Childhood family structure in 16 European countries

Sammanfattning: At the end of the 20th century we saw great changes in family dynamics with rates ofseparation and re-partnerning increasing across Europe. Previous research has primarilyfocused on adults but less is known about how these family demographic changes haveaffected children's family structure. From previous studies we know that there areregional differences in children's propensity to experience parental separation, repartneringas well as being born to a lone mother. A link between maternal educationand children's risk of experiencing certain family transitions have also been found, butthe evidence are mixed and the educational gradients are not always clear. In this thesis,I use data from the Harmonized Histories dataset on 16 European countries to findwhich family structures are the most common for European children and how they varyacross regions and by maternal educational level. I use sequence and cluster analysis toidentify the set of family structures which best captures the family life course ofchildren up to age 15. I partly find similar results as previous studies with regard to theregional differences and educational gradient in family structure. New findings showthat there is a North/South divide in the propensity of children to remain with theiroriginal parents throughout childhood as well as experiencing parental separation andstepfamily formation. Further, I corroborate previous findings on the relationshipbetween maternal education and childhood family structure as well as provide newresults. One important finding is that children of highly educated mothers whoexperience parental separation are more likely than children of less educated mothers toremain with a single mother rather than to enter into a new stepfamily. This holds formost European regions. In sum, this research contributes to the field of familydemography by analyzing children’s longitudinal family structure and by incorporatingboth country of residence and socioeconomic background. It highlights the need forincorporating the entire life course of children, as well as the geographical andsocioeconomic context for a more complete understanding of how family demographicchanges have played out for European children.