Lars Dommermuth

Fathers' employment in a father-friendly welfare state: does fatherhood affect men's working hours?

An important aim of Norwegian work–family policies is to enhance the family role of fathers. Time-use surveys show a slight increase in fathers’ family work, but we still know little about the relationship between mens family circumstances and working hours. On the one hand, policy measures encourage the greater involvement of fathers in family life. On the other hand, men are the main providers in most couples and employment and breadwinning are still important components of mens fathering identity. In this paper, we examine the relationship between fatherhood and working time, with a particular focus on the possible effects of the number and ages of children. Utilizing the Norwegian Labour Force Survey 2005, we find that mens contractual working hours are not significantly affected by their parental status, but men do curtail their actual working hours when they have young children, and particularly if there is only one child in the household. However, men with school-aged children actually work longer hours than non-fathers and men with young children.

Gender Equality in the Family and Childbearing

Gender equality and equity in the division of household labor may be associated with couples’ transitions to first, second, and third births. Our comprehensive analysis includes the division of housework and child care as well as the perception of whether this division is fair and satisfactory. We use a unique data set combining the Norwegian Generations and Gender Survey (2007) with information on childbirths within 3 years after the interview from the population register. We found that an unequal division of housework is associated with a decreased chance of first and subsequent births. Child care is most relevant when the respondent is satisfied with the division, as one-child couples where the respondent is less satisfied with the division of child care are less likely to have a second child. Our findings suggest that, even in a high-equity context such as Norway, equality and equity in the household are also important for childbearing.

Realization of fertility intentions by different time frames

This paper focuses on the realization of positive fertility intentions with different time frames. The analyses are based on a unique combination of survey data and information from Norwegian administrative registers on childbearing in the years following the complete selected sample. Guided by the theoretical and empirical framework of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), the results suggest that a fertility intentions time frame is relevant for childbearing behaviour, but the patterns are somewhat different for respondents who were childless at the time of the interview compared to those who already had children. Overall, childless were less likely to realize their fertility intentions than parents. Following the TPB, childless may underestimate the difficulty of acting on their intentions and therefore have more difficulty realizing their intentions, versus parents who take into account their ability to manage another child. The results also show that childless with an immediate fertility intention are more likely to succeed than those with a longer-term intention. Likewise, parents with an immediate fertility intention are more likely to realize their intention during the two first years after the interview, but after four years the childbearing rate was higher among those with longer-term fertility intentions.

First, Second or Third Time Around? The Number of Co-residential Relationships among Young Norwegians

Young adults in Norway mostly choose cohabitation as their first co-residential union and the age of first union formation is comparatively low. However, dissolution rates are higher in Norway than in most other parts of Europe, potentially leading to unstable relationship careers in young adulthood. Using recent survey data from Norway on men and women born 1927–73 (N = 9, 723), we analyze the prevalence and correlates of the number of co-residential unions experienced by the age of 35. We find that the number of co-residential relationships has increased across cohorts, but this development has slowed down among the youngest cohorts. The type of the first union plays a crucial role, and young adults who did not marry their first cohabiting partner have a higher likelihood of experiencing several co-residential unions than those who married directly or via cohabitation.

Education, Gender, and Cohort Fertility in the Nordic Countries

Systematic comparisons of fertility developments based on education, gender and country context are rare. Using harmonized register data, we compare cohort total fertility and ultimate childlessness by gender and educational attainment for cohorts born beginning in 1940 in four Nordic countries. Cohort fertility (CTF) initially declined in all four countries, although for cohorts born in the 1950s and later, the CTF remained stable or declined only modestly. Childlessness, which had been increasing, has plateaued in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Women’s negative educational gradient in relation to total fertility has vanished, except in Finland, while men’s positive gradient has persisted. The highest level of men’s childlessness appears among the least educated. In the oldest female cohorts, childlessness was highest among the highly educated, but these patterns have changed over the cohorts as childlessness has increased among the low educated and remained relatively stable among higher educated women. In Denmark, Norway and Sweden, childlessness is now highest among the least educated women. We witness both a new gender similarity and persistent (among men) and new (among women) educational disparities in childbearing outcomes in the Nordic region. Overall, the number of low educated has decreased remarkably over time. These population segments face increasing social and economic disadvantages that are reflected as well in their patterns of family formation.

Intergenerational transmission of age at first birth in Norway

ABSTRACT Using data from administrative registers, we examine the intergenerational transmission of timing of first birth in Norway for all men and women born between 1954 and 1964. We assess the extent of any intergenerational transmission using discrete-time event history analysis, and estimate associations between the age at first birth of parents and their children. Results suggest that intergenerational transmission of age at first birth is evident in all four parent–child dyads and at all ages of the first-birth process. This means that even in a society as contemporary Norway, with a welfare state that offers a range of universal social benefits, own fertility timing is correlated with parents’ fertility behavior. Furthermore, our analyses indicate that fathers’ high age at first birth is closely associated with postponed birth of sons. Results from a microsimulation suggest that the fertility timing of daughters is less malleable by changes in parental age at birth than the fertility timing of sons. Controlling for a limited set of possible confounders, we find that the intergenerational transmission of age at first birth largely persist.