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Moving closer for the grandchild? Fertility and geographical mobility of mothers and daughters in Belgium

Roberta R. Rutigliano, University of the Basque Country
Christine Schnor, UCLouvain
Zuzana Zilincikova, University of Groningen

Geographical proximity between parents and adult children represents an essential condition for intergenerational exchanges, especially when it comes to grandparental support. Existing literature has analyzed the role of current geographical proximity, as a proxy for expected support, in shaping the adult daughters’ fertility transitions. All these studies consider geographical proximity as a constant factor. Furthermore, less attention has been devoted to investigating whether the adult daughter’s fertility triggers both mother’s and daughter’s geographical mobility. The current study aims at filling these gaps by (1) considering geographical proximity in a dynamic perspective, i.e., over the life-course, and by (2) explicitly investigating whether the specific stages in fertility transitions trigger intergenerational proximity differently. Using Belgian register data, we study whether both mother and first daughters who live apart move to the other’s place in anticipation of or in response to daughter’s fertility. Preliminary results show a higher likelihood of both mothers and daughters moving towards the other, either during the daughter’s first pregnancy or when the children are young, both moments in which women might need substantial support.

Keywords: Fertility and childbirth, Life course analysis, Event history analysis, Family demography

See extended abstract.

  Presented in Session 185. Family Transitions in Longitudinal Perspective