A Longitudinal Approach To Family Trajectories In France

Adopting a longitudinal approach, this book examines the dynamics of union and family formation in France and its effects on various aspects of life, such as employment, intergenerational transfers, etc. Drawing on data from a survey in which the same respondents were interviewed three times at three-year intervals, the book explores how demographic behaviours are influenced across the life course at individual level and assesses some of their consequences. The contributors give a clear understanding of how family behaviours are constructed and redefined. They track changes in respondents’ lives in order to pinpoint the factors that prevent couples from realizing their fertility intentions, for example, or to identify certain determinants of union formation or dissolution. They also provide a more detailed picture of the changes that shape family behaviours, such as the impact of a birth on the working career or on intergenerational support, and much more. Using longitudinal data from the French version of the Generations and Gender Survey (GGS), this book addresses family and childbearing behaviours dynamically, as processes that interact with each other and with the other components of each individual's life course.

This book provides a portrait of the family in France today, revealing many of the deep-seated, demographic changes that have affected French society in recent decades. It first focuses on conjugal and family trajectories, examining union formation, types of union, entry into parenthood, influence of religion, and separation. Next, the book explores domestic organization within the couple. It looks at gender differences in attitudes to task-sharing, division of household and parenting tasks, influence of past partnership history, and changes after a birth. The book presents a series of studies based on the French version of the international Generations and Gender Survey, a major comparative research project conducted in 20 countries to collect information from individuals aged 18-79 about relationships and processes in the life course. Inside, readers will find insightful analysis of the survey results by sociologists, demographers, and economists, and come to better understand recent demographic and social developments in France as well as the factors influencing them. The book will appeal to a broad audience of students and researchers interested in family, gender, and intergenerational relations. In addition, as the survey data are comparable across countries, the book will provide researchers with ideas for further research opportunities in Europe and beyond.

This book examines the significance of the couple relationship in the 21st century, exploring in depth how couple relationships are changing in different parts of the world. It highlights global trends and cultural variations that are shaping couple relationships. The book discusses diverse relationships, such as intercultural couples, same sex couples, long distance couples, polygynous marriages, and later life couples. In addition, chapters offer suggestions for ways to best support couples through policy, clinical practices, and community support. The book also investigates aspects of a relationship that help predict fidelity and stability. Topics featured in this book include: Couple relationships when one partner has an acquired physical disability. Impact of smartphones on relationships. Online dating and its implications for couple relationships. Assessment and intervention in situations of infidelity and non-monogamy. Parenting interventions for the transition from partnership to parenthood. Online couple psychotherapy to support emotional links between long distance partners. Couple Relationships in a Global Context is an essential resource for researchers, professors, and graduate students as well as clinicians and practitioners in family therapy, clinical psychology, general practice/family medicine, social work, and related psychology and medical disciplines.

This interdisciplinary book brings together leading social and legal scholars to tackle the incompatibility of marriage laws with contemporary social reality in Europe. Their critique is based on the assumption that individuals should be able to choose how they organise their close relationships. The contributors emphasise the importance of pluralism of beliefs, values, cultures, and lifestyles and the consequent need for legal recognition to make individuals' private choices valid and respected. The first part of the book establishes the foundation for the subsequent chapters by exploring the advantages and challenges of focusing on values while accommodating relationship design plurality, the impact of the European Court of Human Rights on the issue, and the transformation of the institution of marriage. The second part presents different legal responses to non-state marriages, particularly religious marriages among Muslim communities, and proposals for reform. The third part of the book features empirical research on the marital experiences of two communities: Muslims and migrants. The chapters concentrate on polygyny among female converts to Islam, the importance of religious knowledge for practising Muslim women in securing rights in their marital relationships, transnational and interreligious marriages, and the impact of acculturative orientation and position in the dual labour market on the choice of life partner among Polish migrant women. The book will be of interest to academics, researchers, and policymakers working in the areas of human rights law, family law, legal anthropology, law and religion, socio-legal studies, feminism and queer studies, and sociology of family.

European countries have faced profound changes in family structures and family forms over the last few decades. This volume provides insights from eleven European countries with varying welfare state arrangements, exploring the extent to which the intergenerational transmission of attitudes, resources and values matter with regard to the economic self-sufficiency of young people. Drawing on in-depth interviews with three generations of family members, the contributors show how intergenerational transmission happens and what the effects of these transmission processes are. The book reveals that family members serve as role models to younger family members and influence their career and educational aspirations, and that there are specific family value orientations and parental approaches which support economic self-sufficiency in younger generations. Intergenerational Transmission of Economic Self-Sufficiency will be of interest to students and scholars across a range of disciplines including social work, sociology, psychology and political sociology.

This book analyses the relationship between assimilation and fertility intentions for migrants and minorities in Europe. Building upon assimilation theory, it is argued that both migrants and minorities assimilate in the process of intercultural encounters. Given that fertility is part of the cultural dimension of assimilation, it is likely to be influenced by assimilation. Therefore, theories on assimilation and fertility are merged theoretically as well as empirically. Using data from the Generations and Gender Survey, the empirical section builds upon a comparison of Turkish migrants in Germany and the Turkish minority in Bulgaria. Building upon cluster analyses, six clusters within Germany as well as five clusters in Bulgaria are developed to account for heterogeneity of groups. Comparing these clusters in terms of assimilation and fertility intentions it becomes clear that the Turkish minority does not differ in their fertility intentions from the majority. For Germany, Turkish migrants differ from German natives regarding their fertility intentions, but differences are explained by assimilation, especially structural characteristics. When comparing migrant and minority, differences in fertility exist and are accounted for by cultural dissimilarity.

Despite years of growth in the number of women in paid work, gender roles in unpaid housework have remained remarkably rigid. Unpaid housework can be outsourced to non-care household service providers, such as cleaners or housekeepers, however, high prices, a substantial tax burden and a lack of easy access impose barriers to greater formalisation of the household service sector.

This book analyzes the family and residential trajectories of men and women across the twentieth century, which are placed in a long-term generational perspective and in the historical context where they played out. It brings together a set of studies based on data from the Biographies et Entourage (Life Event Histories and Entourage) survey conducted by the Institut National d’Etudes Démographiques (INED) on a representative sample of nearly 3,000 residents of the Paris region born between 1930 and 1950. Inside, readers will discover an insightful analysis of the family that moves away from such traditional concepts as the household or main residence and proposes new ones like the entourage and the residential system. This innovative approach to the family network describes an affective and residential proximity that takes into account the relatives and close friends who have played or continue to play a role in an individual's life. The book first presents a detailed analysis of the Biographies et Entourage survey respondents' parental universe and proposes a practical approach to the notion of parenthood that reveals the family and non-family resources available to individuals. Next, it describes the evolution of the respondents' family networks, both in and beyond the household, and details how these family circles shape their subjective judgments during childhood, adolescence, and adult life. Coverage then goes on to examine the family ties of older adults, the role of grandparents and step-families, the importance of family spaces including often frequented places, and inter-generational family solidarity. Families extend well beyond the walls of the home. Interpersonal relations are constructed throughout the life course and in all the settings where they play out. This book takes this new family reality into account and traces its dynamics across time and space. It provides essential tools for researchers looking to conduct life event history surveys and to develop innovative areas of research in the social sciences.