The Association between Grandmaternal Investment and Early Years Overweight in the UK

Peer reviewe

Intergenerational relations and child development in England

Evolutionary studies have shown that in many traditional populations the beneficial effects of grandparental presence for grandchildren may vary according to the sex and lineage of the grandparents, as well as by the sex of the grandchild. However, few studies have investigated the relevance of these factors in modern developed societies. The present investigation uses the Millennium Cohort Study (n = 4,636 children) to analyse the association between grandparental investment and child development in contemporary England. Grandparental investment is measured by parent-grandparent contact frequencies at the child’s age of 3 and child development by “early learning goals” over the first year of primary school assessed with the Foundation Stage Profile (FSP). Children whose mothers reported contacts with maternal grandparents receive higher FSP scores compared to those with no contact at all. In addition, children whose fathers reported daily contacts with paternal grandfathers have lower FSP scores than other children. The study provides evidence of the relevance of grandparental investment on grandchild development also in developed societies. The results are discussed with reference to the grandmother hypothesis, sex-specific reproductive strategies and sex chromosome hypothesis.Peer reviewe

Do nonresident fathers compensate for a lack of household resources? : The associations between paternal involvement and children’s cognitive and educational assessments in the UK

This article investigated the associations between nonresident fathers’ involvement and cognitive and educational achievements in children. In particular, we tested the resource compensation model, which predicts that the involvement of nonresident fathers should compensate for the lack of household resources and that the effect should be strong, particularly in families with low resources. We use the British Millennium Cohort Study (n = 3445), in which 11-year-old children’s cognitive and educational assessments were measured using the British Ability Scale and household resources were measured using maternal education and occupation, family income, and number of books in the home (i.e., cultural capital). We found that the involvement of nonresident fathers was associated with higher scores more strongly in families with the lowest level of cultural capital, compared with others. However, nonresident fathers’ involvement was not associated with child scores more strongly in lower resource households than in higher resource households, when the resources were measured by maternal education and occupation and by family income. The results showed that, although the involvement of nonresident fathers might compensate for a lack of household resources, the effect tends to vary between resource types.Peer reviewe

Cooperation and Conflict. Sibling Relations in Contemporary Societies.

This study investigates sibling and “extended sibling” relations. Extended sibling relations refer to relations between nieces or nephews and aunts or uncles. Both cooperation and conflict between kin are investigated. We use an evolutionary family sociological framework for analysing kin relations in present day Finland and the UK. Cooperation is measured by kin support, emotional closeness, and contact frequency, while the outcome of sibling conflict is measured by toddlers’ unintended injuries, young adolescents’ reports of how much siblings picked and hurt each other, and adults’ self-reported disagreements with siblings. The study includes seven original articles and an introductory chapter.Article I shows that 3-year-old British children who live in the same household with their full siblings have a lower risk of unintended home injuries than do children who live with their full and half siblings or only with their half siblings. Article II finds that 11-year-old British children living with their full siblings only were more likely to report hurting or picking between siblings compared with children who live with their half siblings only. Article III describes two generations of adult Finns and shows that both younger (mean age 36 years old) and older (mean age 65 years) generations have more contacts with full than half siblings and more contacts with the children of full siblings than with children of half siblings. Based on article IV, older and younger Finns have more contact with their sisters’ children compared to their brothers’ children. Article V finds that childless younger women in Finland provide more childcare to their siblings’ children than do younger mothers. However, mothers and childless women provide equal amounts of support to their aunts and uncles. According to article VI, younger Finnish adults who have half siblings are more likely to have encountered unequal maternal treatment than younger adults who have full siblings only. Article VII shows that younger and older Finns are more likely to have conflicts with their full siblings than with their half siblings.Combined, these results show that kin relations tend to differ both between maternal and paternal kin and between full and half siblings. Moreover, kin support is more likely to flow from older individuals to younger ones than vice versa. Finally, parental unequal treatment seems to shape relations between siblings. At the end of the introduction chapter, policy and practical implications of the results are discussed

Intergenerational Family Relations:

This book offers a synthesis of social science and evolutionary approaches to the study of intergenerational relations, using biological, psychological and sociological factors to develop a single framework for understanding why kin help one another across generations. With attention to both biological family relations as well as in-law and step-relations, it provides an overview of existing studies centred on intergenerational relations – particularly grandparenting – that incorporate social science and evolutionary family theories. This evolutionary social science approach to intergenerational family relations goes well beyond the traditional nature versus nurture distinction. As such, it will appeal to scholars across a range of disciplines with interests in relations of kinship, the lifecourse and the sociology of the family

Birth order and relationship quality between adult children and parents: No evidence for the neglected middleborn hypothesis

The neglected middleborn hypothesis predicts that middleborn children should have a worse relationship quality with their parents compared to firstborn and lastborn children. However, prior studies investigating this question have produced mixed results. In this study, the neglected middleborn hypothesis was tested using a large-scale, population-based sample of younger adults from Germany. Relationship quality was measured by contact frequency, emotional closeness, intimacy and amount of conflict participants reported towards their mothers and their fathers. It was found that middleborns reported less intimacy towards their mothers than lastborns. However, in all other cases, middleborns did not differ from firstborns or lastborns in their relationship quality with their mothers and fathers. Thus, the study did not find convincing support for the neglected middleborn effect

Isovanhempien investointien yhteys vanhempien lastenhankintaan ja lasten hyvinvointiin

Non peer reviewe

The economic development of small countries : problems, strategies and policies

There are a variety of theoretical models for small open economies which emphasize supply side adjustments and the infinite elasticity of supply and demand abroad. Accordingly, the lack of world demand cannot be the permanent cause of unemployment. However, while there is also a nontraded sector, domestic demand has to be taken into account. Although the target levels are difficult to define, there are some reasons for arguing that, on the average, the Finnish economy has experienced high unemployment (compared to the structure of labour market) and an excess deficit in foreign trade.peer-reviewe

Kommentti Lapolle ja Riskulle työkyvyttömyyseläkkeisiin menetetystä palkkasummasta ja työpanoksesta

Työkyvyttömyyseläkkeelle joutuminen aiheuttaa julkiselle taloudelle merkittävää tulojen menetystä ja menojen kasvua. Artikkelissa ”Työkyvyttömyyseläkkeiden kustannus” Lappo ja Risku (2023) arvioivat työeläkelakien mukaiselle työkyvyttömyyseläkkeelle joutumisen aiheuttavan 2,5 mrd euron palkkasumman menetyksen vuodessa. Käyttämällä elinkaarimallia saan samaa suuruusluokkaa olevan arvion menetetystä palkkasummasta, noin 3,1 mrd euroa vuodessa. Menetettyä palkkasummaa suurempi työkyvyttömyyseläkkeistä aiheutuva menetys on menetetyn työpanoksen arvo. Toimialakohtaisesti arvioitujen menetettyjen palkkasummien perusteella voi arvioida, että työeläkelakien mukaiset työkyvyttömyyseläkkeet aiheuttavat noin 5,2 mrd euron työpanoksen menetyksen vuodessa, joka on selvästi korkeampi kuin Lapon ja Riskun esittämä arvio 3,0 mrd euroa vuodessa