Intermarriage and housing upon separation. A matter of resources and bargaining power?

This paper received funding from the Swiss National Science Foundation (Postdoc Mobility fellowship: P5R5PS_214270). This paper is part of a project that has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant Agreement No. 834103).Objective This paper examines post-separation residential outcomes in immigrant, native, and immigrant–native mixed (married and cohabiting) couples. Background Previous research showed that women were more likely to leave the family home upon separation than men, indicating a weaker bargaining position. Method Using linked survey and register data from Switzerland, we estimate two post-separation mobility outcomes: who leaves the family home and to what distance this person relocates. By distinguishing male and female partners by migrant origin, we consider how gendered power imbalances interact with migration status to create specific bargaining dynamics within households. Results Among immigrant–native mixed couples, the immigrant ex-partner (regardless of gender) was significantly more likely to move out of the joint home following separation. The likelihood of moving (abroad) after separation was highest for recently arrived immigrant women. Conclusion The results suggest that migration status brings in a new dimension of bargaining within separating couples, which affects the gender-specific residential mobility outcomes reported in previous studies. Although family migration decisions are generally biased toward the human capital of men, this study shows the advantage of the native partner in immigrant–native couples.Peer reviewe

Dendrochronological Investigations of Valonia Oak Trees in Western Greece

Background and Purpose: Valonia oak (Quercus ithaburensis subsp. macrolepis (Kotschy) Hedge & Yalt.) is an east Mediterranean endemic, xerothermic and deciduous tree of particular interest in forestry. There has been a growing demand lately to include the species in reforestations in Greece which also increased the interest to investigate its response to climate change. The main purpose of this research is to study valonia oak from a dendrochronological – dendroclimatological point of view within its Mediterranean distribution range. Materials and Methods: Sampling took place in characteristic valonia oak stands where cross sections or tree-cores were taken from 40 trees. The cross sections and the tree-cores were prepared and cross-dated using standard dendrochronological methods and tree-ring widths were measured to the nearest 0.001 mm using the Windendro software program. The ARSTAN program was used to standardize the tree-ring data and to calculate dendrochronological statistical parameters. The inter-annual variability of tree-ring width and the radial growth trend were examined. Finally, tree-ring widths to climate relationships were calculated by orthogonal regression in combination with the bootstrap procedure using master residual chronology and monthly precipitation, temperature data and scPDSI drought index, from October of the n-1 year up to November of the n year. Results: The master chronology of valonia oak trees in Western Greece reaches 365 years, with an average ring width of 0.89 mm and with mean sensitivity being 0.21. The variation of the tree-ring widths indicates the influence of climate and human intervention in the past. Tree-ring to climate relationships show that valonia oak growth is positively affected by precipitations in January and March and by drought reduction during June and July. Conclusions: Valonia oak in Western Greece is a species of great interest for dendrochronological and dendroclimatological studies due to the old age of the trees and the species response to climate variation. The climate factors that mostly affect its growth are winter and spring precipitation and summer drought

Studying individuals across the lifecourse:a review of longitudinal methods

Individual lifecourses have become increasingly complex over the last decades across industrialised countries; this has implications for the way in which we study individuals’ lives. Longitudinal data analysis is widely used within the social sciences and demography and several different methods have been developed for studying individual lifecourses. This chapter provides an up-to-date overview of these methods, which are categorised as either event-based (event history analysis and its extensions and panel regression) or holistic (sequence analysis and its extension, latent class growth models, and latent transition analysis). The authors briefly describe each method and provide examples of empirical applications from previous research. They also discuss the availability of software and software packages to conduct these analyses. The concluding section discusses the strengths and weaknesses of each method and the type of research questions they are best suited to answer.</p

Spatial patterns of COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 mortality across waves of infection in England, Wales, and Scotland

Funding: UK Economic and Social Research Council (ES/K007394/1, ES/W002116/1); European Research Council (834103).Recent studies have established the key individual-level risk factors of COVID-19 mortality such as age, gender, ethnicity, and socio-economic status. However, the spread of infectious diseases is a spatial and temporal process implying that COVID-19 mortality and its determinants may vary sub-nationally and over time. We investigate the spatial patterns of age-standardised death rates due to COVID-19 and their correlates across local authority districts in England, Wales, and Scotland across three waves of infection. Using a Spatial Durbin model, we explore within- and between-country variation and account for spatial dependency. Areas with a higher share of ethnic minorities and higher levels of deprivation had higher rates of COVID-19 mortality. However, the share of ethnic minorities and population density in an area were more important predictors of COVID-19 mortality in earlier waves of the pandemic than in later waves, whereas area-level deprivation has become a more important predictor over time. Second, during the first wave of the pandemic, population density had a significant spillover effect on COVID-19 mortality, indicating that the pandemic spread from big cities to neighbouring areas. Third, after accounting for differences in ethnic composition, deprivation, and population density, initial cross-country differences in COVID-19 mortality almost disappeared. COVID-19 mortality remained higher in Scotland than in England and Wales in the third wave when COVID-19 mortality was relatively low in all three countries. Interpreting these results in the context of higher overall (long-term) non-COVID-19 mortality in Scotland suggests that Scotland may have performed better than expected during the first two waves. Our study highlights that accounting for both spatial and temporal factors is essential for understanding social and demographic risk factors of mortality during pandemics.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Separation and elevated residential mobility : a cross-country comparison

This study investigates the magnitude and persistence of elevated post-separation residential mobility (i.e. residential instability) in five countries (Australia, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK) with similar levels of economic development, but different welfare provisions and housing markets. While many studies examine residential changes related to separation in selected individual countries, only very few have compared patterns across countries. Using longitudinal data and applying Poisson regression models, we study the risk of a move of separated men and women compared with cohabiting and married individuals. We use time since separation to distinguish between moves due to separation and moves of separated individuals. Our analysis shows that separated men and women are significantly more likely to move than cohabiting and married individuals. The risk of a residential change is the highest shortly after separation, and it decreases with duration since separation. However, the magnitude of this decline varies by country. In Belgium, mobility rates remain elevated for a long period after separation, whereas in the Netherlands, post-separation residential instability appears brief, with mobility rates declining rapidly. The results suggest that housing markets are likely to shape the residential mobility of separated individuals. In countries, where mortgages are easy to access and affordable rental properties are widespread, separated individuals can rapidly adjust their housing to new family circumstances; in contrast, in countries with limited access to homeownership and small social rental markets, separated individuals experience a prolonged period of residential instability