This paper studies the interrelation between birth order and emigration adopting a family fixed-effects approach. We use register data on all persons in full-siblings groups born 1970–2002 in the entire Finnish-born population, and observe their first move abroad since age 18 in the period 1987–2020. The total number of siblings is 1,352,908, the total number of sibling groups 549,842, and the total number of first moves abroad 31,192. By comparing siblings in the same family, we effectively adjust for all time-invariant confounding from unobserved or unmeasured time-invariant variables. Emigration is found to be positively associated with birth order. The hazard of emigration for second-born siblings is 1.05 that of first borns, that of third borns 1.07, and that of fourth borns 1.11. The pattern is particularly marked for emigration to countries where there is free mobility, and the association is similar for both genders. Potential explanations to the birth order pattern may be variation in personality traits, risk-taking behaviours and aspirations between siblings, or differential allocation of resources and opportunities within families. The results highlight the importance of considering birth order within the context of family dynamics and individual mobility patterns, and they need to be extended to broader settings.

Objective: The aim of this paper is to develop an understanding of how child-perceived parental support and knowledge among children in Sweden differ across ten forms of residential arrangement.

Background: Shared physical custody has become an increasingly common arrangement for children in separated families in many European countries. In an international comparison, Sweden has a high rate of parental union dissolution but also the highest prevalence of shared physical custody arrangements following divorce or separation. Over a third of all children with divorced or separated parents spend an equal amount of time living in both parental households.

Method: We used data from the Swedish HBSC survey from 2013/14, which are focused on children in grades 5, 7 and 9 in the Swedish comprehensive school system (n=7360) and used perceived parental support and perceived parental knowledge scales as dependent variables in multiple ordered logistic regressions conducted separately by the sex of the parent.

Results: The results show that children in shared physical custody report higher levels of parental support and knowledge than children in sole physical custody and equally high as those who live in a two-parent family. Children living in non-symmetrical physical custody arrangements report lower levels of paternal support and knowledge than children whose parents share physical custody equally. Maternal support and knowledge does not differ between children living in symmetrical and non-symmetrical shared physical custody arrangements, whereas paternal support and knowledge is lower in families where the child lives in an unequal residential sharing arrangement with the mother as the main co-residential parent.

Conclusion: Post-divorce living arrangements are clearly associated with the relationship between parents and children, with children in shared physical custody reporting stronger relationships than children in sole physical custody. The cross-sectional nature of the data prevents us from drawing conclusions on causality, however.

Background: Divorce is associated with a weakened relationship between the child and the nonresident parent, usually the father. This loss of contact is likely to be even further exacerbated if this parent lives at a substantial distance from the child.

Objective: This paper analyzes how the distance between children and nonresident parents, the year after a parental separation, has changed during a 40-year period in Sweden, and whether this is related to changes in child custody policies.

Methods: We use Swedish population register data that includes exact geographical coordinates for children and their nonresident parents in the year after separation. We analyze how average distance and the likelihood of living very close to, or very far from, a nonresident parent has changed over this period, using OLS and logistic regression models.

Results: Results show a gradual decrease in the distance between children and nonresident parents from the 1970s until the early 1990s, after which the trend stalled at a low level. In 2011, 50% of all children lived within 2 kilometers of their nonresident parent. We find no evidence of direct policy effects, indicated by any sudden changes in distance after the introduction of a new custody policy. High-income parents have changed their post-divorce residential patterns at a faster pace than low-income parents.

Conclusions: Our results indicate a diffusion process where distances between children and nonresident parents gradually decreased until the 1990s.

Contribution: This paper demonstrates that the change has not been directly influenced by custody law reforms promoting dual parent responsibility.

In this chapter, we identify structural features of families with shared physical custody that differ from those of nuclear families or those of families where one parent has sole physical custody, and discuss the implications for family and kin relationships. We pay particular attention to the ways in which shared physical custody alters the gendered nature of parenting and kinship. We argue that the structural features of shared physical custody create distinct contexts for parent-child and sibling relationships and produce differences in shared understandings of obligations between family members. The unique context for relationships and obligations together constitute a new family form. Our analysis generates an agenda for future research on the nature and consequences of shared physical custody.

Objectives: An increasing number of children and adolescents divide their time between their separated parents' homes. Although marital conflict is disadvantageous for children's sleep, little is known about how children of separated parents sleep. The objective was to investigate the association between children's custody arrangements and sleep habits and sleep initiation difficulties.

Design: Cross sectional nationally representative samples of adolescents from the WHO study Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) (n = 11,802).

Setting: Sweden in 2013/2014 and 2017/2018.

Participants: Adolescents in grades 5, 7, and 9 from Swedish compulsory comprehensive school.

Measurements: The survey included questions on sleep behaviors including bedtime, wake-up time and frequency of sleep onset problems. The analysis methods used were ordinary least squares and logistic regression.

Results: The results show differences by custody arrangement, but they are not uniform across the dependent variables. Children and adolescents in sole maternal custody were less likely to sleep as much as recommended (P < .001), more likely to have late bedtimes (P < .001), report sleep initiation difficulties (P < .01) and to report social jetlag between school mornings and weekends (P < .05) compared to those in 2-parent families. Shared physical custody was associated with a higher likelihood of late bedtimes (P < .05) and sleep initiation difficulties (P < .05) compared to those in 2-parent families, but not of sleeping less than recommended or reporting social jetlag. Less-than-equal sharing was generally associated with worse sleep than in 2-parent families.

Conclusions: As custody arrangements seem to be associated with sleep, it is important to understand the mechanisms behind the findings. 

The last half a century has witnessed swift changes in patterns of family formation and family dissolution in developed countries, followed by increased attention to these changes and to the causes and consequences of such change. In the wake of these developments, the field of family demography has developed in new directions. In the European context, Sweden and the other Nordic countries have frequently been referred to as forerunners in many aspects of family change, and these countries have gained much attention in family-demographic research. In the current contribution, we give an overview of the current state of Swedish family-demographic affairs.

BACKGROUND Studies on children and divorce in China find a negative association between the number of children and divorce and a protective effect of having a son. Nonetheless, we have little knowledge of how these associations have developed over time. OBJECTIVE This study explored the association of the number and sex composition of children with divorce risks in China over the period 1980-2012. METHODS We conducted an event history analysis of longitudinal data from the China Family Panel Studies. RESULTS Childless couples had an increasingly higher divorce risk than couples with children over our observation period. In the 2000s, the divorce risk of childless couples in both urban and rural areas was approximately five times that of one-child parents. The role of the child's gender differs for urban and rural one-child parents, with no significant effect on the divorce risk of urban parents and different effects over time for rural parents. CONCLUSIONS Our findings show that ending a marriage when having no children has become an increasingly pronounced trend. Furthermore, partially due to the rapid socioeconomic and demographic progress and the rise of girls' empowerment, the child's gender has lost importance for the divorce risk of urban parents. CONTRIBUTION This study enriches our knowledge about the association between children and divorce risks in a rapidly developing society Indirectly, the study also informs us about the evolution of son preference in China. CONTRIBUTION This study enriches our knowledge about the association between children and divorce risks in a rapidly developing society Indirectly, the study also informs us about the evolution of son preference in China.

This study investigated divorce during China's social and economic transformation period from 1970 to 2012. Specifically, the study examined the trend development of divorce and demonstrated how marriage formation type and individual socioeconomic characteristics were associated with the likelihood of divorce across time. Event-history analysis was applied to longitudinal data from the China Family Panel Studies (2010-2012 waves). The results showed a threefold increase in divorce from the pre-1990s to the 1990s. Surprisingly, the trend shifted to a plateau toward the 2000s. When cohabitation was in its rapidly diffusing stage in the 1990s, individuals who cohabited prior to marriage had a substantially higher likelihood of divorce. As cohabitation became increasingly common in the 2000s, its effect on divorce weakened. The role of socioeconomic characteristics in divorce also varied across time. This study enriches the knowledge of family dynamics in contemporary Chinese society.

The lack of couple-level data hinders direct exploration of how inconsistencies in couples’ housework reports structure their relationship quality. We address this limitation by applying Swedish data from the 2009 Young Adult Panel Study (N = 1057 couples) matched with Swedish register data (2009–2014) to extend equity theory by estimating mismatch in couples’ housework reports on relationship satisfaction and stability. We find women who report performing more housework are less likely to be satisfied with their relationships, and are more likely to consider breaking up. These unions are also more likely to dissolve. Using both partners’ housework reports, we document discrediting women’s housework contribution, or reporting she does less than she reports, is associated with lower relationship satisfaction. Women in these partnerships also consider breaking up, and the unions are more likely to dissolve. Our results identify the gendered impact of housework inequality on relationship stability.

Jordens befolkning har de senaste 50 åren ökat med över fyra miljarder människor. Hur har det gått till? Är det för att vi lever längre eller för att vi skaffar fler barn? Är befolkningsökning  positivt eller negativt? Varför domineras vissa befolkningar av barn medan andra åldras snabbt – och vad blir följderna av detta?

För att svara på dessa frågor krävs demografisk kunskap. Med den här boken vill vi ge läsaren ökad kunskap om världens befolkningsutveckling med fokus på Sverige. Vi vill ge förståelse för hur befolkningen påverkar samhällets utformning, men också om hur samhället kan påverka befolkningsutvecklingen.

Boken beskriver befolkningsutvecklingen i ett historiskt perspektiv men har sitt huvudsakliga fokus på nutida samhällen. Kapitlen tar upp demografins mest centrala processer: barnafödande, dödlighet och migration men även befolkningsstruktur samt parbildning och separationer. Boken presenterar även grundläggande demografiska mått och metoder.

Boken vänder sig till studenter inom främst samhällsvetenskap men även andra som är intresserade av att få en introduktion till demografi.