On the timing of marriage and childbearing: family formation pathways among immigrants in Switzerland

Author(s) : Julie Lacroix, Júlia Mikolai, Hill Kulu

Source : http://migrantlife.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/files/2023/04/On-the-timing-of-marriage-and-childbearing-Family-formation-pathways-among-immigrants-in-Switzerland.pdf

Abstract:

This paper examines childbearing in and outside of marriage as a manifestation of the Second Demographic Transition among immigrant populations in Switzerland. Based on full-population register data, we simultaneously analyse fertility and partnership changes by time since migration. Results from a multistate event history model show that most of the differences in family formation patterns between migrant groups and natives are in the sequencing of marriage and first birth among childless unmarried women. Out of wedlock family trajectories prove to be a common experience for European migrants, but a sustainable family pathway only among Swiss, French, and Sub-Saharan African women. Among married women, it is the risk of a third birth that marks the differences between groups; first and second birth rates are relatively similar across migrant groups. Considering the legal constraints imposed by immigration policies and distinguishing transition patterns by time since migration support the disruption hypothesis among EU migrants and the interrelated events hypothesis among non-EU groups. Family size and the partnership context of fertility highlight which family regime prevails in different population subgroups and the role that immigrants play in the Second Demographic Transition and family transformation in Europe.

Keywords: Second Demographic Transition, Immigrants, Fertility, Marriage, Nonmarital childbearing