Migration, Partner Selection, and Fertility in Germany: How Many Children are Born in Mixed Unions?

For the German context, we investigate whether the number of children ever born differs between mixed unions (exogamous unions between natives and migrants or migrant descendants) and endogamous unions (unions among co-ethnics). Our theoretical considerations are derived from assimilation theories, which view exogamous unions as indicators of assimilation processes, and the framework on migrant fertility. The migrant (or descendant) partner in an exogamous union may adapt to the majority group, both partners may adapt to each other, or both partners may constitute a selected group in their fertility preferences. However, due to the higher likelihood of conflicts within the partnership and of separation, exogamy may disrupt family formation processes and depress couples' fertility. Drawing on data from the GSOEP (1984-2020), we estimate generalized Poisson regressions. The results reveal that the number of children ever born is higher in exogamous unions than in endogamous native couples. This general pattern largely persists across migrant generations and regions of origin, but we identify gender differences. While fertility in exogamous unions of native women/migrant (descendant) men is not statistically different from fertility in native/native couples, unions of migrant (descendant) women/native men have more children, especially when controlling for socio-demographic confounders. Our results demonstrate that in the German context, exogamy does not lead to fertility disruptions, and is not straightforwardly associated with assimilation to the fertility of the majority group. Instead, differences in gendered partner choice patterns and life-course transitions may influence the number of children exogamous couples have.

A crisis in the life course? Pregnancy loss impacts fertility desires and intentions.

BACKGROUND: An unintended spontaneous termination of a pregnancy can be a traumatic experience affecting the subsequent life course, but has received little attention in socio-demographic studies on fertility intentions or behavior. The theoretical background of our study draws on considerations from life course research, the Theory of Planned Behavior and the Traits-Desires-Intentions-Behavior framework. OBJECTIVE: This study investigates whether the experience of pregnancy loss changes the fertility desires and intentions of women in their subsequent life course. METHODS: We use 11 waves of the Panel Analysis of Intimate Relationships and Family Dynamics (pairfam) with 5197 women in total, of which 281 women (5.4%) reported a miscarriage. Data have been collected annually in Germany since 2008. We investigate four dependent variables capturing different indicators of the ideational dimension of fertility: Personal ideal number of children, realistic number of (additional) children, intention to have a(nother) child in the next two years and importance of having a(nother) child. We study the intrapersonal changes in these items among women after a pregnancy loss, applying linear fixed effect regression models. Controls include parity, age, partnership status, pregnancy status and the interaction of pregnancy loss with whether the woman already had children before the pregnancy loss. RESULTS: We found that the importance of having a(nother) child and the intention to have a(nother) child in the next two years increase after a pregnancy loss. These patterns can only partially be explained by control variables. By contrast, an effect on the ideal number of children as well as the realistic number of children could not be found. The patterns varied, however, across age and stage in the life course, most importantly between mothers and childless women. CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrate that the effect of pregnancy loss on the subsequent life course varies across the indicators used and by duration after the pregnancy loss. Overall, they suggest that specifically the younger women in our sample might perceive pregnancy loss as a temporary crisis in their transition to motherhood, or to having another child, and as an impetus to reinforce their fertility goals, while for older respondents this might mark the end of their fertility career. Against the backdrop of rising ages at childbirth, future research on fertility and reproductive health care should pay more attention to reproductive complications and how affected women can be supported in coping with them.

At risk of reproductive disadvantage? Exploring fertility awareness among migrant women in Germany.

This study examined awareness about fertility among immigrant women and non-migrants in Germany. The social relevance of infertility and fertility treatment is increasing in Western countries due to continually low overall birth rates, a high rate of childlessness, and a gap between the desired and actual numbers of children. While there is growing interest in infertility and reproductive medicine in general, previous studies have rarely included immigrant or ethnic minorities in Europe. This study investigated whether knowledge on the age-related fertility decline (ARFD) varies between migrant groups and the majority group, and the role of education. Working hypotheses were drawn from theoretical considerations on frameworks of migrant assimilation. The analysis was based on data collected in a social science pilot study on reproductive medicine, representative of the general population ('NeWiRe' 2014-2015). The sample included 962 women aged 18-50 years living in Germany. Approximately 81% of the sample were immigrants who originated from Turkey, Poland, the Balkan countries or countries of the (post-Soviet) Commonwealth of Independent States. While rather poor overall, knowledge on ARFD was found to be significantly lower in the migrant groups compared with the majority group. This minority-group disadvantage cannot be explained by sociodemographic or cultural variables. Future research should include minority groups in empirical studies on awareness about fertility in order to better understand the causes of this disadvantage, and the potential reproductive needs of migrants.

Crossing Social Boundaries in an Immigration Context: Exogamy and Gendered Employment Patterns in Unions in Germany.

We study gendered employment patterns in unions by focusing on the role of exogamy for non-migrants in Germany. Classical assimilation theory has studied such mixed migrant-non-migrant unions mainly with a focus on the members of ethnic minorities. However, this perspective neglects the question of the social consequences of exogamy for the members of the majority group. We aim to fill this knowledge gap by investigating the association of being in a mixed union and the employment patterns of the couple. Our theoretical considerations and working hypotheses are derived from modernization theories, welfare state and labor market theories, gender studies, and social boundary-crossing frameworks. Drawing on the scientific use file of the German Microcensus of 2013, our sample consists of 44,499 non-migrant men (about 7% of whom are in a mixed union with a migrant) and 43,722 non-migrant women (about 5% of whom are in a mixed union). We estimate multinomial logistic regression models. We conclude that the persistent disadvantage for immigrants on the labor market in Germany shapes the gendered employment patterns of their unions, which, in turn, affect the members of the majority population. For non-migrant men, exogamy is associated with a re-traditionalization of employment patterns, whereby a man is more likely to be the main earner if he is in an exogamous union than if he is in an endogamous union. For non-migrant women, by contrast, we find evidence of a role reversal in exogamous unions, whereby the woman is more likely to be the main earner.

Fertility Patterns Among Turkish Women in Turkey and Abroad: The Effects of International Mobility, Migrant Generation, and Family Background.

In this paper, we examine the fertility behavior of Turkish women in Europe from a context-of-origin perspective. Women with different migration biographies (first-generation, 1.5-generation, second-generation migrants, and return migrants) are compared with "stayer" women from the same regions of origin in Turkey. This approach provides us with new insights into the study of the effects of international migrations. First-, second-, and third-birth transitions are analyzed using data from the 2000 Families Study, which was conducted in 2010 and 2011 in Turkey and in western Europe. The classical hypotheses of disruption, interrelated events, adaptation, socialization, and selectivity/composition are developed with reference to the context-of-origin perspective. To account for socialization and family-related composition effects, we also look at family characteristics. Our findings provide no support for the disruption hypothesis, but suggest that the first-generation migrant women have higher first-birth risks than the stayers. However, this gap can be fully explained by differences in marriage duration. Differences in composition-namely in educational attainment-account for our finding that the second migrant generation has lower first-birth transition rates than the women in Turkey. Except for the number of siblings, the family influence, including the processes of intergenerational transmission, is minor and hardly accounts for the migrant-stayer differences in birth transitions. Most remarkably, the analyses show that the second- and third-birth risks of almost all of the migrant groups are higher than those of the women in Turkey, when individual and family factors are held constant; which suggests that there is a fertility crossover between the origin and the destination contexts.