Marriage, Childbearing and Single Motherhood: Trends in Attitudes and Behaviour in Czechia and Slovakia from 1991 to 2017

Beatrice-Elena Chromková Manea,Ladislav Rabušic

doi:10.5817/soc2019-2-25

Abstract

Given the intensive political and economic transformation process, followedby demographic changes that has characterized the Czech Republic and Slovakia since 1989, we examine the variation in personal values and attitudes towards marriage, childbearing and single motherhood in these two countries. The main goal is to examine if the trends in values concerning marriage, childbearingand single motherhood observed between 1991 and 2017 were accompanied by similar demographic changes. Data from four waves of the European Value Study (EVS) are used, together with official vital demographic statistics. Our analysis shows that the correspondence between attitudinal survey-micro-dataand aggregated (statistical) macro data is quite considerable and that there is a link/association between attitudes and behaviours.

Highlights

One of the most visible features in Czech and Slovak societies after the radical political changes “from socialism to capitalism” in 1989 have been “new” trends in demographic behaviour characterized by a decrease in the number of marriages, an increase in the age at first marriage, the postponement of childbearing, a decrease in the number of children people have, and/or an increase in the share of people living in consensual unions
We aimed to find out whether values concerning marriage, childbearing and single motherhood are linked to real demographic behaviour, namely, to total first marriage rates, total fertility rates and out-of-wedlock birth rates
Our analysis has shown that the correspondence between attitudinal survey-microdata and aggregated macro data is quite considerable and that there is a link/ association between attitudes and behaviours

Summary

Introduction

One of the most visible features in Czech and Slovak societies after the radical political changes “from socialism to capitalism” in 1989 (labelled as the Velvet Revolution) have been “new” trends in demographic behaviour characterized by a decrease in the number of marriages, an increase in the age at first marriage, the postponement of childbearing, a decrease in the number of children people have, and/or an increase in the share of people living in consensual unions (instead of marriage) These trends, which have been observed already for more than half a century (since the 1960s) in Western countries, have been summed up under the term Second Demographic Transition – SDT (van de Kaa 1997, 2001; Lesthaeghe 1983, 1995). The final version of the paper is ours, though, and the reviewers bear no responsibility for any errors and mistakes

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