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on Economics of Happiness |
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Issue of 2010‒03‒13
three papers chosen by |
| By: | Yen-hsin Alice Cheng (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany); Nancy S. Landale |
| Abstract: | With an emphasis on how weight stigma is manifested in social relationship context, this study explores two under-studied consequences of adolescent overweight, timing of first sex and subsequent intimate relationship development. The data employed come from Waves I to III of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. The results indicate that overweight adolescents have significantly later onset of first sex and are more likely to enter early adulthood without any intimate relationship experience when compared to normal-weight youth. Overweight adolescents are vulnerable to discriminatory treatments such as being rejected by or having less close relationships with peers and are thus less likely to have any intimate relationship. The study contributes to the existing literature on overweight youth by revealing the critical role of prejudiced social encounters in peer relationships as the key context that hinders the development of intimate relationships from adolescence to early adulthood. Future studies should seek to understand the broader implications of poor social adjustments during adolescence for later development. |
| JEL: | J1 Z0 |
| Date: | 2010–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2010-008&r=hap |
| By: | Houle, René; Schellenberg, Grant |
| Abstract: | In this paper, the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Canada (LSIC) is used to examine how immigrants in the 2000-2001 landing cohort subjectively assess their life in Canada. The paper provides a useful complement to other studies of immigrant outcomes that often focus on employment, income or health. Four years after landing, about three-quarters of LSIC respondents said they were satisfied or very satisfied with their life in Canada, and a comparable proportion said their expectations of life in Canada had been met or exceeded. Nearly 9 out of 10 said that, if given the chance, they would make the same decision again to come to Canada. A broad range of demographic, social and economic characteristics are associated with subjective assessments. Positive assessments of life in Canada are less prevalent among individuals in their thirties and forties, and university graduates and principal applicants in the skilled worker admission category, than they are among other groups. While assessments of life in Canada are correlated with economic factors such as personal income, they are also correlated with social factors such as relationships with neighbours and perceptions of discrimination. |
| Keywords: | Ethnic diversity and immigration, Immigrants and non-permanent residents, Integration of newcomers |
| Date: | 2010–02–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:stc:stcp3e:2010322e&r=hap |
| By: | van den Berg, Gerard J. (University of Mannheim); Deeg, Dorly J. H. (VU University Amsterdam); Lindeboom, Maarten (VU University Amsterdam); Portrait, France (VU University Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | Cognitive functioning of elderly individuals may be affected by events such as the loss of a (grand)child or partner or the onset of a serious chronic condition, and by negative economic shocks such as job loss or the reduction of pension benefits. It is conceivable that the impact of such events is stronger if conditions early in life were adverse. In this paper we address this using a Dutch longitudinal database that follows elderly individuals for more than 15 years and contains information on demographics, socio-economic conditions, life events, health, and cognitive functioning. We exploit exogenous variation in early-life conditions as generated by the business cycle. We also examine to what extent the cumulative effect of consecutive shocks later in life exceeds the sum of the separate effects, and whether economic and health shocks later in life reinforce each other in their effect on cognitive functioning. |
| Keywords: | cognitive functioning, business cycle, bereavement, developmental origins, retirement, health, long-run effects, dementia |
| JEL: | I12 I10 J14 E32 |
| Date: | 2010–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4780&r=hap |