@article{Testa_35_21,
author = {Testa, Maria Rita and Skirbekk, Vegard and Bordone, Valeria and Osiewalska, Beata},
title={{Are daughters’ childbearing intentions related to their mothers’ socio-economic status?}},
journal = {Demographic Research},
volume = {35},
number = {21},
pages = {581--616},
doi = {10.4054/DemRes.2016.35.21},
year = {2016},
abstract = {Background: Unlike actual fertility, fertility intentions are often found to be positively correlated with education. The literature explaining this paradox is scarce. 

Objective: We aim to fill the gap in the existing scientific literature by searching for the main factors that influence highly educated women to plan a larger family size. 

Methods: Using the first wave of the Generations and Gender Survey for four countries (Austria, Bulgaria, Italy, and Norway), we analyse the relationship between mother’s socio-economic status and daughter’s fertility intentions, controlling for daughter’s socio-economic status and sibship size. Zero-inflated Poisson regression models are employed to estimate the predictors of women’s additionally intended number of children. 

Results: We find that the effect of family of origin is exerted mainly through sibship size among childless daughters: Daughters with more siblings intend to have more children. After the transition to parenthood, the effect of family of origin is exerted mainly through the mother’s level of education: Daughters with highly educated mothers intend to have more children. 

Conclusions: The empirical results suggest that the positive link between births intentions and level of education might not merely be an artefact generated by the design of cross-sectional surveys but the outcome of a better socio-economic status that allows forming positive reproductive plans. 

Contribution: The positive role of mother’s socio-economic status on daughter’s fertility decision-making offers a valuable interpretation of the positive link between education and fertility intentions which goes beyond the alternative explanations referring to self-selection, partner effect, or time squeeze, and needs to be confirmed by further research. },
URL = {https://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol35/21/},
eprint = {https://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol35/21/35-21.pdf}
}