Gender Equality, Parenthood Attitudes, and First Births in Sweden

We analyse Swedish survey data on attitudes about parenthood among young adults aged 22-30 in 1999, and examine who became parents over the next four years. Our results show that while both men and women perceive more benefits to parenthood than costs, men are more likely than women to perceive both negative and positive consequences of parenthood. Further, gender role attitudes shape parental attitudes differentially for men and women. More egalitarian men perceive fewer costs and more egalitarian women perceive fewer benefits than those with more traditional gender role attitudes. Our analyses of the transition to parenthood indicate that, even controlling assessments of the costs and benefits of children, men with more traditional attitudes were more likely to become fathers at an early age, while gender role attitudes had no effect on women’s transition to parenthood. In contrast, there were no gender differentials in the effects of costs and benefits, each of which strongly affected the transition to parenthood, but, of course, in opposite directions. We interpret these findings to indicate that even in a country as far into the Second Demographic Transition as Sweden, negotiating shared parenthood is still sufficiently difficult that it depresses fertility, but now because of its impact on men.

Integrating the second generation: gender and family attitudes in early adulthood in Sweden

'Dieser Artikel nimmt die Einstellungen zu drei im jungen Erwachsenenalter auftretenden familialen Herausforderungen bei im Lande geborenen Schweden unterschiedlicher Herkunft in den Blick. Wir untersuchten ihre Einstellungen hinsichtlich des Eingehens einer neuen Partnerschaft durch Zusammenwohnen versus Ehe und des Eingehens einer Partnerschaft innerhalb oder außerhalb der eigenen ethnischen Gruppe sowie hinsichtlich der Bevorzugung einer eher traditionellen oder eher egalitären Balance zwischen Arbeit und Familie, wenn die Kinder noch klein sind. Die Einstellungen auf diesen Dimensionen zeigen das Ausmaß auf, in dem die erwachsenen, in Schweden lebenden Kinder polnischer oder türkischer Abstammung entweder die schwedischen Familienform akzeptiert haben oder aber von sich selbst erwarten, dass sie einige familiale Besonderheiten beibehalten werden. Unsere Analyse basiert auf einem 1999 durchgeführten Survey junger Erwachsener in Schweden (Family and Working Life in the 21st Century). Dieses Survey bestand aus 2.326 Teilnehmern im Alter von 22 bis 26 Jahren, von denen 500 mindestens einen Elternteil hatten, der entweder in der Türkei oder in Polen geboren war. Wir konzentrierten uns auf die Faktoren, die die Akzeptanz schwedischer Familienformen erhöhen: Wir betrachteten die Effekte zwei Messinstrumente zur Einwirkung schwedischer Wertvorstellungen durch die Wohnumgebung (Bildungswesen, ethnische Segregation in der Nachbarschaft, eines Messinstrumentes zum Grad der Einwirkung schwedischer Wertvorstellungen während der Kindheit in der eigenen Familie (bikulturelle Ehe der eigenen Eltern) sowie einen Faktor, der von einer Abschwächung der Unterstützung für die familialen Herkunftskultur (Bruch mit der Familienstruktur der Elternfamilie) ausgeht. Wir fanden heraus, dass systematische Unterschiede in den Einstellungen zur Familie in der zweiten Generation aufgrund der jeweiligen ethnischen Herkunft bestehen. Es gibt große Unterschiede zwischen jungen Erwachsenen türkischer und schwedischer Herkunft, wohingegen Schweden polnischer Abstammung den Schweden sehr viel ähnlicher sind. Nicht desto trotz scheinen sich die Einstellungen junger Frauen und Männer sowohl polnischer als auch türkischer Herkunft denen ihrer Altersgenossen schwedischer Herkunft anzunähern, jedenfalls im Vergleich zu den in den ethnischen Gemeinschaften ihrer Eltern. Dies hängt jedoch vom Wohnumfeld und den Familienzusammenhängen, in denen sie in Schweden aufwuchsen, ab.' (Autorenreferat)'This paper focuses on attitudes towards three family challenges of early adulthood among native-born Swedes of differing origins. We examine attitudes towards forming new partnerships through cohabitation versus marriage, partnering within or outside one's national group, and preferring a more traditional versus a more egalitarian balance of work and family when children are young. Attitudes about these dimensions reveal the extent to which the adult children of Polish and Turkish origins living in Sweden have accepted Swedish family forms or expect to retain some forms of family distinctiveness. We base our analysis on a 1999 survey of young adults in Sweden (Family and Working Life in the 21st Century). The survey consisted of 2,326 respondents who were ages 22 and 26, of whom 500 had at least one parent who was born either in Turkey or Poland. We focus on the factors increasing acceptance of Swedish family forms. We consider the effects of two measures of exposure to Swedish values in the community (education, neighborhood ethnic segregation), a measure indicating the extent of exposure to Swedish values in the childhood family (parental intermarriage), and a factor suggesting the weakening of familial support for the culture of origin (disrupted childhood family structure). We find that there are systematic differences in family attitudes among the second generation that reflect their ethnic origins, with sharp differences between young adults of Turkish and Swedish origins. Swedes of Polish origin much more closely resemble those of Swedish origins. Nevertheless, the attitudes of young women and men of both Polish and Turkish origins appear to be approaching those of Swedish-origin young adults, relative to the family patterns in their parents' home communities. This, however, depends on the community and family contexts in which they grew up in Sweden.' (author's abstract

Ambivalence about Children in the Family Building Process in Sweden

Sweden provides strong support for childbearing and parenthood, including generously subsidized medical, maternal, and child care, paid parental leave, and child allowances. In this context, attitudes towards parenthood are likely to have a particularly strong impact on the decision about whether and when to have children. We examine the links between first births and holding attitudes about children, not just of positive and negative attitudes, but also of ambivalence, namely those who both value children but also value the things that compete with parenthood for young adults’ time and other resources. Our analysis shows, measuring attitudes before the transition to parenthood, that ambivalence about childbearing delays the transition to parenthood, but not nearly as much as holding purely negative attitudes. Further, reporting an ambivalent experience from the first child had no significant effect on further childbearing, which testifies to the strong two-child norm in Sweden

The forest and the trees : Industrialization, demographic change, and the ongoing gender revolution in Sweden and the United States, 1870-2010

Background: The separate spheres, in which men dominate the public sphere of politics, arts, media, and wage work and women dominate the private sphere of unpaid production and caring, is a powerful configuration in much social theory (including Parsons, Becker, and Goode), which posited that with industrialization, family structures and activities would converge towards the nuclear family with strict gender roles.Objective: This paper examines the major trends unraveling the gender division of family support and care that reached its peak in the mid-20th century, often called the ‘worker-carer’ or the ‘separate spheres’ model, by comparing the experiences of Sweden and the United States.Methods: We use data that includes time series of macro-level demographic and economic indicators, together with cross-sectional data from censuses and time use surveys.Results: The unraveling of the separate spheres began with the increase in the labor force participation of married women and continues with the increase in men’s involvement with their homes and children, but its foundations were laid in the 19th century, with industrialization. We show that despite short-term stalls, slowdowns, and even reverses, as well as huge differences in policy contexts, the overall picture of increasing gender sharing in family support and care is strongly taking shape in both countries.Contribution: By doing a comparative, in-depth analysis, it becomes clear that the extreme role specialization within the couple that divided caring from ‘work,’ though theoretically important, applied only for a limited period in Northern Europe and the United States, however important it might be in other regions

Reconciling studies of men’s gender attitudes and fertility

A reflexion by Westoff and Higgins (2009) in response to a study by Puur, Oláh, Tazi-Preve and Dorbritz (2008) has been recently published in this journal. Both articles addressed the relationship between men’s gender attitudes and fertility, using different datasets and quite different measures of gender attitudes, producing divergent results. Based on that, the authors of the reflexion suggested caution regarding the conclusion of the Puur et al. analysis. We respond to their arguments here by elaborating on the theoretical underpinnings of the claim presented in the original article and thus the importance of the differences of the measures of gender attitudes applied in the two studies (gender roles in the public sphere vs. the private sphere). With this contribution, we stress the need for further research on the association of men’s gender attitudes and fertility.Europe, fertility, gender attitudes, gender roles, men

The Two-Part Gender Revolution, Women’s Second Shift and Changing Cohort Fertility

The two parts of the gender revolution have been evolving side by side at least since the 1960s. The first part, women’s entry into the public sphere, proceeded faster than the second part, men’s entry into the private sphere. Consequently, many employed mothers have carried a greater burden of paid and unpaid family support than fathers throughout the second half of the 20th century. This constituted women’s “second shift,” depressing fertility. A central focus of this paper is to establish second shift trends during the second half of the 20th century and their effects on fertility. Our analyses are based on data on cohort fertility, male and female labor force participation, and male and female domestic hours worked from 11 countries in Northern Europe, Western/central Europe, Southern Europe, and North America between 1960/70 and 2000/2014. We find that the gender revolution had not generated a turnaround, i.e. an increase in cohort fertility, by the end of the 20th century. Nevertheless, wherever the gender revolution has made progress in reducing women’s second shift, cohort fertility declined the least; where the second shift is large and/or has not been reduced, cohort fertility has declined the most

Composition familiale, soutien parental et départ du foyer des jeunes Américains au XXe siècle

Cet article traite des effets de la composition familiale durant l'enfance sur les modalités de départ du foyer parental, c'est-à-dire sur le moment auquel les jeunes partent et sur la direction qu'ils prennent. Les données utilisées proviennent de la National Survey of Families and Households, enquête rétrospective menée aux États-Unis en 1987 auprès de 13 017 adultes et portant sur leur vie de famille passée et actuelle. En combinant le principe des tables de mortalité et l'analyse de régression, les auteurs font appel à une analyse multivariée à risques proportionnels concurrents afin d'évaluer les probabilités de départ correspondant à chaque « destination » (mariage, emploi, service militaire etc.), les risques associés aux autres destinations importantes étant maintenus constants.Les ruptures familiales accroissent les probabilités de départ pour toutes les destinations, sauf les études supérieures. L'appartenance des parents à une classe sociale inférieure, mesurée par leur niveau d'instruction et de prestige professionnel, exerce un effet similaire. L'impact de ces deux facteurs est particulièrement marqué chez les jeunes âgés de quinze à dix-huit ans. Pour les auteurs, ces résultats illustrent le rôle que joue le foyer familial en fournissant aux jeunes les ressources nécessaires à un passage à l'âge adulte réussi, ou au contraire en les incitant à partir prématurément ou à effectuer des choix de vie qui ne les mèneront que difficilement à la maturité, à la stabilité et à l'indépendance.This paper examines the effects of childhood family structure on patterns of home leaving (route and timing). The analysis uses data from the National Survey of Families and Households, a retrospective study of 13,017 U.S. adults interviewed in 1987 about their past and current family experiences. A competing risks, proportional hazards statistical analysis allows us to evaluate the risks of leaving home by a given route, holding constant the risk of taking other important routes out of the home.Family disruption is linked with leaving home via all routes except college attendance, closely resembling the effects of low parental social class (education and occupational prestige). The effects of family structure and class are particularly marked on leaving home between ages 15 and 18. We interpret the results as indicating the ways the parental home provides the resources needed for a successful launching into adult independence or prompts leaving home either too early, or to new living arrangements likely to make establishing a stable independent adult role set more difficult.Este articulo trata de los impactos que tiene la estructura familiar de la infancia sobre las modalidades de solida del hogar, o sea sobre el momento en que parten los jôvenes y la direcciôn que toman. Los datos utilizados provienen de la National Survey of Families and Households, encuesta retrospectiva realizada en los Estados Unidos en 1987 con 13,017 adultos sobre su vida familiar, pasada y actual. Un anâlisis multivariado con riesgos proporcionales permite evaluar las probabilidades de partida segûn cada "destino" (matrimonio, empieo, servicio militar, etc.), manteniendo constantes los riesgos asociados con otros destinos.Las rupturas familiares incrementan las probabilidades de partida en todos los casos, excepto para los estudios superiores. El hecho que los padres pertenezcan a una close social inferior (medida por el nivel de instrucción y de prestigio profesional) tiene un impacto similar, particularmente para los jóvenes de 15 a 18 anos. Segûn los autores, estos resultados ilustran el papel que juega el hogar familiar, al proporcionar a los jóvenes los recursos necesarios para alcanzar exitosamente la edad adulta, o al contrario al incitarlos a partir prematuramente o a elegir un modo de vida que dificilmente les proporcionarâ madurez, estabilidad e independiencia