Vidal, S. Lersch, P. Jacob, M. and Hank, K.(2020) ‘Interdependencies in mothers’ and daughters’ work-family life course trajectories: Similar but different?’ Demography, 57: 1483-1511.
URL: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13524-020-00899-z
Despite fundamental changes in work and family life courses across generations, fragmented research evidence suggests that women’s family behaviors as well as work outcomes are interdependent across generations. In the present study, we revisit this issue adopting a holistic life course approach and address continuity in combined work-family trajectories of two generations of women within the same families.
We propose the distinction between intergenerational persistence (i.e. direct within-family reproduction) and intergenerational correspondence (i.e. systematic associations between typical trajectory patterns of each generation) as complementary concepts to improve our understanding of intergenerational interdependencies of life courses, and we suggest empirical measures for both concepts.
For the empirical application, we use a within-dyad approach to sequence analysis and examine combined work-family trajectories between ages 18 and 35 of two generations of women, born in 1930–1949 and in 1958–1981, within the same family drawn from the German Socio-Economic Panel.
We find small but non-trivial intergenerational persistence in women’s work-family trajectories. We also find evidence for moderate systematic associations across typical trajectory patterns specific to each generation (intergenerational persistence), without daughters necessarily resembling their mothers’ trajectories. Although these associations are partly due to family-related processes, wider societal mechanisms importantly explain the extent and the form female work-family life course are reproduced. We also find that these associations vary across social background, with higher maternal education enhancing intergenerational continuity in women’s work-family life courses.
Our study on the interdependence of trajectories, instead of point-in-time outcomes, acknowledges that individuals’ life course choices are interconnected and interdependent with the lives of others (i.e. their parents). It recognizes that parents are likely to offer general guidelines on what is a good life, rather than just influence specific events in the family and work domains. Additionally, our concept of intergenerational correspondence extends narrow views on intergenerational processes, such as the reproduction of exact or similar outcomes, and acknowledges that individual and societal constrains and opportunities differ across generations.
Sergi Vidal 