Ann Evans

Childbearing desires of childless men and women: When are goals adjusted?

This paper examines the concept of desired future fertility. Childbearing desires are often conceptualized in the literature as representing an individuals ideal future fertility where there are no constraints or obstacles to achieve the desired outcome. As such, childbearing desires, unlike fertility intentions, are thought to be relatively unaffected by changing life circumstances. Using a theoretically driven model incorporating goal adjustment, we test whether desires of childless men and women do in fact change over time. Using data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey (2001-2010) we specifically investigate whether changing life circumstances do effect a change in childbearing desires. We find that age is strongly related to adjusting childbearing desires, as is relationship formation. Desires are however, not greatly influenced by short-term shocks such as an episode of poor health or unemployment, although these events have different effects for women and for men. Overall, the findings are consistent with psychological theories of goal adjustment, that is, individuals will revise their desires for having children if they perceive that their desires are not likely to be fulfilled.

Childbearing Across Partnerships in Australia, the United States, Norway, and Sweden

This article compares mothers’ experience of having children with more than one partner in two liberal welfare regimes (the United States and Australia) and two social democratic regimes (Sweden and Norway). We use survey-based union and birth histories in Australia and the United States and data from national population registers in Norway and Sweden to estimate the likelihood of experiencing childbearing across partnerships at any point in the childbearing career. We find that births with new partners constitute a substantial proportion of all births in each country we study. Despite quite different arrangements for social welfare, the determinants of childbearing across partnerships are very similar. Women who had their first birth at a very young age or who are less well-educated are most likely to have children with different partners. The educational gradient in childbearing across partnerships is also consistently negative across countries, particularly in contrast to educational gradients in childbearing with the same partner. The risk of childbearing across partnerships increased dramatically in all countries from the 1980s to the 2000s, and educational differences also increased, again, in both liberal and social democratic welfare regimes.

Negotiating the Life Course: Stability and Change in Life Pathways

Chapter 1: Introduction. Ann Evans and Janeen Baxter.- Chapter 2: The Second Demographic Transition meets Globalization: A Comprehensive Theory to Understand Changes in Family Formation in an Era of Rising Uncertainty. Melinda Mills and Hans-Peter Blossfeld.- Chapter 3: The Standard Family Life Course: An Assessment of Variability in Life Course Pathways: Elizabeth Thomson, Maria Winkler-Dworak and Sheela Kennedy.- 4: Generational Change in Leaving the Parental Home: Ann Evans.- Chapter 5: Relationship Pathways and First Birth in Australia: Peter McDonald and Anna Reimondos.- 6: Employment and the Life Course: Birth Cohort Differences of Young Australian Women: Jennifer Baxter.- Chapter 7: Who Gets Divorces? The Social Determinants of Marital Seperation over the Life Course: Belinda Hewitt.- 8: Pathways through the Life Course: The Effect of Relationship and Parenthood Transitions on Domestic Labour: Janeen Baxter, Belinda Hewitt, Michelle Haynes and Mark Western.-Chapter 9: Fatherhood and Mens Involvement in Paid Work in Australia: Edith Gray.- Chapter 10: Couple Strategies: Negotiating Working Time over the Life Course: Brigid van Wanrooy.-11: Occupational Standing over the Life Course: What is the Role of Part Time Work? Jenny Chalmers.- Appendix: Negotiating the Life Course Project: Anna Reimondos and Sue Trevenar.

Parental preference for sons and daughters in a western industrial setting: Evidence and implications

This paper considers whether sex composition of existing children in Australian families is an important factor in parity progression. Using census data from 1981, 1986, 1991, 1996 and 2001, women are linked with their co-resident children, allowing investigation of family sex composition and its changing impact over time on the propensity to have another child. The study finds that parents are much more likely to have a third and fourth birth if existing children are all of the same sex, indicating a strong preference for children of both sexes. This increased propensity has added around three per cent to the fertility of recent cohorts. The paper concludes with a discussion of the potential impact of sex-selection technologies on fertility. The authors argue that future widespread use of reliable sex-selection technologies might act to increase fertility in the short term, but would lead to a long-term reduction in fertility.

Sociodemographic determinants of energy, fat and dietary fibre intake in Australian adults

OBJECTIVE To examine the relationship between sociodemographic factors (sex, age, education, occupation and region of birth) and absolute levels of energy, fat and fibre intake in adults at the national level. DESIGN, SETTING AND SUBJECTS The 1983 National Dietary Survey of Adults (NDSA), covering six Australian capital cities, collected food and nutrient intake data using the 24-hour recall method, from subjects aged 25-64 years (n=6255). RESULTS Interactions of variables occurred, especially for males. The greatest effect on male intake of all three dietary components was a combination of age and education. For females, the main explanatory variable for fat and energy intake was age, but that for fibre was a combination of region of birth and education. Both education (alone or in combination) and region of birth (alone or in combination) had a greater effect than occupation (alone or in combination). CONCLUSIONS Energy, fat and fibre intakes vary considerably between sociodemographic groups. Such variability must be taken into account in formulating policy and planning decisions and in assessing temporal change.

FAMILY SIZE AND CHILDREN’S EDUCATION IN MATLAB, BANGLADESH

This study examines the relationship between family size and childrens education in Bangladesh for two periods - 1982 with high fertility and 1996 with low fertility - using data from the Matlab Health and Demographic Surveillance System of the ICDDR,B: Centre for Health and Population Research. Children aged 8-17 years (27,448 in 1982 and 32,635 in 1996) were selected from households where the mother was aged 30-49 years and the father was the head of household. Childrens education was measured in terms of completed years of schooling: at least class 1 (among 8-17 year olds), at least class 5 (among 12-17 year olds) and at least class 7 (among 15-17 year olds). After controlling for all variables in the multivariate analyses, level of childrens education was not found to be associated with family size during the high fertility period. The family size-education relationship became negative during the low fertility period. In both periods children of educated mothers from wealthier households and those who lived close to primary/high schools had more education, but this socioeconomic difference reduced substantially over time. Boys had more education than girls during the high fertility period but this difference disappeared during the low fertility period. As birth rates fall and the proportion of children from small families increases an increase in childrens education is to be expected.

Australian attitudes toward sex-selection technology.

Previous research based on analysis of fertility behavior and expressed preferences shows that many Australian parents want both a son and a daughter. However, most respondents to a representative survey of Australians did not approve of IVF or abortion for sex-selection purposes, and most did not think a hypothetical blue or pink pill to select sex of a child should be legal.

Power and Negotiation: Young Womens Choices about Sex and Contraception

This paper explores issues of power and negotiation for two decisions affecting young women’s sexual lives: die decision to have sexual intercourse and the decision to contracept. Using data from two recent Australian surveys the paper explores the complexity of these decisions and the way in which gender relations between young people can influence dieir reproductive outcomes; young women experience a high rate of sexual coercion and violence and current data collections do not allow analysis of their cause.

Education and the resolution of teenage pregnancy in Australia

Abstract Research on the decision to continue or terminate a teenage pregnancy is sparse. This paper seeks to address this gap in research by analysing the educational dimensions of the decision to continue or terminate a teenage pregnancy using data collected in a purpose specific survey in Australia. The paper begins by exploring the timing of pregnancy, abortion and birth in relation to leaving or finishing high school. It then examines the associations between education factors and the decision to terminate or continue a teenage pregnancy. Completed level, school marks and subject preference were all found to discriminate between those who continued and those who terminated their pregnancies. The findings suggest that young women who have a stronger attachment to school are more likely to terminate than continue their pregnancies, particularly for young women in rural and regional Australia.

Generational Change in Leaving the Parental Home

The transition to adulthood and family life in Western industrialized countries has changed dramatically over the past 30 years. This chapter examines leaving home and seeks to understand whether the drivers of changing age patterns in leaving home are motivated by ideational change or by institutional effects on the lives of individuals. By comparing birth cohorts from the 1950s through to the 1980s the analyses examine the changing timing of home leaving and its correlates, including education, labour force participation and relationship formation. The analyses find support for the thesis that ideational change has made it possible for young people to choose cohabitation over marriage when leaving home to enter a live-in relationship. However, institutional constraints have made it more important for young people to prolong education, to work part-time while studying, and to leave home to study when higher educational opportunities are not available, such as outside major urban areas, and to delay family formation due to the increasing demands of study and work.