Download full text
(1.094Mb)
Citation Suggestion
Please use the following Persistent Identifier (PID) to cite this document:
https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-75828-1
Exports for your reference manager
Childlessness and low fertility in context: evidence from a multilevel analysis on 20 European countries
[journal article]
Abstract Low fertility and childlessness have been largely interpreted as being driven by the same mechanisms, although they may be qualitatively different phenomena. The present article discusses this assumption and studies determinants of childlessness by comparing them with determinants of low fertility. ... view more
Low fertility and childlessness have been largely interpreted as being driven by the same mechanisms, although they may be qualitatively different phenomena. The present article discusses this assumption and studies determinants of childlessness by comparing them with determinants of low fertility. Drawing on micro-level data from the European Labour Force Survey (2005-2010) and macro-level data from external data sources, it enters the debate on the micro- and macro-determinants of fertility and childlessness by analysing women who live with or without children when they are 35-39 years old. By means of a series of multilevel models, it discusses the moderating role of the institutional and normative context in the link between individual characteristics and childlessness, and it analyses the extent to which micro- and macro-level determinants of childlessness differ from factors associated with low-fertility. The results indicate that the macro-level factors associated with individual childlessness are similar to those identified in the literature on low fertility. However, interesting differences emerge in how reconciliation and family support policies relate on childlessness and low-fertility across different groups of women. Overall, these findings highlight the importance to study childlessness as a phenomenon on its own, distinguishing its determinants from determinants of (low) fertility.... view less
Keywords
childlessness; fertility; multi-level analysis; gender role; determinants; woman; family policy; Europe
Classification
Population Studies, Sociology of Population
Family Sociology, Sociology of Sexual Behavior
Free Keywords
Low fertility; Family reconciliation; Gender norms; European Union Labour Force Surveys (EU-LFS) 2005-2010; Multilinks Database on Intergenerational Policy Indicators 2011 (Version 2.0); ZA3811: EVS - European Values Study 1999 - Integrierter Datensatz; ZA4800: European Values Study 2008: Integrated Dataset (EVS 2008)
Document language
English
Publication Year
2020
Page/Pages
p. 1-38
Journal
Genus, 76 (2020)
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s41118-020-00074-7
ISSN
2035-5556
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed