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Patterns of deferment of first births in modern Sweden

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posted on 2021-02-12, 16:24 authored by Britta Hoem, Jan M. Hoem
Young Swedes have postponed first births just as young people have done in other countries. This paper argues that this development has its background in the attitudinal changes that were precipitated by the recently-won individual efficient control over childbearing. Some of these changes are consequences of deliberate public policies, others have emerged through sliding norms, usually in concert with but sometimes well ahead of similar developments in other countries. The changes have worked in two important ways. First, the expectation of permanent labor force participation and the connection of maternity rights with job-holding encourages women to work towards a firm foothold in the labor market before entry into motherhood. Secondly, the lower normal commitment level of the new kind of early nonmarital union has led to an instability of partnerships that must in itself have contributed to the deferment of childbearing until the durability of the union has been established. The expansion in female education may have played a smaller role in this picture.

Funding

the Swedish Council for Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences

the Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation

History

ISSN

2002-617X

Original title

Patterns of deferment of first births in modern Sweden

Original language

  • English

Publication date

1987-09-01

Affiliation (institution of first SU-affiliated author)

  • 310 Sociologiska institutionen | Department of Sociology