The Interplay of Family Systems, Social Networks and Fertility in Europe Cohorts Born Between 1920 and 1960

Abstract

Despite important variations in regional family systems, little research has been done to assess the effects of these differences on fertility and thus on families' economic status. Even less attention has been paid to the effects of deviating from these regionally embedded norms in terms of network compositions. People's social networks may not conform to the region's view of the ideal family, while this could have important implications for their fertility behaviour. To fill this knowledge 136 gap, this paper aims to answer two questions: to what extent do family systems shape family size, and to what extent do deviations from regional family system norms in terms of social network composition result in differences in completed fertility? To answer these questions, we use the first two waves of the 'Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement' and derive indicators describing regional family systems and people's social networks. We test the influence of these covariates on the completed fertility of cohorts born between 1920 and 1960 in 13 European countries. Our results show that family system norms, and deviations from them in terms of specific social networks, play an important role in determining family size.

Ladies’ Opinion Study: The Influence of Retirement-Age Increase on Fertility in Russia*

“…In addition, the authors suppose that it is necessary to study in detail the experience and results of the retirement age raising in European countries [18], especially in the former socialist countries, where the influence of social networks on fertility is also clearly expressed.…”

The Mid-Twentieth Century Baby Boom and the Role of Social Influence. An Agent-Based Modelling Approach

“…For example, denser local networks (meaning that there are many interactions among a given set of individuals) is associated with more social influence (Bernardi & Klärner, 2014;H. Kohler, Behrman, & Watkins, 2001;Mönkediek & Bras, 2016). Social class is found to be related to the importance of spatial proximity (Klüsener et al, 2019), for instance the adoption of fertility control by the elite seems to be constrained to a much lesser degree by spatial distance compared to other groups.…”

Family influences on fertility in Europe, 1850-1920

“…Furthermore, and perhaps more insightful, such an approach can show how deviations from regional norms, practices and values lead to alternative fertility outcomes (see e.g. Mönkediek & Bras, 2016, as an example of this method). Another alternative direction for future research is to examine whether diffusion effects play a role in fertility decline and whether family systems affect the degree to which new fertility behaviours can spread from one regions to another (Bras & Van Tilburg, 2007;Bras, 2014).…”

“…A large number of studies have explored the connections between family systems and various outcomes, including fertility behaviour (Mönkediek & Bras, 2016), extramarital fertility (Kok, 2009), disparities in social and economic indicators (Duranton et al, 2009), economic performance (Alesina & Giuliano, 2007;Greif, 2006;Kick et al, 2000), alternative indicators of well-being (Brulé & Veenhoven, 2014), gender systems Bertocchi & Bozzano (2014); Mason (2001), and the origins of political divergence (Mamadouh, 1999;Todd, 1985Todd, , 1990Todd, , 2011. Several authors have developed typologies of family systems.…”