Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T09:25:05.488Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The realization of fertility intentions in the context of childbearing postponement: comparison of transitional and post-transitional populations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 March 2020

Jiřina Kocourková Open the ORCID record for Jiřina Kocourková [Opens in a new window]  and
Anna Šťastná
Jiřina Kocourková*
Affiliation:
Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
Anna Šťastná
Affiliation:
Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Childbearing postponement is a key demographic change that has been experienced by most European countries. It leads to a late-fertility pattern, with women realizing their reproductive plans preferentially after the age of 30. This may result in a lower fertility level. Since the ideal family size has not changed in most European countries, it has been argued that the end of the postponement transition further depends on the extent to which the lower fertility of younger women is compensated for by an increase in that of older women. Thus, the completion of the transition depends not only on the formation of a late childbearing pattern, but also on the capability of women to realize their reproductive plans if they commence childbearing later in their lives. This study employed a new approach to assess postponement transition based on analysis of the realization of the fertility intentions of women at later childbearing ages using survey panel data. A method that enables the differentiation between transitional and post-transitional cohorts was applied. The investigation was based on a comparison of the postponement transition in Czechia and France, the former being a post-communist and the latter a Western European country. It was found that despite having a similar pattern of fertility timing, Czechia and France underwent differing phases of postponement transition. The Czech population was identified as being transitional since only the ‘transition’ cohorts had completed their fertility during the period under study. These cohorts did not show a significant increase in realization of fertility intentions in later age. In contrast, the post-transitional French population is characterized by higher completed cohort fertility rates amongst women who entered motherhood at the age of 30 and over and by the significantly higher realization of fertility intentions for women aged 30–34 years.

Keywords

FertilityChildbearing postponementIntentions
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 53 , Issue 1 , January 2021 , pp. 82 - 97
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Beets, G, Schippers, J and te Velde, ER (2011) The Future of Motherhood in Western Societies. Late Fertility and its Consequences. Springer, London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berrington, A, Stone, J and Beaujouan, É (2015) Educational differences in timing and quantum of childbearing in Britain: a study of cohorts born 1940–1969. Demographic Research 33, 733–764.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Billari, F and Kohler, HP (2004) Patterns of low and lowest-low fertility in Europe. Population Studies 58(2), 161–176.Google ScholarPubMed
Billari, F, Philipov, D and Testa, MR (2009) Attitudes, norms and perceived behavioural control: explaining fertility intentions in Bulgaria. European Journal of Population 25(4), 439–465.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Billingsley, S (2010) The post-communist fertility puzzle. Population Research and Policy Review 29(2), 193–231.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Blum, S, Formánková, L and Dobrotić, I (2014) Family policies in ‘hybrid’ welfare states after the crisis: pathways between policy expansion and retrenchment. Social Policy and Administration 48(4), 468–491.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bongaarts, J and Feeney, G (1998) On the quantum and tempo of fertility. Population and Development Review 24 (2), 271–291.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burkimsher, M (2015) Europe-wide fertility trends since the 1990s: turning the corner from declining first birth rates. Demographic Research 32, 621–656.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Castro, R (2015) Late-entry-into-motherhood women are responsible for fertility recuperation. Journal of Biosocial Science 47(2), 275–279.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
CZSO (n.d.) Czech Statistical Office. URL: www.czso.cz (accessed 30th August 2018).Google Scholar
Frejka, T (2011) The role of contemporary childbearing postponement and recuperation in shaping period fertility trends. Comparative Population Studies 36(4), 927–958.Google Scholar
Frejka, T and Basten, S (2016) Fertility and family policies in Central and Eastern Europe. Comparative Population Studies 41(1), 3–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frejka, T, Sobotka, T, Hoem, JM and Toulemon, L (2008) Childbearing trends and policies in Europe. Demographic Research 19, 1–1178.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gauthier, AH and Philipov, D (2008) Can policies enhance fertility in Europe? Vienna Yearbook of Population Research 6, 1–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldstein, JR, Lutz, W and Testa, MR (2003) The emergence of sub-replacement family size ideals in Europe. Population Research and Policy Review 22(5–6), 479–496.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldstein, JR, Sobotka, T and Jasilioniene, A (2009) The end of lowest-low fertility? Population and Development Review 35(4), 663–669.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harknett, K and Hartnett, CS (2014) The gap between births intended and births achieved in 22 European countries 2004–07. Population Studies 68(3), 265–282.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hašková, H and Dudová, R (2017) Institutions and discourses on childcare for children under the age of three in a comparative French–Czech Perspective. Sociological Research Online 22(3), 120–142.Google Scholar
HFD (n.d.) Human Fertility Database. Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research and Vienna Institute of Demography. URL: www.humanfertility.org (accessed 30th August 2018).Google Scholar
INED (n.d.) Age moyen à la maternité. URL: www.ined.fr (accessed 30th August 2018).Google Scholar
Jasilioneiene, A et al. (2015) Methods Protocol for the Human Fertility Database. URL: https://www.humanfertility.org/Docs/methods.pdf (accessed 15th April 2015).Google Scholar
Kapitány, B and Spéder, Z (2012) Realization, postponement or abandonment of childbearing intentions in four European countries. Population 67(4), 599–629.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kocourková, J (2002) Leave arrangements and childcare services in Central Europe: policies and practices before and after the transition. Community, Work & Family 5(3), 301–318.Google Scholar
Kocourková, J (2009) The current ‘Baby Boom’ in the Czech Republic and family policy. Czech Demography 3, 43–53.Google Scholar
Kocourková, J, Konečná, H, Burcin, B and Kučera, T (2015) How old is too old? A contribution to the discussion on age limits for assisted reproduction technique access. Reproductive BioMedicine Online 30, 482–492.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kocourková, J, Šťastná, A and Černíková, A (2019) The impact of the economic crisis on fertility levels in EU member states. Politická ekonomie 67(1), 82–104.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kohler, HP, Billari, FC and Ortega, JA (2002) The emergence of lowest-low fertility in Europe during the 1990s. Population and Development Review 28(4), 641–680.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kurkin, R, Šprocha, B, Šídlo, L and Kocourková, J (2018) Fertility factors in Czechia according to the results of the 2011 census. AUC Geographica 53(2), 137–148.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lesthaeghe, R (2010) The unfolding story of the second demographic transition. Population and Development Review 36(2), 211–251.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Luci-Greulich, A and Thévenon, O (2013) The impact of family policies on fertility trends in developed countries. European Journal of Population 29(4), 387–416.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lutz, W, Skirbekk, V and Testa, MR (2006) The low-fertility trap hypothesis: forces that may lead to further postponement and fewer births in Europe. Vienna Yearbook of Population Research 4, 167–192.Google Scholar
Ní Bhrolcháin, M, Beaujouan, É and Berrington, A (2010) Stability and change in fertility intentions in Britain, 1991–2007. Population Trends 141(1), 13–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Régnier-Loilier, A, Vignoli, D and Dutreuilh, C (2011) Fertility intentions and obstacles to their realization in France and Italy. Population 66(2), 361–389.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Šamanová, G (2010) Partnerství, manželství a rodičovství. Press release. URL: https://cvvm.soc.cas.cz/media/com_form2content/documents/c2/a677/f9/100993s_ov100112.pdf (accessed 23rd November 2016).Google Scholar
Sobotka, T (2011) Fertility in Central and Eastern Europe after 1989: collapse and gradual recovery. Historical Social Research 36(2), 246–296.Google Scholar
Sobotka, T (2017) Post-transitional fertility: the role of childbearing postponement in fuelling the shift to low and unstable fertility levels. Journal of Biosocial Science 49, S20–S45.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sobotka, T and Beaujouan, É (2014) Two Is best? The persistence of a two-child family ideal in Europe. Population and Development Review 40(3), 391–419.Google Scholar
Sobotka, T, Šťastná, A, Zeman, K, Hamplová, D and Kantorová, V (2008) Czech Republic: a rapid transformation of fertility and family behaviour after the collapse of state socialism. Demographic Research 19, 403–454.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sobotka, T, Zeman, K, Lesthaeghe, R and Frejka, T (2011) Postponement and recuperation in cohort fertility: new analytical and projection methods and their application. European Demographic Research Papers 2011–12. VID, Vienna.Google Scholar
Sobotka, T, Zeman, K, Potančoková, M, Eder, J, Brzozowska, Z, Beaujouan, É and Matysiak, A (2015) Fertility Datasheet 2015. VID/Wittgenstein Centre for Demography and Global Human Capital, Vienna.Google Scholar
Spéder, Z and Kapitány, B (2009) How are time-dependent childbearing intentions realized? Realization, postponement, abandonment, bringing forward. European Journal of Population 25(4), 503–523.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spéder, Z and Kapitány, B (2014) Failure to realize fertility intentions: a key aspect of the post-communist fertility transition. Population Research and Policy Review 33(3), 393–418.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Šprocha, B (2014) The postponement and recuperation of fertility in a cohort perspective in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Demografie 56(3), 219–233.Google Scholar
Šťastná, A, Kocourková, J and Šprocha, B (2019a) Parental leave policies and second births: a comparison of Czechia and Slovakia. Population Research and Policy Review, doi:10.1007/s11113-019-09546-x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Šťastná, A, Slabá, J and Kocourková, J (2019b) Reasons for the unplanned postponement and timing of the birth of a second child. Demografie 61(2), 77–92.Google Scholar
Te Velde, E, Leridon, D and Eijkemans, M (2012) The effect of postponement of first motherhood on permanent involuntary childlessness and total fertility rate in six European countries since the 1970s. Human Reproduction 27(4), 1179–1183.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Testa, MR and Toulemon, L (2006) Family formation in France: individual preferences and subsequent outcomes. Vienna Yearbook of Population Research 4, 41–75 Google Scholar
Toulemon, L, Pailhé, A and Rossier, C (2008) France: high and stable fertility. Demographic Research 19, 503–556.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
VID (2010) Estimating Tempo Effect and Adjusted TFR. Documentation to the European Demographic Datasheet 2010. URL: https://www.oeaw.ac.at/fileadmin/subsites/Institute/VID/PDF/Publications/Datasheet/DS2010/Tempo_detailed_2010_rev.pdf (accessed 3rd December 2018).Google Scholar
VID and IIASA (2016) European Demographic Datasheet 2016. IIASA, VID/OEAW, WU, Wittgenstein Centre, Vienna. URL: http://edds2016.populationeurope.org/ (accessed 3rd December 2018).Google Scholar
Zeman, K, Beaujouan, É, Brzozowska, Z and Sobotka, T (2018) Cohort fertility decline in low fertility countries: decomposition using parity progression ratios. Demographic Research 38, 651–690.Google Scholar