British Household Panel Survey Research Articles

Do more egalitarian men experience less union dissolution? A couple‐level analysis

AbstractObjectiveWe consider whether heterosexual unions in which male partners are more gender egalitarian experience less union dissolution.BackgroundGender revolution theory argues that as men become more egalitarian in their attitudes and behaviors, female partners experience reduced work–family conflict, and couples enjoy more stable partnerships. In contrast, the “flip side” perspective argues that consequences of men's increased egalitarian behavior for their own experience of role incompatibility may counterbalance effects on union stability.MethodAnalyzing a sample of roughly 46,600 women‐years from the British Household Panel Survey and Understanding Society (1993–2019), we estimate random‐intercept and fixed‐effects models of union dissolution. Explanatory variables include, for each partner, measures of egalitarianism in gender role attitudes and weekly housework hours.ResultsOdds of union dissolution are not associated with men's absolute level of egalitarian attitudes, but they are higher when men's attitudes are less egalitarian than their partner's. Neither the absolute number of men's housework hours, nor their share of total housework, is associated with the odds of dissolution.ConclusionsOur findings are not generally supportive of gender revolution theory. Counterbalancing effects may provide an explanation for the findings, as per the flip side approach.ImplicationsTaking a couple‐level perspective advances understanding of the associations between gender egalitarianism and union dissolution.

Returns to work following retirement in Germany, Russia, and the United Kingdom

Abstract Most unretirement research has focused on single countries, indicating that socio-economic advantage and financial need predict unretirement in particular settings. Remarkably, little is known about whether the frequency and predictors of unretirement—returning to paid work after ceasing work at retirement—vary in relation to the country setting. We followed recent retirees over time in Germany, Russia, and the United Kingdom to compare unretirement rates and predictors, and whether financial need predicted unretirement in a middle-income setting rather than in a high-income setting. We harmonized data ex post from four prospective surveys: German Socio-Economic Panel Study (1991–2016), Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (1994–2016), and for the United Kingdom, British Household Panel Survey (1991–2008), and Understanding Society (2010–2015). Unretirement was examined using Cox regression in relation to gender, age, education, health, household income, and financial difficulties. After 20 years of follow-up, the cumulative hazard of unretirement attained 0.20 in German, 0.24 in British, and 0.40 in Russian participants. Unretirement rates were generally higher for retirees who were younger, in better health and had higher household income. Worries about finances did not predict unretirement in Russia; such concerns predicted higher unretirement rates only in fully adjusted models in Germany and the United Kingdom. Since retirees in financial need may have difficulties finding suitable jobs, unretirement is a process with the potential to deepen financial inequality in later life. Variations in unretirement rates and predictors across countries demonstrate the importance of extending unretirement research to incorporate a cross-national comparative perspective.

Parallel processing modeling in longitudinal designs: An example predicting trajectories of distress and life satisfaction.

Parallel process modeling (PPM) can be used to analyze co-occurring relationships between health and psychological variables over time. A demonstration is provided using data obtained from the British Household Panel Survey (years 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008), examining predictors of ongoing changes in their distress and life satisfaction of a subsample from the survey. In the 2005 survey, data were available from 7,970 participants based on the following demographic variables: gender, age, ever registered as disabled, and ever experienced any strokes (before or at 2005). Time-varying variables included distress and life satisfaction collected yearly from 2005 to 2008. Time-invariant variables included age (65 or older), gender, disability condition, and stroke survivor status. Steps of fitting the PPM are presented. Four distinct distress trajectory groups-chronic, recovery, delayed, and resilient-were identified from the PPM estimates. Resilient and recovery groups showed a positive trend in life satisfaction. The delayed distress and chronic groups had a slight decrease in satisfaction. The time-invariant covariates only significantly predicted baseline levels of distress and satisfaction (i.e., their intercepts). PPM is a relatively simple and powerful tool for simultaneously studying relations between multiple processes. A step-by-step approach on decomposing the significant predictive relation from the change of distress to the change of satisfaction is presented. Properly decomposing any significant growth factor regressed on another growth factor is necessary to fully comprehend the intricate relationships within the results. Practical implications and additional methodological information about fitting PPM are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

The impact of formal care provision on informal care receipt for people over 75 in England.

In this study, we examine the relationship between formal care provision and informal care receipt from within the household for people over 75 years old using data from the British Household Panel Survey between 1991 and 2009. To address potential concerns about endogeneity of formal care we use a 'spatial lag' instrumental variable. We find a negative and statistically significant effect of formal care provision on informal care receipt from within the household, suggesting a substantial degree of substitutability between these two modes of care. These findings provide grounds for estimates of savings in the cost of informal care enabled by spending on formal care, which is important in light of the effects of the caregiving burden and associated responsibilities on carer's labour market participation.

Partnership Status, Health, and Mortality: Selection or Protection?

Married individuals have better health and lower mortality than nonmarried people. Studies show that when cohabitants are distinguished from other nonmarried groups, health differences between partnered and nonpartnered individuals become even more pronounced. Some researchers have argued that partnered individuals have better health and lower mortality because a partnership offers protective effects (protection); others have posited that partnered people have better health and lower mortality because healthy persons are more likely to form a union and less likely to dissolve it (selection). This study contributes to this debate by investigating health and mortality by partnership status in England and Wales and analyzing the causes of mortality differences. We use combined data from the British Household Panel Survey and the UK Household Longitudinal Study and apply a simultaneous-equations hazard model to control for observed and unobserved selection into partnerships. We develop a novel approach to identify frailty based on self-rated health. Our analysis shows that partnered individuals have significantly lower mortality than nonpartnered people. We observe some selection into and out of unions on unobserved health characteristics, but the mortality differences by partnership status persist. The study offers strong support for the marital protection hypothesis and extends it to nonmarital partnerships.

Insights Into Informal Caregivers' Well-being: A Longitudinal Analysis of Care Intensity, Care Location, and Care Relationship.

This study investigates the psychological well-being of informal caregivers over time. It identifies the thresholds (or "tipping points") of caring intensity at which caregiving is associated with lower psychological well-being, and how this varies by care location and caregiver-care recipient relationships. It also examines how caring location and relationship are linked to informal caregivers' psychological well-being while controlling for caring intensity. Waves 1-18 (1991-2009) of the harmonized British Household Panel Survey and Waves 1-8 (2009-2017) of the U.K. Household Longitudinal Study were analyzed. Psychological well-being was measured using the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ)-12 score. Care intensity was measured by the weekly hours of care provided. Fixed-effects estimators were applied to the GHQ-12 score of caregivers across different care intensities, caring locations, and caring relationships. All levels of informal care intensity are associated with lower psychological well-being among spousal caregivers. The thresholds to well-being are 5 hours per week when caring for a parent, and 50 hours per week when caring for a child (with a disability or long-term illness). Caring for "other relatives" or nonrelatives is not negatively associated with psychological well-being. The thresholds are 5 hours per week for both coresident and extraresident caregivers. Extraresident caregivers experience better psychological well-being compared to coresident caregivers, given relatively lower weekly care hours. Caring for primary kin (especially spouses) is linked to lower psychological well-being compared to other caregiving relationships, regardless of care intensity. Policy and practice responses should pay particular attention to spousal caregivers' well-being. Caregiving relationship has a stronger association with the caregiver's well-being than care location.

Are housing circumstances associated with faster epigenetic ageing?

BackgroundNumerous aspects of housing are associated with health. However, the pathways between housing and health, particularly the psychosocial elements of housing, are less well understood. Epigenetic information alongside social survey...

The relative effects of access to public greenspace and private gardens on mental health

Although the beneficial effects of urban greenspace on mental health are widely accepted, the comparative effects of public greenspace and private (domestic) gardens on mental health are poorly understood. Here, an assessment is provided of the effect of local public greenspace on a person’s mental health for those with and without a private garden in Britain. Individual level data on private garden ownership and mental health status are obtained from a nationally representative survey (the British Household Panel Survey). A combination of statistical matching and regression models are used to account for individual and area-level confounders and to test for interactions. Individuals with (n = 4,454) and without (n = 338) private gardens are analysed separately and their predicted probability of poor mental health in response to public greenspace presence is compared. Results show that the predicted positive effect of having a private garden varies depending on gender and age. Specifically, having a private garden substantially reduces the maximum predicted probability of poor mental health for men regardless of their access to local public greenspace. Whereas, for women, the presence of local public greenspace results in comparable mental health for those with and without a garden. Women without access to local public greenspace, having a private garden reduces the predicted probability of poor mental health later in life. Given the results, it is recommended that the provision of private gardens is considered within greenspace guidance and policy, which is currently dominated by the provision of, or access to, public greenspaces.

Experienced versus decision utility: large‐scale comparison for income–leisure preferences*

AbstractSubjective well‐being (SWB) data are increasingly used to perform welfare analysis. Interpreted as “experienced utility”, it has recently been compared to “decision utility” using small‐scale experiments most often based on stated preferences. We transpose this comparison to the framework of non‐experimental and large‐scale data commonly used for policy analysis, focusing on the income–leisure domain where redistributive policies operate. Using the British Household Panel Survey, we suggest a “deviation” measure, which is simply the difference between actual working hours and SWB‐maximizing hours. We show that about three‐quarters of individuals make decisions that are not inconsistent with maximizing their SWB. We discuss the potential channels that explain the lack of optimization when deviations are significantly large. We find proxies for a number of individual and external constraints, and show that constraints alone can explain more than half of the deviations. In our context, deviations partly reflect the inability of the revealed preference approach to account for labor market rigidities, so the actual and SWB‐maximizing hours should be used in a complementary manner. The suggested approach based on our deviation metric could help identify labor market frictions.

Doubly disadvantaged: Unemployment, young age, and electoral participation in the United Kingdom.

Previous studies examine how unemployment affects socio-political behaviour, but this literature has scarcely focused on the role of the life-course. Integrating the frameworks of unemployment scarring and political socialisation, we posit that unemployment experiences, or scars, undermine electoral participation, and that this is exacerbated at younger ages. We test these hypotheses relying on the British Household Panel Survey and Understanding Society datasets (1991-2020), employing panel data analysis approaches as Propensity Score Matching, Individual Fixed Effects, and Individual Fixed Effects with Individual Slopes. Results suggest that unemployment experiences depress electoral participation in the UK, with effect sizes around -5% of a Standard Deviation in turnout. However, this effect varies powerfully by age: the impact of unemployment on electoral participation is stronger at younger ages (-21% SD at age 20), and weaker to not significant after age 35. This is robust across the three main approaches and several robustness checks. Further analyses show that the first unemployment spell matters the most for electoral participation, and that for individuals under 35, there is a scar effect lasting up to 5years after the first unemployment spell. The life-course emerges as central to better understand the relationship between labour market hardships and socio-political behaviour.

The long shadow of local decline: Birthplace economic adversity and long-term individual outcomes in the UK

Does growing up in a high-economic adversity area matter for individual economic, cultural, and political views? Despite a significant focus upon the effect of birthplace on economic outcomes, there is less evidence on how local economic conditions at birth shape individual attitudes over the long-term. This paper links the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) from English and Welsh respondents with historic localised information on unemployment, our measure of economic adversity. Our results, which control for composition effects, family background, and sorting of people across places, show that being born into a high-unemployment Local Authority has a significant, long-term impact on individuals. Birthplace matters beyond economic outcomes, as being born into a Local Authority of high unemployment makes individuals believe in more government intervention in jobs, less progressive on gender issues, and less likely to support the Conservative Party.

Associations between Personality Traits and Areas of Job Satisfaction: Pay, Work Itself, Security, and Hours Worked.

Although studies have widely explored the connections between personality traits and job satisfaction, less is known about how personality relates to aspects of job satisfaction. The objective of this study was to explore the relationships between personality traits and various areas of job satisfaction, including pay, work, security, and hours worked. This study used ordinal regressions to analyze data from 6962 working individuals from the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS). The results showed that Neuroticism consistently has a negative association with all aspects of job satisfaction, whereas Agreeableness and Conscientiousness have positive associations with job satisfaction. Extraversion had a weak negative association with satisfaction with total pay. These findings imply that personality may play a crucial role in shaping areas of job satisfaction.

Sector specificity of training

ABSTRACT Human capital acquired through employer-provided training is pervasive in labour markets and an important determinant of post-schooling wage growth. The literature has focused on understanding under what conditions this training will lead to higher wages. Here I offer another aspect for consideration: Does the proximity of the current job to past jobs affect the return to training? In particular, I look at whether the wage return to training acquired at a previous employer depends upon the relative ‘proximity’ of the worker’s past employer to their current one, where proximity is measured by whether the worker received the training in the same industry or occupation as the current job. I investigate this using data from the British Household Panel Survey, with both fixed effects and instrumental variable estimation. The results suggest that both current and previous employer training spells are important determinants of wages, and both need to be included in wage regressions. Evidence further suggests that the return to formal training is highest if the training was received in a previous job that was in the same industry and occupation as the current one.

Minimum wage and tolerance for high incomes

We suggest that stabilizing the baseline income can make low-wage workers more tolerant towards high income earners. We present evidence of this attitude in the UK by exploiting the introduction of the National Minimum Wage (NMW), which institutionally sets a baseline pay reducing the risk of income losses and providing a clear reference point for British workers at the lower end of the income distribution. Based on data from the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS), we show that workers who benefited from the NMW program became relatively more tolerant of high incomes and more likely to support and vote for the Conservative Party. As far as tolerance for high incomes is related to tolerance of inequality, our results may suggest that people advocate for equality also because they fear income losses below a given reference point.

The impact of religious involvement on trust, volunteering, and perceived cooperativeness: evidence from two British panels

Abstract Does religious involvement make people more trusting and prosocial? Considering conflicting theories and mixed prior evidence, we subject this question to a stringent test using large-scale, representative data from the British Household Panel Survey (1991–2009, N ≈ 26,000) and the UK Household Longitudinal Study (2009–2021, N ≈ 80,000). We employ cross-lagged panel models with individual fixed effects to account for time-invariant confounders and reverse causality—two issues that have haunted earlier research. We find that frequency of religious service attendance on average has a positive impact on generalized trust, volunteering, and perceived cooperativeness. Other indicators of religious involvement have weaker effects. We also find variation across religious traditions: the effects of religious attendance are mostly positive for Anglicans and other Protestants, but weaker and mostly statistically insignificant for Catholics, Hindus, and the unaffiliated, and even negative for Muslims when the outcome is perceived cooperativeness. Our findings are robust to alternative model set-ups and hold up after accounting for neighbourhood religious composition, respondent and interviewer ethnicity, and other potential moderators and confounders. Altogether, our study shows that religious involvement can foster prosocial behaviours and attitudes, although in our study this effect is largely restricted to religious service attendance and majority religions.

Parental nonemployment in childhood and children’s health later in life

While the effects of joblessness on the health of the non-employed are well-documented, its long-term spillover consequences on the health of their relatives, especially children, remain poorly understood. This research explores the long-term associations of parental nonemployment spells experienced during early, mid and late childhood on children’s mental and physical health. The analysis exploits data drawn from the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) and the UK Household Longitudinal Study (UKHLS), linking detailed parental socioeconomic information with their children between the years 1993 and 2013. This paper employs a Correlated Random Effects (CRE) probit model that allows accounting for unobserved heterogeneity as well as a non-linear Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE) random effects estimator accounting in addition for the dependency structure of the data. Results indicate that experiencing parental nonemployment during early and late childhood has a negative association on the children’s likelihood of suffering from long-standing illnesses later in life, while experiencing parental nonemployment during middle childhood negatively affects the young adult’s mental health. Moreover, experiencing parental nonemployment during late childhood increases the probability of both reporting poor or fair self-assessed health and the likelihood of consuming prescribed medicines in early adulthood. However, there seems to be a considerable effect heterogeneity by family socioeconomic status, parents’ gender, and frequencies of parental nonemployment spells. Current adulthood circumstances, such as level of educational attainment, job situation and household demographics, are used to explore the potential mechanisms affecting results. These findings may help policymakers shape appropriate responses to mitigate the psychological and physical burden derived from parental nonemployment, especially among already disadvantaged households.

Can optimism solve the entrepreneurial earnings puzzle?*

AbstractIn this paper, we apply a general equilibrium occupational choice model to the study of the impact of optimism on the earnings of entrepreneurs and workers. We extend the work of Lucas (1978 Bell Journal of Economics 9, 508–523) by assuming a fraction of individuals are optimistic about their ability as entrepreneurs. The model shows that optimism leads to a misallocation of talent and inputs, which raises input prices and lowers output. The model is calibrated to match salient features of the UK economy and the British Household Panel Survey. The calibration shows that optimism can account for more than half of the size of the entrepreneurial earnings puzzle in the UK.

Does forming a nuclear family increase religiosity? Longitudinal evidence from the British Household Panel Survey

Abstract This study investigates how far the nuclear family—in terms of entering cohabitation and marriage and having a first and second child—affects religious salience, religious attendance, and activity in religious organizations. Previous research has shown that religious individuals are more likely to marry, and have higher fertility, than non-religious individuals. Less is known about how far the nuclear family also affects religiosity. This study presents longitudinal evidence on how religious factors change within the life-course of individuals after entering cohabitation or marriage and after having a first or second child in up to 14 waves of the British Household Panel Survey collected between 1991 and 2009. The comparison between longitudinal and cross-sectional results indicates how far religious factors affect family formation processes. All religious factors investigated (salience, attendance, activity) increased when people became parents, as well as when they married, but not when they started to cohabit. Most of these effects are long-lasting and they hold across age, gender and cohort groups.

Linked generations: child’s transition into unemployment and parents’ mental well-being

Abstract Unemployment has a negative effect on the mental well-being of individuals who experience it. The well-being of the partners and children of these individuals is also negatively affected by this transition. Little is known, however, on the effect of the transition into unemployment on the mental well-being of the parents of unemployed people. This article analyses the association between child’s transition into unemployment and parents’ minor psychiatric morbidity, using the General Health Questionnaire score as a proxy. The effects of the length of the unemployment spell and the specific pathway into unemployment are investigated. Eventually, the moderating role of the national level of unemployment is also explored. Data from the British Household Panel Survey and Understanding Society are used. The results of the analyses indicate that child’s transition into unemployment has a small, statistically significant, negative effect on mothers’ mental well-being, whereas the effect on fathers’ distress is negligible. The association between mother’s mental well-being and child’s unemployment does not vary by the duration of the unemployment spell, or by the specific path into unemployment (from employment, studentship, or other inactive status). Differently, the negative effect of child’s unemployment on mother’s well-being is larger at higher levels of unemployment at the country level.

Parenthood and the gender division of labour across the income distribution: the relative importance of relative earnings

Abstract This study employs a gendered relative resource approach to examine whether the importance of relative resources varies by couples’ household income in shaping changes in the gender division of labour after first birth. Scholarship has long argued that the gender division of labour within different-sex couples is influenced by partners’ relative resources. However, couples face class-based constraints that may alter the relevance of relative resources in shaping changes in gender divisions of labour following the transition to parenthood. This study compares couples’ paid work and housework before and up to four years after first birth, using 28 waves of the British Household Panel Survey and the UK Household Longitudinal Study (N = 1,606 couples). I find that the effect of relative resources on changes in couple’s paid work and housework behaviour after first birth varies substantially by household income. Among higher-income couples, women’s paid work and housework time changes less among those with high relative earnings and more among those with low relative earnings, while men’s time allocation varies little after first birth. In contrast, among low-income couples, women’s paid work time and share decreases most after first among female breadwinners while their male partners’ paid work time increases substantially. These findings reflect the greater constraints that low-income parents face in reconciling work and family and highlight the need for greater attention to class interactions in the process of gender specialization in both research and work-family policy.