While existing research has documented complexities in biographies of childless women, few studies to date have systematically examined the life-course pathways of the childless from a comparative, cross-country perspective. In this paper, we analyse biographies of childless women in four countries—Germany, Italy, Poland, and the United States—in order to investigate whether pathways into childlessness are country-specific or commonly shared across institutional, cultural, and geographical settings. Partnership, education, and employment histories are examined using sequence analysis with dynamic Hamming distance and cluster analysis. Discrepancy analysis indicates a country-effect in women’s biographies although life-course patterns identified in each country share similarities. Overall, seven life-course trajectories have been identified, with the most numerous cluster comprising single, working women who completed their education at a relatively young age. The results highlight a marked variation in the life-courses of childless women. Put together, these findings provide descriptive evidence for both country-specificity and cross-country similarity in the pathways to childlessness.
Life-Course Trajectories of Childless Women: Country-Specific or Universal? / Tocchioni, Valentina; Rybinska, Anna; Mynarska, Monika; Matysiak, Anna; Vignoli, Daniele. - In: EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF POPULATION. - ISSN 1572-9885. - STAMPA. - 38:(2022), pp. 1315-1332. [10.1007/s10680-022-09624-5]
Life-Course Trajectories of Childless Women: Country-Specific or Universal?
Tocchioni, Valentina
;Mynarska, Monika;Matysiak, Anna;Vignoli, Daniele
2022
Abstract
While existing research has documented complexities in biographies of childless women, few studies to date have systematically examined the life-course pathways of the childless from a comparative, cross-country perspective. In this paper, we analyse biographies of childless women in four countries—Germany, Italy, Poland, and the United States—in order to investigate whether pathways into childlessness are country-specific or commonly shared across institutional, cultural, and geographical settings. Partnership, education, and employment histories are examined using sequence analysis with dynamic Hamming distance and cluster analysis. Discrepancy analysis indicates a country-effect in women’s biographies although life-course patterns identified in each country share similarities. Overall, seven life-course trajectories have been identified, with the most numerous cluster comprising single, working women who completed their education at a relatively young age. The results highlight a marked variation in the life-courses of childless women. Put together, these findings provide descriptive evidence for both country-specificity and cross-country similarity in the pathways to childlessness.File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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