{"title":"Did smallpox cause stillbirths? Maternal smallpox infection, vaccination, and stillbirths in Sweden, 1780-1839.","authors":"Eric B Schneider, Sören Edvinsson, Kota Ogasawara","doi":"10.1080/00324728.2023.2174266","DOIUrl":"10.1080/00324728.2023.2174266","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>While there is strong evidence that maternal smallpox infection can cause foetal loss, it is not clear whether smallpox infections were a demographically important cause of stillbirths historically. In this paper, we use parish-level data from the Swedish Tabellverket data set for 1780-1839 to test the effect of smallpox on stillbirths quantitatively, analysing periods before and after the introduction of vaccination in 1802. We find that smallpox infection was not a major cause of stillbirths before 1820, because most women contracted smallpox as children and were therefore not susceptible during pregnancy. We do find a small, statistically significant effect of smallpox on stillbirths from 1820 to 1839, when waning immunity from vaccination put a greater share of pregnant women at risk of contracting smallpox. However, the reduced prevalence of smallpox in this period limited its impact on stillbirths. Thus, smallpox was not an important driver of historical stillbirth trends.</p>","PeriodicalId":44592,"journal":{"name":"Comparative Population Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2024-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73348221","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Alyona Artamonova, Tiia Sorsa, Venla Berg, A. Hägglund, A. Rotkirch
{"title":"Social Resources are Associated With Higher Fertility Intentions in Contemporary Finland","authors":"Alyona Artamonova, Tiia Sorsa, Venla Berg, A. Hägglund, A. Rotkirch","doi":"10.12765/cpos-2024-04","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12765/cpos-2024-04","url":null,"abstract":"Lower childbearing intentions can stem from a lack of social resources. However, not only actual but also perceived social support might signal that parents and parents-to-be will not be alone after having a child. Using register and GGS-Finland data from 2021-22, we investigate how emotional and instrumental support received from parents and other social network members, as well as a person’s subjective feeling that their social network is sufficient (measured as the absence of loneliness), are associated with fertility intentions. Logistic regression models reveal that receiving instrumental support ‒ especially financial support ‒ from parents and other relatives (but not non-kin) is associated with higher childbearing intentions. Not feeling lonely is also associated with higher childbearing intentions, particularly among individuals aged 26-30 years. Gender and partnership status nuance these associations. We conclude that social resources ‒ indicated by both perceived and received support ‒ shape childbearing intentions for those approaching or in prime childbearing age. The lack of perceived social resources among young adults may contribute to relatively low fertility, even in a high-income country with generous family policies such as Finland.","PeriodicalId":44592,"journal":{"name":"Comparative Population Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2024-04-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140718056","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Magdalena M Muszyńska-Spielauer, T. Riffe, M. Spielauer
{"title":"Healthy Lifespan Statistics Derived From Cross-Sectional Prevalence Data Using the Sullivan Method are Informative Summary Measures of Population Health","authors":"Magdalena M Muszyńska-Spielauer, T. Riffe, M. Spielauer","doi":"10.12765/cpos-2024-03","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12765/cpos-2024-03","url":null,"abstract":"Health expectancy (HE), commonly derived from cross-sectional prevalence data using the Sullivan method, serves as the most frequently used summary measure of population health. Like lifespan distribution statistics, which are often discussed alongside life expectancy (LE) in demographic studies, analogous statistics on healthy lifespans can provide valuable information on population health. We examine whether healthy lifespan distribution statistics beyond HE can be estimated based on cross-sectional prevalence data and the life table, the data inputs of the Sullivan method. To do so, we treat the Sullivan method as an extension of the stationary population model to health and distinguish between health conditions with and without recovery from the state of decreased health. Our empirical demonstration is based on the prevalence of chronic diseases in selected European countries in 2017 from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), as well as on life tables from EUROSTAT.\u0000We find that the Sullivan method, when considered as an extension of the stationary population model to health, allows for the estimation of a healthy survival distribution and its statistics, beyond HE, for health characteristics with no recovery from the state of decreased health. We show that for such health conditions, the method requires that the number of persons in full health in a stationary population does not increase with age. We argue that for such health dimensions, HE conditional on being in good health at the life table radix age is of relevance for health policy interventions.\u0000In our empirical application, we show that the conditional and unconditional measures of HE can give substantially different pictures of population health. Furthermore, we show that across European countries, in contrast to the negative relationship between LE and lifespan inequality, higher HE is associated with greater inequality in healthy years lived when conditional on being healthy at age 50.\u0000Overall, the Sullivan method, when considered as an extension of the stationary population model, proves to be a valuable tool for deriving summary statistics of population health beyond HE, which are highly relevant to public policy.\u0000* This article belongs to a special issue on “Levels and Trends of Health Expectancy: Understanding its Measurement and Estimation Sensitivity”.","PeriodicalId":44592,"journal":{"name":"Comparative Population Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2024-03-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140224139","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A Quarter Century of Change in Family and Gender-Role Attitudes in Hungary","authors":"Z. Spéder","doi":"10.12765/cpos-2023-29","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12765/cpos-2023-29","url":null,"abstract":"Our study examines how attitudes towards family and gender roles have changed since the ultimate collapse of communism in Hungary. With respect to evaluating the effects of the regime change, it is important to note that Hungary is unique in having pre-transition measures on attitudes from the International Social Survey Program. In analyzing the nature of value shifts, an arithmetic method that decomposes the changes into population turnover and individual (period) components is used. According to the results, period effects fluctuated over the quarter of century, while the population turnover effects point continuously and clearly towards liberalization of family and gender-role attitudes. Since the period effects were usually stronger, they shaped the fluctuating nature of overall change. Namely, there is a clear trend towards re-traditionalization immediately following the regime change and liberalization thereafter, although there are also signs of continued support for traditional values. The series of repeated modules of the ISSP allowed us to examine a key premise of the Second Demographic Transition (SDT) theory in the case of Hungary. We concluded that the detected direction of the attitude change does not support the examined premise of the SDT. \u0000* This article belongs to a special issue on “Demographic Developments in Eastern and Western Europe Before and After the Transformation of Socialist Countries”.","PeriodicalId":44592,"journal":{"name":"Comparative Population Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-12-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138954652","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Lara Bister, J. Spijker, Fanny Janssen, Tobias Vogt
{"title":"Scarred for Life? Early-Life Experience of the Post-Reunification Economic Crisis in East Germany and Physical and Mental Health Outcomes in Early Adulthood","authors":"Lara Bister, J. Spijker, Fanny Janssen, Tobias Vogt","doi":"10.12765/cpos-2023-28","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12765/cpos-2023-28","url":null,"abstract":"Existing research suggests adverse short-term health effects of economic crises during early life, yet, the long-term health effects for children and adolescents exposed to economic crises are still understudied. We investigated the early-adult health implications of experiencing the post-reunification economic crisis in East Germany in the early 1990s during infancy, childhood and adolescence. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) and its linkage with German pension records (SOEP-RV), we applied entropy balancing and conditional quantile regression to assess the relationship between the experience of the economic crisis during early life (ages 0-17) and physical and mental health effects (SF-12 summary scores) in N = 2,337 young adults (aged 17-30) from East and West Germany. Our results indicate mainly no significant physical health effects, yet, significant adverse mental health effects for respondents exposed to the economic crisis in East Germany, especially in young women of average and better mental health. Parental unemployment was an additional risk factor for young women’s mental health. Thus, we suggest women who experienced economic crises during early life are at increased risk of adverse mental health effects already early in their adulthood. Support for families in times of economic crisis and early prevention for infants, children and adolescents exposed to economic adversities is warranted.","PeriodicalId":44592,"journal":{"name":"Comparative Population Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-12-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139003446","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Impact of Terrorism on Fertility: Evidence From Women of Childbearing Age in Pakistan","authors":"Umer Javeid, Stephen Pratt, Han Li, Guochang Zhao","doi":"10.12765/cpos-2023-27","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12765/cpos-2023-27","url":null,"abstract":"Direct and indirect exposure to terrorist attacks can have a significant impact on major life decisions, including the choice of whether to have a child. This study aims to investigate how terrorist attacks affect fertility. By pooling data from three years of cross-sectional surveys conducted between 2010 and 2015 by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, our findings reveal a positive correlation between terrorist attacks and fertility among women of childbearing age in Pakistan. Specifically, the probability of giving birth two years following a terrorist attack in one’s home district, all else equal, is 64 percent, compared to the probability of a woman not giving birth two years following a terrorist attack, which is 36 percent. Furthermore, our analysis demonstrates that persistent terrorist attacks, that is, domestic and non-suicide incidents, result in higher probabilities of giving birth during a particular year. Conversely, less common and more prominent terrorist attacks – transnational and suicide incidents – result in lower probabilities of giving birth during a particular year. Additionally, we find that women from above-average-income households, those with higher education levels, older mothers, and those residing in rural areas are more likely to adjust their fertility upwards in response to terrorist attacks.","PeriodicalId":44592,"journal":{"name":"Comparative Population Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-11-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139229927","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Excess Mortality During the COVID-19 Pandemic in South Korea","authors":"Bongoh Kye","doi":"10.12765/cpos-2023-26","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12765/cpos-2023-26","url":null,"abstract":"This study examines excess mortality in South Korea during the COVID-19 pandemic. I analyze age-specific mortality rates and present an international comparison. First, Korean excess mortality remained low until the end of 2021 but significantly increased in early 2022. Second, this excess mortality was concentrated among older people. For example, cumulative excess mortality among the population aged 85+ years until the 30th week of 2022 was approximately 1-2 percent, that is, an additional 1-2 percent of this age group died compared with what we would have expected in the absence of COVID-19. Third, the international comparison demonstrates that excess mortality in South Korea was relatively low. The country experienced one of the lowest excess mortality rates among countries under study until the end of 2021, but excess mortality rapidly increased in early 2022. However, it returned to being comparatively low by mid-2022. This comparison shows cross-national variation in excess mortality, which may be associated with policy responses and public health infrastructure. Finally, I discuss implications and opportunities for future research.","PeriodicalId":44592,"journal":{"name":"Comparative Population Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135541214","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Family Research and Demographic Analysis – New Insights from the German Family Demography Panel Study (FReDA)","authors":"Martin Bujard, Karsten Hank, Reinhard Pollak","doi":"10.12765/cpos-2023-25","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12765/cpos-2023-25","url":null,"abstract":"This is the Editorial on the Special Issue \"Family Research and Demographic Analysis – New Insights from the German Family Demography Panel Study (FReDA)\".","PeriodicalId":44592,"journal":{"name":"Comparative Population Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134906698","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Frans Willekens, Katrin Schiefer, Nikola Sander, C. Katharina Spieß
{"title":"The Past, Present and Future of CPoS","authors":"Frans Willekens, Katrin Schiefer, Nikola Sander, C. Katharina Spieß","doi":"10.12765/cpos-2023-24","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12765/cpos-2023-24","url":null,"abstract":"In this editorial note, we reflect on the trajectory of Comparative Population Studies (CPoS) over the last decades, highlight major milestones along the road, and sketch our hopes and ideas for its future development. In 1975, the predecessor journal of CPoS named ZfB was established as the scientific journal of the newly founded German Federal Institute for Population Research (BiB). As the Institute grew its international collaborations and the journal transitioned from German to English language, ZfB became CPoS. Today, we are pleased that the journal has grown in statue and attracts high-quality submissions from scholars around the globe. Looking ahead, we envision CPoS as a unique open-access journal in the field of population studies where innovation, scientific rigor and attention to quality work hand-in-hand to advance population studies and respond to societal challenges.","PeriodicalId":44592,"journal":{"name":"Comparative Population Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135169128","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Emigration From Post-Communist Central Europe After 1989 Interpreted Within the Aspirations/Capabilities Framework","authors":"Agnieszka Fihel, Paweł Kaczmarczyk","doi":"10.12765/cpos-2023-23","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12765/cpos-2023-23","url":null,"abstract":"In the period of post-communist transition, Central Europe witnessed complex and multifaceted mobility processes; permanent outmigration, of an ethnic or labour-related nature, coexisted with temporary, seasonal, or cross-border movements and an increasing influx of foreigners. To study these complex processes, we have chosen to apply a holistic and comprehensive approach, rather than limit conceptual considerations to one theory of migration determinants. We focus on eleven post-communist countries that joined the European Union (EU-11) and on the period extending from around 1989, covering the EU’s eastward enlargement, to the present. The aim of this study is twofold: first, we propose a general conceptual framework, based on the aspirations/capabilities approach, to present the main determinants of emigration from this part of the European continent. Second, in relation to each determinant, we formulate research questions postulated by selected theories of international migration and present the evidence, based on existing empirical studies, that addresses these questions. The paper contributes to the literature by providing a broad interpretation of post-transition mobility and pointing to commonly overlooked explanatory factors. We highlight the importance of economic factors that have enhanced and directed the outward migration from the EU-11 to selected EU member states and selected economic sectors; in particular, as regards capabilities, these factors include the lifting of labour market restrictions, high demand in the secondary sector of labour markets, and the roles of migration networks and the migration industry. Emphasis is also placed on aspirational factors, such as labour market failures and the substantial aspirational gap resulting from improvements in high educational attainment in the countries of origin. The aspirations/capabilities approach serves well as a general framework of migration determinants, but its explanatory power is enhanced by reference to other, more specific theories of migration. We show that a combination of the complementary approaches provides a more refined and in-depth picture of migration from the region.
 * This article belongs to a special issue on “Demographic Developments in Eastern and Western Europe Before and After the Transformation of Socialist Countries”.","PeriodicalId":44592,"journal":{"name":"Comparative Population Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135412739","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}