IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/poprpr/v42y2023i5d10.1007_s11113-023-09818-7.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Maternal Age at First Birth and Parental Support: Evidence From the UK Millennium Cohort Study

Author

Listed:
  • Alice Goisis

    (University College London)

Abstract

Using nationally representative data from the UK Millennium Cohort Study (n = 7396), we investigate whether the mother’s age at first birth is associated with the level of support she receives from her parents around the time of birth. We apply latent class analysis to construct a summary measure of five dimensions of parental support (contact with the mother, contact with the father, childcare, monetary transfers and financial support for buying essentials). The results show that parental support is negatively associated with maternal age at first birth, with older mothers being less likely than younger mothers to receive parental support. Adjustment for maternal socio-demographic characteristics and parental age partially attenuates the association. Given that parental support is positively associated with adult children’s well-being, labour force participation, and fertility the results suggest that integrating parental support into work investigating the causes and consequences of the timing of first births has the potential to enrich and expand our understanding of the costs and benefits of delaying childbearing towards older parental ages.

Suggested Citation

  • Alice Goisis, 2023. "Maternal Age at First Birth and Parental Support: Evidence From the UK Millennium Cohort Study," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 42(5), pages 1-33, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:poprpr:v:42:y:2023:i:5:d:10.1007_s11113-023-09818-7
    DOI: 10.1007/s11113-023-09818-7
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11113-023-09818-7
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11113-023-09818-7?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sara Mclanahan, 2004. "Diverging destinies: How children are faring under the second demographic transition," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 41(4), pages 607-627, November.
    2. Tarja K. Viitanen, 2005. "Cost of Childcare and Female Employment in the UK," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 19(s1), pages 149-170, December.
    3. Robin Lumsdaine & Stephanie Vermeer, 2015. "Retirement Timing of Women and the Role of Care Responsibilities for Grandchildren," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 52(2), pages 433-454, April.
    4. Stefan Hochguertel & Henry Ohlsson, 2009. "Compensatory inter vivos gifts," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(6), pages 993-1023.
    5. Susan Schaffnit & Rebecca Sear, 2017. "Supportive families versus support from families: The decision to have a child in the Netherlands," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 37(14), pages 414-454.
    6. Arnstein Aassve & Bruno Arpino & Alice Goisis, 2012. "Grandparenting and mothers’ labour force participation: A comparative analysis using the Generations and Gender Survey," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 27(3), pages 53-84.
    7. Máire Ní Bhrolcháin & Éva Beaujouan, 2012. "Fertility postponement is largely due to rising educational enrolment," Population Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 66(3), pages 311-327.
    8. Michael Murphy & Duolao Wang, 2001. "Family-Level Continuities in Childbearing in Low-Fertility Societies," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 17(1), pages 75-96, March.
    9. Roberta Rutigliano, 2020. "Counting on Potential Grandparents? Adult Children’s Entry Into Parenthood Across European Countries," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 57(4), pages 1393-1414, August.
    10. Denise Hawkes & Heather Joshi, 2012. "Age at Motherhood and Child Development: Evidence from the UK Millennium Cohort," National Institute Economic Review, National Institute of Economic and Social Research, vol. 222(1), pages 52-66, October.
    11. Matthijs Kalmijn, 2019. "The Effects of Ageing on Intergenerational Support Exchange: A New Look at the Hypothesis of Flow Reversal," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 35(2), pages 263-284, May.
    12. Geronimus, Arline T., 1996. "Black/white differences in the relationship of maternal age to birthweight: A population-based test of the weathering hypothesis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 42(4), pages 589-597, February.
    13. Hawkes, Denise & Joshi, Heather, 2012. "Age at Motherhood and Child Development: Evidence from the UK Millennium Cohort," National Institute Economic Review, National Institute of Economic and Social Research, vol. 222, pages 52-66, October.
    14. Aart C. Liefbroer & Dimiter Philipov & Francesco C. Billari, 2006. "The Postponement of Childbearing in Europe: Driving Forces and Implications," Vienna Yearbook of Population Research, Vienna Institute of Demography (VID) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna, vol. 4(1), pages 1-17.
    15. J. Jill Suitor & Karl Pillemer & Jori Sechrist, 2006. "Within-Family Differences in Mothers' Support to Adult Children," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 61(1), pages 10-17.
    16. Alice Goisis & Wendy Sigle-Rushton, 2014. "Childbearing Postponement and Child Well-being: A Complex and Varied Relationship?," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 51(5), pages 1821-1841, October.
    17. Bruno Arpino & Chiara Pronzato & Lara Tavares, 2014. "The Effect of Grandparental Support on Mothers’ Labour Market Participation: An Instrumental Variable Approach," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 30(4), pages 369-390, November.
    18. Susan B. Schaffnit & Rebecca Sear, 2017. "Support for new mothers and fertility in the United Kingdom: Not all support is equal in the decision to have a second child," Population Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 71(3), pages 345-361, September.
    19. Colen, C.G. & Geronimus, A.T. & Bound, J. & James, S.A., 2006. "Maternal upward socioeconomic mobility and Black-White disparities in infant birthweight," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 96(11), pages 2032-2039.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wolfgang Frimmel & Martin Halla & Bernhard Schmidpeter & Rudolf Winter-Ebmer, 2022. "Grandmothers’ Labor Supply," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 57(5), pages 1645-1689.
    2. Bruno Arpino & Jordi Gumà & Albert Julià, 2018. "Family histories and the demography of grandparenthood," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 39(42), pages 1105-1150.
    3. Haiyue Yu & Jin Cao & Shulong Kang, 2018. "Fertility Cost, Intergenerational Labor Division, and Female Employment," CESifo Working Paper Series 7293, CESifo.
    4. Alice Goisis & Wendy Sigle-Rushton, 2014. "Childbearing Postponement and Child Well-being: A Complex and Varied Relationship?," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 51(5), pages 1821-1841, October.
    5. Francesca Zanasi & Bruno Arpino & Elena Pirani & Valeria Bordone, 2021. "Work histories and provision of grandparental childcare among Italian older women," Econometrics Working Papers Archive 2021_13, Universita' degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Statistica, Informatica, Applicazioni "G. Parenti".
    6. Haiyue Yu & Jin Cao & Shulong Kang, 2018. "Fertility Cost, Intergenerational Labor Division, and Female Employment," CESifo Working Paper Series 7293, CESifo.
    7. Wang, Ye & Zhao, Xindong, 2022. "Grandparental childcare, maternal labor force participation, and the birth of a second child: Further knowledge from empirical analysis," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 762-770.
    8. Bijlsma, Maarten J. & Wilson, Ben, 2020. "Modelling the socio-economic determinants of fertility: a mediation analysis using the parametric g-formula," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 102414, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    9. Yu, Haiyue & Cao, Jin & Kang, Shulong, 2019. "Fertility cost, intergenerational labor division, and female employment," BOFIT Discussion Papers 14/2019, Bank of Finland Institute for Emerging Economies (BOFIT).
    10. repec:zbw:bofitp:2019_014 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Roberta Rutigliano, 2020. "Counting on Potential Grandparents? Adult Children’s Entry Into Parenthood Across European Countries," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 57(4), pages 1393-1414, August.
    12. Ueno, Yuko & 上野, 有子 & Usui, Emiko & 臼井, 恵美子, 2021. "The Effects of Providing Childcare on Grandmothers’ Employment and Mental Health in Japan, 日本で孫の育児が祖母の就業とメンタルヘルスに及ぼす影響," CIS Discussion paper series 691, Center for Intergenerational Studies, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    13. Julia Hellstrand & Jessica Nisén & Mikko Myrskylä, 2021. "Less partnering, less children, or both? Analysis of the drivers of first-birth decline in Finland since 2010?," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2021-008, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    14. Pearl A. Dykstra & Christoph Bühler & Tineke Fokkema & Gregor Petrič & Rok Platinovšek & Tina Kogovšek & Valentina Hlebec, 2016. "Social network indices in the Generations and Gender Survey," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 34(35), pages 995-1036.
    15. Daniel Gladwell & Gurleen Popli & Aki Tsuchiya, 2022. "Predictors of becoming not in education, employment or training: A dynamic comparison of the direct and indirect determinants," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 185(S2), pages 485-514, December.
    16. Ursula Henz, 2014. "Long-term trends of men’s co-residence with children in England and Wales," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 30(23), pages 671-702.
    17. Karsten Hank & Giulia Cavrini & Giorgio Gessa & Cecilia Tomassini, 2018. "What do we know about grandparents? Insights from current quantitative data and identification of future data needs," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 15(3), pages 225-235, September.
    18. repec:zbw:bofitp:2021_007 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Ilciukas, Julius, 2023. "Fertility and parental retirement," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 226(C).
    20. Keuntae Kim, 2014. "Intergenerational Transmission of Age at First Birth in the United States: Evidence from Multiple Surveys," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 33(5), pages 649-671, October.
    21. Ewa Batyra, 2016. "Fertility and the changing pattern of the timing of childbearing in Colombia," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 35(46), pages 1343-1372.
    22. Sparks, P. Johnelle, 2009. "Do biological, sociodemographic, and behavioral characteristics explain racial/ethnic disparities in preterm births?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(9), pages 1667-1675, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:poprpr:v:42:y:2023:i:5:d:10.1007_s11113-023-09818-7. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.