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March 26, 2024
Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR) used Facebook data to investigate the influence of cultural similarities on migration flows and found that cultural proximity plays as important a role in the choice of destination country as shared language and history. more
March 15, 2024
The Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR) has researched parents' support behavior in relation to school grades. The study shows that low-income families support their children equally regardless of grades, while parents from higher income groups tend to give more support to children with lower grades. It also raises the question of whether these patterns contribute to low social mobility, as parents of high-achieving children from lower social classes do not have the same resources and strategies at their disposal as parents of low-achieving children from higher social classes. more
February 06, 2024
In Germany, more people aged 65 and over die from the consequences of a heart attack in rural areas than in cities. Contrary to popular belief, this is probably not due to poorer emergency medical care, but to the fact that more people suffer heart attacks. more
January 08, 2024
The number of relatives that an individual has is expected to decrease by more than 35 percent in the near future. At the same time, the structure of families will change. The number of cousins, nieces, nephews and grandchildren will decline sharply, while the number of great-grandparents and grandparents will increase significantly. In 1950, a 65-year-old woman had an average of 41 living relatives. By 2095, a woman of the same age will have an average of only 25 living relatives. more
September 07, 2023
Society is aging. What does this mean for health in old age, how is the quality of life evolving, and what are the disparities between different groups of people? Shubhankar Sharma, along with Jo Mhairi Hale, Mikko Myrskylä, and Hill Kulu have published a study that examines gender, racial/ethnic, and educational differences in relation to both mild cognitive impairment or dementia and “activity limitations” in the United States. more
July 18, 2023
Can extending work lives be a solution to the future problems of an aging society? If everyone works longer and retires later, the number of people paying into the pension system will increase. Little is known about working life in Germany. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR) in Rostock and the Federal Institute for Population Research have now conducted a study to examine how the length of work life in Germany has changed and what influence the numerous labor market and pension reforms of recent decades have had. more
July 14, 2023
Social media have become an integral part of everyday life. However, numerous studies have produced conflicting results on how the use of these applications affects the mental health of their users. A common assumption is that the use of many different social media platforms has a negative impact on users' well-being. Researchers Sophie Lohmann and Emilio Zagheni, Director of the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR) in Rostock, Germany, investigated this assumption. In their study, they used a statistical technique to adjust for the fact that people who use a number of social media platforms may be different to start with. The result of the study shows that the use of many different social media platforms is not a significant risk factor for the well-being of the users. more
July 06, 2023
The number of working mothers in Germany has been rising for years, however, they find themselves constantly balancing between work and family. Research shows that being employed has a positive effect on a person's health and well-being. However, no research has examined how employment affects the well-being and health of single mothers and cohabiting mothers. Dr. Mine Kühn of Tilburg University (NL) and Dr. Christian Dudel of the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR), together with Prof. Martin Werding of the Ruhr University Bochum, have recently investigated this question. more
May 02, 2023
Dying is often associated with extensive health and elderly care. A recent study by MPIDR Researcher Marcus Ebeling and colleagues came to this conclusion through a new way of analyzing data from the Swedish registry of the entire population. The researchers suggest that living longer may also mean spending more time dying. more
March 09, 2023
A team of researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR) in Rostock, Germany and the University of St Andrews in Scotland estimates how long a 50-year old person in the US is going to live without a partner and/or be cognitively impaired. In their paper recently published in “Population Studies” the researchers find disparities of up to 10 years both between men and women and ethnic groups. more