Renske Keizer

Changes in union status during the transition to parenthood in eleven European countries, 1970s to early 2000s

Couples who have children are increasingly likely to have lived together without being married at some point in their relationship. Some couples begin their unions with cohabitation and marry before first conception, some marry during pregnancy or directly after the first birth, while others remain unmarried 3 years after the first birth. Using union and fertility histories since the 1970s for eleven countries, we examine whether women who have children in unions marry, and if so, at what stage in family formation. We also examine whether women who conceive when cohabiting are more likely to marry or separate. We find that patterns of union formation and childbearing develop along different trajectories across countries. In all countries, however, less than 40 per cent of women remained in cohabitation up to 3 years after the first birth, suggesting that marriage remains the predominant institution for raising children.

The transition to parenthood and well-being: The impact of partner status and work hour transitions

Using data from the first two waves of the Netherlands Kinship Panel Study for 338 women and 262 men, we examine the consequences of making the transition to parenthood for life satisfaction, loneliness, positive affect, negative affect, and partnership satisfaction. We extend previous work by taking transitions in partner status and work hours into account. Results show a moderate impact of becoming a parent on well-being. In so far as effects of making the transition to parenthood emerge, they are attributable to changes in partner status and work hours. First, the decrease in negative affect upon making the transition to motherhood is attributable to the group of women who increase their working hours. Second, the detrimental impact of making the transition to motherhood on partnership satisfaction is attributable to the group of new mothers who quit their job. Third, the detrimental impact of making the transition to fatherhood on loneliness is attributable to the group of new fathers who become married. There is one exception to this pattern of partner status and work hours as mechanisms for changes in well-being. Men who become fathers remain less satisfied with their partnership, even when transitions in partner status and work hours have been taken into account. In the discussion-section, we consider the possible underestimation of negative effects because of the focus on the continuously partnered. We also reflect on our results in the light of the high incidence of part-time work in the Netherlands and Dutch policies aimed at supporting new parents.

The wellbeing of childless men and fathers in mid-life

ABSTRACT Using data from the first wave of the Netherlands Kinship Panel Study conducted in 2002–03, this paper examines the economic, psychological and social wellbeing among 1,467 men aged 40–59 years with different parenthood histories and circumstances: the childless, fathers who live with their children, non-co-resident fathers, and ‘empty-nest fathers’. The gerontological interest is whether there are variations in wellbeing by parenting, and whether they persist in old age. The results showed that fathers have higher incomes than childless men, regardless of their partner history. As regards psychological wellbeing, mens partner history counts, not their parenthood status. Being single contributes to low levels of psychological wellbeing. The findings provide evidence of the socially integrating effects of parenthood and for mens ‘good-provider’ role. Childless men and non-co-resident fathers report poorer quality family relationships. In addition, childless men were least likely to report helping others in the community. Overall, more support is found for the notion that fatherhood is a transforming event than that the wellbeing benefits derive from fathering activities. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of the findings for inequalities in wellbeing and informal support among the male members of the cohort born during 1943–63 when they reach old age.

Parity and men's mortality risks

BACKGROUND Most studies on associations between parity and mortality focus on women, and find a negative correlation or U-shaped pattern. If and why having children is associated with mortality among men is less clear. Our objective was to improve understanding of the association between mens parity and mortality, and to investigate mechanisms potentially underlying this association. METHODS Analysis of baseline data (1991) from a prospective cohort study (the GLOBE study) with almost 17 years mortality follow-up among 4965 men, aged ≥45 years. Cox proportional hazard hierarchical regression models were used to link parity to mortality and to explore the role of socio-economic position (SEP), health behaviours and partner status. RESULTS Fathers of two or three children [hazard rate ratio (HR) 0.85; 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 0.74-0.99] and especially fathers of four or more children (HR 0.81; 95% CI 0.69-0.95) had lower mortality risks compared with childless men. However, this association attenuated to non-significance after adding SEP, health behaviours and partner status to the model. CONCLUSIONS Our findings suggest that childless men have higher mortality risks in comparison with men who have fathered two or more children.

Physical activity and sport participation: A systematic review of the impact of fatherhood.

Moderate to Vigorous Physical Activity (MVPA), including sport participation, is an important component of a healthy lifestyle. Scholars have devoted considerable attention to understanding the impact of parenthood on MVPA, albeit only for women. As the impact of fatherhood on mens lives is drawing more and more scholarly and societal attention, the aim of the current article is to provide an systematic overview of studies examining the impact of fatherhood on MVPA. A systematic review was conducted in Google Scholar, Web of Science and Web of Knowledge, using (combinations of) the search terms: father(hood), parent(hood), exercise, physical activity, sport and leisure time. This resulted in 54 papers reporting differences in MVPA and/or sport between fathers and childless men or within men that became father, of which 13 were included. Our overview of findings suggested that fathers spent less time on MVPA compared with childless men, but that fathers did not differ from their childless counterparts on the subarea of sport participation. Differences in time spent on MVPA were strongest between childless men and fathers with young children (< 6 yrs). Our systematic review revealed that fathers spent less time on MVPA compared to childless men, especially when they had young children. Interestingly, linkages between parental status and the subarea of sport participation were not found, which suggests that fathers cut back on other areas of MVPA. Given the impact of MVPA on a healthy lifestyle, future research in this field is warranted.

What’s a (Childless) Man Without a Woman? The Differential Importance of Couple Dynamics for the Wellbeing of Childless Men and Women in the Netherlands

Using rich couple data from the Netherlands Kinship Panel Study, we investigated to what extent there were gender differences in couple dynamics within childless couples (N = 163). Though the childless partners reported similar relationship satisfaction, we found gender differences in the link between relationship conflict and relationship satisfaction - the childless men were more strongly affected by the negative aspects of the partnership. This gender difference was not evident for the association between partner support and relationship satisfaction - the positive aspects of the partnership were equally important for the male and the female childless partners. Furthermore, the association between relationship satisfaction and health was stronger for the childless men than for the childless women and this difference was particularly evident when the levels of relationship satisfaction were low. These results indicate that when they are in unsatisfying romantic relationships, childless men are at a greater risk than childless women of physical and mental ill health.

The influence of motherhood on income: do partner characteristics and parity matter?

ABSTRACT Although the economic independence of women has been greatly advanced in recent decades, it continues to lag far behind men’s in the Netherlands and elsewhere. The negative consequences of motherhood are an important driving force behind women’s abiding lower income. Although mother’s lower earnings have received a substantial amount of attention from scholars and the underlying mechanisms are well established, surprisingly little is known about mitigating factors. This article contributes to the literature by investigating how the earnings disadvantage of mothers is affected by partner characteristics and by parity. We formulate hypotheses about the effect of a partner’s working hours, his earnings and his gender role orientations, on the earnings disadvantage associated with motherhood. Furthermore, we examine the role of parity in this earnings disadvantage. Our hypotheses are tested using longitudinal data from the first three waves of the Netherlands Kinship Panel Study. Our hypotheses concerning partner characteristics are not supported. The earnings disadvantage of mothers is hardly affected by them. We do find that parity matters greatly in examining the effect that motherhood has on women’s earnings. The transition to motherhood has a much larger effect on earnings than the birth of subsequent children. The implications of these findings and the specificity of the Dutch context are discussed.

Which men become involved fathers? The impact of men's own attitudes on paternal involvement in the Netherlands

Using data from the first two waves of the Netherlands Kinship Panel Study, I examine to what extent mens own attitudes explain their paternal involvement after the transition into parenthood. This study moves beyond previous work by incorporating multiple dimensions of paternal involvement, by unravelling issues of causality regarding the measurements of attitudes and behaviour and by taking important father, mother, and child characteristics into account. In line with my expectations, the results show that men with more egalitarian gender role attitudes and higher scores on parenthood status salience are more (relatively) more involved in childcare tasks. However, results vary depending on the outcome measure studied. First, my finding reveal that men with more egalitarian gender role attitudes and higher scores on parenthood status salience spend more time (in absolute terms) on playing with their child, but the strength of this association depends on the age of the child. Furthermore, only men with more egalitarian gender role attitudes are relatively more involved in physical and logistic tasks. Both men with more egalitarian gender role attitudes and men with higher scores on parenthood status salience are relatively more involved in child care tasks labelled as ‘responsibility’

[Review of: G.B. Eydal, T. Rostgaard (2015) Fatherhood in the Nordic welfare states: comparing care policies and practice]

Fathering research is burgeoning, and the role of fathers in family life is an increasingly important focus of both scholars and policy-makers. With gender equality and the integration of mothers i...

De mannen achter succesvolle vrouwen: Kanjers of maatjes?

Summary The men behind successful women: ‘Big shots’ or ‘sharing companions’? Using data from the Netherlands Kinship Panel Study, this paper compares the partners of successful women with those of women who have fared less well on the labor market. Success is measured as belonging to the top ten percent income bracket of the female sample. The male breadwinner model where husbands contribute most to the household income characterizes the majority of couples, particularly in the older age groups. Successful women tend to have ‘sharing companions’ who make less money than they do rather than ‘big shots’ who have high incomes. Whether their partners espouse gender egalitarian attitudes makes no differences for women’s success. Rather, having a partner who performs a fair share of domestic tasks relates to women’s socio-economic achievement. Mothers with resident children are more successful when their partners have short work weeks, but the success of childless women and empty nest mothers shows no association with their partners’ work hours. With women’s increasing socio-economic independence, partner relations will likely become premised on different logics compared with the past. For economically autonomous women, men’s disposition towards companionship will be an important consideration, whereas men faced with economically autonomous women will be required to substantively contribute to domestic work.