Øystein Kravdal
Biographic Data
| ID | 164673 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Øystein Kravdal |
| GIVEN NAMES | Øystein |
| FAMILY NAME | Kravdal |
| SIGNATURE | KRAVDAL Ø |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Oslo |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-6417-9837 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 79 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 1130 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 79 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1988 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 19 |
Mode d’accouchement du premier enfant et fécondité ultérieure en Norvège
À partir de données couvrant l’ensemble de la population norvégienne, nous explorons dans cette étude les associations entre le mode d’accouchement du premier enfant et le passage à une deuxième naissance chez les femmes ayant accouché de leur premier enfant né vivant entre 2007 et 2017. Contrairement à la plupart des études antérieures, cette analyse prend en compte les caractéristiques sociodémographiques de la mère et du père de l’enfant, la s…
Health Influences on Second‐ and Third‐Birth Probabilities in Norway
We examined how several health variables were associated with mothers’ probability of having a second or third child and the timing of the second birth. Data from the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) and linked registers were used. Parents with certain potentially chronic health problems before or in pregnancy were less likely than others to have an additional (especially a second) child, net of differences in relationship s…
Gray divorce among migrants and non-migrants in Norway
Objectives The literature on gray divorce, that is, marital dissolution at age 50 or later, has hitherto had little consideration for differences between migrants and non-migrants. Differing family attitudes and socio-economic characteristics may, however, lead to differences between non-migrants and (specific groups of) migrants in gray divorce risks and in the mental health implications of gray divorce. We assess such differences by comparing n…
Fertility among Norwegian Women and Men with Mental Disorders
We analysed the associations between mental disorders and women’s and men’s first-, second- and third-birth rates in 2010–2018, using register data for the full Norwegian population. Having had at least one consultation for depression in primary or specialised health care in the calendar year before the preceding year was associated with lower birth rates. According to a simulation, the birth-rate reduction corresponds to a reduction in completed…
Should we be concerned about low fertility? A discussion of six possible arguments
OBJECTIVEThe low fertility in high-income countries has raised concerns among the public, politicians, and social scientists.In this paper, six possible arguments for considering low fertility as a 'problem' -in the sense that political interventions might be warranted -are presented and discussed. CONCLUSIONOne argument, which is widely recognized and clearly relevant, is that low fertility exacerbates ageing and leads to lower population growth…
Conceptualizing and Measuring the Contribution of Assisted Reproductive Technologies to Fertility Rates
Against the backdrop of the rising use of assisted reproductive technologies (ART), we argue that more reflection on the measurement and conceptualization of the contribution of ART to fertility rates is warranted. First, despite evidence of marked sociodemographic stratification in ART use, research on the ART contribution to fertility rates has largely overlooked how ART contributes differently to fertility levels across sociodemographic groups…
Birth Spacing and Parents’ Physical and Mental Health
An extensive literature has examined the relationship between birth spacing and subsequent health outcomes for parents, particularly for mothers. However, this research has drawn almost exclusively on observational research designs, and almost all studies have been limited to adjusting for observable factors that could confound the relationship between birth spacing and health outcomes. In this study, we use Norwegian register data to examine the…
The influence of parental cancer on the mental health of children and young adults
OBJECTIVE: The aim was to examine how parental cancer affects the mental health of offspring aged 6–30, and age variations in this effect. METHODS: Individual fixed-effects models were estimated from register data covering the entire Norwegian population in 2010–2018. The outcome variable was whether the individual (offspring) had at least one consultation within a year with a general practitioner (GP) or specialist where a mental health diagnosi…
Union Status and Disability Pension
A lot is known about the association between marital status and mortality, and some of these studies have included data on cohabitation. Studies on the association with health problems, rather than mortality, are often based on self-reported health outcomes, and results from these studies are mixed. As cohabitation is now widespread, more studies that include data on cohabitation are needed. We use Norwegian register data that include detailed in…
Number of children and disability pension due to mental and musculoskeletal disorders
Earlier research has documented a relationship between parity and all-cause mortality, as well as parity and cause-specific mortality (e.g. cancer and cardiovascular disease mortality). Less is known about the relationship between parity and two very common (but less deadly) types of disorder: mental and musculoskeletal. We examine the association between parity and risk of disability pensioning from all causes and due to mental or musculoskeleta…
Mental health benefits of cohabitation and marriage
The aim is to examine how mental health is affected by cohabitation and marriage. Individual fixed-effects models are estimated from Norwegian register data containing information about consultations with a general practitioner because of mental health conditions in 2006–19. Mental health, as indicated by annual number of consultations, improves over several years before cohabitation. For those marrying their cohabiting partner, there is a weak f…
Mental and Physical Health Trajectories of Norwegian Parents and Children before and after Union Dissolution
The aim was to examine the mental and physical health trajectories of mothers, fathers, and children before and after union dissolution. Register data covering the entire Norwegian population, and including information on consultations with general practitioners in 2006-2018, were used. Constant unobserved characteristics were controlled for with individual fixed effects. As judged by the number of consultations, mothers' and fathers' mental heal…
With Age Comes …? An Examination of Gendered Differences in the Resource Advantages Associated with Parental Age in Norway
Using high-quality register data, this paper constructs an empirical portrait of older parenthood in contemporary Norway and explores gender differences in the extent to which older parents are better-resourced parents. Like most family issues, academic and policy discussions of older parenthood have tended to focus on the experiences of women. Although motherhood at older ages was not uncommon in previous generations, rapid social and family cha…
Sex Differences in Childlessness in Norway
In Norway, as in many other rich countries, childlessness is more common among men than women and has also increased more among men. Over the last 15 years, the gap in childlessness between 45-year-old women and men has widened from 5.8 to 10.2 percentage points, according to national register data. In the Norwegian-born subgroup, the gap has increased by 2.4 percentage points, from 5.8 to 8.2. The goal of the study was to identify the demographi…
Are sibling models a suitable tool in analyses of how reproductive factors affect child mortality
Several studies of how reproductive factors affect child mortality or other child outcomes have been based on sibling comparisons. With such models one controls for unobserved determinants of the outcome that are shared by the siblings and linked to the re
Research note
Children's age at parental divorce and depression in early and mid-adulthood
This study aimed to assess whether children's age at their parents' divorce is associated with depression in early and mid-adulthood, as indicated by medication purchase. A sibling comparison method was used to control for unobserved factors shared between siblings. The data were extracted from the Norwegian Population Register and Norwegian Prescription Database and included about 181,000 individuals aged 20-44 who had experienced parental divor…
Taking birth year into account when analysing effects of maternal age on child health and other outcomes
When analysing effects of maternal age on child outcomes, many researchers estimate sibling models to control for unobserved factors shared between siblings. Some have included birth year in these models, as it is linked to maternal age and may also have i
New evidence about effects of reproductive variables on child mortality in sub-Saharan Africa
There is still considerable uncertainty about how reproductive factors affect child mortality. This study, based on Demographic and Health Survey data from 28 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, shows that mortality is highest for firstborn children with very young mothers. Other children with young mothers, or of high birth order, also experience high mortality. Net of maternal age and birth order, a short preceding birth interval is associated wit…
The increasing mortality advantage of the married
In several European countries the excess mortality of nonmarried people relative to the married has increased. In this study we describe in detail the increasing mortality advantage of the married in Norway and investigate the extent to which changes in ed
Large and Growing Social Inequality in Mortality in Norway
Health effects of parental deaths among adults in Norway
We analyse effects of parental deaths on the health of women and men aged 18-59 in 2004-2008, indicated by purchases of prescription medicines. Register data covering the entire Norwegian population were used, and fixed-effects models were estimated to control for unobserved time-invariant individual factors. A parent's death seemed to have immediate adverse consequences in both main age groups considered (18-39, 40-59), although effects were low…
Can socioeconomic factors explain geographic variation in overweight in Norway
We explore if the geographic variation in excess body-mass in Norway can be explained by socioeconomic status, as this has consequences for public policy. The analysis was based on individual height and weight for 198,311 Norwegian youth in 2011, 2012 and 2013, stemming from a compulsory screening for military service, which covers the whole population aged seventeen. These data were merged with municipality-level socioeconomic status (SES) varia…
How much of the variation in mortality across Norwegian municipalities is explained by the socio-demographic characteristics of the population
The Estimation of Fertility Effects on Happiness
Changing Relationships between Education and Fertility
Education and fertility (including childrearing) are foundational processes in societal metabolism, and the relationship between them can have profound, long-term effects on a variety of institutions, including the labor market, the family (especially care for the elderly), and educational institutions themselves. In postindustrial countries, conventional wisdom holds that there is a strong inverse relationship between education and completed fer…
The High Fertility of College Educated Women in Norway
College education has a positive impact on birth rates, net of age and duration since previous birth, according to models estimated separately for second and third births. There are also indications of such effects on first-birth rates, in the upper 20
The impact of individual and aggregate unemployment on fertility in Norway
Continuous-time hazard models are estimated from register-based birth, migration, education and unemployment histories for the complete Norwegian population, linked with aggregate data for municipalities. The analysis covers the period 1992-98. First-b
Child care availability and first-birth timing in Norway
Both sociological and economic theories posit that widely available, high-quality, and affordable child care should have pronatalist effects. Yet to date, the empirical evidence has not consistently supported this hypothesis. We argue that this previous empirical work has been plagued by the inability to control for endogenous placement of day care centers and the possibility that people migrate to take advantage of the availability of child care…
Education and fertility in sub-Saharan africa
Using data from Demographic and Health Surveys for 22 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, I show that the average educational level in a village or a community of a similar size has a significant depressing effect on a woman’s birth rates, net of urbanization and her own education. According to simulations, average fertility for these countries would be 1.00 lower if education were expanded from the current level in the region to the relatively high…
Child-Care Availability and Fertility in Norway
The child-care and fertility hypothesis has been in the literature for a long time and is straightforward: As child care becomes more available, affordable, and acceptable, the antinatalist effects of increased female educational attainment and work opportunities decrease. As an increasing number of countries express concern about low fertility, the child-care and fertility hypothesis takes on increased importance. Yet data and statistical limita…
Consequences of family disruption on children’s educational outcomes in Norway
Using high-quality data from Norwegian population registers, we examine the relationship between family disruption and children’s educational outcomes. We distinguish between disruptions caused by parental divorce and paternal death and, using a simultaneous equation model, pay particular attention to selection bias in the effect of divorce. We also allow for the possibility that disruption may have different effects at different stages of a chil…
Does marriage require a stronger economic underpinning than informal cohabitation
A large proportion of cohabitors in the Statistics Norway Omnibus Surveys of 1996 reported economic reasons for their hesitation to marry, and in particular the costs of the wedding. In line with this, the Norwegian Family and Occupation Survey of 1988 revealed effects both of women's cumulated income and men's non-employment on the actual choice of union type. Also some other evidence suggests that affordability matters, although there are plaus…
The Importance of Economic Activity, Economic Potential and Economic Resources for the Timing of First Births in Norway
This hazard model analysis is based on data from a recent sample survey linked with individual income records from the Directorate for Taxation. It demonstrates that work experience strongly increases the rate of entry into parenthood in Norway, a result which has not appeared clearly in previous investigations in other countries. Moreover, the analysis confirms that longer time spent in school is an important explanation for the rising age at fi…
Effects of current education on second- and third-birth rates among Norwegian women and men born in 1964
A variety of approaches have been employed to assess the importance of womenâ s education for their second- or third-birth rates. Some researchers have included the educational level measured at a relatively high age in their models, whereas others have
Fertility history and cause-specific mortality
Proceed With Caution? Parents' Union Dissolution and Children's Educational Achievement
Using high-quality Norwegian register data on 49,879 children from 23,655 families, the authors estimated sibling fixed-effects models to explore whether children who are younger at the time of a parental union dissolution perform less well academically, as measured by their grades at age 16, than their older siblings who have spent more time living with both biological parents. Results from a baseline model suggest a positive age gradient that i…
The relationship between mortality and time since divorce, widowhood or remarriage in Norway
Increasing absolute mortality disparities by education in Finland, Norway and Sweden, 1971–2000
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Studies on socioeconomic health disparities often suffer from a lack of uniform data and methodology. Using high quality, census-linked data and sensible inequality measures, this study documents the changes in absolute and relative mortality differences by education in Finland, Norway and Sweden over the period 1971 to 2000. METHODS: The age-standardised mortality rates and the population exposures for three educationa…
A broader perspective on education and mortality
Child mortality in India
When assessing the health benefits of increased education in less developed countries, many researchers have been concerned about the omission of important determinants of an individual's education from the models. The study presented here shows that one should also be concerned about the limitations of the individual-level perspective. According to a multilevel discrete-time hazard model estimated with data from the National Family Health Survey…
The Emergence of a Positive Relation Between Education and Third Birth Rates in Norway with Supportive Evidence from the United States
Data derived from the Central Population Register of Norway and the 1988 National Survey of Families and Households show a positive association between mothers' educational level and rates of third births. Norwegian women who had a second birth during the late 1970s and had received more than 12 years of schooling gave birth to a third child more frequently than women who had only received the minimum compulsory education. Similar results were ob…
Individual and community effects of women's education and autonomy on contraceptive use in India
This study makes use of the National Family Health Survey of 1998-99 to investigate whether differences in women's autonomy can explain much of the relationship between education and contraceptive use among married Indian women with at least one child. The analyses show that a woman's education does not influence her contraceptive use through a strengthening of her position in relation to that of men, but that the inclusion of a simple indicator …
Family Life History and Late Mid-Life Mortality in Norway
Using data on all Norwegians born 1935-68, we analyze the associations between mortality and a combined indicator of fertility and marital or partnership status and history. The focus is on ages 40-73 and the years 1980-2008 (30 million person-years of observations and 117,000 deaths). Among men in first marriages, the childless have 36 percent higher mortality than those with two or more children. The corresponding figure for women is 61 percent…
The impact of marital status on cancer survival
An Illustration of the Problems Caused by Incomplete Education Histories in Fertility Analyses
When assessing the importance of education for fertility, one should ideally use complete education histories. Unfortunately, such data are often not available. It is illustrated here, using register data for Norwegian women born in 1969, that inclusio
Wanting a Child Without a Firm Commitment to the Partner
Educational reversals and first-birth timing in sub-Saharan Africa
In many areas throughout sub-Saharan Africa, young adult cohorts are less educated than their predecessors because of declines in school enrollments during the 1980s and 1990s. Because a woman with little education typically becomes a mother earlier and has more children than one with better education, and because of a similar well-established relationship between current education and current fertility at the societal level, one might expect suc…
A simulation-based assessment of the bias produced when using averages from small DHS clusters as contextual variables in multilevel models
There is much interest these days in the importance of community institutions and resources for individual mortality and fertility. DHS data may seem to be a valuable source for such multilevel analysis. For example, researchers may consider including
Does income inequality really influence individual mortality
There is still much uncertainty about the impact of income inequality on health and mortality. Some studies have supported the original hypothesis about adverse effects, while others have shown no effects. One problem in these investigations is that th
The impact of first-birth timing on divorce
The weak impact of female labour force participation on Norwegian third-birth rates
Forgone labor participation and earning due to childbearing among Norwegian women
Individual-level retrospective data from the Family and Occupation Survey of 1988 are used to assess the time diverted from gainful employment because of the presence of children in two Norwegian birth cohorts. We find that a two-child mother born in 1950, whose births occurred in her early twenties, lost 6.6 woman-years up to age 37, compared to a childless woman. By matching information on registered income with the survey data, we estimate tha…
The Emergence of a Positive Relation Between Education and Third Birth Rates in Norway with Supportive Evidence from the United States
Data derived from the Central Population Register of Norway and the 1988 National Survey of Families and Households show a positive association between mothers' educational level and rates of third births. Norwegian women who had a second birth during the late 1970s and had received more than 12 years of schooling gave birth to a third child more frequently than women who had only received the minimum compulsory education. Similar results were ob…
The Importance of Economic Activity, Economic Potential and Economic Resources for the Timing of First Births in Norway
This hazard model analysis is based on data from a recent sample survey linked with individual income records from the Directorate for Taxation. It demonstrates that work experience strongly increases the rate of entry into parenthood in Norway, a result which has not appeared clearly in previous investigations in other countries. Moreover, the analysis confirms that longer time spent in school is an important explanation for the rising age at fi…
Wanting a Child Without a Firm Commitment to the Partner
The Attractiveness of an Additive Hazard Model
Hans-Peter Blossfeld and Götz Rohwer, Techniques of Event History Modeling. New Approaches to Causal Analysis
Does marriage require a stronger economic underpinning than informal cohabitation
A large proportion of cohabitors in the Statistics Norway Omnibus Surveys of 1996 reported economic reasons for their hesitation to marry, and in particular the costs of the wedding. In line with this, the Norwegian Family and Occupation Survey of 1988 revealed effects both of women's cumulated income and men's non-employment on the actual choice of union type. Also some other evidence suggests that affordability matters, although there are plaus…
Social inequalities in cancer survival
Social differentials in survival from twelve common types of cancer were assessed by estimating a mixed additive-multiplicative hazard model on the basis of individual register and census data for the whole Norwegian population. The excess all-cause mortality among cancer patients compared with similar persons without a cancer diagnosis was significantly related to education, occupation, and income. Excess mortality was, on the whole, about 15 pe…
A search for aggregate-level effects of education on fertility, using data from Zimbabwe
The analysis was based on the 1994 Zimbabwe Demographic and Health Survey combined with aggregate data from the 1992 census. Discrete-time hazard models for first and higher-order births were estimated for 1990-94. The average length of education in the district and the proportion who are literate were found to have no impact on a woman's birth rate above and beyond that of her own education, when it was controlled for urbanization. This was the …
Main and Interaction Effects of Women's Education and Status on Fertility
The impact of marital status on cancer survival
Has population growth restricted improvements in food availability per head, 1970-95
Using data from the Food and Agricultural Organization and some other sources, it was estimated that rapid population growth in countries with an initial average calorie availability of below 2800 per head inhibited improvements in food production and availability per head during the 1980s and early 1990s. There were statistically significant negative effects of population growth on the growth in the production of noncereal food crops, milk, and …
The High Fertility of College Educated Women in Norway
College education has a positive impact on birth rates, net of age and duration since previous birth, according to models estimated separately for second and third births. There are also indications of such effects on first-birth rates, in the upper 20
A cancer survival model that takes sociodemographic variations in “normal” mortality into account
Study objectives: Sociodemographic differentials in cancer survival have occasionally been studied by using a relative survival approach, where all cause mortality among persons with a cancer diagnosis is compared with that among similar persons without such a diagnosis (“normal” mortality). One should ideally take into account that this “normal” mortality not only depends on age, sex, and period, but also various other sociodemographic variables…
Education and fertility in sub-Saharan africa
Using data from Demographic and Health Surveys for 22 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, I show that the average educational level in a village or a community of a similar size has a significant depressing effect on a woman’s birth rates, net of urbanization and her own education. According to simulations, average fertility for these countries would be 1.00 lower if education were expanded from the current level in the region to the relatively high…
Education and Fertility in Sub-Saharan Africa
Using data from Demographic and Health Surveys for 22 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, I show that the average educational level in a village or a community of a similar size has a significant depressing effect on a woman 's birth rates, net of urbanization and her own education. According to simulations, average fertility for these countries would be 1.00 lower if were expanded from the current level in the region to the relatively high level in…
Is the Previously Reported Increase in Second- and Higher-order Birth Rates in Norway and Sweden from the mid-1970s Real or a Result of Inadequate Estimation Methods
According to models estimated separately for second-, third-, and fourth-birth rates in Norway, an increase took place from the mid-1970s to about 1990, given age and duration since last previous birth. A similar rise in the birth rates was seen in Swe
The impact of individual and aggregate unemployment on fertility in Norway
Continuous-time hazard models are estimated from register-based birth, migration, education and unemployment histories for the complete Norwegian population, linked with aggregate data for municipalities. The analysis covers the period 1992-98. First-b
Individual and community effects of women's education and autonomy on contraceptive use in India
This study makes use of the National Family Health Survey of 1998-99 to investigate whether differences in women's autonomy can explain much of the relationship between education and contraceptive use among married Indian women with at least one child. The analyses show that a woman's education does not influence her contraceptive use through a strengthening of her position in relation to that of men, but that the inclusion of a simple indicator …
The problematic estimation of 'imitation effects' in multilevel models
It seems plausible that a personâ s demographic behaviour may be influenced by that among other people in the community, for example because of an inclination to imitate. When estimating multilevel models from clustered individual data, some investigat
Educational differentials in male mortality in Russia and northern Europe
Background: Prior estimates of the Russian mortality by socio-demographic group revealed significant differentials around the censuses of 1979 and 1989, but these studies were based on different sources of information on education for the deceased
Child mortality in India
When assessing the health benefits of increased education in less developed countries, many researchers have been concerned about the omission of important determinants of an individual's education from the models. The study presented here shows that one should also be concerned about the limitations of the individual-level perspective. According to a multilevel discrete-time hazard model estimated with data from the National Family Health Survey…
An Illustration of the Problems Caused by Incomplete Education Histories in Fertility Analyses
When assessing the importance of education for fertility, one should ideally use complete education histories. Unfortunately, such data are often not available. It is illustrated here, using register data for Norwegian women born in 1969, that inclusio
Demography (64 works) · Population (56 works) · Sociology (55 works) · Psychology (39 works) · Norwegian (37 works) · Economics (36 works) · Family Dynamics and Relationships (36 works) · Medicine (36 works) · Health disparities and outcomes (32 works) · Demography (30 works)