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Research

Members of the Population Studies Centre are involved in a number of professional and research projects,
some of which have web sites or web documents of their own.

• Biodemographic Aspects of Longevity
• Can Early Life Conditions Explain Survival to a Very Old Age?
• Canada Research Chair in Population, Gender and Development
• Changing Fatherhood: Supporting Involvement
• Earning, Caring, and Public Policy
• Ethnic Residential Segregation in Canada
• Family and Work: Models of Earning and Caring
• Population Change and Lifecourse Strategic Knowledge Cluster
• Religion and Demographic Change
• Completed Projects

Biodemographic Aspects of Longevity

Investigator: Alain Gagnon

• The purpose of this project involving researchers from the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, the Université de Montréal, and from the University of Utah is to study the relationships between fertility and longevity in pre-Malthusian populations (without fertility control). Data from the Registre de population du Québec ancien, the BALSAC database (Saguenay) and from the Utah Population Database all show that women who could bore a child after age 45 benefitted from reduced mortality rates after age 50. Late fecundity can be seen as a proxy for late menopause, which would correlate with longevity through a slower rate of aging. To reinforce our claim, we show that brothers who have a late fertile sister tend to live longer than those from sibships in which no woman was fertile late. The hypothesis is that long life is in part attributable to genetic variants that slow the rate of aging in both sexes via a mechanism that also facilitates late fertility in women.

Can Early Life Conditions Explain Survival to a Very Old Age?

Principal Investigator: Alain Gagnon
Co-applicant: Bertrand Desjardins (Université de Montréal)
Collaborator: Robert Bourbeau (Université de Montréal)

In March 2007, Alain Gagnon and his colleagues from the Université de Montréal have been awarded a three year SSHRC grant: “Can early life conditions explain survival to a very old age?” ($84,000). Matching data from the Québec Civil registration to the Canadian censuses of 1901 and 1911, the project seeks to assess whether people who lived very old did benefit from favorable early life conditions. To date, 207 individual who became centenarians in the late 20th century were found in the 1901 census, along with their siblings, when they were children. Approximately 700 death records were identified for these siblings. A sample of “controls” individuals, also enumerated in the 1901 census, is also developed in parallel to serve as a basis for comparison. To date, 2106 of these controls have been linked to their death records. Another main goal of the project is to test whether the survival advantage of siblings of centenarians, previously attributed to genetic factors, is also an outcome of favorable socioeconomic conditions shared by the siblings in early life. Graduate students from both the University of Western Ontario and the Université de Montréal have been hired to perform record linkages between the censuses and the civil registration and are invited to develop their research thesis within the framework of the project. Nora Bohnert, who started her Master program in September 2007, is currently working on the relationship between poverty in the family of origin and survival to old ages.

The link between childhood conditions and old age mortality, if established, could help explain the persisting disparities in health and mortality despite important reduction in poverty in the senior population. It could also have longer term relevance. Many studies reported that children are now worse off than they were in the 1970s. The demonstration of strong early life effects could provide researchers, policy makers, and practitioners with a strong rationale to direct energy and resources towards childhood. By contributing to a better understanding of the determinants of mortality among the oldest-old the project can explore new ways of improving population health.

Canada Research Chair in Population, Gender and Development

http://sociology.uwo.ca/CRCpopulation/

• During the fifth year of the CRC, all components of the research program moved forward. The project on migration in Asia continued with more data collection in Vietnam, South Korea, Taiwan and Japan. The team of researchers taking part in this project met in Vietnam in May 2008 and again in March 2009 to discuss results, plan papers and future activities. Two team members from Taiwan spent two months at Western in 2008.
  
  In January 2009, Danièle Bélanger visited Japan and met with researchers and NGO representatives working with foreign migrant workers. The research on gender and families also made progress with more analyses on sex ratios, culminating in a forthcoming publication in the leading journal, Population Studies. The edited volume entitled ‘Reconfiguring Families in Contemporary Vietnam’ was also published. Overall, in the five year term of the CRC, an international network of researchers was consolidated, extensive data was collected and results were actively disseminated. Danièle Bélanger secured a renewal of her Research Chair appointment from 2009-2014.
  


• CRC Mission statement
• The mission of the CRC in Population, Gender and Development is to examine some of the relationships between demographic change, globalization and the well-being of individuals and families in the developing world. The CRC will pay particular attention to gender issues emerging in the context of low fertility and increasing transnational migration. This mission will be accomplished through research projects undertaken in Vietnam, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, China, Bangladesh and Cuba by an international team of researchers.

Changing Fatherhood: Supporting Involvement

http://www.fira.ca

• As part of the SSHRC-funded Community University Research Alliance (CURA) project of the Father Involvement Research Alliance (FIRA), Changing Fatherhood: Supporting Involvement, Zenaida R. Ravanera completed Profiles of Fathers in Canada, a report on the demographic and socio-economic profile of Canadian fathers based on 2001 Census and the 2001 General Social Survey on the Family. Fathers, defined as men living with children aged 24 years or younger, are in better socio-economic situation than the non-fathers, indicated by level of education, work status, house ownership, and income. However, the analysis also shows that some groups of fathers are not doing as well, for example, fathers of aboriginal origin, young fathers, especially teenaged fathers, lone fathers, and immigrant fathers.
• The report included tabulation from the General Social Survey on Time Use on information about fathers, showing, for example, that over the period 1986 to 2005, the average time spent by fathers of children aged 0-18 years for childcare and housework has increased, with the greatest increase occurring between 1986 and 1992. The 2005 data show that fathers and mothers who are married or in common-law union and working full time spend an equal amount of total time (about 10.4 hours) in paid and unpaid work. For all other types of parents and types of work, women spend a greater amount of time in paid and unpaid work combined.
• The report ends with suggestions about areas for quantitative research on fatherhood and modifications to the census questionnaire that would allow distinguishing among different types of fathers and types of families.
  

Earning, Caring, and Public Policy

Investigators of the two-year research program on Earning, Caring, and Public Policy, funded by the Human Resources and Social Development Canada (HRSDC), completed their first year of research activities in 2007. Rod Beaujot, Director of the Population Change and Lifecourse Strategic Knowledge Cluster and in behalf of the investigators, entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with HRSDC to undertake 10 research projects for $360,000 over 2 years starting in November 2006. The research program pays particular attention to the family context of people’s lives, family diversity, labour market integration, and life course transitions. It addresses some of HRSDC’s medium-term policy research priorities including the implications for individuals, families and society of changing family structures and composition; how work arrangements affect work-life balance; how to achieve better economic inclusion of immigrants; and the extent to which the income support system is influencing the housing choices of older Canadians.

The four projects at the Population Studies Centre are: The Impact of Social Capital on the Integration of Young Canadian Immigrants by Teresa Abada and Zenaida R. Ravanera; Models of Earning and Caring: Implications for Individuals, Families and Society by Rod Beaujot, Don Kerr, Jianye Liu, and Zenaida R. Ravanera; Socioeconomic Determinants of Family Formation by Rajulton Fernando, Thomas K. Burch, and Zenaida R. Ravanera; and Family Structures and Social Capital by Zenaida R. Ravanera, Rajulton Fernando, and Rod Beaujot.

The program involves 10 other researchers from 9 different Canadian universities - Karen A. Duncan and Ruth Berry (University of Manitoba), Michael Haan (University of Alberta), Evelyne Lapierre-Adamcyk (Université de Montréal), Céline Le Bourdais (McGill University), Benoît Laplante (Université du Québec - Institut national de la recherche scientifique), Thomas Perks (University of Lethbridge), Jianye Liu (Lakehead University), Zheng Wu (University of Victoria), and Judy Lynne Richards (University of Prince Edward Island).

Ethnic Residential Segregation in Canada

T.R.Balakrishnan is continuing his research on ethnic residential segregation in Canada as well as on the socio-economic integration of immigrants. The broad objectives of the project is to understand the integration of new immigrants to Canada, not only in their residential patterns but on other factors of socioeconomic adjustment. Using data from the Canadian census as well as the ethnic diversity survey, the project to date has examined a) how persons of multiple origins differ from those of single origins, b) how aboriginals differ in their residential patterns compared to visible minorities such as the Chinese, South Asians and Blacks and why c)trends in the socioeconomic achievements of visible minorities in the recent decade and d) how ethnic connectedness impacts on the integration of ethnic minorities in Canada. The project is funded by an SSHRC grant with Paul Maxim as co-investigator.

Family and Work: Models of Earning and Caring

Investigators: Roderic Beaujot, Zenaida Ravanera, Don Kerr and Jianye Liu

Following on Earning and Caring in Canadian Families (Beaujot, 2000) which received the 2001 Porter Prize of the Canadian Sociology and Anthropology Association, this research program further explores the key changes that are affecting the family and work domains, along with the interplay between the two domains.

Making use of data from Canadian General Social Surveys on time use and on family conducted by Statistics Canada, the research will extend to current period the description of trends in time spent in paid and unpaid work; analyze the patterns of sharing of paid and unpaid work within couples; find explanations and determinants of the models of caring and sharing; and examine the implications of the models for individuals, families, and society.

Population Change and Lifecourse Strategic Knowledge Cluster

http://sociology.uwo.ca/cluster/

• The Population Studies Centre is the home base of the Population Change and Lifecourse Cluster (PCLC), one of seven successful applications in the first competition of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) on Strategic Knowledge Clusters. Roderic Beaujot is the Principal Investigator, and Zenaida Ravanera, the Coordinator of the cluster.
• PCLC merges the Population Change and Public Policy Cluster, based at the Population Studies Centre, with the “Bringing All Threads Together” Lifecourse Cluster centered at Université de Montréal. The new Cluster that received $2,097,000 over eight years starting in 2007 brings demographic and social research to the forefront of discussion of social policy through a network of researchers and partners in the government and private sectors. Its primary goal is to promote research that will lead academics and policymakers to a clearer understanding of the relationship between population structure and the lives of individuals. This research will help provide basis for improved planning on the part of governments, public institutions and agencies, and business.
• The PCLC’s leadership group consists of Rod Beaujot, the co-applicants of the SSHRC proposal – Paul Bernard (Université de Montréal), Céline Le Bourdais (McGill University), Susan McDaniel (University of Windsor), Kevin McQuillan (University of Calgary), Amélie Quesnel-Vallée (McGill University), Byron Spencer (McMaster University) and Zheng Wu (University of Victoria), and representatives of partners from the federal government agencies – Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Health Canada, Human Resources and Social Development Canada, Policy Research Initiative, and Statistics Canada.
• PCLC is comprised of many of Canada’s leading demographers, sociologists, and social policy researchers and intends to strengthen links to the public sector in order to support the development and refinement of evidence-based social policies. It also aims to make research results better known inside and outside the academe; promote broader knowledge of Canada; and strengthen the basis for future research by building partnerships with international researchers. It supports the work of Canada’s network of Research Data Centres; and builds for the future by integrating young scholars and students into the cluster.
• While devoting time to planning and to establishing and strengthening the organization in its initial year of operation, the PCLC also engaged in knowledge mobilization activities and support for students. Some 45 papers submitted through the PCLC were presented at the 3rd Symposium of the Population, Work and Family Policy Research Collaboration (PWFC), organized by Policy Research Initiative in collaboration with the Clusters and its partners, and held in Ottawa in December 13-14, 2007. The Symposium that focused on “Social and Economic Well-Being of Canada’s Population in 2017” attracted some 500 participants from the policy and academic circles. The December 2007 issue of the Horizons, a peer-reviewed journal published by the Policy Research Initiative focused on the theme of the 3rd Symposium, and had for its lead article the paper, Policy Change in Canada to 2017 and Beyond: the Challenges of Policy Adaptation, co-authored by Rod Beaujot, Kevin McQuillan, and Zenaida Ravanera.
  
• In the first student competition for funding of training, attending workshops, and presenting at conferences, the PCLC provided grants to 7 students who traveled to Michigan, Copenhagen, Vienna, Melbourne, and New York. Similar competitions and training workshop for knowledge mobilization will be held in 2008.

Religion and Demographic Change

Kevin McQuillan is pursuing his work on the topic of religion and demographic change. One part of the project will see him continue his analysis of Lutheran/Catholic differentials in Alsace in the 18th and 19th centuries. He has recently extended the data base for the project up until 1900. A second aspect of the project will look at demographic change in Iran in the period since the Revolution. He will be assisted in this work by Amir Erfani, who recently completed his Ph.D. with Professor McQuillan and is now a post-doctoral fellow.

Completed Projects

• The Family, Community, and Health in the Context of Economic Change
• http://sociology.uwo.ca/familyhealth/
• Family Transformation & Social Cohesion
• http://sociology.uwo.ca/ftsc/