Transitions to motherhood across generations. Causal factors in the first childbirth in Spain

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to analyse the transition to motherhood of generations of women born in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. In particular, we study the effect of socio-demographic and family characteristics and the main life transitions of women (couple formation, labour trajectory and emancipation) on the probability of having a first child. Using the 2018 Fertility Survey at INE, discrete-time survival models are applied to analyse the age at birth of the first child considering individual and family characteristics, and incorporating life transitions. The results show no significant differences between generations in the intensity of the transition to the first child, although a delay in first childbearing is observed, mainly due to changes in the characteristics of the women themselves and in particular to the increase in educational attainment. The importance of life transitions is maintained despite the generational change, so that having a stable partner and having achieved emancipation and economic independence continue to be fundamental for the transition to motherhood. However, while in older generations employment favoured motherhood, in recent generations access to the labour market does not affect motherhood, although non-access to the labour market reduces it.