Life-Course Trajectories of Childless Women: Country-Specific or Universal?

Eur J Popul. 2022 Jun 9;38(5):1315-1332. doi: 10.1007/s10680-022-09624-5. eCollection 2022 Dec.

Abstract

While existing research has documented complexities in biographies of childless women, few studies to date have systematically examined the life-course pathways of the childless from a comparative, cross-country perspective. In this paper, we analyse biographies of childless women in four countries-Germany, Italy, Poland, and the United States-in order to investigate whether pathways into childlessness are country-specific or commonly shared across institutional, cultural, and geographical settings. Partnership, education, and employment histories are examined using sequence analysis with dynamic Hamming distance and cluster analysis. Discrepancy analysis indicates a country-effect in women's biographies although life-course patterns identified in each country share similarities. Overall, seven life-course trajectories have been identified, with the most numerous cluster comprising single, working women who completed their education at a relatively young age. The results highlight a marked variation in the life-courses of childless women. Put together, these findings provide descriptive evidence for both country-specificity and cross-country similarity in the pathways to childlessness.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10680-022-09624-5.

Keywords: Childless women; Cluster analysis; Discrepancy analysis; Life-course; Sequence analysis.