Objective: This paper examines variations in how international retirement migrants maintain intergenerational relationships with adult children residing in the country of origin. Background: Despite a greater need for support from family members in the later life course, many retirement migrants move away from their adult children. Prior studies have described retirement migrants’ family ties, but often using non-representative samples and without examining factors that could explain variations. Method: We collected data on a stratified representative random sample of Dutch nationals aged 66-90 who migrated after age fifty to one of 40 different destination countries (N = 2,849). Ordered logistic regression models are performed on three dimensions of retirement migrants’ relationship with adult children. Results: Retirement migrants are emotionally close to their adult children despite little face-to-face contact and not particularly frequent digital contact. Female and married retirement migrants have more contact and closeness with adult children than males and divorced or widowed people. Fewer opportunities for contact, such as a greater geographical distance and a lower socioeconomic status, mainly predict lower contact frequencies but not variation in emotional closeness. Evidence for the need for contact is mixed and the role of cultural norms is limited. Conclusion: The maintenance of family ties over longer distances challenges the view that frequency of contact is a prerequisite for emotional closeness and shows how parents adapt to a new family context.

Objective: This study investigates McLanahan's diverging destinies thesis by examining whether growing up in a one-parent family is associated with individual- and aggregate-level socioeconomic inequalities in adulthood among children from different social backgrounds. Background: One-parent families are consistently viewed as a driver of socioeconomic inequalities among children from different social backgrounds. However, the outcomes of children from different social backgrounds might be differentially affected by growing up in a one-parent family. This effect heterogeneity by social background might lead to the destinies of children from different social backgrounds converging rather than diverging. Method: Drawing on data from the German Family Panel – pairfam (Wave 6, 2013/2014), this study (1) investigated the prevalence of one-parent families by social background, (2) ran ordinary least squares regression models to examine the association between growing up in a one-parent family and children's socioeconomic outcomes in adulthood (ages 29–43), and (3) employed decomposition techniques to estimate the role of one-parent families in explaining aggregate-level socioeconomic inequalities in adulthood among children from different social backgrounds. Results: Results revealed that growing up in a one-parent family is negatively associated with children's socioeconomic outcomes in adulthood on the individual level, independent of social background. On the aggregate level, however, it is not related to socioeconomic inequality in adulthood among children from different social backgrounds. Conclusion: Contrary to the predictions of the diverging destinies thesis, the findings of this study indicate that childhood family structure plays only a subordinate role in explaining aggregate-level socioeconomic inequalities in adulthood.

Objective: First, the study examines if children’s perception of their parent-child relationship is associated with parental separation and second, it investigates if children’s perception of their relationship with parents is associated with their living arrangements post-separation. Background: Previous findings indicate that children living in shared residence generally fare better across several life domains compared to children living in sole parental households. There is, however, limited knowledge of how children perceive their relationships with both their separated parents during childhood. Method: The data includes two cross-sectional waves (2000 and 2010) of the child survey (Child-LNU) that accompanies the Swedish Level-of-Living Survey (LNU). The analytical sample consisted of 2,064 children (10-18 years), and the subsample of separated families comprised 455 children. Results: Children in separated families were less likely to turn to both parents when worried (emotional support) compared to children living with two custodial parents in the same household. Additionally, they were less likely to report that they get along very well with both parents. Children in shared residence arrangements did not differ significantly from children in households with two custodial parents, with the exception of older children (age 14-18), who also reported less often that they get on very well with both parents. In contrast, children in sole parental residence fared worse regarding both emotional support from, and relationship quality with, both parents. Conclusion: Shared residence enables children to maintain a relationship with both parents after separation, regarding both emotional support and relationship quality. This result is on par with the parental relationships of children in households with two custodial parents. Importantly, this study does not claim to provide causal interpretation due to the use of cross-sectional data.

Objective: The article investigates the influence of three aspects of economic deprivation on parental self-efficacy, and whether, or to what extent, these effects are mediated by psychological distress. Background: Scholarship shows that psychological resources such as parental self-efficacy can attenuate the negative repercussions of poverty for families. The article builds on the family stress model that higlights the role of economic deprivation for family functioning by Conger and colleagues. It focuses on the consequences of transitioning into unemployment, objective poverty, and subjective poverty for parental self-efficacy, and the potential mediating effect of psychological distress. Method: Using data from the German Family Panel (pairfam) Waves 4 to 12 (2011–2020), Baron and Kenny mediation analyses are conducted based on fixed effects regressions with standard errors based on clustered bootstrap procedure. Results: The results show that transitioning into subjective poverty significantly decreases parental self-efficacy, and that only a marginal part of this effect is mediated by psychological distress. A transition into objective poverty, by contrast, has no effect on parental self-efficacy. Likewise, unemployment has no direct effect on parental self-efficacy. However, transitioning into short-term unemployment reduces psychological distress and thereby buffers parent’s self-efficacy. This does by contrast not apply for long-term unemployment. Conclusion: The findings demonstrate the importance of differentiating between specific aspects of economic deprivation when investigating its consequences for parental self-efficacy and considering psychological distress as a potential mediator. Moreover, the findings provide longitudinal evidence for the consequences of a transition into economic deprivation for parental self-efficacy and point to the presence of gender effects with regard to unemployment.

Objective: The study addresses the associations between changes in care provision to older parents since the pandemic and worsened depression and anxiety in adult children. It also explores whether pandemic-related control measures and child-parent relationships moderated these associations. Background: Changes in informal care during the pandemic, such as increased or decreased caregiving frequency, may have affected caregivers’ psychological well-being. Limited research exists on how stressors and resources shape the well-being of adult children caregivers. Method: Data from 740 respondents in the first SHARE Corona Survey (SCS) who provided care for their parents during the pandemic were analyzed. Changes in depression and anxiety were assessed using data from SCS and pre-pandemic Wave. Logistic regression analyses were conducted, with added interactions between the moderators - pandemic measures and child-parent relationship characteristics - and changes in care frequency. Results: Increased caregiving frequency during the pandemic was associated with worsened depression. Stricter pandemic measures intensified this effect but also reduced the likelihood of anxiety for those who provided care less often. A higher quality of relationship with the mother in childhood was marginally associated with lower depression among those increasing caregiving but worsened depression for those decreasing it. Conclusion: To address post-pandemic caregiving challenges, efforts should focus on reducing caregiver stress and considering the enduring influence of early child-parent relationships.

Objective: This article investigates class differences in mothers’ daily organization of paid and unpaid work, and how they are associated with domestic outsourcing in the United Kingdom and Western Germany. Background: Operating hours of schools and daycare facilities often conflict with long working hours in high-skilled jobs and nonstandard working hours in low-skilled jobs. However, little is known on whether advantaged mothers rely on domestic outsourcing to resolve such scheduling conflicts, and how disadvantaged mothers reconcile their daily care responsibilities with paid work, depending on the welfare state context. Method: The study uses sequence and cluster analyses on time-use data to identify typical patterns of paid and unpaid work (N=1,947). Regression models predict how these patterns differ by the mothers’ education and household income, and how they are associated with outsourcing housework and childcare. Results: In both contexts, disadvantaged mothers were more likely to have unpaid workdays rather than nonstandard workdays. However, British advantaged mothers were considerably more likely to outsource childcare to pursue standard workdays. By contrast, the pattern of partial workdays in the morning, combined with more unpaid work allocation, prevailed among Western German mothers. Conclusion: In the United Kingdom, more market-oriented as opposed to conservative family policies, stronger labor market deregulation, and more consistent policy incentives for domestic outsourcing seem more effective than in Western Germany in promoting advantaged mothers’ careers. However, this comes at the expense of greater class differences in how mothers organize their time.

Objective: This study analyzes norms in Germany toward mothers’ and fathers’ work hours, with a focus on differences between Eastern and Western Germany. Background: Maternal labor force participation has increased in many Western countries, and norms toward parents’ division of paid work and care have changed over the past decades. Most literature, however, focuses on maternal labor force participation without considering paternal work hours, based on the dichotomy of a traditional male-breadwinner model versus a model with two adults working full time and comprehensive institutionalized childcare, leaving out other potential arrangements. This focus limits the understanding of differences between Eastern and Western Germany. Method: This study investigates normative judgments regarding both mothers’ and fathers’ employment in a factorial survey experiment implemented in the German Family Panel pairfam in 2019/2020 (N=6,285). Results: The analysis reveals that in Western compared to Eastern Germany shorter working hours are indicated for both fathers and mothers, and judgments regarding working hours vary more and are more affected by job-related variables (relative incomes, career prospects, and family-friendliness of employer). Conclusion: These results imply that in Western Germany, normative judgments of both parents’ work hours are mainly based on the individual level, taking the family’s specific situation into account, whereas in Eastern Germany, judgements are more strongly influenced by a general norm that both parents should work (near to) full-time.

Objective: This paper examines to what extent genetic and environmental influences contribute to differences in family leisure activities of girls and boys. Background: While family leisure activities have been described as relevant for child development, it remains unclear what accounts for differences in the leisure behavior of girls and boys. While research emphasized the importance of the environment, e.g., in relation to gender role socialization, other studies pointed to biological and, thus, genetic differences as explanatory factors. Method: The analysis is based on 954 female and 1036 male twins aged 10-12 years who are part of the first wave of the German Twin Family Panel Study. Our analysis examines five family leisure activities using variance decompositions and gene-environment interaction models. Results: Overall, there were only minor differences between girls and boys in the contributions of genes and environments to family leisure activities. Only for singing and making music did influences from the environment common to both twins contribute more strongly to the performance of these activities in the girls than in the boys. Conclusion: There is no evidence that genetic differences lead to differences in family leisure behavior between girls and boys in the activities considered here. Existing differences are more likely to be due to environmental influences.

Objective: This study investigates whether greater identification of mothers and fathers in different-sex couples with the stimulation dimension of intensive parenting promoted both parents' involvement in reading and benefited children's language development between ages 3 and 5 in the UK. In addition, we explore social class variations. Background: Our study tests the frequently assumed relationship of parenting beliefs about stimulation with language development, and contributes to our understanding of parenting practices and their implications for child development. Method: We draw on a large representative sample of young children from the UK Millennium Cohort Study (N = 8,071) and apply path analyses in the framework of structural equation models. Results: For mothers and fathers, stimulation beliefs partially mediated the relation between parental education and reading frequency. Mothers' and fathers' stimulation beliefs had positive effects on children’s language abilities, but their impact was small compared to the direct associations with parental education. Conclusion: While parental education emerges as a key determinant of children's language development, our study reveals the nuanced role of beliefs about stimulation within intensive parenting, prompting further investigation into the multifaceted nature of parental involvement.

Objective: This study assesses whether and how changes in family policies are associated with first and second births in Finland, Germany and the United Kingdom, and whether these associations differ by women’s education. Background: Family policies are expected to impact the direct and indirect costs of childbearing by providing resources that influence the monetary and non-monetary costs of having children. The countries analysed here have undergone substantial changes in family policy throughout the two decades analysed, but each country has changed different aspects of their policies, and they have done so in different policy environments. Method: We analysed women aged 18–44 and their transitions to first and second births using register data from Finland (N = 57,518 / 21,685) and panel data from Germany (G-SOEP, N=37,716 / 16,756) and the UK (BHPS and Understanding Society, N = 13,213 / 9,992) complemented with annual family policy information. The data were analysed using logistic regression models and interactions, and the results are presented as average marginal effects. Results: The results suggest that the association between changes in family policies and transitions to first and second child birth varied by birth parity, women’s education level, and between countries. For example in Finland, increases in paternity leave length were associated with greater propensities to transition to first birth for highly educated women, whereas increases in child allowances had a similar association for lower educated women. In Germany, reductions in maternity leave length were associated with increased transitions to first birth for higher educated women. In the UK, increases in maternity leave length were associated with greater transitions to first births among all women. Conclusion: The results highlight that to the extent that family policies influence fertility, they do so depending on both the country context and often differentially within countries based on women’s education level and birth parity.