Nonmarital Fertility, Union History, and Women's Wealth

Intra-Couple Wealth Inequality: What's Socio-Demographics Got to Do with it?

Existing literature shows that on average and across countries, men have higher levels of wealth than women. However, very little is known about the gender-specific wealth gap within couples. This paper studies this phenomenon for the first time in Austria. The particular focus of the paper is on the relationship between the socio-demographic characteristics of the couple and the couple's gender wealth gap. We focus on how age, education, marital status, fertility, migratory background, and the gender of the respondent are related to the wealth gap within a couple. In both bivariate and multivariate analyses, we find evidence in support of the hypothesis that bargaining power plays an important role in the intra-couple gender wealth gap in Austria. Immigrant women living in a couple with native men, and, among natives, couples in which the man is much older on average, have larger gender wealth gaps. Furthermore, couples in which the woman is the "financially most knowledgeable person" in the household have consistently lower gender wealth gaps.

Family Size and Parental Wealth: The Role of Family Transfers in Europe

As baby boomers enter retirement, an increasing portion of the population in Europe will rely on wealth as a source of financial security. We address two research questions: what is the association between family size, i.e. the number of children, and wealth for adults who are preparing for or have entered retirement and does the generosity of family transfers moderate that association? Data from the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) are used to estimate the relationship between family size and the total household net worth of men and women between ages 50–65, born 1939–1967 from 14 European countries. We use logistic and linear regression modelling to investigate the probability of zero or negative wealth and net worth percentile rank. We find that adults with four or more children are more likely to be in debt and have less wealth than childless adults. In contrast, adults with two and three children have more wealth. We provide evidence that the generosity of family transfers ameliorates the negative association between larger family sizes and wealth, but may exacerbate wealth inequality by benefiting two and three child families most.

Family Structure, Unstructured Socializing, and Heavy Substance Use among Adolescents

Background: Psychoactive substance use is a transient behavior among many adolescents and diminishes as they mature, but some engage in heavy forms of substance use, which increases their risk of health and behavioral challenges. A consistent predictor of substance use among youth is family structure, with adolescents living in single-parent, stepparent, or no-parent families at higher risk than others of several forms of substance use. The objective of this research was to investigate whether unstructured socializing mediated the association between family structure and heavy alcohol or substance use. Methods: Data from 30 nations (n = 65,737) were used to test the hypothesis using a generalized structural equation model and tests of mediation. Results: The analysis furnished clear support for a mediation effect among adolescents living with a single parent but less support among those living with a stepparent or neither parent. Conclusion: The association between living in a single-parent household and heavy alcohol or other substance use was mediated largely by time spent outside the home with friends in unsupervised activities. Additional research that uses longitudinal data and more nuanced measures of family structure is needed to validate this finding.

Are Married Women Really Wealthier Than Unmarried Women? Evidence From Japan

Using microdata from the Japanese Panel Survey of Consumers, this article examines the relationship between marriage and wealth among women. By exploiting unique data on personal wealth, it also assesses whether the wealth effect of marriage differs depending on whether wealth is measured as household or personal wealth, an issue that very few studies have examined. When wealth is measured as equivalized household net worth, on the assumption that married couples share household resources equally, marriage is found to contribute to women's wealth holdings but only to their nonfinancial net worth; however, the results show signs that marriage also contributes to women's total net worth as marriage durations increase. By contrast, when wealth is measured as personal net worth based on the actual ownership of assets, marriage is found to be negatively and significantly associated with women's wealth holdings. These findings underscore the fact that Japanese women are potentially in a financially vulnerable position even after marriage, which is at least partly driven by married women's career disruptions arising from their family responsibilities.

Wealth in Middle and Later Life: Examining the Life Course Timing of Women's Health Limitations

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Guided by cumulative inequality theory, this study poses two main questions: (a) Does women's poor health compromise household financial assets? (b) If yes, is wealth sensitive to the timing of women's health limitations? In addressing these questions, we consider the effect of health limitations on wealth at older ages, as well as examine how health limitations influence wealth over particular segments of the life course, giving attention to both the onset and duration of health limitations.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

Using 36 years of data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Mature Women, piecewise growth curve and linear regression models were used to estimate the effects of life course timing and duration of health limitations on household wealth.

RESULTS

The findings reveal that women who experienced health limitations accumulated substantially less wealth over time, especially if the health limitations were manifest during childhood or early adulthood.

DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS

This study identifies how early-life health problems lead to less wealth in later life.

The Marriage Wealth Premium Revisited: Gender Disparities and Within-Individual Changes in Personal Wealth in Germany

This study examines the association between marriage and economic wealth of women and men. Going beyond previous research that focused on household wealth, I examine personal wealth, which allows identifying gender disparities in the association between marriage and wealth. Using unique data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (2002, 2007, and 2012), I apply random-effects and fixed-effects regression models to test my expectations. I find that both women and men experience substantial marriage wealth premiums not only in household wealth but also in personal wealth. However, I do not find consistent evidence for gender disparities in these general marriage premiums. Additional analyses indicate, however, that women's marriage premiums are substantially lower than men's premiums in older cohorts and when only nonhousing wealth is considered. Overall, this study provides new evidence that women and men gain unequally in their wealth attainment through marriage.

Family Trajectories and Well-being of Children Born to Lone Mothers in the UK

We investigate how lone mothers' heterogeneity in partnership trajectories is associated with children's well-being. We use data from the Millennium Cohort Study, which follows a large sample of children born in the UK in 2000-2002. We divide children who were born to lone mothers into four groups based on their mothers' partnership trajectories between birth and age seven, which cover more than 80% of these children's family experiences. We then analyse how these trajectories are associated with markers of health, cognitive and socio-emotional outcomes measured at around age seven. We find that compared to the children that live continuously with lone mothers, children whose biological father stably joined the household have better cognitive and socio-emotional outcomes. In contrast, children in trajectories characterised by living with a stepfather or who experienced biological father joining in the family followed by biological parents' dissolution had outcomes similar to children living continuously with lone mothers. The results underscore the importance of treating children born to lone mothers as a heterogeneous category.

Multiple Barriers to Economic Opportunity for the "Truly" Disadvantaged and Vulnerable

This article answers several questions: Which subgroups of the U.S. population-designated by race, ethnicity, family structure, educational status, income, wealth, consumption, or other characteristics-appear to be particularly vulnerable to a lack of economic opportunity based on household characteristics of the family and its children? To what degree does poor access to economic advancement appear to reflect low income or wealth, or do additional barriers contribute substantially to some subgroups' limited opportunities? Similarly, what advantages accrue to high-income and other privileged groups, such as those born into a well-established married family? What does current research tell us about the mechanisms through which barriers operate and policies that might be effective in reducing them?