The longitudinal design is a key aspect of the Generations and Gender Survey. As more wave 2 data becomes available, researchers are able to take advantage of the many benefits that longitudinal data brings. One of these advantages is the ability to observe events such as the birth of a child. The figure below illustrates that the percentage of women aged 20-35 who had a child between wave 1 & 2 varies considerably across countries. Due to the vast array of variables contained in the data, researchers will be able to investigate whether this is due to differing social norms, institutional constraints or some other factors. As we enter 2014, the GGP aims to release more and more wave 2 data to the public and support this longitudinal, comparative analysis.
Fertility between Waves 1 & 2 in the GGP
The longitudinal design is a key aspect of the Generations and Gender Survey. As more wave 2 data becomes available, researchers are able to take advantage of the many benefits that longitudinal data brings. One of these advantages is the ability to observe events such as the birth of a child. The figure below illustrates that the percentage of women aged 20-35 who had a child between wave 1 & 2 varies considerably across countries. Due to the vast array of variables contained in the data, researchers will be able to investigate whether this is due to differing social norms, institutional constraints or some other factors. As we enter 2014, the GGP aims to release more and more wave 2 data to the public and support this longitudinal, comparative analysis.
Fertility between Waves 1 & 2 in the GGP
This issue marks the launch of Wave 1 data from Poland. This adds yet another post-communist country to the GGP alongside Bulgaria, Georgia, Hungary, Lithuania, Romania and Russia. Poland is well known as having a unique attitude towards organised religion among these countries given its strong Catholic Identity. The graph below supports this as it shows that the large majority of Polish people have attended a religious ceremony in the last month. This religiosity may have considerable consequences for demographic behaviour as evidenced here where there appears to be a strong relationship between attending religious services and individuals cohabiting outside of marriage.
Religious Service Attendence and Cohabitation outside of Marriage
In most countries, cohabitors report lower levels of relationship quality as compared to married couples.However, the quality gap (between cohabitors and married people) is largest in countries wherecohabitation is less prevalent. Cross-national differences in the acceptance and prevalence of cohabitationmay therefore have an influence on how cohabitators perceive the quality of their relationship.It may contribute to making them more, or less, similar to married people.
Prevalence of cohabitors and relationship quality gap between cohabitors and married people (age 18 to 55)
You may know that loneliness is more prevalent amongst older people than younger people but did you know that loneliness levels also vary across countries? Data from the GGP illustrate that both older and younger age groups show higher levels of loneliness in Eastern Europe than those in Western Europe. Eastern European societies have experienced rapid societal and economic changes. These have often resulted in increased economic inequalities, poverty and psychological stress, each affecting the risks for loneliness.
Loneliness on the De Jong Gierveld Short Scale across 7 Countries
Strong family ties can diminish people’s likelihood of having depressive feelings by providing material and non-material resources. Having both parents alive, having not experienced the divorce of one’s parents, and having siblings were all found to reduce the risk of having a depressive mood. Being married was found to have a particularly protective effect (after controlling for education, employment status, and financial situation). Moreover, this effect was found to be stronger in Eastern than in Western European countries suggesting that a more supportive welfare state can buffer the impact of not being married on one’s depressive mood.
Impact of marital status on the likelihood of having a depressive mood among adults age 18-79 in Eastern and Western European countries
