The wellbeing of older adults is closely related to their social relationships. There is a well-documented association of widowhood with social isolation and loneliness, but less is known about the ...consequences of divorce. This paper focuses on the effects of divorce and widowhood on the characteristics of social networks and loneliness in the Czech Republic. Data from the Czech component of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe, 2015, are used. The results show that married older adults have the lowest levels of loneliness and, together with widowed men, the largest network of confidants. However, the size of the network is not associated with loneliness (net of socio-demographic variables). The only characteristic of the close social network that has an influence on loneliness is the presence of a partner in the network. This variable explains part of the advantage of spouses. Divorce is found to have a smaller impact on loneliness than widowhood, but the size of the difference depends on the gender and timing of the event. Widowed men seem to be most vulnerable while persons who divorce at age 50 or later experience the lowest level of loneliness among the unmarried groups. The favourable effect of late divorce can be interpreted in relation to the specific nature of partnership decisions in later life.
Most of the research about immigrants' birth outcomes comes from countries with high numbers of immigrants. This article provides evidence from the Czech Republic, a country with a short immigration ...history and a small immigrant population. Two hypotheses are tested: the immigrant disadvantage hypothesis and the healthy immigrant hypothesis.
Live singleton births in 2013-14 from the national birth register are analysed. The odds of low birth weight (LBW) among the native population and five immigrant groups are compared using logistic regression. Control variables include maternal age, parity, education and marital status, paternal immigrant status, age and education.
All immigrant groups, except for Slovaks, showed smaller odds of LBW than native mothers. Adjusted odds ratios for non-Slovak immigrants range between 0.52 and 0.65. Furthermore, maternal immigrant status interacts with education. There is a wide educational gradient in LBW among Czech and Slovak mothers with low education representing a large disadvantage. Such pattern is not present among other ethnic groups. This makes the outcomes of Czech and Slovak mothers less favourable. Native mothers and immigrants with higher level of education show more similar outcomes. Paternal immigrant status does not have a net effect on LBW when maternal ethnicity is taken into account.
Results provide evidence for the healthy immigrant effect. The favourable outcomes of non-Slovak immigrants seem to result from a combination of two factors, health selection of immigrants and relatively high prevalence of LBW in the native population caused by adverse outcomes of mothers with low education.
Summary
A trend of the shortening duration of pregnancies carried to term has been observed in several countries and represents a growing public health concern. This paper describes the trend in the ...Czech Republic and shows its relation to the changing demographic structure of mothers and the organisation of maternity care. Data from the birth register are used and supplemented with information about the capacity of maternity care (number of beds at maternity clinics, number of obstetricians and midwives). Logistic regression is used to estimate the odds of 37 to 39 vs 40+ completed weeks of gestation. The results show that the average gestational age at term decreased by 2.1 days between 2000 and 2013. The odds of 37 to 39 weeks of gestational duration increased, mainly due to the reduction in the number of beds at maternity clinics (adjusted odds ratio of 1.51). The effects of the number of health care staff members were weaker. The number of midwives positively influenced gestational duration, while the number of obstetricians had a negative effect. Maternal demographic structure cannot explain the trend. A likely explanation is the increased use of planned early term caesarean sections.
Parental breakup has, on average, a net negative effect on children's education. However, it is unclear whether this negative effect changes when parental separation becomes more common. We studied ...the variations in the effect of parental separation on children's chances of obtaining tertiary education across cohorts and countries with varying divorce rates. We applied country and cohort fixed-effect models as well as random-effect models to data from the first wave of the Generations and Gender Survey, complemented by selected macro-level indicators (divorce rate and educational expansion). Country fixed-effect logistic regressions show that the negative effect of experiencing parental separation is stronger in more-recent birth cohorts. Random-intercept linear probability models confirm that the negative effect of parental breakup is significantly stronger when divorce is more common. The results support the low-conflict family dissolution hypothesis, which explains the trend by a rising proportion of low-conflict breakups. A child from a dissolving low- conflict family is likely to be negatively affected by family dissolution, whereas a child from a high-conflict dissolving family experiences relief. As divorce becomes more common and more low-conflict couples separate, more children are negatively affected, and hence, the average effect of breakup is more negative. We show a significant variation in the size of the effect of parental separation on children's education; the effect becomes more negative when family dissolution is more common.
Working with bereaved parents is an immense challenge for professionals in the field of perinatal care and requires a high level of knowledge and skill. This article aims to evaluate the ...effectiveness of the Perinatal Loss Care blended educational programme.
An evaluative assessment was carried out using a scored questionnaire to gather pre- and post-programme data. Participants were medical and healthcare professionals (n=200) who participated in the programme voluntarily (the Medical Professional/Motivated group and the Others group) or were selected by their employer and for whom attendance was mandatory (the Medical Professional/Non/Motivated group).
Participants' perception of their own knowledge and understanding of perinatal bereavement care was significantly higher on completion of the educational programme, proving its effectivity. There was a statistically significant effect on overall score in individual groups of respondents, as well as the whole set (p<0.001), with post-intervention scores higher than pre-intervention scores. No statistically significant differences in overall score were detected before participation in the educational programme in individual groups (p=0.204). Participants from the Medical Professional/Non/Motivated group achieved lower post-intervention scores to a significantly greater extent (p<0.05) and more often perceived the educational programme as being "very difficult" (χ
=20.66, df=6, P<0.01) compared to other groups.
The educational programme was assessed as effective. Care of bereaved parents has its specifics and healthcare professionals should possess a basic knowledge of how to provide sensitive care during this time.
This paper analyses the increase in non-marital childbearing in the Czech Republic during the first two decades following the demise of state socialism. The proportion of mothers who gave birth as ...unmarried increased more than fourfold during this period. The aim is to explain the reasons for this increase and its socioeconomic variation. Three explanations are tested: growing individualisation, increasing economic uncertainty, and adjustment to a policy that provided more support for single mothers. Data, taken from the national birth register, regarding the marital status of mothers are used to estimate multilevel models with contexts defined by combinations of regions and years. The results are most in line with the first explanation: the change in values due to a rise in individualism and personal autonomy. Economic uncertainty is also found to have a moderate effect among women with up to a secondary education, especially the lower (vocational) level. The influence of policy is weak and is limited to mothers with the lowest level of education.
There has been a rapid spread of non-marital childbearing in the Czech Republic during the last two decades. At the same time, the low birth weight rates of children born to married and unmarried ...mothers have converged. The goal is to explain the diminishing gap in low birth weight. Two explanations are assessed: the changing selection of unmarried mothers from disadvantaged sociodemographic groups, and increasing social support for unmarried mothers. Data from birth register are analysed. Marital status (married vs. unmarried) disparities in low birth weight are modelled using logistic regression. Further analyses are then performed with a detailed measurement of partnership status. This detailed variable is partially missing and is thus supplemented with multiple imputation. The main explanation for the narrowing gap between the outcomes of children born to married and unmarried mothers is the increasing social support for unmarried mothers. Unmarried motherhood has become less detrimental to a child's birth weight net of maternal demographic characteristics. The decline in selection from disadvantaged socio-demographic groups has also contributed to the convergence. However, the convergence of birth weight trends towards marital children seems to refer mostly to children of partnered mothers, with children of single mothers lagging behind. 1 1 The positive trends in the health of non-marital children are interpreted as being the result of the increasing institutionalisation of parenthood in non-marital unions. However, this does not apply to unpartnered motherhood, which continues to represent a health disadvantage.
Grandparental care of grandchildren is a highly gendered institution, with women being more likely to participate in it than men. This article studies whether and why care by grandmothers and ...grandfathers is influenced by their family arrangement. Following previous research, the authors focus on the mediating role of grandmothers in the involvement of men in caring for their grandchildren. We use a combination of quantitative and qualitative data about grandparents with small grandchildren (under ten years of age). The quantitative analysis is based on SHARE data and identifies whether the involvement in care depends on gender and the partnership arrangements of grandparents, controlling for a number of other characteristics of families. The analysis reveals a strong positive impact of the presence of a partner on the engagement of men (but not women) in grandparental care. This effect is present among both intact families and families with more complex arrangements. The qualitative analysis of 20 interviews with mothers and 20 interviews with grandmothers provides a deeper understanding of these results. It shows that the involvement of grandparents is shaped by the gender-specific notions of care competence and grandparental roles held by the participants and also by the kin-keeping activities of women. Grandmothers, compared to their male counterparts, are perceived as more capable of satisfying the needs of a small child. They also do more work on maintaining intergenerational family relationships and arranging care. They actively (sometimes in very sophisticated ways) involve their partners in the care of grandchildren.
The authors analyse the relationship between primary religious socialisation and the preservation of religious orthodoxy expressed by attitudes and practices in adulthood. They aim to test the effect ...of socialisation and the effect of religious practices in adulthood on the orthodoxy of people’s beliefs in three countries (Austria, the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic), which are similar in terms of their cultural context, but have different religious environments. The authors see the different religious environment of each of the studied countries as the main explanatory factor. They also try to demonstrate that in an era of pluralism, orthodox religious attitudes (corresponding to offi cial teachings and practices) are more likely to be preserved in environments that are prevailingly secular in character. The authors work with data from the ISSP—Religion 2008 survey, tracking the following variables: primary religious socialisation, religious practice in adulthood, and orthodoxy of faith.
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