The Interconnection of Homeownership, Marriage and Childbearing in the Life Courses of Young Adults, by Country of Origin and Generation in Sweden

The transition to adulthood entitles several interconnected events such as becoming a parent, getting married and acquiring a house or an apartment. The relationships with these events may vary across population sub-groups. In our study, we examine the likelihood of having experienced three demographic events by age 30: first-time homeownership, marriage, and becoming a parent, and their one-year co-occurrences conditional on experiencing selected pairs of events, by countries of origin and generations of descendants of immigrants to Sweden. Individual-level register data from Sweden in 1997-2016 are analysed. We focus on individuals who immigrated to Sweden before turning 18, and on Swedish-born individuals, distinguishing between those with no, one, and two foreign-born parent(s). We find that more than four-fifths of the Swedish population experience at least one event of moving into homeownership, marriage, or childbearing by age 30. The fractions of populations with a migration background that had experienced none of these events at that age were considerably higher than for native Swedes. We find significant differences in the rates of marriage, homeownership and becoming a parent between groups. In particular, native Swedes stand out with lower rates of marriage and higher homeownership-childbirth rates than most other groups. Across the generations of descendants to migrants, we see a tendency of somewhat more homeownership entries and less entries into marriage with increasing exposure to the Swedish context. The study highlights significant differences in the proportions and co-occurrences of homeownership entry, marriage, and childbearing in the early life courses of the descendants of immigrants in a Nordic immigration context. It highlights both the influences of the Swedish context and those of different parental origins.