Fertility assimilation of the second generation

Kirk A. Scott, Lund University
Maria A. Stanfors, Lund University

This paper makes use of a newly-created multigenerational register to examine the fertility integration of the second generation of immigrants in light of the fertility history of their mothers, their background group, and the native population. The main question answered is to what extent the children of immigrants have assimilated to host-country norms in terms of age at entrance into motherhood. This study will focus upon the role of labor market status of the individual as well as parental characteristics on the process of becoming mothers for groups from varying national backgrounds and native Swedes. Expanding on an earlier study, we exploit sibling pairs to isolate individual effects from family-level frailty effects. The two major results point to a weakening of intergenerational ties among immigrants relative natives, and an increasing tendency towards similar fertility postponement behavior in both groups. Both of these are strong signs of the demographic assimilation of immigrants.