Volume 22 - Article 28 | Pages 891–932  

Effects of education on second births before and after societal transition: Evidence from the Estonian GGS

By Martin Klesment, Allan Puur

This article is part of the Special Collection 12 "Economic uncertainty and family dynamics in Europe"

Abstract

This article examines the influence of educational attainment and enrolment on second births in Estonia, comparing the patterns before and after the onset of the societal transformation of the 1990s. While many Northern and Western European countries have shown a positive relationship between female education and second births, this pattern has not been found in Central and East European countries. Against that background, Estonia offers an interesting case with noticeably high second birth intensities for highly educated women. In the state socialist period, after controlling for the influence of other characteristics, including the partner's education, women with tertiary education were found to have higher second birth intensity than women from any lower educational strata. In the postsocialist period, the difference has grown smaller, but women with tertiary education still display a significantly higher transition rate to second birth than their counterparts with secondary education. Following the presentation of empirical findings, the article discusses the mechanisms that could underlie the observed relationship between education and fertility decisions in the changing societal context. The analysis employs microdata from the Estonian Generations and Gender Survey (GGS), conducted in 2004-05.

Author's Affiliation

• Martin Klesment - Tallinna Ülikool, Estonia EMAIL
• Allan Puur - Tallinna Ülikool, Estonia EMAIL

Other articles by the same author/authors in Demographic Research

The formation of ethnically mixed partnerships in Estonia: A stalling trend from a two-sided perspective
Volume 38 - Article 38

Partnership dynamics among migrants and their descendants in Estonia
Volume 32 - Article 56

Varying association between education and second births in Europe: Comparative analysis based on the EU-SILC data
Volume 31 - Article 27

Longevity of World War II Estonian volunteers in the Finnish Army: A follow-up study of the impact of the post-war life course and repressions
Volume 43 - Article 39

Educational heterogamy during the early phase of the educational expansion: Results from the university town of Tartu, Estonia in the late 19th century
Volume 43 - Article 13

Co-ethnic marriage versus intermarriage among immigrants and their descendants: A comparison across seven European countries using event-history analysis
Volume 39 - Article 17

Childbearing among first- and second-generation Russians in Estonia against the background of the sending and host countries
Volume 36 - Article 41

Socioeconomic and cultural differentials in mortality in a late 19th century urban setting: A linked records study from Tartu, Estonia, 1897-1900
Volume 36 - Article 1

Jobs, careers, and becoming a parent under state socialist and market conditions: Evidence from Estonia 1971-2006
Volume 30 - Article 64

Intergenerational family constellations in contemporary Europe: Evidence from the Generations and Gender Survey
Volume 25 - Article 4

Reconciling studies of men’s gender attitudes and fertility: Response to Westoff and Higgins
Volume 22 - Article 8

Men's childbearing desires and views of the male role in Europe at the dawn of the 21st century
Volume 19 - Article 56

First union formation in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania: patterns across countries and gender
Volume 17 - Article 10

Most recent similar articles in Demographic Research

Calculating contraceptive prevalence and unmet need for family planning in low-fertility countries with the Generations and Gender Survey
Volume 49 - Article 21    | Keywords: cross-national study, Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), Europe, family planning, Fertility and Family Survey (FFS), Generations and Gender Survey (GGS), longitudinal data, panel data, unplanned births, World Fertility Survey

The quality of fertility data in the web-based Generations and Gender Survey
Volume 49 - Article 3    | Keywords: accuracy, data quality, fertility, Generations and Gender Survey (GGS)

The gender gap in schooling outcomes: A cohort study of young men and women in India
Volume 48 - Article 33    | Keywords: cohort studies, educational attainment, gender, India, secondary education

Do the consequences of parental separation for children’s educational success vary by parental education? The role of educational thresholds
Volume 47 - Article 28    | Keywords: divorce, educational attainment, family, Germany, interaction, resource compensation, separation, sibling fixed effects

Variation in the educational consequences of parental death and divorce: The role of family and country characteristics
Volume 46 - Article 20    | Keywords: divorce rate, educational attainment, educational system, parental death, parental divorce, parental resources, tracking, welfare state