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Influences Of Early Life Conditions On Old Age Mortality In Old Québec, Alain Gagnon, Ryan Mazan

PSC Discussion Papers Series

Increasingly, bio-demographers are turning to infancy and childhood to gain a better understanding of old age mortality. However, evidence of a link between early life conditions and survival until old age is fragmentary, and the intervening mechanisms remain unclear. Drawing from data on a cohort of French-Canadian children born in the 17th and 18th centuries, we study the effects of infant exposure to infectious diseases (as revealed by the infant mortality rate in the year of birth) on later life mortality. A series of Cox proportional hazard models are used and we control for other familial and environmental conditions prevalent …

Demographic Decisions And Demographic Well-Being, Rajulton Fernando

PSC Discussion Papers Series

Abstract not available

Inequality And The Life Course: Differentials In Trajectories And Timing Of Transitions Of Canadian Women, Zenaida R. Ravanera, Rajulton Fernando, Thomas K. Burch

PSC Discussion Papers Series

There has been a recent concern over polarization of family life among the younger Canadians; that is, differences in family life are accentuated by the differences in their social and economic situations. Using the retrospective data on life course events gathered through the 2001 General Social Survey, we show that there is basis for this concern - the timing of transitions and early life trajectories of Canadian women born from 1966 to 1975 do differ by parental socio-economic status. However, the influence of social inequality on the life course is not a recent phenomenon - results of our analysis show …

Neighbourhood Characteristics, Individual And Household Attributes And Health Perception Among Elderly Canadians, D. Walter Rasugu Omariba

PSC Discussion Papers Series

This paper uses the Canadian Community Health Survey of 2003 to examine health perceptions among elderly Canadians (age 60 and over). The results indicate that individual factors explain more of the variation in perceived health compared to community factors (employment rate, incidence of low income, percentage of visible minority, percentage of Canadians and percentage of non-family persons in private households). Among individual factors, age, sense of community belonging, education and income adequacy are particularly important in determining how individuals perceive their health. On the other hand, among community factors, the incidence of low income, percentage of visible minority and percentage …

What Happens To The ‘Healthy Immigrant Effect’: The Mental Health Of Immigrants To Canada, Yimin Lou, Roderic Beaujot

PSC Discussion Papers Series

This study examines the mental health of Canada’s immigrants, relative to that of the native-born population, and makes a comparison between the longer term (ten or more years of residence) and more recent immigrants. The pattern of mental health may be explained by selectivity, structural strain theory from a macro perspective, or stress theory with a micro approach. Given available data, the study focuses on stress theory which suggests that persons with better mental health are either exposed to fewer stressors, or they cope better with their stress and adversity. The data are from Cycle 1.2 of the Canadian Community …

Why Are Canadians Having Children? An Investigation Of The Value Attributed To Children And Its Impact On Demand For Children, Melissa H. Moyser

PSC Discussion Papers Series

Previous studies in the value-of-children tradition of fertility research have examined the effect on demand for children of subjective perceptions of a particular value, or category of values, of children to parents. In their explanation of demand for children, they do not consider the possibility of the relevance of multiple or diverse single-handed values of children to parents. By investigating the impact of a non-specific measure of the values of children to parents—the value attributed to children—on demand for children, this study implicitly takes into account all of the values of children to parents that may be implicated in demand …

The Life Course Trajectories Of Older Canadians, Zenaida R. Ravanera, Rajulton Fernando, Thomas K. Burch

PSC Discussion Papers Series

Abstract not available

Work And Family Life Trajectories Of Young Canadians: Evidence From The 2001 General Social Survey, Zenaida Ravanera, Rajulton Fernando

PSC Discussion Papers Series

From the 1980s, there has been a trend among young Canadians to delay their transition to adulthood. This is seen as an indicator of greater investment in career and work life (most often, with parental help) before investing in reproduction. However, there are concerns expressed particularly for women that those with smaller parental and personal resources follow a different life course trajectory. They become parents at younger ages and are more likely to experience family dissolution and lone parenthood.

The study uses Statistics Canada’s 2001 General Social Survey on Family History and focuses on men and women born from 1966 …

How Cohesive Are Canadian Cmas? A Measure Of Social Cohesion Using The National Survey Of Giving, Volunteering, And Participating, Rajulton Fernando, Zenaida R. Ravanera, Roderic Beaujot

PSC Discussion Papers Series

Social cohesion is a concept difficult to define and to measure. As there can be many definitions, so there can be many measurements. The main problem, either in defining or measuring the concept, is its multi-level and multi-dimensional nature. At one extreme, country is the most commonly used level to view social cohesion but measurement at this level is of little use for interventions. At the other extreme, community is the most useful level but it is a social construct for which data are difficult to obtain, given the administrative boundaries used in social surveys. As an initial attempt to …

Family Change And Economic Well-Being In Canada: The Case Of Recent Immigrant Families With Children, Jianye Liu, Don Kerr

PSC Discussion Papers Series

This paper examines the relationship between family change and economic well-being among recent immigrant families with children to Canada over the 1977-1997 period. Defining recent immigrants as those having migrated within the past decade, this study documents a substantial decline in the average level of economic well being of immigrants who migrated during the 1990s relative to those who migrated in the 1970s and 1980s. Whereas the average income to needs ratio of all Canadian families with children is up modestly over this period, this same generalization is not true when shifting our emphasis to recent immigrants. In this context, …

Charting The Growth Of Canada’S Aboriginal Populations: Problems, Options And Implications, Eric Guimond, Don Kerr, Roderic Beaujot

PSC Discussion Papers Series

Toward the end of the 20th century, the number of persons reporting Aboriginal ancestry in the Canadian Census increased in a rather dramatic manner. For example, in the 2001 Canadian Census, over 1.3 million Canadians reported an Aboriginal origin, which is an increase of about 20 percent over the previous census in 1996. Given that much confusion and inadequate information characterises public discussions of the demographics of Canada’s Aboriginal population, this paper will review the most fundamental data sources and definitions that have been used in documenting the characteristics of this population, as well as outline some of the most …

Effects Of Community And Family Characteristics On Early Life Transitions Of Canadian Youth, Zenaida R. Ravanera, Rajulton Fernando, Thomas K. Burch

PSC Discussion Papers Series

This paper looks at the impact of community and family characteristics on the timing of early life transitions of Canadians born in 1971-75. Effects on the timing of school completion, start of regular work, and home-leaving are examined using a data set that merged the 1995 General Social Survey of the Family with data derived from the enumeration areas of the 1996 Census. Event history techniques of analysis are used to examine timing and trajectories of transition and how they are affected by families and communities. The results show that family and community-level characteristics indicative of availability of material resources, …

Projecting The Future Of Canada’S Population: Assumptions, Implications, And Policy, Roderic Beaujot

PSC Discussion Papers Series

Abstract not available

Difficulties Encountered In Projecting Canada’S Aboriginal Population, Don Kerr, M.-J. Norris, E. Guimond

PSC Discussion Papers Series

Abstract not available