The influence of motherhood on income: do partner characteristics and parity matter?

Figures & data

Table 1. Descriptive statistics for the variables used in the analyses, NKPS waves 1–3.

	Wave 1		Wave 2		Wave 3
Variable^a	Mean/proportion	SD	Mean/proportion	SD	Mean/proportion	SD	Min.	Max.
Woman’s monthly earnings (in €)	1256	608	1303	612	1466	646	250	4000
Woman’s monthly earnings (logged)	7.03	0.45	7.07	0.46	7.20	0.44	5.62	8.29
No children	.28	–	.17	–	.10	–	0	1
One child	.17	–	.16	–	.12	–	0	1
Two children	.38	–	.44	–	.49	–	0	1
Three or more children	.17	–	.23	–	.29	–	0	1
Partner’s working hours^b	42	8.3	41	8.4	41	8.3	12	60
Partner’s monthly earnings^c	2096	834	2181	818	2393	827	253	7000
Gender role attitudes of the partner	1.86	0.65	1.83	0.63	1.81	0.64	1	4.5
Gender role attitudes of the woman	1.58	0.57	1.56	0.56	1.56	0.57	1	4.5
Woman’s age	39	9.2	42	8.5	45	8	18	67
Woman’s education	6.7	1.9	6.8	1.9	6.9	1.9	1	10
N (observations)	1510		1344		977

^aAll continuous variables are centered in the analyses.

^bDivided by 10 in the analyses.

^cDivided by 1000 in the analyses.

Table 2. Fixed-effects regressions predicting changes in women’s monthly earnings (logged).

	Model 1	Model 2	Model 3	Model 4
First birth	−0.268*** (0.026)	−0.264*** (0.027)	−0.265*** (0.029)	−0.266*** (0.029)
Second birth	−0.339*** (0.032)	−0.333*** (0.032)	−0.343*** (0.033)	−0.343*** (0.033)
Third birth	−0.373*** (0.043)	−0.369*** (0.043)	−0.387*** (0.043)	−0.387*** (0.043)
First birth × Partner’s working hours		−0.009 (0.025)	−0.016 (0.026)	−0.016 (0.026)
Second birth × Partner’s working hours		−0.021 (0.023)	−0.025 (0.023)	−0.026 (0.023)
Third birth × Partner’s working hours		−0.060* (0.027)	−0.076** (0.028)	−0.075** (0.028)
First birth × Partner’s earnings			0.013 (0.035)	0.012 (0.035)
Second birth × Partner’s earnings			−0.004 (0.030)	−0.004 (0.030)
Third birth × Partner’s earnings			0.027 (0.033)	0.027 (0.034)
First birth X Partner’s gender role orientations				0.003 (0.044)
Second birth X Partner’s gender role orientations				0.025 (0.047)
Third birth × Partner’s gender role orientations				0.007 (0.064)
Partner’s working hours		0.032 (0.019)	0.026 (0.019)	0.026 (0.019)
Partner’s earnings			0.055 (0.028)	0.055 (0.028)
Constant	8.008*** (0.200)	7.978*** (0.203)	7.955*** (0.202)	7.959*** (0.202)
R-squared	0.201	0.205	0.218	0.218
N	3831	3831	3831	3831

Standard errors in parentheses. *p  < .05, **p  < .01, ***p  < .001. All models include: age, age squared and education level. Models 2–4 include interactions between childbirth dummies and woman’s gender role attitudes.

Figure 1. The separate and combined effect of the birth of a first, second and third child on a woman’s earnings.