Volume 24 - Article 24 | Pages 579–610  

On the links between employment, partnership quality, and the desire to have a first child: The case of West Germany

By Ina Berninger, Bernd Weiß, Michael Wagner

This article is part of the Special Collection 12 "Economic uncertainty and family dynamics in Europe"

Abstract

We examine the impact of precarious work (low income and job security satisfaction) on the intention to have a first child. We consider a direct and an indirect effect; the latter is mediated by partners’ conflict behaviour, conflict level, and partnership quality. We assume that a satisfactory partnership is positively associated with the intention to have a first child. The analyses are based on a subsample of the German Generations and Gender Survey. For men we found a direct effect of income and an indirect effect of job security satisfaction on childbearing intentions, whereas for women no direct and only a weak indirect impact of precarious work could be observed.

Author's Affiliation

• Ina Berninger - Universität Bremen, Germany EMAIL
• Bernd Weiß - Universität zu Köln, Germany EMAIL
• Michael Wagner - Universität zu Köln, Germany EMAIL

Other articles by the same author/authors in Demographic Research

LAT relationships: A new living arrangement among the oldest old population in Germany?
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Running out of time? Understanding the consequences of the biological clock for the dynamics of fertility intentions and union formation
Volume 40 - Article 1

A comparative analysis of leaving home in the United States, the Netherlands and West Germany
Volume 7 - Article 17

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