Physiological indicators like heart rate (HR) and its variability (HRV) from ECG (electrocardiograms), and frontal lobe alpha power asymmetry (AA) and frontoparietal connectivity from EEG (electroencephalograms), can elucidate the role of the nervous system and other visceral organs and their effects on behavioral measures of cognitive and emotional self-regulation. Knowledge of the intergenerational transmission of cardiac and cerebral physiology can provide insight as to the developmental patterns of the organization and stabilization of these physiological processes in children and their mothers. The current study addresses a key question: Is there a developmental shift from 3-9 years of age in the overall pattern of EEG and ECG similarity between children and their mothers? The hypothesis was that there would be increasing child-mother similarity with age. EEG and ECG physiology was examined during a resting-state baseline period, during completion of cognitive tasks, and as baseline-to-task changes in EEG AA and frontoparietal coherence, and ECG HR and HRV in children and their mothers. A socioeconomically diverse longitudinal sample of 171 mothers with their children at ages 3, 6, and 9 years completed questionnaires and laboratory visits. Results indicated that there was some evidence to suggest the presence of mother-child similarity. Twenty of the seventy-two estimated intraclass correlations were significant. Furthermore, of the 20 significant correlations overall, none were present at child age 3 years, 6 were significant at child age 6 years, and 14 were significant at child age 9 years. Thus, overall, there was evidence that by age 6 years, child-mother similarity in physiological indicators of SR had begun to emerge. Additionally, consistent with the study hypothesis, there was some evidence of a pattern of increasing similarity for certain physiological indicators. Of the 72 estimated age-difference Fisher tests for increasing similarity, 17 were significant and in the hypothesized direction. The greatest number were seen during the task condition for ages 6 and 9, and particularly for the frontoparietal EEG variables. Findings are interpreted in light of social learning and behavioral genetics theories.

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This study explores the intergenerational transmission of neighborhoods for the 1981 cohort of the Swedish population, focusing on the impact of parental neighborhoods on the neighborhood outcomes of young adults. Using Swedish register-based longitudinal data, the research traces the life courses of parents and their children through their neighborhood trajectories. The findings reveal that despite an overall low rate of immobility, there is a noticeable similarity in neighborhoods across generations. Residential mobility from parental neighborhoods often occurs within adjacent neighborhood poverty rankings. However, non-European migrants exhibit higher rates of neighborhood immobility and lower upward mobility compared to their European and Swedish counterparts, highlighting the influence of migrant background. Moreover, higher parental socioeconomic status mitigates the negative effects of growing up in disadvantaged neighborhoods, whereas reliance on social benefits exacerbates these effects, particularly for individuals with non-European backgrounds. Thus, despite a general trend of residential mobility, the combined impact of economic vulnerability and migrant background continues to contribute to socioeconomic residential segregation in Sweden.

La presente tesi di dottorato è articolata in tre capitoli a se stanti che riguardano l’ambito dell’economia applicata e dell’economia dello sviluppo. Il primo capitolo analizza l’impatto intergenerazionale di shock idiosincratici alla situazione lavorativa dei genitori sull'istruzione secondaria dei figli, utilizzando un’indagine longitudinale condotta in Bosnia Erzegovina. Il secondo capitolo tratta delle potenziali conseguenze di lungo termine della guerra civile sulla partecipazione politica. In particolare, l’analisi utilizza le statistiche ufficiali disponibili relative alle elezioni in Bosnia Erzegovina e mostra che nelle municipalità più intensamente colpite dal conflitto, misurato in termini di perdite civili, l’affluenza elettorale e il capitale sociale sono minori. Il terzo capitolo contribuisce alla letteratura sulla “auto-selezione” in termini di salute della popolazione Indiana migrante presente in Inghilterra. L'analisi fornisce evidenza empirica delle differenze in termini di statura ed altri indicatori di salute delle prime e seconde generazioni di migranti in relazione alla popolazione nativa del paese di destinazione, e a quella del paese di origine. / This dissertation is a collection of three self-contained essays in applied and development economics. In the first chapter I evaluate whether educational investments of adolescent offspring are vulnerable to idiosyncratic shocks to parental employment. Specifically, I estimate the short-term impact of parental job loss on children’s enrollment in post-compulsory schooling, introducing a focus on paternal and maternal unemployment, and analysing differential gender specific effects. I further discuss the potential channels of inter-generational transmission with a specific focus on the role played by female labor supply in contexts of developing economies. Using panel data estimation techniques based on four waves of longitudinal household data from Bosnia and Herzegovina, the results show that maternal involuntary employment shocks affects school enrollment of daughters aged 15-18. In the second chapter I analyze the consequences of exposure to civil conflict on voters’ turnout and social participation. Our source of variation in violence exposure is given by war-related civilian fatalities recorded at the municipality level. In a “difference in differences” estimation framework, our results show that the intensity of civil conflict reduces turnout in the medium and long run, up to twenty years after the end of the war. War exposure is also associated with lower generalised trust and worse measures of social participation. The third chapter evaluates height performances of first and second generation migrants of Indian origins in England, with respect to adults and children in India, and the native population at destination. We provide evidence of migrants’ “self selection” on health, and we show that the circumstances in which individuals are born and raised can contribute to the definition of body size, in addition to the genetic channel and to the traits transmitted by maternal characteristics through gestation.

La tesi propone evidenze empiriche e teoriche sull’importanza delle abilità cosiddette non cognitive come elemento fondamentale del capitale umano individuale. In particolare, ci si propone di discutere se, e in che portata, queste capacità relazionali incidano sulle performance lavorative e sulle decisioni concernenti la salute. La tesi propone le reti sociali, o “social networks”, come possibile misurazione di queste capacità interpersonali. Il primo capitolo presenta una dettagliata rassegna della letteratura sulle abilità non cognitive, e sui loro effetti su salari e stato di salute, e discute l’appropriatezza dell’utilizzo delle variabili di “social networks” come misura per tali abilità. Il secondo capitolo stima a livello empirico l’impatto delle capacità relazionali sui salari. Per una completezza di metodologia e per verificare la robustezza dei risultati, le stime vengono effettuate con diverse metodologie econometriche. Il terzo capitolo analizza gli effetti di queste abilità sociali sul consumo di sigarette, e discute la loro importanza rispetto ad altri fattori rilevanti, come tasse e comportamenti dei genitori. Il capitolo applica diversi stimatori, lineari e non, ed esamina le differenze, in termini di grandezza e significatività statistica, nei risultati ottenuti. / This thesis provides further evidence on the importance of including non-cognitive and social skills as a component of individual human capital. In particular, it aims to assess whether interpersonal skills, measured through social network metrics, influence labour market and health attainment. The first chapter reviews the literature on non-cognitive skills and their impact on various outcomes, and discusses the use of social network metrics as measure of interpersonal skills. The second chapter empirically estimates the impact of these social skills on earnings. The effect is estimated comparing alternative empirical strategies to model social interactions, to fully examine the robustness and the meaning of the results obtained. The third chapter examines the effect of these skills on individual smoking behaviour over the young adulthood life. In particular, it examines the role of popularity and social skills on smoking decision, and compares the relative importance of these skills to other factors, such as cigarette taxes, and parents’ smoking behaviour. It also analysed the extent to which using non-linear estimators affects the significance and the magnitude of the effects of these factors.

This thesis consists of five essays on the economic outcomes of immigrants and homosexuals on the labour and housing market. Essay I evaluates the effect of an in-work benefit on the labour supply of single immigrant women by means of simulation. Although, on average, there is no significant effect, we find that the in-work benefit increases the working hours of single women with low incomes and slightly decreases the working hours of those with high incomes. The increase in working hours is primarily a result of increased participation. As expected, the positive effect is largest for the immigrant groups with the lowest participation rates and lowest labour incomes. Essay II studies intergenerational transmissions in self-employment. The results show that immigrants transfer general human capital over three generations in the sense that individuals whose fathers and grandfathers are self-employed have a higher self-employment propensity. For natives, only the father’s self-employment affects the son’s probability of becoming self-employed. Furthermore, the results show that natives transfer specific human capital from father to son, which increases the probability of sons becoming self-employed in the industry in which their fathers are self-employed. Essay III explores the effect of self-employment experience on subsequent earnings and the employment of male and female immigrant wage earners. We find that, relative to continued wage employment, self-employment is associated with lower earnings and difficulties in returning to paid employment for both immigrant men and women. The effect is less severe for natives. Among immigrant groups, the results give little support that self-employment experience improves earnings and employment prospects compared to experience from wage employment.  Essay IV applies a field experiment to investigate how increasing the information about applicants affects discrimination against male Arab/Muslim applicants on the rental housing market. The Arab/Muslim applicants received fewer responses from the landlords than did the Swedish applicants. All of the applicants gained by providing more information about themselves, but the magnitude of discrimination against the Arab/Muslim applicants remained unchanged, indicating that increasing the amount of applicant information will not reduce discrimination. Essay V studies possible discrimination against lesbians in the rental housing market using a field experiment. We let two fictitious couples, one heterosexual and one homosexual, apply for vacant apartments on the Internet. We then explored if there were differences in callbacks, invitations to further contact and/or showings. The results show no indication of differential treatment of lesbians by landlords.

Contemporary social science research has often focused on nuclear family relationships, and has largely neglected kinship and family outside the nuclear household. In this doctoral thesis I explore demographic issues from a multigenerational perspective, using Swedish register data and mathematical modeling. In different chapters I examine intergenerational transmission of fertility—the relationship between the number of siblings and other kin, and the fertility of an individual. The thesis demonstrates the possibilities for empirical research on family and kinship based on Swedish register data. Unique linkage opportunities across three and four generations are applied to previously unexplored research questions. The studies in the thesis demonstrate the importance of kin outside the household, such as grandparents, aunts/uncles, and cousins, for fertility and family dynamics. / Samhällsvetenskaplig forskning har i hög grad varit fokuserad på kärnfamiljer, och i lägre grad undersökt släktskap utanför hushållet. Den här avhandlingen undersöker demografiska frågor utifrån ett flergenerationsperspektiv med hjälp av svenska registerdata och matematisk modellering. I de olika studierna undersöker jag den sociala överföringen av barnafödande mellan fler generationer—sambanden mellan antalet syskon och andra familjemedlemmar, och en persons barnafödande. Avhandlingen demonstrerar hur svenska registerdata möjliggör empirisk forskning om familj och släktskap. De unika kopplingsmöjligheterna över tre till fyra generationer appliceras på tidigare outforskade forskningsfrågor. Avhandlingen visar vikten av släktskap utanför kärnfamiljen, så som far/mor-föräldrar samt kusiner, för familjedemografiska processer.

Objectif: Explorer l’association entre différentes expériences de maltraitance subie dans l’enfance chez un groupe de mères adolescentes québécoises et les conditions observables chez ces dernières qui sont reconnues comme pouvant mener à l’Adoption de pratiques parentales maltraitantes (APPM) envers leur enfant, en cohérence avec les repères mis de l’avant par la théorie axée sur le traumatisme. Devis: Analyses secondaires de données quantitatives tirées d’une étude évaluative portant sur le Programme de Soutien aux Jeunes Parents (PSJP) des Services intégrés en périnatalité et pour la petite enfance à l’intention des familles vivant en contexte de vulnérabilité (SIPPE). Échantillon: 288 mères adolescentes québécoises, âgées en moyenne de 18 ans, recevant ou ayant reçu des services par le biais du PSJP. Méthodologie: Les données ont été recueillies en quatre temps de mesure, soit à deux reprises durant la grossesse, ainsi qu’à 5 et 17 mois postpartum, sur une période d’environ deux ans. L’expérience de maltraitance subie dans l’enfance a été mesurée à l’aide de la version abrégée de l’échelle Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ). Une analyse de partitionnement des données a été menée en utilisant les variables relatives à l’expérience de maltraitance subie dans l’enfance (cinq formes de maltraitance et leur classification d’intensité). Dans un deuxième temps, des analyses de variance, par tableaux de contingence et de régression logistique binaire ont été menées afin d’évaluer l’association entre les différentes expériences de maltraitance subie dans l’enfance et les variables identifiées comme étant des conditions associées à l’APPM chez les mères adolescentes. Résultats: Nos résultats mettent de l’avant la fréquence élevée de l’expérience de maltraitance subie dans l’enfance et font ressortir trois types distincts d’expérience. Un premier type est caractérisé par une expérience de négligence émotionnelle sans cooccurrence; un deuxième par une expérience d’abus sexuel et de négligence émotionnelle; et un troisième par une expérience composée de toutes les formes de maltraitance en cooccurrence mais avec une plus faible intensité de négligence émotionnelle. En général, malgré certaines distinctions, ce seraient les mères s’inscrivant dans les deuxième et troisième types qui présenteraient significativement plus de conditions associées à l’APPM pour ce qui est de la pauvreté matérielle, de la fragilisation de la santé mentale, du fonctionnement parental et de la précarité du réseau de soutien. Constats: Ces résultats suggèrent l’importance d’arriver à une compréhension exhaustive de l’expérience de maltraitance subie dans l’enfance chez les mères adolescentes puisque, selon sa nature et sa cooccurrence, ses conséquences peuvent varier. Ces conséquences peuvent être persistantes et placer les mères à risque de transmission intergénérationnelle de la maltraitance envers leur enfant. Dans une optique de prévention de l’APPM, ceci met de l’avant la pertinence d’étudier la problématique de la maltraitance chez les mères adolescentes non pas seulement en fonction du risque de perpétration mais également en fonction de la maltraitance qu’elles ont elles-mêmes subie. Les implications pour l’intervention en travail social et dans le domaine psychosocial sont également discutées. / Objective: To explore the association between histories of childhood maltreatment types among a group of adolescent mothers and recognized variables linked to the Adoption of maltreating parental behavior (AMPB) towards their child in accordance with Trauma-focused theory landmarks. Design: Secondary analysis of quantitative data from an evaluative study of the Programme de Soutien aux Jeunes Parents (PSJP) des Services intégrés en périnatalité et pour la petite enfance à l’intention des familles vivant en contexte de vulnérabilité (SIPPE). Sample: 288 adolescent mothers from Québec, Canada, 18 years old on average, receiving or having received services through the PSJP. Method: Data was collected four times (twice during pregnancy, as well as at 5 and 17 months postpartum) over an average period of two years. Childhood maltreatment history was measured by using the short version of Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ). Cluster analysis was performed using variables related to childhood trauma history (forms of maltreatment experience and severity classification). Analyses of variance, cross tables and binary logistic regression were then conducted to assess the association between the different types of childhood maltreatment and recognized variables linked to AMPB in adolescent mothers. Results: Results show a high occurrence of childhood maltreatment experience among the adolescent mothers that took part in our study. Further, they highlight three distinct types of childhood maltreatment. The first type is characterized by emotional neglect without cooccurrence; the second one, by sexual abuse and emotional neglect; and the third one, by a cooccurrence of all forms of abuse but with a lower intensity of emotional neglect. Overall, despite certain distinctions, mothers from the second and third types present significantly more risk factors for AMPB than mothers from the first type (i.e. higher levels of poverty, fragile mental health, parental difficulties, and lower satisfaction of social network). Conclusion: From a prevention perspective of AMPB, our results put forward the importance of focusing on and understanding adolescent mothers’ diversity of childhood maltreatment experiences. Difficulties related to a history of childhood maltreatment vary according to its nature and the co-occurrence of forms of maltreatment. These consequences can be persistent and put mothers at risk of intergenerational transmission of maltreatment towards their children. This puts forth the relevance of studying maltreatment among adolescent mothers not only according to the risk of perpetration but also according to the abuse they have themselves suffered in their childhood. The implications for social work and psychosocial intervention are also discussed.