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Comparative Study
. 2010 Nov;64(3):209-27.
doi: 10.1080/00324728.2010.512392.

Increasingly heterogeneous ages at first birth by education in Southern European and Anglo-American family-policy regimes: A seven-country comparison by birth cohort

Michael Rendall  1 , Encarnacion Aracil, Christos Bagavos, Christine Couet, Alessandra Derose, Paola Digiulio, Trude Lappegard, Isabelle Robert-Bobée, Marit Rønsen, Steve Smallwood, Georgia Verropoulou
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Increasingly heterogeneous ages at first birth by education in Southern European and Anglo-American family-policy regimes: A seven-country comparison by birth cohort

Michael Rendall et al. Popul Stud (Camb). 2010 Nov.

Abstract

According to the 'reproductive polarization' hypothesis, family-policy regimes unfavourable to the combination of employment with motherhood generate greater socio-economic differentials in fertility than other regimes. This hypothesis has been tested mainly for 'liberal' Anglo-American regimes. To investigate the effects elsewhere, we compared education differentials in age at first birth among native-born women of 1950s and 1960s birth cohorts in seven countries representing three regime types. Women with low educational attainment have continued to have first births early, not only in Britain and the USA but also in Greece, Italy, and Spain. Women at all other levels of education have experienced a shift towards later first births, a shift that has been largest in Southern Europe. Unlike the educationally heterogeneous changes in age pattern at first birth seen under the Southern European and Anglo-American family-policy regimes, the changes across birth cohorts in the study's two 'universalistic' countries, Norway and France, have been educationally homogeneous.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Education distributions by country and cohort
Figure 2
Figure 2
Figure 2a France 1965–69 cohort Figure 2b Norway 1961–65 cohort Figure 2c England and Wales 1964–68 cohort Figure 2d U.S.A. 1961–65 cohort Figure 2e Greece 1965–69 cohort Figure 2f Italy 1961–65 cohort Figure 2g Spain 1961–65 cohort
Figure 2
Figure 2
Figure 2a France 1965–69 cohort Figure 2b Norway 1961–65 cohort Figure 2c England and Wales 1964–68 cohort Figure 2d U.S.A. 1961–65 cohort Figure 2e Greece 1965–69 cohort Figure 2f Italy 1961–65 cohort Figure 2g Spain 1961–65 cohort
Figure 2
Figure 2
Figure 2a France 1965–69 cohort Figure 2b Norway 1961–65 cohort Figure 2c England and Wales 1964–68 cohort Figure 2d U.S.A. 1961–65 cohort Figure 2e Greece 1965–69 cohort Figure 2f Italy 1961–65 cohort Figure 2g Spain 1961–65 cohort
Figure 2
Figure 2
Figure 2a France 1965–69 cohort Figure 2b Norway 1961–65 cohort Figure 2c England and Wales 1964–68 cohort Figure 2d U.S.A. 1961–65 cohort Figure 2e Greece 1965–69 cohort Figure 2f Italy 1961–65 cohort Figure 2g Spain 1961–65 cohort
Figure 2
Figure 2
Figure 2a France 1965–69 cohort Figure 2b Norway 1961–65 cohort Figure 2c England and Wales 1964–68 cohort Figure 2d U.S.A. 1961–65 cohort Figure 2e Greece 1965–69 cohort Figure 2f Italy 1961–65 cohort Figure 2g Spain 1961–65 cohort
Figure 2
Figure 2
Figure 2a France 1965–69 cohort Figure 2b Norway 1961–65 cohort Figure 2c England and Wales 1964–68 cohort Figure 2d U.S.A. 1961–65 cohort Figure 2e Greece 1965–69 cohort Figure 2f Italy 1961–65 cohort Figure 2g Spain 1961–65 cohort
Figure 2
Figure 2
Figure 2a France 1965–69 cohort Figure 2b Norway 1961–65 cohort Figure 2c England and Wales 1964–68 cohort Figure 2d U.S.A. 1961–65 cohort Figure 2e Greece 1965–69 cohort Figure 2f Italy 1961–65 cohort Figure 2g Spain 1961–65 cohort
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