COVID-19 Pandemic and Fertility: What to Expect in the Future?

COVID-19 pandemic has impact on many aspects of social life. The paper discusses the potential effect of the pandemic on fertility. It is based on the theoretical analysis of the impact of the past pandemic of modern world (Spanish flu) on the fertility and potential mechanisms which will be at play in the post-COVID-19 pandemic fertility trajectory. The paper also overviews the most recent demographic fertility and family statistics, which show that fertility and marriage rates decreased in Lithuania significantly during the first year of the pandemic. The survey results from 2021 reveal that fertility intentions in the cohort 1985–89 were delayed by approximately 25%. It is concluded that fertility will be mostly affected by the way the state and society will solve the issues related to gender roles in the family, gender equality in labour market, social capital and trust, all of which had been challenged by the pandemic.

New estimations of child marriage: Evidence from 98 low- and middle-income countries

The Sustainable Development Goals include a target on eliminating child marriage, a human rights abuse. Yet, the indicator used in the SDG framework is a summary statistic and does not provide a full picture of the incidence of marriage at different ages. This paper aims to address this limitation by providing an alternative method of measuring child marriage. The paper reviews recent data on nuptiality and captures evidence of changes in the proportion married and in the age at marriage, in 98 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Using data collected from nationally representative Demographic and Health Surveys and Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys, survival analysis is applied to estimate (a) age-specific marriage hazard rates among girls before age 18; and (b) the number of girls that were married before age 18 in 2020. Results show that the vast majority of girls remain unmarried until age 10. Child marriage rates increase gradually until age 14 and accelerate significantly thereafter at ages 15–17. By accounting for both single-year-age-specific child marriage hazard rates and the age structure of the population with a survival analysis approach, lower estimates in countries with a rapid decrease in child marriage and higher estimates in countries with constant or slightly rising child marriage rates relative to the direct approach are obtained.

Marriage rates of the population in Bulgaria: features and trends of change

The paper studies the past and contemporary marriage rates in Bulgaria. The analysis starts with the marriage patterns after the Liberation, when high marriage rates were observed, especially after the war periods. During socialism, the family was perceived as the main functioning cell of society and the marriage rates continued to be relatively high. In the 1990s and the beginning of the new century, a change in the marital behavior was observed – a significant postponement of entry into marriage and motherhood led to a family model that had not been common in the past. The authors also conclude that there are different stages in the marriage patterns in Bulgaria – both historically and spatially. The different factors affecting these processes are also studied and discussed in the paper.

Education Systems for Girls’ Education in the Indo-Pacific Region

Despite substantial progress over the last two decades, girls in many parts of the world experience worse educational outcomes than boys, particularly at the secondary and tertiary levels. The COVID-19 pandemic appears to have exacerbated this learning gap in many regions, making research on the relationship between girls’ education outcomes and education systems increasingly urgent. This rapid review explores the determinants of girls’ education outcomes in a specific group of Indo-Pacific countries. It examines the education system determinants of these outcomes such as government investment, teacher training, water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) infrastructure in schools, school-related gender-based violence, and indirect costs of education, drawing from pre-COVID-19 data. It also investigates societal determinants such as political factors, poverty rates, labour market participation trends, and child marriage rates. By attempting to explain differences in learning outcomes for girls, it also achieves a typology of countries in the region and suggests ideas for further research and FCDO programming.

African American Women’s Marital Attitudes: A Qualitative Study on Never Married Women

Over the past few decades, marriage rates in the United States among African Americans continue to decline, yet African American women continue to express a desire to be married. Using a grounded theory qualitative approach with semi-structured interviews ( N = 23), we explored marital attitudes among never married African American women. Participants identified both negative and positive exposures to marriage during childhood and messaging from family and faith communities as major sources influencing their desire to marry. Other themes, such as respectability and child behavioral benefits emerged that influenced women’s attitudes toward marriage. We present a discussion of the findings, limitations of this study, and next steps in the research.

Relationship between marriage readiness and pregnancy planning among prospective brides

Background: The growing marriage rates need to be followed with marriage readiness and pregnancy planning to become parents. The readiness of marriage includes age readiness, physical, financial, mental, emotional, social, moral, interpersonal, intellectual, and life skills. Unprepared marriage can have an impact on domestic violence and divorce. The readiness of marriage should be balanced with the existence of important pregnancy planning carried out to realize reproductive rights responsibly and the government program movement 1000 The First Day of Life as a golden period of child development, and avoid unplanned pregnancy in 4T conditions. Marriage readiness of prospective bride affects the readiness to maintain health of children in the future.Design and Methods: This research aimed to determine the relationship between marriage readiness and pregnancy planning among prospective brides. A correlative descriptive design with a cross-sectional method is used with a convenience sampling technique in determining the respondents, and obtained a total of 258 respondents.Results: The results showed a meaningful relationship between marital readiness and pregnancy planning (p=0.000, α=0.05).Conclusions: This study recommends education of pregnancy planning and readiness before marriage, both physical and psychological, with interactive media and nurse cooperation with community cadres in socialization on wedding preparation and preconceptions that are not only attended by prospective brides, but also women of childbearing age and adolescence in minimizing misinformation in unmarried women.

Student Loans, College Attendance and Completion, and Family Formation

Student loans are increasingly common among young adults, but implications for family formation patterns and childbearing circumstances have not been fully explored. We analyze the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 Cohort dataset to examine the relationships of student loans and college attendance and completion to family formation patterns, specifically marriage, parenthood, age at marriage, and age and marital status at first birth. Data examined were collected between 1997 and 2015, and we examine respondents ranging in age from 17-35 during those years, allowing for the consideration of effects across the life course. We find women who had children at early ages were more likely to take out loans to attend college, but at older ages loans were associated with lower parenthood rates among women. Women with loans had marginally lower marriage rates at older ages, were significantly younger on average when they did have children, and were significantly less likely to be married at first birth, even after accounting for differences in age at first birth and selection effects. Loans were not associated with differences in these trends among men, but education was related to distinct family formation trajectories for both men and women.

The adult sex ratio of European regions predicts female, but not male, subjective well-being

In recent years, researc in subjective well-being has found several ecological factors that may underpin societal differences in happiness. The adult sex ratio, the number of males relative to females in an environment, influences many behaviours in both humans and non-human animals. However, the possible influence of the sex ratio on subjective well-being has received little attention. I investigated the relationship between the adult sex ratio and subjective well-being in over 29,000 respondents from 133 regions of Europe. I find that women report lower subjective well-being in areas with more female-biased sex ratios, but males’ well-being was unaffected. I did not find that the sex ratio influences the sex specific probability of marriage, or marriage rates overall. I also find that increased population density is associated with lower well-being. Drawing from sociological and evolutionary theories, I suggest that results may be due to females’ decreased bargaining power in the dating market.

Temporary Employment and Family Formation: An Income or Insecurity Effect?

Recent studies show that temporary workers postpone family formation transitions, but it remains unclear whether this effect is due to the lower income or the stronger perceptions of job insecurity that go with a temporary contract. To address this question, we link data from a large-scale survey among Dutch employees to longitudinal population register data on marriage and first births. Logistic regression models estimate the effects of temporary employment on marriage and first birth, and mediation analyses assess to what extent these effects are explained by income and perceptions of job insecurity. Results show that temporarily employed women delay first birth. There is also some evidence that temporarily employed men postpone marriage and first birth. These effects are partly explained by income, which increases marriage and first birth rates among men and women alike. Perceptions of job insecurity generally had little effect on family formation, although higher marriage rates were found among women who experienced affective job insecurity. Overall, this shows that it is their low income rather than their feelings of insecurity about future employment that explains why temporary employees postpone family formation.