Aart C. Liefbroer

Who, what, where, and when? Specifying the impact of educational attainment and labour force participation on family formation.

This article studies the impact of educational attainment and labour force participation on the timing of entering a union, marriage, and parenthood, using data from Flemish and Dutch young adults born between 1961 and 1965. This impact is hypothesized to be contingent on sex, the event under consideration, the societal context in which family formation occurs, and the age of young adults. As expected, educational attainment has a stronger negative effect on womens entry into parenthood than on their entry into a union, a stronger negative effect on womens entry into marriage and parenthood in the Netherlands than in Flanders, and a stronger effect during the early stages of young adulthood than later on. Mens educational attainment did not show the expected positive effect on family formation. Enrollment in full-time education delays family formation, but more so in Flanders than in the Netherlands. Unemployment delays family formation among men, but only in Flanders.

Unmarried Cohabitation and Union Stability: Testing the Role of Diffusion Using Data From 16 European Countries

Cohabitors and married people who cohabited before marriage have higher risks of union dissolution than people who married without prior cohabitation. However, these differences in union stability vary markedly between countries. We hypothesize that the impact of cohabitation on union stability depends on how far cohabitation has diffused within a society. We test this hypothesis with data from 16 European countries. The results support our hypothesis: former cohabitors run a higher risk of union dissolution than people who married without prior cohabitation only in societies in which cohabitation is a small minority or a large majority phenomenon.

SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO? THE IMPACT OF AGE NORMS ON LEAVING HOME*

This article studies the association between social norms and the timing of leaving home. Although largely overlooked by most recent studies on leaving home, life-course theory suggests that age norms and age grading influence life-course decisions in general and leaving home in particular. We use Fishbein and Ajzen’s model of “reasoned behavior” to integrate this strand of research with the more individualistic view that dominates current thinking. Using data from a Dutch panel survey, we use a Cox regression model with a control for sample selection to estimate the association between perceived age norms and the timing of leaving home. We show that perceived opinions of parents are associated with the actual timing of leaving the parental home but that societal norms and friends’ norms concerning the timing of leaving home are not. In addition, the timing of leaving home is also associated with the perceived costs and benefits of leaving home and with the perceived housing market situation.

It Takes Two to Tango, Doesn't It? the Influence of Couple Characteristics on the Timing of the Birth of the First Child

Most children are conceived and born within a stable partner relationship. As such the decision to have a child is usually jointly made by the man and women involved. Empirical research into the factors which influence fertility behavior usually focuses only upon the characteristics of women. This paper however explores the timing of the first childbirth using information about the characteristics of both partners. The context specificity of the determinants of childbearing is examined by comparing couples with and without cohabitation experience. Sociocultural specificity is studied using data from the Netherlands and Flanders. Results are derived from the application of hazard models to data for a representative sample of 1438 young couples. In Flanders a sphere-of-interest rule of decision making is found to generally govern decision making with regard to the timing of the first birth among couples while an egalitarian rule predominates in the Netherlands. Contextual differences show that more specific theories on factors which influence the family formation process are needed.

Social age deadlines for the childbearing of women and men

BACKGROUND This study examines whether social age deadlines exist for childbearing in women and men, how they vary across countries, whether they are lower than actual biological deadlines and whether they are associated with childbearing at later ages and the availability of assisted reproduction techniques (ARTs). METHODS This study is based on the European Social Survey, Round 3 (2006–2007), which covers 25 countries. Data were gathered on social age deadlines for childbearing in women (21 909 cases) and men (21 239 cases) from samples of representative community-dwelling populations aged 15 and older. RESULTS Social age deadlines for childbearing were perceived more frequently for women than men. These deadlines are often lower than actual biological limits, and for women and men alike: 57.2% of respondents perceived a maternal social age deadline ≤40 years of age; 46.2% of the respondents perceived a paternal social age deadline ≤45 years of age. There is also considerable variability in deadlines across countries, as well as within them. At the country level, the presence of social age deadlines for the childbearing of women was negatively associated with birth rates at advanced ages and the prevalence of ART, and later deadlines were positively associated with these factors. CONCLUSIONS It is important to understand the factors that increase and limit late fertility. While biological factors condition fertility, so do social expectations. These findings provide widespread evidence across Europe that social limits exist alongside biological ones, though both sets of factors are more binding for women.

Influences of the family of origin on the timing and quantum of fertility in the Netherlands

This study examined to what extent family of origin influences age at first birth and final number of children. We took into account direct intergenerational transmission of fertility behaviour, family-life experiences around age 15, and the wider social context of the family of origin. Hazard regression analyses (n=6,630) and Poisson regression analyses (n=3,736) were performed using data from the 2002–03 wave of the Netherlands Kinship Panel Study. Besides a positive relation between parents’ and their childrens fertility patterns, we find that positive experiences of family life around age 15 encourage childbearing: the less conflict between parents experienced by the child during early adolescence, the younger the adult child at first birth, and the larger the number of the adult childs children. The number of children is also influenced positively by frequency of contact with non-residential relatives during early adolescence. The socio-economic status and religiosity of the parental family also affect fertility.

Intergenerational transmission of age at first birth in the Netherlands for birth cohorts born between 1935 and 1984: Evidence from municipal registers

Whereas most research on the intergenerational transmission of fertility behaviour has focused on transmission of the number of children, this paper studies the transmission of the timing of first births. Specific attention is paid to changes in the strength of transmission across cohorts. Theoretically, it is unclear whether the strength of intergenerational transmission of entry into parenthood can be expected to increase or to decrease across cohorts. Event history analyses of data in Dutch registers show a substantial degree of intergenerational transmission in the age at which people have their first child. The degree of transmission from mothers to children increases for successive cohorts. Intergenerational transmission becomes weaker the longer children postpone entry into parenthood. At young ages transmission from mothers to children is stronger than from fathers to children.

Couples’ Attitudes, Childbirth, and the Division of Labor

In this article, the authors examine effects of partners’ attitudes on the timing of the birth of a first child, the division of domestic labor, the division of child care, and the division of paid labor of couples. They use data from the Panel Study of Social Integration in the Netherlands, which includes independent measures of both partners’ attitudes in one wave (1995) and family life behavior in the next wave (1999). Using theories about decision rules, the authors formulate hypotheses about possible outcomes when partners have dissimilar attitudes. The results show that partners’ attitudes are not always identical. Most important, attitudes of both partners are found to be equally important in joint decisions.

Love, necessity and opportunity: Changing patterns of marital age homogamy in the Netherlands, 1850-1993

Abstract. This article examines long-term trends in the pattern of age homogamy among first marriages, using vital registration data on all first marriages contracted between 1850 and 1993 in the Netherlands. After discussing the main mechanisms that could account for trends in age differences, we show that age differences between spouses narrowed considerably between 1850 and 1970. After 1970 the trend becomes less clear-cut.

Religious differentials in infant and child mortality in Holland, 1855-1912

At least three kinds of hypothesis may be invoked to interpret religious differentials in mortality. They are (i) hypotheses that refer to characteristics, (ii) those that refer to lifestyle, and (iii) those that refer to the social isolation of minorities. This paper tests all three kinds of hypothesis using data on urban child mortality from The Hague just before and during the demographic transition. A hazard analysis suggests that economic and demographic characteristics do not account for much of the variation by religion. An analysis of seasonal mortality suggests that some of the variation may be explained by differences in lifestyle. The third kind of hypothesis is presented here for the first time. We suggest that the social isolation of small religious groups lowered their exposure to certain kinds of infectious disease. We use a simulation study to show that this hypothesis could account for part of the variation.