Understanding the sex inequality in childlessness: an approach using Swedish register data.

In most countries, men are more likely to be childless than women. Understanding how this inequality arises is important given the significance of parenthood for individuals' lives. The objective of this study was to explore how three prominent explanations for sex inequalities in childlessness relate to the Sex Gap in Childlessness (SGC) in Sweden. The three explanations examined were sex ratio imbalance (more men than women), mismeasurement of fatherhood (inequalities in registration) and partnership differences (inequality in multi-partner fertility). Administrative register data for cohorts born in 1945-1974 were used. The population was restricted to men and women who were born in Sweden or arrived prior to the age of 15, and all registered childbearing partnerships were examined. To explore the possible significance of the three explanations, counter-factual standardization was used. Of the three explanations examined, the population sex ratio had the largest positive impact on the SGC, while multi-partner fertility had a negative impact. The results show that inequalities in the sex ratio can explain about 20-34% of the SGC depending on cohort. Inequalities in registration of fathers explain about 9-24% of the SGC depending on cohort. Finally, results show that women are slightly more likely to have multiple partners, and that this behaviour has a substantial minimizing effect on the SGC (minimizing it by 6-65%). To the authors' knowledge this was the first paper to estimate the scope of the impacts of these three mechanisms on the SGC. Differences in multi-partner fertility have in many instances been used as an explanation for men's higher childlessness. This study shows that women have slightly more childbearing partners than men, and that this actually leads to a smaller SGC in the studied population.

Trends in Childlessness Among Highly Educated Men in Sweden.

Among men with post-secondary degrees in Sweden, one in four are childless by age 45, and this level has been constant over time (in this study, for men born 1956-1972). This high level of childlessness is somewhat surprising in the context of a significant gender imbalance among the highly educated (and thus the relative scarcity of highly educated men). In this study, I examine differences in childlessness among the highly educated by studying how educational prestige, social class, and income are associated with the likelihood of becoming a father. Higher income and social class background are positively associated with fatherhood, and this association has not changed over time. Educational prestige (higher degrees, or degrees from traditional universities) is not positively associated with fatherhood, while 2-year degrees have become more positively associated with fatherhood over time. The findings of this study suggest that socioeconomic resources are important for men's family formation in Sweden compared to educational resources, contrary to expectations from educational homophily and partner market perspectives.