To Örebro University

Family policies are a subset of social policies that deal with the behavior and well-being of families, particularly in regard to children. We focus on those policies that support individuals to have the families they desire, as well as give parents the possibility to work and to raise children in a supportive and secure home. In some contexts, family policies have been implemented with the direct aim to change fertility levels. This chapter describes these as well as those policies that are thought to indirectly affect family size around the world. We distinguish between the main family policies instituted in high- and low-fertility contexts.

This study analyses the influence of family policies on women's first and second births in 20 countries over the period 1995 to 2007. Welfare states have shifted towards social investment policies, yet family policy-fertility research has not explicitly considered this development. We distinguish between social investment-oriented and passive support that families may receive upon the birth of a child and consider changes in policies over time. These indicators are merged with fertility histories provided by harmonized individual-level data, and we use time-conditioned, fixed effects linear probability models. We find higher social investment-oriented support to be correlated with increased first birth probabilities, in contrast to passive family support. First birth probabilities particularly declined with higher passive family support for women over age 30, which points to a potential increase in childlessness. Social investment-oriented support is positively related to first and second births particularly for lower-educated women and has no relationship to childbirth for highly educated women, countering the Matthew-effect assumptions about social investment policies. Passive support is negatively related to second births for post-secondary educated women and those who are studying. Family policies that support women's employment and labour market attachment are positively linked to family expansion and these policies minimize educational differences in childbearing.

BACKGROUND: Family policies influence how men and women structure their time in the labour market and in the home. Analyses based on expenditure data, regime types, and single policies, however, cannot represent how policies support individuals' labour market attachment and care for children. Data from the Social Policy Indicator (SPIN) database offer a tool for measuring the extent to which the family policies of a country support both the earner-carer and the traditional-family models. This large-scale database offers harmonized data on social policies over time for a wide range of countries. It allows scholars to empirically push the frontiers of research on the intersection of gender equality, family and employment dynamics, and social policy.

METHODS: We describe how measures of earner-carer and traditional-family support were constructed using data from the SPIN database. We use the cases of Lithuania and Sweden to compare the policy developments over time and demonstrate how these developments are represented by SPIN data.

CONTRIBUTION: We present data from the SPIN database, which provides a useful tool for demographers and social scientists interested in the link between family policies and fertility. We describe the range of applications in demographic research so far as well as the advantages and limitations of the database. Using Lithuania and Sweden as an example, we also highlight how the data mirror convergence and divergence in family policy in comparative perspective.

This study aims to explore whether individual gender-role attitudes moderate potential policy effects on planned childbearing. This is done by employing a typology of earner-carer and traditional-family support in multilevel analyses, pooling data from 2010 for 23 countries. It is expected that individuals preferring earner-carer arrangements react more positively to earner-carer support, while individuals preferring traditional-family arrangements react more positively to traditional-family support. The results show that gender-role attitudes moderate the effect of family policies on mothers’ and childless men’s planned childbearing. Gender-egalitarian mothers have stronger childbearing intentions with higher income replacement in earner-carer support. Contrary to expectations, gender-egalitarian childless men have stronger childbearing intentions with higher income replacement in traditional-family support. Moreover, the results show that both family policies and gender-role attitudes influence childbearing intentions independently, and that family policies play a role mainly for childless respondents.

Family policies influence how men and women structure their time in the labour market and in the home. Analyses based on expenditure data, regime types and single policies, however, cannot represent how policies support individuals’ labour market attachment and care for children. SPIN data offer a tool for measuring the extent to which family policies support the earner-carer and traditional family models. This large-scale database offers harmonized data on social policies over time for a wide range of countries. It has allowed scholars to empirically push the frontiers of research on the intersection of gender equality, family and employment dynamics, and social policy. We use the cases of Lithuania and Sweden to describe how measures of earner-carer and traditional-family support were constructed and compare the policy developments over time. We highlight areas of convergence and divergence in family policy in these two countries with very different histories.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze the link between two different family policy dimensions – one supporting the combination of work and parenthood and one supporting stay-at-home mothers – and fertility rates between 1995 and 2011 in 33 industrialized countries.

Design/methodology/approach: Total fertility rates were regressed on the two policy dimensions, earner–carer support and traditional–family support, using pooled time-series analysis with country fixed effects and stepwise control for female labor force participation, unemployment rates and GDP.

Findings: The analyses show that earner–carer support is linked to higher fertility, while traditional–family support is not. Also, higher female labor force participation is linked to higher fertility before GDP is included. Conversely, higher unemployment is correlated with lower fertility levels. Sensitivity analyses with and without day care enrollment on a smaller set of countries show no influence of day care on the results for family policy.

Originality/value: The results give weight to the argument that family policies supporting the combination of work and parenthood could increase fertility in low-fertility countries, probably mediated in part by female labor force participation. Earnings-related earner–carer support incentivizes women to enter the labor force before parenthood and to return to work after time off with their newborn child, thus supporting a combination of work and parenthood.

This study analyzes whether and how family policies are related to women’s first and second child transitions in 21 post-industrial countries. We adapt the social investment approach developed in welfare state research and distinguish between investment-oriented family policies and traditional, protection-oriented family policies. Our family policy indicators vary over time and are merged with fertility histories provided by harmonized individual level data. We use multilevel event-history models and control for time-varying unobserved heterogeneity at the country level and individual-level characteristics. Higher family-policy support of both types is correlated with the postponement of first births, particularly among young women, whereas traditional-family support is also correlated with postponement among older women and women in education. Both types of family support are linked to earlier first births among lower educated women. Only investment-orientedsupport is correlated with second birth transitions and this positive relationship does not vary forwomen with differenteducational levels.

This thesis studies different aspects of reproductive behaviour on the international, national, and local levels in post-communist countries. The main focus is Ukraine, where fertility rates are very low and the population is in severe decline. The studies contribute new knowledge about the applicability of a family policy typology developed on the basis of Western countries’ experience for post-communist countries, and about the influence of family policies on fertility levels in these countries. Moreover, the studies investigate whether and how macro-level influences impact on individuals’ reproductive behaviour. Four articles are included in the thesis:

Family policies in Ukraine and Russia in comparative perspective analyses the institutional set-up of family policies in both countries and compares the findings to 31 other countries. The results show that Ukrainian family policies support a male-breadwinner type of family, while the benefit levels of Russian family policies are low, compelling families to rely on relatives or the childcare market.

Family policies and fertility - Examining the link between family policy institutions and fertility rates in 33 countries 1995-2010 comparatively explores whether family policies have an effect on fertility rates across the case-countries. Pooled time-series regression analysis demonstrates that gender-egalitarian family policies are connected to higher fertility rates, but that this effect is smaller at higher rates of female labour force participation.

To have or not to have a child? Perceived constraints on childbearing in a lowest-low fertility context investigates the influence of the perception of postmodern values, childcare availability and environmental pollution on individuals’ fertility intentions in a city in Eastern Ukraine. It is shown that women who already have a child perceive environmental pollution as a constraint on their fertility intentions.

Prevalence and correlates of the use of contraceptive methods by women in Ukraine in 1999 and 2007 examines changes in the prevalence and the correlates of the use of contraceptive methods. The use of modern contraceptive methods increased during the period and the use of traditional methods decreased, while the overall prevalence did not change. Higher exposure to messages about family planning in the media is correlated with the use of modern contraceptive methods.