Background The purpose of this study was to examine the association between electronic media use, including use of social media and gaming, and symptoms of depression, and whether gender or having friends moderated these associations. Methods This study was based on self-reported cross-sectional data from the Ungdata survey, conducted in 2018 by the Norwegian Social Research (NOVA) Institute in cooperation with seven regional drug and alcohol competence centres. The target group comprised 12,353 15-16 years old adolescents. Binominal logistic regression was used to analyse the association between electronic media use and symptoms of depression. Results The odds of having symptoms of depression were higher for those who used social media more than 3 hours per day (OR: 1.60, 95% CI: 1.43-1.80), compared to those who used social media 3 hours or less per day. Additionally, the odds of having symptoms of depression was higher for those who used more than 3 hours on gaming per day (OR: 1.57, 95% CI: 1.36-1.80), compared to those who used 3 hours and less on gaming per day after adjustment for potential confounders. There were no interaction effects between social media and gaming use with symptoms of depression. Neither were the associations between social media use and gaming with symptoms of depression moderated by gender or having friends. Conclusions The odds of having symptoms of depression were significantly higher for adolescents with a more frequent use of electronic media.

Background: How screen use is associated with adolescents' mental health has been widely debated in public media during the last decade, but there is still lack of information about if and how the associations vary between types of electronic media. Objective: This study aimed to examine how time spent on types of screen use (social media, gaming alone, gaming in groups and watching TV) was associated with depressive symptoms among adolescents in Sweden, and whether gender moderated these associations. Methods: We analysed data from the Swedish section of the Children of Immigrants: Longitudinal Survey in Four European Countries. The final sample consisted of 3556 eighth grade adolescents in 2011 (51% girls). We used logistic regression analysis to estimate the odds ratio of feeling depressed often versus less often/not at all using time spent on different types of screen use as predictor variables. Additionally, we tested interaction effects between gender and the predictor variables. Results: Our results showed that spending more than 2 hours on social media was associated with higher odds of feeling depressed often compared with spending 2 hours or less. Not watching TV was associated with higher odds of feeling depressed often compared with watching TV. These patterns did not differ across genders. Gaming alone and gaming in groups were not associated with depressive symptoms. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that more frequent social media use and not watchingTV were associated with a higher level of depressive symptoms. Lay Summary This study examined how time spent on four types of screen use including social media, gaming alone, gaming in groups and watching TV was associated with depressive symptoms among adolescents in Sweden, and whether these associations differed for girls and boys. We analysed data from the Swedish section of the Children of Immigrants: Longitudinal Survey in Four European Countries.The final sample consisted of 3556 eighth grade adolescents in 2011 (51% girls). We used logistic regression analysis to estimate the odds ratio of feeling depressed often versus less often/ not at all using time spent on different types of screen use as predictor variables. In addition, we tested interaction effects between gender and the predictor variables. Our results showed that social media use and not watching TV was associated with higher odds of feeling depressed often. Gaming alone and gaming in groups were not associated with higher level of depressive symptoms. These patterns did not differ across genders.

Sweden is often considered a forerunner in family change and developments towardsless gendered family production patterns. In this study, we focus on recent developmentstowards more gender-equal sharing of parental leave in Sweden. We explore how fathers’use of parental leave has changed over time before and since the turn of the century. Asthe parental leave benefit is individual and earnings-based, we examine how fathers’ individualsocio-economic and demographic characteristics are associated with their parental leaveuptake over time, to determine whether there are forerunners and laggards in recent familychange. Multinomial logistic regression models were applied to data from national registers.Our study demonstrates a bifurcation in trends in recent decades. This is associated with theextension of reforms that reserve part of the leave for fathers, the so-called “daddy months”,but stretches beyond the impact of any such reforms. Taking a long leave of over twomonths was pioneered by better-educated residents of metropolitan areas and surroundingsuburbs, as well as Swedish-born fathers. Young fathers, low-income earners and foreign-bornfathers lagged behind in these developments. We regard the unstable labour marketsituation of the latter as a contributing factor in widening social inequalities in family-relatedbehaviour.

BackgroundMental health problems have increased noticeably among adolescents. Physical activity has been identified as an important factor in the promotion of mental health. The purpose of this study was to explore how leisure time physical activity was associated with depressive symptoms among adolescents in Sweden.MethodsUsing binary logistic regression we analyzed Swedish data collected as part of the Children of Immigrants: Longitudinal Survey in Four European Countries. The complete sample used for analysis consisted of 3787 adolescents (including 1855 boys and 1932 girls).ResultsAdolescents who participated in physical activity during their leisure time on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis had substantially lower odds of often feeling depressed than those who were physically inactive. This pattern applied to both boys and girls. Relative to boys, girls had significantly higher odds of often feeling depressed.ConclusionsThe findings of this study suggested that participation in physical activity regularly during leisure time was associated with a lower level of depressive symptoms among adolescents in Sweden. Because of the cross-sectional study design conclusions about causality cannot be drawn. Future research based on longitudinal data is needed to further explore the mechanisms behind the association. This study calls for recognition of the value of physical activity in promoting mental health among adolescents.

BACKGROUND

Studies on children and divorce in China find a negative association between the number of children and divorce and a protective effect of having a son. Nonetheless, we have little knowledge of how these associations have developed over time.

OBJECTIVE

This study explored the association of the number and sex composition of children with divorce risks in China over the period 1980–2012.

METHODS

We conducted an event history analysis of longitudinal data from the China Family Panel Studies.

RESULTS

Childless couples had an increasingly higher divorce risk than couples with children over our observation period. In the 2000s, the divorce risk of childless couples in both urban and rural areas was approximately five times that of one-child parents. The role of the child’s gender differs for urban and rural one-child parents, with no significant effect on the divorce risk of urban parents and different effects over time for rural parents.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings show that ending a marriage when having no children has become an increasingly pronounced trend. Furthermore, partially due to the rapid socioeconomic and demographic progress and the rise of girls’ empowerment, the child’s gender has lost importance for the divorce risk of urban parents.

CONTRIBUTION

This study enriches our knowledge about the association between children and divorce risks in a rapidly developing society. Indirectly, the study also informs us about the evolution of son preference in China.

In this study, we investigate whether immigrant parents hold sex preferences for children in Sweden, a country that promotes gender equality and where parental preference for having a girl prevails. By applying event-history models to Swedish register data, we investigate the transition to third birth by the sex composition of children born among immigrants. In particular, we examine whether women who come from countries with strong son-preference cultures accelerate their process of having a third child if their prior children are both girls. We pay particular attention to immigrants from China, Korea, India and the former Yugoslavia, where son preference culture has been well documented in the literature. Our results show that women from China, Korea, India and the former Yugoslavia are more likely to have a third child if they have two girls than if they have two boys or a boy and a girl. Interestingly, mothers from China, Korea and India tends to accelerate their process to get a son, whereas mothers from the former Yugoslavia do not hasten. Furthermore, the 1.5 generation and the immigrant mothers with a Swedish partner from China, Korea and India demonstrate a girl preference, as the native Swedes do, whereas the 1.5 generation immigrant mothers from the former Yugoslavia do not show any sign of adaptation.

What happens when citizens from societies with strong son preference culture migrateto countries in which preference for having a child of each sex prevails? Using datafrom Swedish population registers, we investigate the sex ratio at birth by parity andthe sex composition of previous children in Sweden. Our results showed that womenwith Chinese, Korean, and Indian background had a substantially elevated sex ratio atthe third parity if previous children were both girls. Strikingly, this skewed ratio becameless pronounced after 2000, suggesting a shift for a more neutral sex preference forchildren among these groups in the new century.

This study investigated divorce during China’ssocial and economic transformation period from1970 to 2012. Specifically, the study examinedthe trend development of divorce and demonstratedhow marriage formation type and individualsocioeconomic characteristics were associatedwith the likelihood of divorce across time.Event-history analysis was applied to longitudinaldata from the China Family Panel Studies(2010–2012 waves). The results showed a threefoldincrease in divorce from the pre-1990s tothe 1990s. Surprisingly, the trend shifted to aplateau toward the 2000s. When cohabitationwas in its rapidly diffusing stage in the 1990s,individuals who cohabited prior to marriage hada substantially higher likelihood of divorce. Ascohabitation became increasingly common inthe 2000s, its effect on divorce weakened. Therole of socioeconomic characteristics in divorcealso varied across time. This study enriches the knowledge of family dynamics in contemporaryChinese society.

This study aims to investigate immigrant fathers’ use of parental leave for a first child in Sweden from 1995 to2010. The issue of immigrant fathers’ uptake of parental leave is particularly well suited to assess the integrativeaspects of family policies and for studying immigrants’ integration because it reflects labour market participationand acceptance of gender-equal parental norms. Using data from Swedish population registers, we find thatimmigrant fathers do take parental leave but not to the same extent as Swedish-born fathers do, and they donot respond equally to policy changes. Our most important finding is that immigrant fathers increase their leaveuse with time spent in Sweden, indicating an adaptation to the leave-use pattern of Swedish-born fathers. Wealso find that individual income, as well as the mothers’ characteristics, are strong determinants of parental leaveuse.

BACKGROUND

China has experienced substantial socioeconomic and institutional changes over thepast few decades. The literature has documented a variety of demographic changesduring this time, including the delay and decline of marriage and the recent prevalenceof cohabitation. However, we have little knowledge about how the Chinese enter intomarriage.

OBJECTIVE

This study demonstrates the diversification of first marriage entry over time.METHODSWe applied event-history analysis to longitudinal data from the China Family PanelStudies (2010–2012 waves) and estimated the competing risks of the identifiedmarriage entry types. The observation covered the period from 1960 to 2012.

RESULTS

Our estimations from the competing models demonstrated four notable types of firstmarriage entry, including a general decline in the traditional ‘direct marriage,’ a riseand decline in ‘conception marriage,’ and two recently increasing innovative practicesof ‘cohabitation marriage’ and ‘cohabitation and conception marriage.’ The 1980smarked a turning point when traditional family practices began to decay and innovativefamily practices began to emerge and spread.

CONCLUSIONS

The diversification of marriage entry in China since the 1980s occurred in tandem withthe development of China’s economic reform and ‘opening-up’ policies. Thissimultaneity exemplifies the notion that socioeconomic changes at the macro levelinteract with family behavior changes at the individual level.

CONTRIBUTION

This study demonstrates an increasingly wide array of marriage entry types over time,reflecting the evolution of marriage behaviors from tradition to modernity incontemporary Chinese society.