Latest‐Late Fertility? Decline and Resurgence of Late Parenthood Across the Low‐Fertility Countries

After decades of fertility postponement, we investigate recent changes in late parenthood across low-fertility countries in the light of observations from the past. We use long series of age-specific fertility rates from the Human Fertility Database (1950– 2016) for women, and new data covering the period 1990–2016 for men. In 1950, the contribution of births at age 40 and over to female fertility rates ranged from 2.5 to 9 percent, but then fell sharply until the 1980s. From the 1990s, however, the prevalence of late first births increased rapidly, especially so in countries where it was initially lowest. This has produced a late fertility rebound in the last two decades, occurring much faster for women than for men. Comparisons between recent and past extremely late (age 48+) fertility levels confirm that people are now challenging the natural fertility barriers, particularly for a first child

The Gap Between Lifetime Fertility Intentions and Completed Fertility in Europe and the United States: A Cohort Approach

We study the aggregate gap between intended and actual fertility in 19 European countries and the US based on a cohort approach. This complements prior research that had mainly used a period approach. We compare the mean intended number of children among young women aged 20 to 24 (born in the early 1970s), meas ured during the 1990s in the Fertility and Family Surveys, with data on completed fertility in the same cohorts around age 40. In a similar manner, we compare the share who state that they do not want a child with actual cohort childlessness. Our exploration is informed by the cognitive-social model of fertility intentions devel- oped by Bachrach and Morgan (Popul Dev Rev 39(3):459-485, 2013). In all coun- tries, women eventually had, on average, fewer children than the earlier expectations in their birth cohort, and more often than intended, they remained childless. The results reveal distinct regional patterns, which are most apparent for childlessness. The gap between intended and actual childlessness is widest in the Southern Euro- pean and the German-speaking countries and smallest in the Central and Eastern European countries. Additionally, we analyze the aggregate intentions-fertility gap among women with different levels of education. The gap is largest among highly educated women in most countries studied and the educational gradient varies by region, most distinctively for childlessness. Differences between countries suggest that contextual factors-norms about parenthood, work-family policies, unemployment-shape women's fertility goals, total family size, and the gap between them

Cohabitation and marriage in Britain since the 1970s

The article presents an overview of trends in cohabitation and marriage in Britain over several decades, using a consistent set of retrospective histories from the General Household Survey 1979–2007. Time-trends are presented, for men and women, of: the experience of different types of partnership by specified ages, the frequency of premarital cohabitation, the average time spent in different types of partnership, the timing of life course transitions, and the outcome of cohabitation and marriage at the fifth and tenth anniversaries

Neither single, nor in a couple. A study of living apart together in France

Among living arrangements, living apart together relationships arouse curiosity on the part of sociologists, demographers and even the media. From a scientific point of view, how have noncohabiting relationships evolved in recent decades? How can we recognise these relationships, and who are the populations concerned? The present study provides an overall view into noncohabiting relationships in France, shedding light on the characteristics of both the individuals concerned and their relationships. There has been no recent increase in the prevalence of this living arrangement. It competes with cohabiting relationships both among students and among people with cohabiting children. Four main groups of living apart relationships are described: "Young adults", "Out of a family", "Seniors." The reasons for living apart as well as future intentions vary considerably across these groups.cohabitation, Generations and Gender Survey (GGS), intimate relationship, living apart together (LAT), living arrangements, typology

Evaluation of the partnership histories in the Centre for Population Change GHS time series dataset

A combined time series of the General Household Survey datasets from 1979 to 2007 has been compiled by the Centre for Population Change (CPC). This dataset includes, along with socio-economic variables, the demographic histories collected in the Family Information section of the GHS questionnaire over the GHS rounds covered, in harmonised form. The present paper evaluates both the internal consistency of the marriage and cohabitation histories and their correspondence with external sources.The data are weighted using new weights generated by CPC for the analysis of these data. Overall, cumulative proportions married by each age for the cohorts of 1951-55 to 1966-70 correspond well with ONS figures for England and Wales, though there are some systematic disparities in selected years. As found in an earlier study, retrospective estimates from the 2000-07 histories of the proportions cohabiting at a point in time are somewhat above the cross-sectional estimates at survey 5 and 10years before

Quelle pertinence de l'ergonomie et des ergonomes à intervenir dans le champ de la formation professionnelle ? Tensions entre l'adaptation du travail à l'homme et l'adaptation de l'homme à son travail.

International audienceCette communication contribue au débat portant sur la " pertinence " des ergonomes à se positionner dans le champ de la formation professionnelle. Nous constatons quelques formes de résistance au sein de notre profession à penser que nous ne serions pas pertinents à intervenir dans un tel contexte au prétexte d'un principe devenu maxime que " l'ergonomie c'est l'adaptation du travail à l'Homme ", sous-entendant qu'elle n'est pas " l'adaptation de l'Homme au travail ". Quatre idées argumentées structurent notre raisonnement pour débattre autour de ces questions : 1) Intervenir dans le champ de la formation professionnelle est cohérent avec une position forte défendue par les pionniers de l'ergonomie ; 2) Intervenir dans le champ de la formation est cohérent avec les objectifs de l'ergonomie et le statut théorique du concept " d'activité de travail " ; 3) Intervenir dans le champ de la formation professionnelle n'est pas nouveau pour les ergonomes et revêt des dimensions stratégiques essentielles pour le développement de la discipline et du métier ; 4) Les caractéristiques du travail actuelles invitent à questionner les cibles de l'intervention ergonomique et renforce l'intérêt pour les ergonomes à s'investir dans le champ de la formation professionnelle

Interventions humaines dans l'exploitation de processus industriels : quels enjeux de performance ?

À partir d'une expérience d'intervention ergonomique réalisée dans le domaine de l'assainissement des eaux usées, nous décrirons comment la prise en compte des interventions humaines et de ses exigences dans la conception de processus industriels contribueraient autant à la fiabilité, la sécurité, la santé, l'efficacité des travailleurs, la qualité de service produit, ainsi qu'à la préservation de l'environnement. Le récit d'une situation d'exploitation d'un réseau d'eau usée permet de discuter de l'intérêt en termes d'analyse et d'actions sur les situations de travail du modèle de double régulation de l'activité de travail. Plusieurs enseignements pour les ergonomes ressortent de cette expérience. D'une part, l'importance de l'observation (et en particulier du temps incompressible que cela nécessite) dans l'analyse des situations de travail concernées en vue d'en extraire les exigences concrètes. D'autre part l'intérêt des modèles en ergonomie (notamment systémiques) comme " garde fou " pour l'intervenant afin d'éviter le risque de cloisonnement dans l'un des critères de la situation de travail (sécurité, fiabilité, etc.)