Changing Times – Family Formation Processes among Turkish Immigrant Women and Their Danish Majority Peers

Abstract

This article compares the family formation processes among young Turkish immigrant women in Denmark with those of their majority Danish peers. The study draws on biographical interviews and available statistics, both of which reveal marked differences between the two groups. The majority women's family formation processes consist of many uncoupled and reversible transitions, focusing on “gaining experience” until making the irreversible decision of having their first child. This birth often occurs before marriage in the Danish context, which subsequently institutionalizes the already formed family. In contrast, Turkish immigrant women's family formation processes consist of tightly clustered transitions, occurring in a normatively sanctioned order. While the timing of these transitions in the 1990s clearly resembled the processes found in Turkish villages, this timing has since changed. Greater participation in education in Denmark contributes both to young Turkish women increasingly postponing marriage and the partner selection processes changing considerably. While Turkish immigrant women are now getting married at older ages, some do so without changing the sequencing of other family formation transitions. Thus, marrying later possibly also means delaying their first sexual experience and moving away from the parental home. In other cases, Turkish immigrant women engage in pre-marital sex but often seek to conceal this from their surroundings.