Remaining childless in affluent economies: a comparison of France, West Germany, Italy and Spain, 1994–2001 Rester sans enfant dans des sociétés d'abondances: une comparaison de la France, l'Allemagne de l'Ouest et l'Espagne, 19994–2001

Abstract

This article explores why women delay childbearing and increase their likelihood to remain childless in Spain, Italy, West Germany and France. We take a macro-micro perspective and show that national institutions influence women's life transitions, in particular partnership and motherhood. For coupled women, we find two alternative modes out of childlessness. In countries with high direct and indirect child costs, like Spain and Italy, entering a male-breadwinner couple or occupying a stable and high-income position facilitates motherhood, while in the French context motherhood is most likely in a dual-earner partnership.Keywords Childlessness AE family formation AE European comparative analysis Ré sumé: Cet article explore les raisons pour lesquelles les femmes retardent la procré ation au risque de ne pas avoir d'enfants, en Espagne, Italie, Allemagne de l'Ouest et France. A l'aide d'une perspective macro-micro, nous dé montrons que les politiques nationales influencent les transitions dans la vie des femmes, et notamment la mise en couple et la maternité . Pour les femmes en couple, il y a deux façons de faire la transition vers le premier enfant. Dans les pays où les coû ts directs et indirects de l'enfant sont é levé s, comme l'Italie et l'Espagne, le fait de devenir femme au foyer avec un conjoint qui travaille, ou encore d'occuper une position professionnelle stable et bien ré muné ré e facilite la maternité , alors que dans le contexte de la France, la maternité est plus probable dans le cadre de couples bi-actifs.Mots-clés non-maternité AE formation des familles AE perspective comparative europé enne M.-J. Gonzá lez Departament de Ciè ncies Polítiques i Socials, UPF, Edifici Jaume I -Ramon Trias Fargas, 25-27,

Fertility among descendants of immigrants in Belgium: The role of the partner

“…We have studied second and higher order births only, which implies that the women in our analyses were already selected to be mothers. Given that childlessness is more common among Southern European women (González and Jurado-Guerrero 2006;Tanturri and Mencarini 2008), mothers are likely to be a selective group. Male characteristics may be more decisive in differentiating the transition to parenthood than higher order parity progression, as suggested by a recent study by Trimarchi and Van Bavel (2017).…”

Diverse paths into childlessness over the life course

“…A number of scholars have emphasized that childlessness is a dynamic process that should be analyzed from a life course perspective (Gonzá lez & Jurado-Guerrero, 2006;Hagestad & Call, 2007;Keizer et al, 2008). So far, however, relatively few studies have adopted this approach, and most of those which have attempted to do so relied on measures that cumulate information on individual experiences over the life course (such as time spent in a union or in employment), and then looked how these experiences affected the probability of having no children in order to identify the main reasons for childlessness.…”

On the links between employment, partnership quality, and the desire to have a first child

“…Not many studies have evaluated the effect of income on fertility in Germany. Schmitt (2005) found a positive income effect for men and a negative for women, whereas González and Jurado-Guerrero (2006) detected no significant impact of women's income on their fertility. Research from other European countries shows that women's income has a negative effect on birth risks in the UK (Sigle-Rushton 2008) and a positive one in Finland and Sweden (Hoem 2000;Vikat 2004;Andersson, Duvander, and Hank 2005;Andersson and Scott 2008).…”