Life‐Course Inequalities: The Gendered Social Gradient in Multipartnered Fertility in Nordic Countries
Stefano Arnolfo, Nicole Hiekel, Aart C. LiefbroerABSTRACT
Objective
We decompose the social gradient in multipartnered fertility (MPF) in Nordic countries into the contribution of SES differences in entry into parenthood, union dissolution, repartnering and fertility within step–families for both women and men.
Background
Having children with multiple partners is increasingly common in Western societies and is patterned along lines of social inequality. While previous research has documented that MPF is more prevalent among socially disadvantaged groups, the processes through which these inequalities emerge remain poorly understood.
Method
We use data from round two of the Generations and Gender Surveys in Norway, Denmark, Finland, and Sweden, analyzing 6421 men and women aged 45 and older. A sequential logit decomposition estimates how much educational differences in each step of the MPF process contribute to the overall social gradient in MPF among women and men.
Results
The odds of MPF are higher among women with lower socioeconomic status. Among men, a positive social gradient into parenthood partly counterbalances the negative gradient in union dissolution. Among women, by contrast, union dissolution, repartnering, and fertility after repartnering all contribute to the negative social gradient in MPF. Different life‐course timelines between social strata are consistent with and help account for the stratification of MPF.
Conclusion
The social gradient in MPF is not produced by a single transition, but by the accumulation and offsetting of SES gradients across sequential family transitions. These processes are strongly gendered, with later transitions reinforcing the negative SES gradient among women, whereas partially countervailing gradients produce the flat overall pattern among men.