils with a background of immigration from 35 different origin countries in 13 Western countries of destination. Our cross-classified multilevel analyses show that cross-national and cross-group variance cannot be fully explained by compositional differences. Contextual properties of host countries, origin countries and communities also affect the educational performance of immigrant children. We show that the better educational performance of immigrant children in traditional immigrant receiving countries can be explained by strict immigration laws. We further find that the level of economic development of origin countries negatively affects immigrant childrenâs educational performance, and that children who have a background in more politically stable countries, perform better at school. Finally, we find that socioeconomic differences between immigrant communities and the native population and relative community size negatively affect immigrant childrenâs scholastic achievement.immigrant; educational achievement; cross-national comparison; PISA; origin country; destination country
How important are parents and partners for smoking cessation in adulthood? An event history analysis
Background.
The aim of this study is to assess the effect of parental and partnerâs education and smoking behavior on an individualâs chance of smoking cessation over the life course.
Methods.
Self-reported life histories of smoking behavior, education, and relationships were recorded in face-to-face interviews with a random general-population sample of 850 respondents and their partners (if present). The data were collected in 2000. A discrete-time event history model is applied in the analyses of cessation over the life course.
Results.
Parentsâ education and smoking behavior (during adolescence) and partnersâ education have no significant influence on cessation. Living with an ex-smoker or never-smoker increases the likelihood of quitting, compared to being single or living with a partner who smokes. Respondents whose partners were ex-smokers are almost five times more likely to quit smoking than single respondents. They are
almost twice as likely to quit compared to those living with a never-smoker.
Conclusions.
The difference between having and not having a partner seems as important for cessation as the difference between having a partner who smokes, has never smoked, or has stopped smoking. An ex-smoking partner stimulates cessation more than a partner who has never smoked. Studies into cessation should take into account partnersâ smoking histories.
Links in beeld:Een explorerend onderzoek naar de sociale kenmerken van extreem links in Nederland
Partnerâs and own education: does who you live with matter for self-assessed health, smoking and excessive alcohol consumption?
This study analyses the importance of partner status and partnerâs education, adjusted for own education, on selfassessed health, smoking and excessive alcohol consumption. The relationship between socio-economic factors and
health-related outcomes is traditionally studied from an individual perspective. Recently, applying socialâecological models that include socio-economic factors on various social levels is becoming popular. We argue that partners are an
important influence on individual health and health-related behaviour at the household level. Therefore, we include partners in the analysis of educational health inequalities. Using data of almost 40,000 individuals (with almost 15,000
Dutch cohabiting couples), aged 25â74 years, who participated in the Netherlands Health Interview Survey between 1989 and 1996, we test hypotheses on the importance of own and partnerâs education. We apply advanced logistic
regression models that are especially suitable for studying the relative influence of partnersâ education. Controlled for own education, partnerâs education is significantly associated with self-assessed health and smoking, for men and
women. Accounting for both partnersâ education the social gradient in self-assessed health and smoking is steeper than based on own or partnerâs education alone. The social gradient in health is underestimated by not considering partnerâs
education, especially for women.
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