Cigarette Smoking and All-Cause and Cause-Specific Adult Mortality in the United States
This study illuminates the association between cigarette smoking and adult mortality in the contemporary United States. Recent studies have estimated smoking-attributable mortality using indirect approaches or with sample data that are not nationally representative and that lack key confounders. We use the 1990 –2011 National Health Interview Survey Linked Mortality Files to estimate relative risks of all-cause and cause-specific mortality for current and former smokers compared with never smokers. We examine causes of death established as attributable to smoking as well as additional causes that appear to be linked to s...
Source: Demography - September 19, 2018 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research
Intensive Parenting: Fertility and Breastfeeding Duration in the United States
AbstractUsing 30 years of longitudinal data from a nationally representative cohort of women, we study the association between breastfeeding duration and completed fertility, fertility expectations, and birth spacing. We find that women who breastfeed their first child for five months or longer are a distinct group. They have more children overall and higher odds of having three or more children rather than two, compared with women who breastfeed for shorter durations or not at all. Expected fertility is associated with initiating breastfeeding but not with how long mothers breastfeed. Thus, women who breastfeed longer do ...
Source: Demography - September 19, 2018 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research
Gender-Based Occupational Segregation and Sex Differences in Sensory, Motor, and Spatial Aptitudes
AbstractResearch on sex differences in humans documents gender differences in sensory, motor, and spatial aptitudes. These aptitudes, as captured by Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT) codes, predict the occupational choices of men and women in the directions indicated by this research. We simulate that eliminating selection on these skills reduces the Duncan index of gender-based occupational segregation by 20 % to 23 % in 1970 and 2012, respectively. Eliminating selection on DOT variables capturing other accounts of this segregation has a smaller impact. (Source: Demography)
Source: Demography - September 14, 2018 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research
Destroyed by Slavery? Slavery and African American Family Formation Following Emancipation
This study introduces a new sample that links people and families across 1860, 1880, and 1900 census data to explore the intergenerational impact of slavery on black families in the United States.Slaveholding—the number of slaves owned by a single farmer or planter—is used as a proxy for experiences during slavery. Slave family structures varied systematically with slaveholding sizes. Enslaved children on smaller holdings were more likely to be members of single-parent or divided families. On larger holdings, however, children tended to reside in nuclear families. In 1880, a child whose mother had been on a farm with f...
Source: Demography - September 14, 2018 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research
Gender-Based Occupational Segregation and Sex Differences in Sensory, Motor, and Spatial Aptitudes
AbstractResearch on sex differences in humans documents gender differences in sensory, motor, and spatial aptitudes. These aptitudes, as captured by Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT) codes, predict the occupational choices of men and women in the directions indicated by this research. We simulate that eliminating selection on these skills reduces the Duncan index of gender-based occupational segregation by 20 % to 23 % in 1970 and 2012, respectively. Eliminating selection on DOT variables capturing other accounts of this segregation has a smaller impact. (Source: Demography)
Source: Demography - September 14, 2018 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research
Destroyed by Slavery? Slavery and African American Family Formation Following Emancipation
This study introduces a new sample that links people and families across 1860, 1880, and 1900 census data to explore the intergenerational impact of slavery on black families in the United States.Slaveholding—the number of slaves owned by a single farmer or planter—is used as a proxy for experiences during slavery. Slave family structures varied systematically with slaveholding sizes. Enslaved children on smaller holdings were more likely to be members of single-parent or divided families. On larger holdings, however, children tended to reside in nuclear families. In 1880, a child whose mother had been on a farm with f...
Source: Demography - September 14, 2018 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research
Living on the Edge: Neighborhood Boundaries and the Spatial Dynamics of Violent Crime
This article presents evidence linking racial neighborhood boundaries to increased violent crime. The findings illustrate the importance of neighborhood boundaries for our understanding of spatial dimensions of populatio n dynamics above and beyond the characteristics of neighborhoods. (Source: Demography)
Source: Demography - September 12, 2018 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research
Parental Investments in College and Later Cash Transfers
AbstractParents often provide generous financial transfers to their adult children, perhaps assisting with college expenses, recognizing major life course events, or cushioning against negative financial shocks. Because resources are limited, a transfer made to one child likely affects transfers made to others in the family. Despite such possibilities, data limitations have led previous authors to focus almost exclusively on a single type of transfer made at a single point in time. Using data from the Health and Retirement Study, we examine the relationships among parental transfers for college and later cash transfers to ...
Source: Demography - September 6, 2018 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research
Gender and the Politics of Death: Female Representation, Political and Developmental Context, and Population Health in a Cross-National Panel
AbstractThere is considerable speculation that female political empowerment could improve population health. Yet, evidence to date is limited, and explanations for why political empowerment would matter and the conditions under which this might be enhanced or muted are not well understood. In this article, we draw on theoretical work on the politics of representation to frame an investigation of whether increases in the percentage of females in a country ’s parliament influence mortality rates. We further examine whether the relationship is conditioned by extent of democracy and economic and social development. Through m...
Source: Demography - August 20, 2018 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research
Prenatal Exposure to an Acute Stressor and Children ’s Cognitive Outcomes
AbstractExposure to environmental stressors is highly prevalent and unequally distributed along socioeconomic lines and may have enduring negative consequences, even when experienced before birth. Yet, estimating the consequences of prenatal stress on children ’s outcomes is complicated by the issue of confounding (i.e., unobserved factors correlated with stress exposure and with children’s outcomes). I combine a natural experiment—a strong earthquake in Chile—with a panel survey to capture the effect of prenatal exposure on acute stress and child ren’s cognitive ability. I find that stress exposure in early preg...
Source: Demography - August 13, 2018 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research
