Support for new mothers and fertility in the United Kingdom: Not all support is equal in the decision to have a second child

Abstract

Low fertility across Europe highlights the need to understand reproductive decisions in high-income countries better. Availability of support may be one factor influencing reproductive decisions, though within high-income countries availability varies between environments, including socio-economic environments. We test whether receiving higher levels of support, from different sources (informal and formal) and of different types (practical and emotional), is positively correlated with second births in the United Kingdom (UK) Millennium Cohort Study, and whether these relationships differ by socio-economic position (SEP). Our hypothesis is only partially supported: receiving emotional support correlates with higher likelihood of second birth, but the opposite is true for practical support. Availability of different types of support varies across SEP, but relationships between support and fertility are similar, with one exception: kin-provided childcare increases the likelihood of birth only among lower-SEP women. Our results highlight that not all support is equal in the decision to have a second child.

Keywords:

• allomaternal support
• cooperative breeding
• paternal investment
• intergenerational support
• United Kingdom (UK)
• fertility
• socio-economic status

Notes

1 Please direct all correspondence to Susan B. Schaffnit, University of California, Santa Barbara, Department of Anthropology, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA; or by E-mail: [email protected]

2 We would like to thank Cristina Moya, Kristin Snopkowski, Paula Sheppard, Sandra Virgo, David Lawson, Gert Stulp, Sophie Hedges, and Laura Streeter of the Evolutionary Demography Group at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Thank you also to Mhairi Gibson and Fleur Thomese for their helpful feedback. Funding: this research was supported by the European Research Council under Grant ERC StG-2010 263760-FAMMAT.