Badolato Luca, Billari Francesco C, Liefbroer Aart C
Department of Sociology, Ohio State University, Columbus, USA, OH.
Department of Social and Political Sciences and Carlo F. Dondena Centre for Research On Social Dynamics and Public Policy, Bocconi University, Milan, Italy.
Eur J Popul. 2024 Nov 27;40(1):36. doi: 10.1007/s10680-024-09718-2.
A growing body of research shows that demographic attitudes and behaviors across the life course are socially stratified. Building on this and focusing on the transition to parenthood, we hypothesize that (i) parental socioeconomic status is associated with multiple dimensions of the transition to parenthood, including fertility norms (perceived lower age limit at first birth), ideals (ideal age at first birth), and behaviors (age at first birth), and that (ii) this association varies across national contexts, as national contexts determine the opportunities and constraints that guide young adults' life course attitudes and behaviors. Drawing on the European Social Survey 2006 and 2018 data, we analyze early fertility norms and ideals and later fertility behaviors of a pseudo-panel of individuals born between 1976 and 1988. We show that (i) parental socioeconomic status is positively associated with later fertility norms, later fertility ideals, and later childbearing, even when controlling for respondents' own socioeconomic status, and that (ii) national contexts partially moderate these associations. We conclude by discussing implications for theories of fertility and highlighting avenues for future research.
越来越多的研究表明，人生各阶段的人口统计学态度和行为存在社会分层现象。在此基础上，聚焦于为人父母的转变，我们提出以下假设：（i）父母的社会经济地位与为人父母转变的多个维度相关，包括生育规范（首次生育的预期下限年龄）、理想生育年龄（首次生育的理想年龄）和生育行为（首次生育年龄）；（ii）这种关联在不同国家背景下存在差异，因为国家背景决定了引导年轻人人生态度和行为的机会与限制。利用2006年和2018年欧洲社会调查数据，我们分析了1976年至1988年出生的一组虚拟个体的早期生育规范和理想以及后期生育行为。我们发现：（i）即使控制了受访者自身的社会经济地位后，父母的社会经济地位与后期生育规范、后期生育理想以及后期生育呈正相关；（ii）国家背景部分调节了这些关联。最后，我们讨论了这些发现对生育理论的启示，并强调了未来研究的方向。
