VID Colloquium
Making the Picture Complete: A New Approach to Deconstruct the Transition to Motherhood
Sonja Unteregger Department of Political Science and Sociology, University of Salzburg
Date: Thu, 7 Mar. 2013, Time: 4:00-5:00 pm
In exploring fertility behaviours, most researchers either apply cross sectional analysis or, if focusing on dynamic aspects, event history analysis. This contribution combines these two strategies in an innovative way. The life course can be seen as a sequence of configurations in status, positions and roles. Cultural and normative determinants are structuring a person’s perceptions for the temporal accuracy of transitions in one’s biography. Therefore we assume that age should not be seen as a linear component and that key determinants for the transition to motherhood (like education, family orientation) vary for specific age groups. Using the first wave (2008/09) of the Gender and Generations Survey (GGS) from Austria, we split women in their reproductive age into three groups: “the early mothers”, the “norm followers” (those entering into motherhood around the mean age at first birth) and the “late mothers”. A stepwise analysis of these groups provides new and in depth insights from a life-course perspective which contributes to an explanation of the frequently observed postponement of procreative behaviours.
About the presenter:
Sonja Unteregger is a PhD Fellow and Research Assistant for analysis of social structure in the Department of Political Science and Sociology at the University of Salzburg. From 2005 - 2010 she studied Sociology graduating with an M.A. degree. Her research interests are sociology of work, generation research, and quantitative social research.