Tie strength and family formation: Which personal relationships are influential?

Abstract

On the basis of the analysis of qualitative interviews in Western Germany, it has been argued that personal relationships have a strong impact on individuals' family formation processes and childbearing intentions. Persons who influence individuals' childbearing choices were identified. Strong ties, such as among core family members (i.e., parents and siblings), are an important contributing factor, but the authors are also able to show that weak ties, such as those among colleagues and acquaintances, need to be considered when examining social influence on family formation processes. Apart from single network partners, influential groups of persons have been identified. Such groups serve as a comparative standard regarding the timing of having one's first child and subsequent children.

Motive für das zweite Kind. Eine qualitative Sekundäranalyse problemzentrierter Interviews

“…Auch inhaltlich war das Material kompatibel zum vorliegenden Forschungsinteresse. Ein Interessenschwerpunkt der primären Untersuchung lag "auf der Motivations-und Entscheidungsfindung hinsichtlich einer Erst-oder Zweitelternschaft" (Bernardi et al 2006: 371 Bernardi et al (2006Bernardi et al ( , 2008Bernardi et al ( , 2014Keim et al 2013).…”

Strong families and declining fertility : a comparative study of family relations and reproductive careers in Soviet Ukraine

“…Bernardi was among the first to examine di↵erent social influences on reproductive decision-making of men and women in northern Italy. Later, this approach was advanced by follow-up studies on other European countries (Bernardi and White, 2010;Diaz et al, 2011;Keim et al, 2009Keim et al, , 2012Rossier and Bernardi, 2009). …”

“…The present study therefore asks how did family relationships and family values influence family formation in Ukraine during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s when the Soviet pronatalist and paternalist family policies were just enacted? To address this question, I refer to the framework of social influences on reproductive behaviour introduced by Bernardi (2003) and also empirically studied in other investigations (Bernardi and Klärner, 2014;Keim, 2011b,a;Keim et al, 2009Keim et al, , 2012Rossier and Bernardi, 2009).…”

“…In order to answer this question, I analyse 66 life history interviews with men and women who were parents during the period of the 1950s through the 1970s in Lviv and Kharkiv. To describe family relationships, I refer to the mechanisms of social influence on reproductive behaviour previously developed by Bernardi (2003), used also in other studies (Keim et al, 2009(Keim et al, , 2012Rossier and Bernardi, 2009).…”

Family systems and fertility : fertility behaviour in Europe from a network perspective

“…The role of non-kin for people's fertility behaviour has with few exceptions been ignored (see Potter and Kantner 1955;Balbo 2012;Keim, Klärner and Bernardi 2013). Instead, many studies looked at the effects of parenthood on network structures and on the number of non-kin in people's social networks (Belsky andRovine 1984, Bost et al 2002).…”