Families, inequality and social change – CED

Families, Well-Being and Inequalities

Xavier Ruiz — Fri, 25 Jul 2025 09:05:39 +0000

This research area examines the relationship between families, well-being, and inequalities. Our aim is to provide a precise understanding of how families and inequalities interact and shape individuals’ well-being in contemporary societies.

Examples of research questions we investigate include:
(1) How do family resources shape inequalities in children’s cognitive and socioemotional outcomes?
(2) How does adolescent social media use link to well-being outcomes across different population groups?
(3) How do gender inequalities in family life relate to disparities in men’s and women’s mental health trajectories?

Methodologically, we apply advanced statistical techniques, computational methods, and mixed-method designs, and conduct both single-case and cross-country studies.

Social Demography of Families, Couples, and Singlehood

Xavier Ruiz — Fri, 25 Jul 2025 07:59:35 +0000

This research line examines how people form, navigate, and opt out of romantic and familial relationships over their life course. It explores how gender relations, social norms, and structural inequalities shape relationship trajectories and their outcomes from a comparative perspetive. Topics include well-being, economic stability, time use, and access to formal and informal support systems. This line also includes the ERC Starting Grant project ‘SINGLE: Understanding the Demography and Stratification of Singlehood in Europe’ (2025–2030)

Historical Demography

Xavier Ruiz — Mon, 08 Feb 2021 13:11:01 +0000

The area of historical demography, in which the Centre for Demographic Studies has worked since its inception, was greatly boosted with the project Five Centuries of Marriages (ERC-2010-AdvancedGrant-269796, IP: Anna Cabré). This project has opened up a new line of specialist research in preservation, transcription, harmonisation and publicising of historical collections of demographic interest (Marriage Records books, parish and public records, censuses, and electoral rolls). This research, in collaboration with the Computer Vision Centre at the UAB, makes intensive use of digital platforms and techniques in automatic recognition of manuscripts. Thanks to the data thus recovered, numerous aspects of the demographic dynamics and the social structure of past populations are studied. Particular emphasis is given to the use of nominative data (names and surnames) in studying intergenerational transmission of social position, occupational mobility and in gauging, by indirect methods, mortality and migratory movements.

Education and Work

Xavier Ruiz — Mon, 08 Feb 2021 13:06:59 +0000

Research in the domain of education and work is focused in sis main areas: 1) the scope of abilities and skills in the lifetime of individuals; 2) differences in educational level between different generations; 3) employability among young people and definitive withdrawal from the job market among old people; 4) intergenerational relations (both economic and in caring work); 5) the effects of ageing on the job market and, finally; 6) the difference between paid and unpaid work in the biography of individuals and in the trajectories of family groups. In this line, it is key to treat all points from a gender perspective, particularly when they are analyzed in households made up of a partnership plus their children or, more specifically, in the transition to parenthood.

Generations and Life Course

Xavier Ruiz — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 14:55:32 +0000

Life courses have become more diverse and complex in recent decades, which has been associated with rising inequality and uncertainty. This research area aims to better understand these phenomena by adopting a longitudinal perspective, addressing individual life courses from childhood to old age. It examines how recent demographic and social dynamics affect family, employment, or spatial mobility trajectories. It analyzes links between the diversity of life trajectories and socio-economic inequalities, addressing the long-term consequences of childhood experiences as well as events that occur during adult life. It delves into changes and relationships across generations, addressing intergenerational transmissions, from parents to children, as a mechanism for reproducing (dis)advantages. Finally, methodologies for the analysis of longitudinal data are used and developed.

Projects:

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Families and Households

Xavier Ruiz — Tue, 01 Dec 2015 10:17:28 +0000

The research line “Fertility and households” deals with aspects related to fertility and the formation and structure of households on a national and international scale. The methodological approach is mainly quantitative and comparative. Falling fertility, rising cohabitation, changes in marriage markets, and the transformation of households on a global scale are some of the topics most commonly studied in this research area.

Social Stratification

Xavier Ruiz — Tue, 01 Dec 2015 10:17:01 +0000

How do characteristics such as social background, ethnicity, gender and sexual identity affect persons’ opportunities in life? Research within this line has the objective to document differences in socioeconomic and family outcomes and to understand the unequal obstacles that society poses toward achieving these goals for different social groups. Examples of outcomes of interest are education, income, and wealth but also family dynamics such as partnering, parenting, and separation.

Gender and Inequality

Xavier Ruiz — Tue, 01 Dec 2015 10:16:42 +0000

Gender equality has made major advances in recent decades. However, there is still a long way to go to achieve full equality of rights and opportunities between men and women. The research conducted by CED’s Gender and Inequality research unit studies multiple forms of inequality regarding women and men access to quality education and health, equal opportunities in the labor market, and gender inequality in the household and childbearing

Time Use

Xavier Ruiz — Tue, 01 Dec 2015 10:16:22 +0000

How does time use vary across different population groups? This research examines the activities of individuals and groups based on their socio-demographic characteristics and stages of the life cycle. A key focus of the group’s work is the gender perspective, which is one of the main line of analysis.