Recent studies on desires to have children mostly focus on women whereas research describes, that more men remain childless today than women. Research that analyses men and their tendency to become a father shows, that men’s decisions are very much influenced by the circumstances, like a stable relationship, financial resources and the ‘right age’ to become a father (Zerle-Elsäßer 2015). In a DFG-funded research project (“Wege in die Elternschaft”) we conducted interviews with 24 heterosexual couples (interviews with the individual partners and partner-interviews) which are analyzed for this paper with a focus on gender- and masculinity issues. All couples are either expecting a child or became parents within the last year. (First) Results show that the desire to have children is strongly interconnected with the images of fatherhood the interviewees have – and these are interconnected with their constructions of masculinity. While men who orientate mostly on an institutionalized biography and hegemonic masculinity (Connell), see children as a ‘normal’ and thus unquestioned part of their lives, men who orientate on “alternative masculinity concepts” (Buschmeyer 2013/Buschmeyer&Lengersdorf 2016) discuss the possibility to have children ambivalently. Alternative concepts of masculinity and fatherhood often include questioning their expectations towards becoming a father: these men wish to spend time with their children and they want to be different from their own fathers. Sometimes they report, they felt the expectations were too high and they doubted if they want to have children at all.

keywords:

gender role, partnership, desire to have a child; bargaining process, panel study, dyadic analysis

There is no reason to doubt that usually the decision process towards having a further child is taken within partnerships. However less is known about the interaction processes itself. It is undisputed that both partners’ socio-economic attributes have an impact on decision making, even though few is known about the strength of these mutual influences.

Not only that the effect sizes remain uncertain but also one does not know whether females and males attributes, measured on the individual level, have the same impact as they have on the couple’s level. Furthermore one must be aware that the dispositions towards having a further child are likely to vary over time. Considering this fact the negotiating process towards the final decision is as likely to be a short- or a long-term process.

Longitudinal dyadic modelling appears to be a promising effort in trying to close the knowledge gaps. Two different models will be developed to take into account the fact that the decision making process varies in time.

Results of the analyses show that on the pair level male partner’s influences are as relevant and strong as female’s influences although in comparison with analyses of family foundation different attributes become relevant. Furthermore the probability of the decision of having a second child is likely than decisions of having more children.

Many studies have focused on the family background of young parents, but we know less about their life situations. Were they studying, working or doing something else? Did they live with their parents or alone and what kind of relationship they had with the child’s other biological parent? The aim of this presentation is to examine Finnish young parents’ life situations at the beginning of pregnancy. The paper will have a look, are there any differences between mothers and fathers and between those who have been underage and older.

The presentation is part of an on-going PhD research project and is based on survey data (N=309; 72 % women and 28 % men; mean age 26,9). The Finnish-speaking young parents, born in 1978-1994 and have had their firstborn under the age of 20, were reached by using the stratified sampling of the whole Finnish population. The survey was conducted in February 2013.

The preliminary results show that the most of the young mothers and fathers were students at the beginning of pregnancy and older parents worked more often than younger. Most young parents had the steady relationship: most of the 18-19 years old lived together with their child’s other parent and over 40 % of the underage has been dating for more than half a year. Most underage lived in their childhood home but over 20 % of them had moved away from home. More results of the life situations will be presented and their significance is discussed.

Leaving the parental home, entering a relationship and starting a family are important events for young people on their transition into adulthood. These private life-course events are prerequisites for breaking away from the family and consequently becoming independent members of society. They present new challenges for adolescents and young adults because they have to assume greater responsibility for themselves as well as for their children (du Bois-Reymond, 2013).

Referring to the theory of developmental tasks (Havighurst, 1972 [1981]; Hurrelmann & Quenzel, 2012) we argue that in times of uncertainty and individualized life courses (Beck, 2009; Macmillan, 2005) especially labor-market entry has become highly unsteady and fragile, so that it is not perceived to be the crucial transition marker into adulthood. Otherwise private life-course events are much more important even though they have also changed (e.g. in terms of meaning, timing, motives). The presentation takes up findings from the Luxembourgish Youth Report 2015 that is based on both quantitative and qualitative data analysis (Willems, 2015).

Qualitative data have shown that some young people associate with adulthood much more than the achievement of the traditional markers (entering into the labor-market, leaving the parental home and starting a family). Becoming adult is rather related to a general change of lifestyle, the development of independency and the assumption of responsibility. For most of the young people taking over responsibility for its own life and behavior as well as for others is of high importance and closely related to their concept of adulthood.