Hungarian Review of Sociology

Health inequalities at birth within the Hungarian 2018–2019 birth cohort: socioeconomic determinants of low birth weight infants

Laura Szabó, Julianna Boros — Fri, 21 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Objective: Low birth weight (LBW) is a significant global factor linked to numerous health risks, both in early life and extending into adulthood. Our analysis estimates how maternal education and other socioeconomic status characteristics influence the risk of low birth weight in Hungary.
Methods: The source of the data is the Cohort ’18 Growing up in Hungary longitudinal birth cohort survey. The nationally representative sample of 10 per cent includes women who gave birth to a child between spring 2018-2019. Data from 8183 women are analysed, excluding twin pregnancies. Generalized structural equation modelling (GSEM) was used to examine the magnitude of the direct and indirect association between maternal education and low birth weight (LBW), through additional socioeconomic status (SES) characteristics of the mother such as household income, occupational status, ethnic background and place of residence, controlling for key biological, demographic, health and lifestyle characteristics of mother and child.
Results: Women with up to 8th grade education are three times more likely to have a low birth weight child than women with tertiary education (11.8 per cent vs. 3.6 per cent), but they are also significantly more likely to have a low birth weight child than either women with vocational education (6.8 per cent) or women with secondary education (4.4 per cent). When the direct and indirect relationships between maternal education, other SES indicators and LBW are considered, the share of direct effect between maternal education and having a low birth weight child is 73 per cent of the total effect, while the indirect effect is 27 per cent of the total effect. This is the proportion of the combined indirect effect of household income, occupational status, Roma ethnic background and place of residence relative to the total effect. Of these, the indirect effect of educational attainment measured through household income is the largest, at 26 per cent of the total effect.

Infertility and assisted reproduction in a demographic, psychosocial and sociocultural context

Anna Lengyel, Ildikó Danis — Fri, 27 Jun 2025 05:39:02 +0000

The main topic of our study is infertility and its effects at the individual and societal levels. After a brief discussion of the issue of childlessness, we discuss the difficulties of conceptualising infertility. We explore the possible biological, psychological and social factors underlying infertility. We detail the specific micro-, meso-, exo- and macro-level human ecological influences and challenges faced by families diagnosed with infertility and/or involved in assisted reproductive procedures. The specialties that characterize people with infertility are presented in the context of individuals, couple relationships, family, and friendship. The social influences that affect the development of infertility and the availability and effectiveness of treatment are also briefly discussed. Our study aims to demonstrate the need for an interdisciplinary approach to infertility and highlight the issues still lacking in Hungary and, therefore, deserve further research.

The personal and social drama of work

Gergely Magos — Fri, 27 Jun 2025 05:41:06 +0000

The work of Everett C. Hughes (1897–1983) is barely known in Hungary. In the United States, too, he is on the periphery of the pantheon of sociology (Helmes-Hayes–Santoro 2016), his reputation and influence cannot be compared to his contemporaries such as Parsons or Lazarsfeld. The reason is that, unlike the latter, he did not systematically develop his theoretical or methodological principles. This was a conscious decision by Hughes. He believed that the anchorage of the methodological or theoretical framework would limit the understanding of the research subject, would be contrary to the ‘sociological imagination’ and could lead to dogmatism. In my study, I try to reconstruct and present Hughes’ theoretical and methodological foundations, based on the international literature and focusing on his research in the field of sociology of work. Indeed, these can be identified in his work and had a significant influence on his students - to mention only the best known - Goffman, Becker, Strauss, Whyte, in other words all those who are today considered the second generation of the Chicago School.

Who prefers to stay?

Zsuzsanna Sütő — Fri, 27 Jun 2025 05:43:06 +0000

Based on the migration models of Carling (2002), de Haas (2021), and Schewel (2020), we examine the (im)mobility aspirations of minority and majority Hungarian students in Central Europe, interpreting their decision to stay as an immobility strategy. We aim to join the line of research arguing that both mobility and immobility are possible responses to an individual’s life circumstances or changes in them (Fischer & Malmberg, 1997). Our aim is to identify individual as well as academic, institutional factors which we hypothesise support students in developing their immobility aspirations. We analyse empirical data based on an international survey. The quantitative survey was based on probability sampling and was conducted in 2019 among students of Hungarian-language higher education institutions in Hungary, Ukraine, Romania, Slovakia, and Serbia (N=2210). The results of multivariate and logistic regression analyses show that the development of immobility aspirations is supported by socio-demographic factors and social networks as well as by institutional and academic factors, such as training programmes preparing students for local professions and a greater degree of trust in the higher education institution and role partners. We aim to contribute with these findings to the academic discourse analysing the migration decisions of minority and majority Hungarians in Central Europe and to draw attention to the impact of higher education integration in a previously mostly undetected area.

A little thoughtfulness

Andrea Sólyom — Mon, 20 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Kovály Katalin: Az etnikai kapcsolati tőke földrajza – Ukrajnai vállalkozók a transznacionalitás útján, Gondolat, 2024

Endre Sik — Fri, 21 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000

"We're not heroes, we're just trying to be honest"

Magdolna Leveleki — Fri, 27 Jun 2025 05:44:55 +0000