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Divorce, regional family norms and childcare by grandparents in Europe. Maaike Jappens & Jan Van Bavel Interface Demography. Family cultures in Europe Great diversity of norms & attitudes about family life in Europe Northern Europe weak family ties, individualistic, liberal
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Divorce, regional family norms and childcare by grandparents in Europe Maaike Jappens & Jan Van Bavel Interface Demography
Family cultures in Europe Great diversity of norms & attitudes about family life in Europe Northern Europe weak family ties, individualistic, liberal Southern Europe strong family ties, familialistic, traditional But: heterogeneity between countries & within countries
‘Traditional family norms’ ESS2: • A woman should be prepared to cut down on her paid work for the sake of her family. • When jobs are scarce, men should have more right to a job than women. • When there are children in the home, parents should stay together even if they don’t get along. Principal components analysis Scores of respondents aged 55 or older averaged per NUTS 1 region (Regional classification harmonized with Eurostat’s NUTS system)
Grandparents and childcare • Grandparents are important childcare providers everywhere in Europe • Divorce: weakening of family ties? Less exchange of support? To what extent do mothers rely on children’s grandparents as their main source of childcare? & Is this influenced by the mother’s marital history and by the normative climate of the region they live in? • ‘Mothers’: ESS2, aged 20-54, child(ren) <13 in household
Multilevel logistic regression model Y= grandparents are main source of childcare for youngest child Baseline model: Random effects of NUTS 1 region & country Individual covariates: • Age • Number of children <13 in HH • Employment: in paid work • Level of education • Parents alive • Marital history • In first marriage • Never married, cohabiting with partner • Never married, single • Divorced, cohabiting with partner • Divorced, single • Widowed
Results of baseline model • Age, • Number of children in HH, • Being in paid work, • High level of education, • Own mother not alive anymore: negatively correlated with grandparents as main source of childcare • Never been married, living with a partner • Being divorced or separated and single negatively correlated with grandparents as main source of childcare
Random effects of multilevel logistic regression (baseline model, logit scale)
Multilevel logistic regression model Y= grandparents are main source of childcare for youngest child Additional individual covariates • Parents (in law) in the household • Traditional family norms Covariate on the regional level • Traditional family norms (people>54) Covariates on the country level • Gross domestic product • Childcare coverage rate 0-2 years Interaction marital history*traditional family norms region
Mothers using grandparents as main type of childcare & childcare coverage rate in country
Mothers using grandparents as main type of childcare & traditional family norms in region
Results: effect of macro-level variables • Co-residence between mother and parents(in law) is positively correlated with childcare by grandparents • Formal childcare coverage rates are negatively correlated with childcare by grandparents • Traditional family norms • On the regional level: are positively related to childcare by grandparents • Not a significant effect on the individual level • Interaction family norms in region * marital history of mothers: in more traditional regions, being divorced is slightly positively related to childcare by grandparents (but not significant) • No effect of GDP
Conclusions The probability that European mothers rely on grandparents as their main source of childcare is influenced by: • Various individual covariates i.a. marital history (smaller for divorced single mothers) • The childcare coverage rate of their country, but also by • The normative climate of the region they live in Living in a more traditional normative climate does not significantly affect the probability for divorced mothers to mainly rely on grandparents for childcare