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• Are skewed sex ratios associated with violent crime? A longitudinal analysis using Swedish register data

  2021. Andreas Filser (et al.). Evolution and human behavior 42 (3), 212-222

  Artikel

  There is widespread concern in both the popular and academic literature that a surplus of men in a population intensifies mating competition between men, particularly unpartnered men, resulting in increased violence towards both men and women. Recent contributions challenge this perspective and argue that male mating competition and levels of violence will be higher when sex ratios are female-skewed. Existing empirical evidence remains inconclusive. We argue that this empirical ambiguity results from analyses of aggregate-level data, which put inferences at risk of ecological fallacies. Our analysis circumvents such problems by using individual-level, longitudinal demographic register and police data for the Stockholm metropolitan area, Sweden (1990–2003, n = 758,498). These data allow us to investigate the association between municipality-level sex ratios and violent offending (homicide, assault, threat, and sexual crimes) while adjusting for sociodemographic factors. Results suggest that aggregated offending rates are negatively associated with male-skewed sex ratios, whereas individual-level violent offending correlates positively with male-skews. We find that the more-men-more-violence association holds particularly for male violence against other men, but is insignificant for violence against women. Moreover, the association is significant among childless men, but not among fathers. However, robustness checks question the causality of these associations. Female violent offending is positively, albeit due to a low number of cases, insignificantly associated with male-skews. Moreover, both male and female non-violent offending is higher in male-skewed municipalities. We discuss the implications with regard to the theoretical debate and problems of unobserved heterogeneity in the sex ratio literature.

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• Parental age gaps among immigrants and their descendants: Adaptation across time and generations?

  2021. Caroline Uggla, Ben Wilson. Population Studies

  Artikel

  Age gaps between partners have undergone dramatic changes in high-income countries over the past century. Yet, there has been little focus on age gaps for immigrants and their descendants. This is an important omission because age gaps can be interpreted as a macro-level indicator of intergenerational adaptation. We examine the age gaps of biological parents (childbearing partners) among immigrants and their descendants in Sweden, a country with high gender equality and a stable mean age gap. Using longitudinal, whole-population data, we examine changes in age gaps for cohorts born 1950-86. Cohort trends in age gaps often follow very different patterns for male and female immigrants, with limited evidence of adaptation across cohorts. However, there is considerable evidence of adaptation towards the Swedish norm among the second generation, including from direct comparison between immigrants and their children. The largest differences between women and men are seen among the first generation with a Swedish-born partner.

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• Regional trajectories in life expectancy and lifespan variation: Persistent inequality in two Nordic welfare states

  2020. Ben Wilson (et al.). Population, Space and Place 26 (8)

  Artikel

  An important dimension of inequality in mortality is regional variation. However, studies that investigate regional mortality patterns within and between national and regional borders are rare. We carry out a comparative study of Finland and Sweden: two welfare states that share many attributes, with one exception being their mortality trajectories. Although Finland has risen rapidly in the global life expectancy rankings, Sweden has lost its historical place among the top 10. Using individual-level register data, we study regional trends in life expectancy and lifespan variation by sex. Although all regions, in both countries, have experienced substantial improvements in life expectancy and lifespan inequality from 1990-2014, considerable differences between regions have remained unchanged, suggesting the existence of persistent inequality. In particular, Swedish-speaking regions in Finland have maintained their mortality advantage over Finnish-speaking regions. Nevertheless, there is some evidence of convergence between the regions of Finland and Sweden.

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• Are wives and daughters disadvantaged in polygynous households? A case study of the Arsi Oromo of Ethiopia

  2018. Caroline Uggla, Eshetu Gurmu, Mhairi A. Gibson. Evolution and human behavior 39 (2), 160-165

  Artikel

  Whether polygyny is harmful for women and their children is a long-standing question in anthropology. Few studies, however, have explored whether the effect of polygyny varies for women of different wife order, and whether there are different outcomes for their sons and daughters. Because males have higher reproductive variance, especially when they are allowed to take multiple wives, parents may have higher fitness returns from investing in sons over daughters in polygynous households. Moreover, previous studies have found that first wives and their children are advantaged over monogamous and second order wives (who marry into unions later). Here we test the predictions that children of first wives will have an advantage over children to monogamous or second wives, and that sex-biased investment will be strongest among first wives. Using data from the Arsi Oromo of Ethiopia (n-6200 children) we test whether associations with mother's wife order extend beyond childhood into adulthood by examining simultaneously child survival, education and age at marriage. We find that polygynous first wives have no child survival disadvantage, first wives' sons benefit in terms of longer education and daughters have an earlier age at marriage than daughters of monogamous women. Second wives have lower child survival than monogamous women, but surviving children experience advantages in later life outcomes, particularly marriage. These findings challenge the view that polygynous women are always doing the 'best of a bad job'. Rather, our results suggest that via their surviving sons and daughters there may be long-term benefits for some polygynous women.

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• Higher divorce risk when mates are plentiful? Evidence from Denmark

  2018. Caroline Uggla, Gunnar Andersson. Biology Letters 14 (9)

  Artikel

  Work from social and biological sciences has shown that adult sex ratios are associated with relationship behaviours. When partners are abundant, opportunities for mate switching may increase and relationship stability decrease. To date, most of the human literature has used regional areas at various levels of aggregation to define partner markets. But, in developed countries, many individuals of reproductive age spend a considerable amount of time outside their residential areas, and other measures may better capture the opportunities to meet a (new) partner. Here, we use Danish register data to test whether the sex ratio of the occupational sector is linked to divorce. Our data cover individuals in Denmark who married during 1981-2002 and we control for age at and duration of marriage, education and parity. Results support the prediction that a higher proportion of opposite-sex individuals in one's occupational sector is associated with higher divorce risk. This holds for both men and women, but associations are somewhat stronger for men and vary by education. Our results highlight the need to study demographic behaviours of men and women simultaneously, and to consider partner markets beyond geographical areas so that differing strategies for males and females may be examined.

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• Unemployment, intragenerational social mobility and mortality in Finland: heterogeneity by age and economic context

  2018. Caroline Uggla, Sunnee Billingsley. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 72 (11), 1003-1008

  Artikel

  Background We explore how mortality is related to unemployment and intragenerational social mobility in Finland. Unemployment and social mobility are two labour market experiences that are largely studied separately, despite the fact that selection processes into unemployment and downward mobility are intertwined. Because both causal and health selection mechanisms may vary depending on the timing of these experiences, we consider heterogeneity by age and economic context.

  Methods We run discrete time event history analysis for death (at age 30–75 years) in two periods (economic recession and growth) and analyse younger and older individuals and men and women separately.

  Results The odds of mortality were particularly high for individuals experiencing unemployment and when unemployment occurred during economic growth (OR ranging between 1.39 and 2.77). Younger men had high odds of mortality following unemployment (OR 1.86–2.77). In contrast, downward mobility was associated with higher odds of mortality only among older men and women and only during economic growth. The benefits of upward mobility were experienced mainly by younger men (OR ranging between 0.86 and 0.87) and were not experienced by women at all.

  Conclusion Results show that when in an individual’s life and the economic cycle unemployment and social mobility occur matters for whether these experiences are associated with mortality.

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• Adult sex ratio and social status predict mating and parenting strategies in Northern Ireland

  2017. Caroline Uggla, Ruth Mace. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Biological Sciences 372 (1729)

  Artikel

  Evidence from animal species indicates that a male-biased adult sex ratio (ASR) can lead to higher levels of male parental investment and that there is heterogeneity in behavioural responses to mate scarcity depending on mate value. In humans, however, there is little consistent evidence of the effect of the ASR on pair-bond stability and parental investment and even less of how it varies by an individual's mate value. In this paper we use detailed census data from Northern Ireland to test the association between the ASR and pair-bond stability and parental investment by social status ( education and social class) as a proxy for mate value. We find evidence that female, but not male, cohabitation is associated with the ASR. In female-biased areas women with low education are less likely to be in a stable pair-bond than highly educated women, but in male-biased areas women with the lowest education are as likely to be in a stable pair-bond as their most highly educated peers. For both sexes risk of separation is greater at female-biased sex ratios. Lastly, our data show a weak relationship between parental investment and the ASR that depends on social class. We discuss these results in the light of recent reformulations of parental investment theory. This article is part of the themed issue `Adult sex ratios and reproductive decisions: a critical re-examination of sex differences in human and animal societies'.

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• Knowing your neighbourhood: local ecology and personal experience predict neighbourhood perceptions in Belfast, Northern Ireland

  2016. James Gilbert, Caroline Uggla, Ruth Mace. Royal Society Open Science 3 (12)

  Artikel

  Evolutionary theory predicts that humans should adjust their life-history strategies in response to local ecological threats and opportunities in order to maximize their reproductive success. Cues representing threats to individuals' lives and health in modern, Western societies may come in the form of local ages at death, morbidity rate and crime rate in their local area, whereas the adult sex ratio represents a measure of the competition for reproductive partners. These characteristics are believed to have a strong influence over a wide range of behaviours, but whether they are accurately perceived has not been robustly tested. Here, we investigate whether perceptions of four neighbourhood characteristics are accurate across eight neighbourhoods in Belfast, Northern Ireland. We find that median age at death and morbidity rates are accurately perceived, whereas adult sex ratios and crime rates are not. We suggest that both neighbourhood characteristics and personal experiences contribute to the formation of perceptions. This should be considered by researchers looking for associations between area-level factors.

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