Childlessness intentions of young female researchers in Austria

Autor(en)
Caroline Berghammer, Isabella Buber-Ennser, Alexia Prskawetz
Abstrakt

According to prior studies, female researchers in Austria exhibit a very high level of childlessness and, consequentially, a low mean number of children. Following up on these studies, we analyse childlessness intentions of young female researchers and compare them to those of other highly educated women in other occupations. We examine factors that are related to female researchers' intent to stay childless. The analysis is based on a survey of 196 female researchers between the ages of 25 and 45 (with the majority being between age 25 and 34). Results indicate that few young, childless researchers plan a life without children: Only 7% intend to stay childless and most of them want to have two children (66%). Their intentions are strikingly close to those of their highly educated peers in other occupations. We discuss three factors that play a role for childlessness intentions of female researchers: work-related conditions (employment uncertainty and work-family reconciliation), personal career orientation, and partnership context.

Organisation(en)
Institut für Soziologie
Externe Organisation(en)
Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften (ÖAW), Technische Universität Wien
Journal
Zeitschrift für Familienforschung (ZfF)
Band
28
Seiten
267-288
Anzahl der Seiten
22
ISSN
1437-2940
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3224/zff.v28i3.26041
Publikationsdatum
05-2016
Peer-reviewed
Ja
ÖFOS 2012
504006 Demographie, 504011 Familienforschung, 504007 Empirische Sozialforschung
Schlagwörter
ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete
Social Psychology, Sociology and Political Science, Social Sciences (miscellaneous)
Link zum Portal
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/0df46776-880d-45c9-ada2-80ecc0b36396