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Sweden stands out as a forerunner in the development of gender equality and family dynamics. To deepen the knowledge on power distribution and gender dynamics of couple relations, we investigate how women and men’s childbearing intentions influence actual childbearing behavior. The Young Adult Panel Study (YAPS) has information on both partners’ childbearing intentions in 2009, which we follow for five years with register data on childbearing. The results indicate that women’s childbearing intentions are more important than men’s intentions in determining actual childbirths. Sociologisk Forsknings digitala arkiv

The use of parental leave by fathers varies notably between countries. However, the underlying reasons for cross-country differences have not been explicitly studied. We use migration between Finland and Sweden as an instrument to decompose the roles of policy design and social norms in the differences in take-up rates between these two countries. First, we inferred the role of policy by looking at fathers from the same country of origin in various policy contexts. Second, we deduced the role of norms by examining fathers who migrated at different ages and fathers with spouses of different origins. We find that the large cross-country differences in fathers’ use of parental leave between Finland and Sweden mainly stem from differences in policy design. Norms seem to play a smaller but still significant role.

During the past 50 years the meaning of fatherhood and expectations for Swedish fathers has changed dramatically. Norms about masculinity, previously closely related to paid work and breadwinning, have partly been replaced by new ideals in which fathers are caring and active parents. This development has been partially policy-driven; since the 1960s, fatherhood in policy discourse and practice has successively shifted towards a focus on gender equality and a dual earner-carer model. Sweden was the first country in the world that granted fathers the right to paid parental leave in 1974. Since then policy reforms and campaigns have promoted fathers’ up-take of parental leave. Today, there is a strong social norm that fathers should take parental leave and the share of days taken by fathers increases each year. However, relatively few fathers take an equal portion of the leave and relatively little research addresses whether long leaves promote a more egalitarian division of labor. This chapter presents results from interviews with 14 fathers who had taken a substantial amount of leave, who report on leave decision-making, experiences and outcomes, and explores the extent to which results suggest that long leaves are likely to promote an egalitarian model of parenthood.

Since the introduction of parental leave in Sweden a more gender-equal division of such leave has been targeted. In 1995 one month was reserved for each parent, implying that the month was forfeited if not used by the same parent. A second month was reserved in 2002. In 2008, a gender equality bonus was introduced, meaning that tax credits were given to parents who shared the leave equally. This study investigates the effects of these reforms on parental leave use by means of a difference-in-difference approach with parents of children born just before and just after the introduction of each reform. We use register data from the Swedish Social Insurance Agency, which include all parents residing in Sweden. The results indicate a strong effect on parental leave use resulting from the introduction of the first reserved month, a more modest but clear effect resulting from the second reserved month and, so far, no effect resulting from the gender equality bonus. Possible interpretations of the results are that (1) reserved time may be more effective than an economic bonus, (2) change from low levels of use may be easier and (3) reforms may matter most when they are first introduced.

In the Nordic countries, gender equality is an explicit policy goal. For example, Norway and Sweden both offer paid parental leave for approximately one year following childbirth with earnings-related benefits and with certain periods reserved exclusively for the father. In this study, we examine the relationship between fathers’ and mothers’ use of parental leave and continued childbearing among couples in Norway and Sweden. The two countries offer largely similar family policies, but differ concerning family policy context. While Sweden has a consistent policy concerning gender relations, Norway has more ambiguous family policies giving incentives both to gender equality and childrearing at home. Our study is based on event-history analyses of Nordic register data and shows that fathers’ parental leave use is positively associated with continued childbearing in both Norway and Sweden, for both one- and two-child couples. The association is stronger in Norway. For two-child families, a long period of leave for the mother is positively associated with a third birth. It seems as if the two-child family is highly compatible with the combination of work and family life, but that in families who choose to have more children, the mother often seems to have a weaker work orientation.

In 2008, Sweden introduced a cash-for-care benefit consisting of a flat-rate sum paid by municipalities to parents of children between the ages of one and three who did not use publicly subsidized childcare. The main object of the reform was to increase parents? ?freedom to choose?, but the policy was criticized because of its potentially negative effects on gender equality and mothers? employment. This study focuses on the effects of cash-for-care on female employment in Sweden. The study shows that the adoption of this policy had negative effects on female employment rates and female employment growth rates in non-urban areas. Cash-for-care was abolished in Sweden in 2016, but similar policies are still in place in other Scandinavian countries. This research contributes to the debate on family policy and its developments, in particular in Scandinavian countries.

South Korea has extremely low rates of fertility and labor force participation by women during their childbearing years, whereas Sweden has high rates for both. Variations in family policy models may explain differences in fertility and women’s employment between the two countries. Drawing upon literature that examines the effects of family policies on fertility and women’s employment, this paper compares childcare support for very young children and parental leave policies in South Korea and Sweden. Thereafter, we discuss the importance of providing stronger support for dual-earner rather than single-earner families to reconcile the two objectives of increasing fertility and women’s workforce participation. Specifically, it is critical to: (a) enhance the quantity and quality of childcare services for very young children, (b) achieve gender equality in parental leave policies, and (c) reduce gaps in the accessibility and utilization of family benefits by working parents from different social classes.

This study examines how the workplace situation of both parents affects fathers' parental leave use. We used parental leave-taking register data from Statistics Sweden for dual-earner couples that resided in Stockholm and had children in 1997 (n = 3,755). The results indicate that fathers shorten their parental leave if their workplaces are such that one can expect leave to be associated with high costs, and that fathers appear to be influenced by the leave use of other fathers in the workplace. Mothers' workplace situation appears to be less important for fathers' leave use. The results point to the importance of actors other than parents (such as employers) for understanding the gender-based division of childcare.

We link population register data to information on regional child care characteristics in order to estimate the influence of the latter on second and third birth intensities of Swedish couples in 1 ...

The aim of this article is to provide an overview of the development of parental leave in the Nordic countries in the last decade or so and explain the different roads taken by individual countries in this regard. Focusing on the recent development, mainly on father’s quota, we discuss whether we are witnessing a paradigm shift in some of these countries, away from an emphasis on gender equality to a more traditional family approach, with the mother as the main parent, thinly guised as ‘free choice’ of individual families. Furthermore, the article asks why the changes in question have taken place and examines the positions of different political parties towards the issue. The article shows that the Nordic countries are developing somewhat different policies and the gap between both policies and politics in the Nordic countries seems to be increasing rather than closing up.

The gender division of childcare has received less research attention than the division of paid work and unpaid household work, possibly because time for childcare has been presumed to have the same determinants as time for household work and because of lack of appropriate data. Further, some of the previous studies of parents' time for childcare have been subject to limitations, such as small sample size, selective samples, and self-reports on childcare time, and few had access to earnings data. This paper uses register data on days of parental-leave used by mothers and fathers of Swedish children born in 1994, including information on the earnings of mothers and fathers, to analyse the determinants of fathers' participation in childcare. In 1994 parents were entitled to 15 months of parental leave of which 12 months were compensated at 90 per cent of prior earnings. Our major finding is that while both father's and mother's earnings had positive effects on father's leave use, this was smaller at higher levels of earnings, and father's earnings had a greater impact than mother's. At similar levels of earnings, the more educated fathers used more leave. Fathers also used more leave if the mother had more schooling and if they were established in the labour market, but used less leave if the mother was established in the labour market

We previously found foci of p53 up-regulation in dysplasia in colorectal adenomas (CRAs). The present study aimed at exploring the frequency of this phenomenon in CRAs with and without submucosal invasive carcinoma.Sections from 568 polypectomies or surgical resections harbouring a CRA (without or with submucosal invasion) or overt colorectal carcinomas were challenged with p53 immunostaining. The largest section from single colorectal neoplasias was measured by the aid of a calibrated ocular scale in a conventional microscope. Lesions were divided into small adenomas (≤10 mm in size), large adenomas (≥11 mm in size), adenomas with submucosal invasion, and overt invasive carcinomas (without any recognizable adenoma remnant tissue).CRAs with three or more dysplastic foci of p53-up-regulation gradually increased from 8% in small adenomas (size: ≤10 mm) to 48% in large adenomas (size: ≥11 mm), and to 65% in the adenomatous tissue in adenomas displaying submucosal invasion), but plummeted to 13% in the submucosal carcinomatous tissue and to 11% in overt carcinomas. In contrast, extensive p53 up-regulation predominated in the submucosal carcinomatous tissue (87%) and in overt carcinomas (89%).The frequency of foci of dysplastic glands with up-regulation of p53 (hotspots) gradually increased from small to larger CRAs, being highest in the adenomatous tissue of CRAs with submucosal invasive carcinoma. The foci of p53 up-regulation became confluent (appreciated as extensive up-regulation) in the submucosal carcinomatous tissue and in overt carcinomas. It is concluded that a high number of foci with p53 up-regulation in adenomatous tissue might be required before submucosal invasive carcinoma ensues.

The gap in labor market rewards between immigrants and the native born is sometimes explained with reference to immigrants' lack of country-specific skills. This study investigates whether speaking and understanding Swedish well, having an education obtained in Sweden, and living with a Swedish partner improve immigrants' position in the labor market. The findings show that these characteristics do not substantially reduce the risk of unemployment, and the risk remains clearly above the level of native-born Swedes. However, employed immigrants with a Swedish education and very good language skills are as likely as Swedes to be educationally overqualified for their job. In sum, country-specific skills are helpful in the process of reward attainment but do not go all the way in accounting for the labor market disadvantage of immigrants. The residual may be due to discrimination.

In Sweden, cohabitation is the norm before marriage and is in many ways equal to marriage. By investigating the transition from cohabitation to marriage, this study seeks to clarify how those who marry differ from those who do not. The study uses the Swedish Family Survey of 1992 together with register data of marriages and births for the following 2 years. Information on partner's attitudes and marriage plans is obtained from a self-administered questionnaire. The risk of marriage for women who were cohabiting at the time of interview is analyzed with event history analysis. The results show that life course stage, economic gains in marriage, and family socialization predict whether cohabiting women will turn their unions into marriages. In addition, attitudes toward leisure and parenthood influence marriage propensities. Marriage plans explain some, but not all, of those effects.

Objective To determine whether matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) degrade cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (COMP) to produce fragments similar to those found in synovial fluid (SF) from patients with arthritis. Methods COMP fragments were generated in vitro by treating (a) bovine articular cartilage with interleukin-1α (IL-1α), (b) purified bovine COMP with MMPs, and (c) articular cartilage with MMPs. The fragments generated in each case were analyzed by Western blot, using an antibody to the C-terminal heptadecapeptide of COMP. Results IL-1-α stimulation of cartilage resulted in a fragmentation of COMP, which was inhibited by MMP inhibitors CGS 27023A and BB-94. Isolated, recombinant MMPs rapidly degraded purified COMP, as well as COMP residing in cartilage. Several COMP fragments produced in vitro had similar electrophoretic mobility to those in SF of patients with arthritis. Conclusion MMPs may contribute to the COMP fragments found in vivo. Quantitation of MMP-specific fragments may be useful in the evaluation of MMP inhibitors in patients with arthritis.