This paper examines the relationship between work and family among men in western Germany. We investigate the extent to which a difficult start in and insecurities during the working life affect men's transition to fatherhood, and the degree to which this effect is influenced by characteristics of the respondent's family of origin and his relationship history.We use proportional hazards models to analyze data of the third "Familiensurvey" conducted by the German Youth Institute in 2000. In accordance with the spillover hypothesis, which assumes that labor market success (or failure) leads to success (or failure) in family behavior, we found that under difficult and/or insecure circumstances in career patterns, men delay their transition to fatherhood. The delay is caused in particular by unemployment, self-employment or part-time work. A successful career development, however, increases the propensity to have a child soon after having taken a career step. Contrary to the hypothesis of individualization, the social status and the composition of the family of origin still have an impact on the fertility behavior of men in adulthood. In particular, the transition rate to fatherhood is higher if the man grew up with at least one sibling, while losing a parent through death decreases the rate. Both the employment career and the parental home influence the formation of steady relationships, and this explains in part their effect on the transition to fatherhood.

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Working papers of the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research receive only limited review. Views or opinions expressed in working papers are attributable to the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Institute.

Working papers of the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research receive only limited review. Views or opinions expressed in working papers are attributable to the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Institute.

No abstract