Between Socially-Instituted Parental Relationships and Elective Ones: a Retrospective Analysis of Parent Figures in France from 1930 to 1965É. Lelièvre, G. Vivier, C. Tichit
Using data from the Biographie et entourage survey conducted by INED in 2001 on 2,830 inhabitants of the Paris region aged between 50 and 70, this article presents a detailed analysis of the respondents’ parental universe. Alongside biological parents, adoptive and step-parents, this universe comprises all people mentioned by respondents as having played a parental role during their childhood. On the basis of retrospective information obtained from the beneficiaries of this parental attention, and not from its providers, we propose a truly practical approach to the notion of parenthood that reveals the family and non-family resources available to individuals between the 1930s and 1960s. One respondent in five mentions the existence of at least one person who played a complementary or surrogate parental role. The grandparents - maternal grandmother especially - are mentioned very frequently in this respect. Examining the functions assigned to these "elective parents" reveals the very practical nature of their parenting role. Their strong affective ties with the respondent, combined with their practical parenting functions are two criteria for identifying a parent figure who is not necessarily part of the family circle - 16% of persons mentioned being unrelated to the respondent.
Intermarriage and Assimilation: Disparities in Levels of Exogamy among Immigrants in France
M. Safi
This article analyses the marriage behaviour of immigrants using data from the INSEE Permanent Demographic Sample that span an extended period (1968-2000). The explanatory factors of exogamy are examined in an analysis that includes individual and contextual variables. The comparison between the labour market situation of immigrant groups and their greater or lesser propensity to exogamy is used to test certain theoretical perspectives that attribute a central role to intermarriage in the assimilation process. By emphasizing the analytical complexity of exogamy and the broad diversity of modes of immigrant integration, the findings suggest that these hypotheses may need to be qualified.
Support to Own Family and Spouse’s Family. Are both Kin Groups Treated Equally?
N. Jonas, M.-C. Le Pape
When a couple is formed, the kin groups of each spouse are brought together. The couple’s relations with these two sets of kin are generally based on a tacit principle of equality, with neither family line taking preference. British and American urban surveys in the mid 1950s began to cast doubt upon this principle of equality. In everyday exchanges and in the practical routines of sociability, couples tend to show preference for one or other kin group, most often that of the woman. No recent research, in France at least, has examined this tendency, known as matrilaterality, to favour the woman’s family. Using the results of the Kinship networks and support (RPE) section of the INSEE permanent survey on living conditions of households (PCV) conducted in October 1997, this study assesses the scale of this matrilateral tendency from the viewpoint of exchanges within kin groups and suggests hypotheses to explain its origins and mechanisms.
Long-term Trends in International Migration: an Analysis of the Six Main Receiving Countries
Cécily Defoort
This article proposes an estimation of international migration to the six main receiving countries of the OECD between 1975 and 2000. The analysis reveals a large increase in international migration during this period, together with a substantial change in migrant skills. In parallel with this phenomenon we note a significant rise in skill levels at world level. An analysis by country shows a high degree of stability in the list of the countries most affected by the brain drain. While overall change in the migration of skills is limited, the list of countries with the largest losses of highly skilled workers in 1975 is largely unchanged twenty-five years later.
Mortality Changes in the Iberian Peninsula in the Last Decades of the Twentieth Century
V. Canudas-Romo, D. Glei, R. Gómez-Redondo, E. Coelho, C. Boe
Life expectancies in Portugal (81.3 years for females and 74.9 for males) and Spain (83.5 years for females and 76.9 for males) in 2005 rank among the lowest in Western Europe (Portuguese males) and the highest (Spanish females), respectively. This article studies the converging trends in mortality for these two countries of the Iberian Peninsula during the second half of the twentieth century. Portuguese life expectancy appears to follow the same trajectory as that of Spain, but lagged by several years (10 years for females, 15 years for males). Major improvements have occurred at all ages, however, helping to narrow the mortality gap between the two countries. Age- and cause-specific decomposition analyses reveal that ages 20-79 for men and ages 60 and above for women account for the largest share of the remaining inter-country gap in life expectancy. The causes of death that are the major contributors to this gap include diseases of the circulatory system and, for males, external causes.
The Effect of ICD-10 on Continuity in Cause-of-Death Statistics. The Example of France
F.Meslé, J.Vallin
Following implementation of the tenth revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) in 2000, it has become very difficult in France to reconstruct consistent cause-of-death time series based on this most recent version of the ICD. Not only are changes both numerous and complex, but in the same year France radically modified its method of producing cause-of-death statistic by replacing manual coding with a new automatic system. It is now practically impossible to distinguish between statistical discontinuities due to changes in the content of ICD items and those arising from the automatic coding procedure. Although INSERM has taken the worthy initiative of double coding a sample of deaths to ICD-9 and ICD-10, this study is, alas, of limited utility due to the very small number of observations concerned. Can we rely more successfully on the larger-scale comparability studies conducted in the United States or England and Wales, or on an in-depth analysis of multiple causes of deaths? Nothing is less certain.
