Working Papers del DiSIA
Health in early adulthood and fertility: a study based on the 1958 British cohort
Eleonora Trappolini, Giammarco Alderotti, Alyce Raybould
Although the relationship between health and fertility in low-income settings has been well explored by demographers, it is surprisingly lacking from equivalent studies in high-income contexts. In this study, we use data from the 1958 National Child Development Study to understand how self-rated health and BMI reported at age 23 relate to achievement of fertility goals by age 46. We found that worse self-reported health and being outside of the healthy weight BMI category at 23 was strongly associated with having fewer children and underachieving fertility goals set at age 23 by 46. These results remained when controlling for socioeconomic controls like education and union history. Our findings suggest that health in early adulthood is an important determinant, whether direct or indirect, for individuals’ family life course trajectories. This paper strongly endorses the inclusion of health as an explanatory variable for all studies of fertility in high-income contexts.
Working Papers del Dipartimento
Kinlessness at older ages: Prevalence and heterogeneity in 27 countries
Marta Pittavino, Bruno Arpino, Elena Pirani
Availability of kin has profound effects on the lives of people, especially in later life when social networks tend to be composed prevalently of family members, and care needs increase. Using data from the last wave (wave 8; 2019-2020) of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), we estimate the prevalence of kinlessness (i.e., absence of close kin) among older adults aged 65 and more in 27 countries. We consider different definitions of kinlessness, from a less restrictive (i.e., based only on the absence of both partner and children) to a more restrictive one (based also on the absence of grandchildren, parents and siblings). Results show a large variation of kinlessness across countries. The proportion of adults aged 65 and above who lack both a partner and children range between 2-3.5% in Czech Republic, Romania, Israel, and Bulgaria, and more than 8% in Switzerland, Spain, Belgium and Malta. The percentage of older people lacking all considered kin ranges from 0.1 to 4.1%. In addition, in some countries there is a substantial heterogeneity in kinlessness by age and sex. Differences by education are, instead, rare. Understanding the prevalence of older individuals without close kin is critical for policymakers and healthcare providers to design appropriate support systems for this particularly vulnerable group of older people and their possibly unmet care needs.
Working Papers del Dipartimento
Lotto e giochi di sorte, vecchi e nuovi.
Marco Marchi
Games of chance are those whose outcome, unlike games of stille, depends on some element of randomization; they have characterized every era and nation, also often constituting one of the most notable sources of state financing. In Italy the administration in charge of this is the AAMS State Monopolies. We will review the existing games of chance in our country and propose new ones in connection with the Lotto draws. For each of them, the probability of winning and the I.E. index will be reported (in relation to what was paid in the event of success), thus allowing a comparison between the various gaming alternatives.
Working Papers del Dipartimento
No socio-economic differences in ART treatment success: Evidence from Careggi Hospital, Italy
Marco Cozzani, Maria Elisabetta Coccia, Emilia Giusti, Sara Landini, Francesca Piazzini, Valentina Tocchioni, Daniele Vignoli
Objective. Several studies have shown stark socio-economic disparities in births born via assisted reproduction technology (ART), but only a few have investigated underlying causes. We study the likelihood of ART treatment success as a possible explanation.
Design. Observational study of center-based data. We consider women undergoing ART treatment at the ART-center in Careggi Hospital, Tuscany.
Outcome Measures. Probability of a conception following an ART treatment; probability of abortion after conception; and probability of a live birth after an ART treatment.
Results. The findings indicate no socio-economic disparity between patients with a high and low socio-economic status in the probability of achieving a successful ART treatment in terms of the probability of conception (β=0.02; 95% CI, -0.02, 0.06; P=0.362), abortion (β=-0.02; 95% CI, -0.08, 0.04; P=0.542) and live birth (β=0.02; 95% CI, -0.02, 0.06; P=0.291). The results also hold when focusing on patients at first treatment, only among natives, and by age groups.
Conclusions. Our findings suggest that within a public clinic providing subsidized access to treatments, socio-economic differences in the proportion of ART births may not stem from disparities in treatment success rates. Rather, other determinants relating to access to ART treatment such as geographical barriers, cultural preferences or knowledge about treatment success may play a larger role.
Working Papers del Dipartimento
Ultimo aggiornamento 9 aprile 2024.