How voluntary is the active ageing life? A life-course study on the determinants of extending careers

TitleHow voluntary is the active ageing life? A life-course study on the determinants of extending careers
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2016
AuthorsMadero Cabib, I, Kaeser, L
JournalEuropean Journal of Ageing
Volume13
Issue1
Pagination25-37
Keywordsactive ageing policies, late retirement, life-course determinants, voluntariness of retirement
Abstract

In Switzerland, as in many other European states, there is an increasing emphasis in public policy on promoting later retirement from the labour market. But this accelerating drive in Swiss policy-making to extend occupational activity does not mean that every worker is currently likely to retire late, nor does it imply that all those who do retire late do so voluntarily. This article uses a life-course approach, first to study the determinants of late retirement, and secondly to analyse whether the decision to postpone retirement is made voluntarily or involuntarily. Both objectives are addressed on the basis of data from the Swiss survey Vivre/Leben/Vivere. The results of logistic regression modelling indicate that, whereas self-employed and more highly educated individuals are more likely to retire late, people with access to private pension funds and workers who have benefited from periods of economic growth have a lower tendency to retire late. Regarding voluntariness, those who are more likely to opt for voluntary late retirement tend to be Swiss citizens, more highly educated, and also benefited from periods of economic expansion, while the self-employed, men and widowed individuals leaving the labour market late tend to do so involuntarily. In conclusion, the article discusses the absence of a social inequality debate in the design of active ageing policies.

DOI10.1007/s10433-015-0355-y
Refereed DesignationRefereed

Self-reported health among lone mothers: Do employment and education matter?

TitleSelf-reported health among lone mothers: Do employment and education matter?
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2015
AuthorsStruffolino, E, Bernardi, L, Voorpostel, M
JournalLIVES Working Papers
Volume2015
Issue44
Pagination1-28
PublisherNCCR LIVES
ISSN2296-1658
Keywordseducation, employment, family structure, health, life course, lone mothers, multiple disadvantages
Abstract

Lone motherhood is often associated to factors that increase women’s risk of developing poor health, such as being unemployed or poor. Employment fosters better physical health by attenuating economic hardship and improving overall well-being. However, employment can also represent an additional stress factor for lone mothers who face the dual role of main caregiver and main earner. Taking a life course perspective, we investigate how employment associate to self-assessed health of lone mothers in comparison to mothers living with a partner. In Switzerland, weak welfare provisions for families, expensive public childcare, and marriage- based taxation translate into a high incompatibility between work and family, in turn resulting in high shares of maternal part-time work. In this context, being a lone mother might be associated with worse health. Our analyses of the Swiss Household Panel (waves 1999-2011) compared lone mothers and mothers living with a partner, suggesting that lone mothers who are out of the labor market, especially those holding an upper-secondary degree, have a higher probability of poor health. We found that lone mothers working full-time were in better health than those working part-time but that the opposite applied to mothers living in couples. We argue that the negative association between health and paid work for lone mothers is the result of intersections between employment, education, and lone parenthood in a context of poor welfare support.

DOI10.12682/lives.2296-1658.2015.44

Inequality in social capital and labour market re-entry among unemployed people in Switzerland

TitleInequality in social capital and labour market re-entry among unemployed people in Switzerland
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2015
AuthorsBonoli, G, Turtschi, N
JournalResearch in Social Stratification and Mobility
Volume42
Pagination97-95
Keywordsinequality, social capital, social newtorks, unemployment
Abstract

Research on social capital inequality has tended to emphasise the fact that the distribution of social capital follows that of other resources, with the result that it tends to amplify social inequalities. More elaborated theoretical accounts and some empirical studies suggest, however, that under some circumstances, social capital can actually compensate for disadvantage in social position. In this paper we test these competing hypotheses on a population of newly unemployed people in the Swiss canton of Vaud (N = 3521). It appears that in most cases the distribution of social capital reflects that of other dimensions of stratification that are associated with labour market disadvantage, such as education, immigrant status, gender, and occupational status. On one important component of social capital, the number of work-related contacts, some immigrant groups score better than Swiss nationals. While this is an important predictor of early exit from unemployment, it fails to translate into an improvement of labour market prospects for the relevant immigrant groups, most likely because its effect is counteracted by more powerful forces such as inequality in skills and discrimination.

DOI10.1016/j.rssm.2015.09.004
Refereed DesignationRefereed

Pauvreté et trajectoires dans le canton de Vaud. Premiers résultats du suréchantillonnage du Panel suisse de ménages

TitlePauvreté et trajectoires dans le canton de Vaud. Premiers résultats du suréchantillonnage du Panel suisse de ménages
Publication TypeReport
Year of Publication2015
AuthorsBühlmann, F, Luisier, V, Kühr, J
Pagination82
Date Published07/2015
PublisherNCCR LIVES
Place PublishedLausanne
Keywordsdéprivation, pauvreté, trajectoires, Vaud
Citation Key1635

Is there a way back? A state-of-the-art review of the literature on retirement return migration

TitleIs there a way back? A state-of-the-art review of the literature on retirement return migration
Publication TypeBook Chapter
Year of Publication2016
AuthorsCiobanu, RO, Ramos, AC
EditorKarl, U, Torres, S
Book TitleAgeing in contexts of migration
Series TitleRoutledge Advances in Sociology
Chapter7
Pagination96-107
PublisherRoutledge
Place PublishedLondon/NewYork
ISBN Number978-0415738064

Normative climates of parenthood across Europe: Judging voluntary childlessness and working parents

TitleNormative climates of parenthood across Europe: Judging voluntary childlessness and working parents
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2016
AuthorsEicher, V, Settersten, R, Penic, S, Glaeser, S, Martenot, A, Spini, D
JournalEuropean Sociological Review
Volume32
Issue1
Pagination135-150
Abstract

Past research on gender role attitudes has often focused on individual- rather than country-level explanations. Drawing on European Social Survey data from 21 countries, we examine the effect of societal normative climates (i.e., shared perceptions of others’ attitudes) on personal attitudes towards two non-traditional gender roles: Voluntary childlessness and working full-time while children are young. To detect potential gender differences, we analyse disapproval of men and women separately. Findings reveal that there are strong differences in normative climates across countries, and that people generally perceive more disapproval of women than of men for both behaviours. Most importantly, in countries where a higher share of respondents perceives disapproval of these behaviours, respondents themselves disapprove more strongly—even if they do not believe that others disapprove, and even after controlling for other relevant individual- and country-level characteristics. What is more, the independent effect of normative climate explains most of the differences between countries. This robust finding demonstrates the power of country-level normative climates in explaining individuals’ attitudes and between-country differences in attitudes toward gender roles.

DOI10.1093/esr/jcv083
Refereed DesignationRefereed

Bereavement and complicated grief across the life span

TitleBereavement and complicated grief across the life span
Publication TypeBook Chapter
Year of Publication2015
AuthorsZnoj, H
EditorWright, JD
Book TitleInternational encyclopedia of the social & behavioral sciences
Edition2
Pagination537-541
PublisherElsevier
Place PublishedAmsterdam, The Netherlands
Keywordsanxiety, bereavement, CGD, cognitive restructuring, complicated grief, CR, depression, diagnosis, diagnostic criteria, emotion regulation, grief, HPA-axis, life event, life span, post-traumatic stress disorder, prolonged grief disorder, psychological intervention, psychotherapy, PTSD
Abstract

Loss can be seen as a normative life event; nevertheless for most individuals, the experience of the loss of a loved one is extremely stressful. The grief reaction is universal but shaped by cultural norms and individual expectations; grief may also become a serious health problem. The aim of this article is to review the consequences of grief as well as explanations and treatment of complicated grief disorder. Five areas are identified to be of importance to clinicians and researchers: (1) grief reactions, (2) models of grief, (3) bereavement across the life span, (4) diagnostic criteria, and (5) treatment for complicated grief.

DOI10.1016/B978-0-08-097086-8.21012-X

Differential associations of personal and general just-world beliefs with the Five-Factor and the HEXACO models of personality

TitleDifferential associations of personal and general just-world beliefs with the Five-Factor and the HEXACO models of personality
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2015
AuthorsBollmann, G, Krings, F, Maggiori, C, Rossier, J
JournalPersonality and Individual Differences
Volume87
Pagination312-319
Date Publisheddec
Keywordsfive-factor model, HEXACO model, just-world beliefs, personality models
Abstract

Recent literature evidences differential associations of personal and general just-world beliefs with constructs in the interpersonal domain. In line with this research, we examine the respective relationships of each just-world belief with the Five-Factor and the HEXACO models of personality in one representative sample of the working population of Switzerland and one sample of the general US population, respectively. One suppressor effect was observed in both samples: Neuroticism and emotionality was positively associated with general just-world belief, but only after controlling for personal just-world belief. In addition, agreeableness was positively and honesty-humility negatively associated with general just-world belief but unrelated to personal just-world belief. Conscientiousness was consistently unrelated to any of the just-world belief and extraversion and openness to experience revealed unstable coefficients across studies. We discuss these points in light of just-world theory and their implications for future research taking both dimensions into account.

DOI10.1016/j.paid.2015.08.020
Refereed DesignationRefereed

Immigration, housing discrimination and employment

TitleImmigration, housing discrimination and employment
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2015
AuthorsBoeri, T, De Philippis, M, Patacchini, E, Pellizzari, M
JournalThe Economic Journal
Volume125
Issue586
PaginationF82-F114
Abstract

We use a new data set on Italy and a novel identification strategy to analyse the relationship betweenmigrants’ employment status and the percentage of non-Italians living nearby. Our data containinformation at the very local level and are representative of both legal and illegal migrants.Identification exploits the physical characteristics of local buildings as a source of exogenousvariation in the incidence of migrants. We find that migrants residing in more immigrant-dense areasare less likely to be employed. This penalty is higher if the migrants leaving nearby are illegal and it isnot mitigated if they are from own ethnic group or more proficient in Italian.

DOI10.1111/ecoj.12232
Refereed DesignationRefereed