Work

Gender-role identity in adolescence and women fertility in adulthood

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: This paper examines the influence of exposure during adolescence to peers with different familial fertility patterns on women’s fertility in adulthood. Our analysis distinguishes between the extensive (i.e., whether one becomes a mother or not) and the intensive (i.e., the total number of children) margins of fertility. We use idiosyncratic within-school/cohort variations in the number of siblings as an identification strategy. Our results reveal a positive impact of an individual’s own number of siblings on the intensive margin of fertility (the number of children mothers have) but a negligible effect on the extensive margin (the decision to become a mother or not). Most importantly, we find a positive impact of the number of peers’ siblings on the intensive margin, while conversely, we observe a negative impact on the extensive margin. Investigating the underlying mechanisms behind these peer effects, we find that the negative peer effect in the extensive margin holds only for women who report stronger relationships during adolescence with their mothers, a greater sense of belonging in school, and parents who engage more with their friends’ parents. On the other hand, in the intensive margin, we find that the positive peer effect is more pronounced for women who have a bad relationship with their mothers. Furthermore, it only holds for women with a low sense of belonging to school and whose parents have limited social interactions with their friends’ parents.

Source: Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization

DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2025.107250

Authors: Carlos Bethencourt, Daniel Santos

Institution: Universidad de La Laguna

Language: English

Topic: Family Dynamics and Relationships

Subfield: Demography

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Gender equality, Good health and well-being

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,180