Holger von der Lippe

Social Influences on Fertility: A Comparative Mixed Methods Study in Eastern and Western Germany.

This article uses a mixed methods design to investigate the effects of social influence on family formation in a sample of eastern and western German young adults at an early stage of their family formation. Theoretical propositions on the importance of informal interaction for fertility and family behavior are still rarely supported by systematic empirical evidence. Major problems are the correct identification of salient relationships and the comparability of social networks across population subgroups. This article addresses the two issues through a combination of qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis. In-depth interviewing, network charts, and network grids are used to map individual personal relationships and their influence on family formation decisions. In addition, an analysis of friendship dyads is provided.

Job Insecurity and the Timing of Parenthood: A Comparison between Eastern and Western Germany Perceptions de l'instabilité de l'emploi et projet d'enfant: Une comparaison entre Allemagne de l'est et allemagne de l'ouest

This article contributes to the ongoing debate on the economic determinants of fertility behavior by addressing the role of job insecurity in couples’ intentions concerning parenthood and its timing. It starts from the hypothesis that cultural values moderate individuals’ reactions to job insecurity and the way it is related to family formation. With a systematic thematic content analysis of a set of semi-structured interviews with childless men and women around the age of 30 in eastern and western Germany, we are able to show that there are substantial differences in the consequences of job insecurity on intentions to have a first child. In western Germany, a relatively secure job career is expected to precede family formation, and this sequence of transitions is rather rigid, whereas in eastern Germany job security and family formation are thought of and practiced as parallel investments. We suggest that the lack of convergence in family formation patterns between eastern and western Germany after the unification of the country in 1990 is partially related to different attitudes toward job insecurity in the two contexts.RésuméCet article contribue au débat en cours sur les déterminants économiques du comportement de fécondité, en questionnant le rôle de l’insécurité de l’emploi par rapport au projet d’enfant et à son calendrier. L’hypothèse posée est que les valeurs culturelles conditionnent en partie les réactions à l’insécurité de l’emploi et le lien aux processus de formation des familles. Par une analyse systématique des thèmes contenus dans un ensemble d’entretiens semi-directifs conduits auprès de personnes sans enfants âgées d’environ 30 ans en Allemagne de l’est et en Allemagne de l’ouest, nous avons démontré l’existence de réelles différences dans les répercussions de l’insécurité de l’emploi sur les projets de premier enfant. En Allemagne de l’ouest, un emploi stable doit obligatoirement précéder la venue d’un enfant, et la séquence est relativement rigide, alors qu’en Allemagne de l’est, l’obtention d’un emploi stable et la formation d’une famille sont conçus comme des investissements parallèles. Notre suggestion est que le manque de convergence dans les schémas de formation des familles entre les deux parties de l’Allemagne après l’unification du pays en 1990 pourrait être liée, au moins en partie, à des différences d’attitudes par rapport à l’insécurité de l’emploi.

Where Qualitative Research Meets Demography: Interdisciplinary Explorations of Conceptions of Fatherhood in an Extremely Low Fertility Context

Recent calls to include psychological theories of decisionmaking and intention-formation in research on family formation coincide with calls for improving research on male fertility and fatherhood. In this article we address these notions and present findings from in-depth interviews with 30-year-old childless men from Eastern Germany on their desire to become parents. The context for this research is the societal situation of contemporary Eastern Germany, where birth rates have faced a historical low - the lowest in more than 10 years. Our innovative analytical paradigm draws on the contemporary social cognitive theory of intention-formation. The focus lies on the examination of male attitudes, values, motives, interests, goals, action beliefs and self-concepts, and their connection with men’s intentions for parenthood. We compare our results with explanations given by the Theory of Symbolic Self-Completion and the Theory of Reasoned Action. We argue for the need to bring together psychological and sociological theorizing in this field.

Freunde, Familie und das eigene Leben. Zum Einfluss sozialer Netzwerke auf die Lebens- und Familienplanung junger Erwachsener in Lübeck und Rostock

Der Lebenslauf von Individuen wird durch den unmittelbaren sozialen Kontext der Freunde, Verwandten, Bekannten und Kollegen entscheidend gepragt. Zwischen der Makroebene der Gesellschaft und der Mikroebene des einzelnen Akteurs gelegen, stellt die Ebene des Netzwerks personlicher Kontakte und Beziehungen eine besondere Herausforderung fur die empirische Lebenslaufforschung dar. Dabei ist davon auszugehen, dass gerade diese alltaglichen Kommunikations-, Unterstutzungs- oder Erlebnisnetzwerke eine wichtige Grundlage zum Verstandnis individueller Plane, Motive oder Entscheidungen bilden. Je nach sozialem Umfeld werden beispielsweise unterschiedliche Vorstellungen und Normen gelten, zu welchem Zeitpunkt, auf welche Weise und in welcher Abfolge bestimmte Lebensereignisse wie die Grundung einer Familie auftreten sollten. Diese fur den individuellen Lebenslauf so entscheidenden Orientierungen werden fur den Einzelnen durch den sozialen Kontakt mit seinen Mitmenschen erfahrbar, werden durch die soziale Interaktion reproduziert, aber auch verandert.

Social network dynamics in the course of family formation: Results from a mixed-methods longitudinal study

Abstract In this article we examine the relationship between various biographical transitions of young adulthood and the structure of social networks. We ask how personal networks change in size and composition over the course of family formation or expansion, and due to other biographical transitions. We use data from an exploratory longitudinal study that uses mixed methods of social network analysis. We were able to reconnect with 29 of 98 young adults who were interviewed from 2004 to 2006, and conducted detailed qualitative interviews with 18 of them in 2011. Our findings suggest that biographical transitions do rather have an effect on the composition than on the size of personal networks. Biographical transitions do not necessarily lead to a decrease in network size due to network partners dropping out. These network partners often get substituted by new network partners that match changing priorities in different life stages. Particularly important transitions are the interviewees’ own parenthood, as well as the parenthood of their network partners. Transitions in relationship status, relocations, and job changes were also identified as relevant biographical transitions.