Transitions to fatherhood in East Germany in the 1990s [Elektronische Ressource] : psychological determinants of childbearing and the meaning of entering into parenthood for young adults from Rostock ; an event-history and qualitative composite investigation within the Rostock longitudinal survey / Holger von der Lippe

Sujets

• Psychologie

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• Publié par: otto-von-guericke-universitat_magdeburg
• Publié le: 01 janvier 2004
• Nombre de lectures: 17
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

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
TRANSITIONS TO FATHERHOOD
IN EAST GERMANY IN THE 1990S.
PSYCHOLOGICAL DETERMINANTS OF CHILDBEARING AND
THE MEANING OF ENTERING INTO PARENTHOOD FOR
YOUNG ADULTS FROM ROSTOCK: AN EVENT-HISTORY
AND QUALITATIVE COMPOSITE INVESTIGATION WITHIN
THE ROSTOCK LONGITUDINAL SURVEY.

Dissertation
zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades
eines Doktors der Philosophie (Dr. phil.)
genehmigt durch die Fakultät
für Geistes-, Sozial- und Erziehungswissenschaften
der Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg
von Diplom-Psychologe Holger von der Lippe
geb. am 11.07.1971 in Hadamar
Erster Gutachter: Prof. Dr. Urs Fuhrer
Zweiter Gutachter: Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Jan M. Hoem
Eingereicht am 15.12.2003
Verteidigung der Dissertation am 05.05.2004Technical notes
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von der Lippe, Holger (2004). Transitions to fatherhood in East Germany in the 1990s.
Dissertation. Universität Magdeburg.Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Introduction 1
1.1 The Topic 1
1.2 The Life Courses 2
1.3 Methodological Individualism: The Need for a Micro-Foundation of the Life Course 4
1.4 Socio-Psychological Individualism: A Happy Betrothal of the Disciplines in Life
Course Research? 5
1.5 Betrothal II: Micro Foundation Means Gender Foundation 6
1.6 The Transition to Fatherhood as an Event in the Life Course 6
1.7 Layout of the Book 8
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Part A
The Transition to Fatherhood:
A Rare Event in East Germany after Unification
Chapter 2
The Demographic Situation of East Germany after Unification 10
2.1 Demographic Data on East Germany 10
2.2 The East German “Fertility Crisis” 12
2.3 The Situation of Rostock and the Province of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania 17
2.4 Summary 20
Chapter 3
Scientific Explanations for the Changes in East German Fertility 21
3.1 Directions of Theories on Fertility: Economic and Cultural Paradigms 22
3.2 Other Influential Paradigms of Fertility Differentials 23
3.2.1 Differential fertility in the life course 23
3.2.2 Cultural and social scripts 24
3.2.3 Psychological approaches to the explanation of fertility differentials 25
3.2.3.1 Desire for children by men and women 26
3.2.3.2 Psychological factors of generative behavior 27
-i-3.3 Specific Explanations for the Changes in Fertility Behavior in Eastern Germany
after Unification 28
3.4 Summary and Conclusion 32
Chapter 4
A Critique of the Present Research and an Alternative Paradigm
by De Bruijn 34
4.1 Critique of Present Explanations for Fertility Changes in East Germany 34
4.1.1 Conceptual clarifications: Intentions, desires, and choices regarding parenthood 34
4.1.2 Three major lines of critique 37
4.2 An Innovative Alternative: The Foundation of Demographic Theory by de Bruijn
and Its Application in Our Study 37
4.2.1 De Bruijn's concept of social structure 40
4.2.2 De Bruijn’s concept of learning processes 41
4.2.3 De Bruijn’s concept of choice processes 42
4.3 The Need for a Qualitative Investigation into Men's Conceptions, Desires, and Plans
with regard to Parenthood 44
4.3.1 Aims, purpose, and strategy 45
4.3.2 Theoretical rationale 46
4.4 Research Questions 47
4.4.1 First group of questions: Psychological variables and fertility differentials 47
4.4.2 Second group of questions: Conceptions of fatherhood by childless men 48
4.4.3 Third group of questions: Linkage of quantitative and qualitative results 48
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Part B
The Quantitative Study
Chapter 5
A Hazard Regression of the Transitions to Parenthood in Rostock
1988-2003 with Psychological Covariates 50
5.1 Sample: The Rostock Longitudinal Study in its Fourth Decade 50
5.2 Methods and Measures: Hazard Regression, Covariates, and Hypotheses 55
5.2.1 Description of a hazard regression 55
5.2.2 Social structural covariates 55
5.2.3 Covariates of subjects' individual background 57
5.2.4 Covariates of subjects' personal considerations 60
5.3 Results 64
5.3.1 The impact of social structural variables on first birth intensities 64
5.3.1.1 Age and sex 64
5.3.1.2 Education 66
-ii-5.3.2 The impact of individual background and endowment on first birth intensities 67
5.3.2.1 The impact of leaving the parental home, entering into a partnership, and
leaving education 67
5.3.2.2 Variables of early life course experiences: Family size and loss of a parent 70
5.3.2.3 Digression: Unobserved heterogeneity 71
5.3.2.4 Endowment I: Variables of cognitive endowment and performance 73
5.3.2.5 Endowment II: General dispositions of personality 74
5.3.2.6 Weighting individual background against socio-structural variables 76
5.3.3 The impact of personal considerations on first birth intensities 79
5.3.3.1 The impact of personal wishes, fears, and general optimism 79
5.3.3.2 The impact of personal styles of coping with stressful and demanding situations 80
5.3.3.3 The impact of the subjective perception of personal resources 81
5.3.3.4 The impact of the subjective perception of the quality of social relations 82
5.3.3.5 All variables of personal considerations in one model 83
5.3.3.6 Weighting personal considerations against socio-structural variables 85
5.4 Integration: Developing an All-Inclusive Model 87
5.4.1 Some reflections on the weighting procedure 87
5.4.2 Weighting the results: Three models of determinants of fertility differentials 89
5.5 Integration and Discussion on the Impact of Psychological and Non-Psychological
Variables on the Transition to First Parenthood 90
5.5.1 Integration of results I: General relevance of variable clusters 90
5.5.2 Integration of results II: Detailed findings for single variables 91
5.5.2.1 The impact of social-institutional variables on first birth risks 91
5.5.2.2 The impact of individual background on first birth risks 93
5.5.2.3 The impact of personal considerations on first birth risks 96
5.5.3 Conclusion: Determinants of the transition to fatherhood 101
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Part C
The Qualitative Study
Chapter 6
Motives and Chances for Fatherhood of 30-Year-Old Men in East
Germany: Dimensions and Determinants of their Desire for Children 104
6.1 Method: Problem-Centered Interviews on Conceptions of Fatherhood and
Desire for Children 104
6.1.1 The interview guideline 106
6.1.2 General and specific explorations 108
6.1.3 Visual Analogue Scales 109
6.2 Sample: 30-Year-Old Childless Men from the Rostock Longitudinal Study 110
6.2.1 Age, union status, education, residence 110
6.2.2 Additional information on our sample taken from the survey 111
-iii-6.3 Analysis and Results: Taking the Round Trip from General Observations
to Specifics—and Back 112
6.3.1 General observations: A first exploration of the interviews 113
6.3.1.1 Heuristic typology of the desire for children 113
6.3.1.2 Heuristic dimensions underlying the typology 114
6.3.1.3 The biographical development of the desire for children 115
6.3.1.4 Results of the applied Visual Analogue Scales 116
6.3.1.5 Summary and discussion of the exploratory analysis 118
6.3.2 Results of the psychological in-depth analysis 120
6.3.2.1 The coding procedure 120
6.3.2.2 The core dimension I: Developmental perspective on the self 123
6.3.2.3 The core dimension II: Object-centered evaluation 124
6.3.2.4 The “outliers”: Actions beliefs and social interactions 125
6.4 Summary and Discussion 126
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Part D
Integration of Results and Conclusions
Chapter 7
Integration of Quantitative and Qualitative Results 129
7.1 A qualitative view on the quantitative results 130
7.2 A quantitative view on the qualitative results 136
7.3 Concluding discussion 138
7.4 Future research perspectives 143
Acknowledgments 144
References 145
Appendix 160
Kurzzusammenfassung der Arbeit (deutsch) 187
Abstracts (english and deutsch) 190
Erklärung
Angaben zum Bildungsweg
-iv-Chapter 1
Women don’t like to hear that kind of thing,
but they've really changed a lot in the last couple of years.
(Mr. B.)
Nichts ist drinnen, nichts ist draußen,
Denn was innen, Das ist außen.
(Goethe)
Chapter 1
Introduction

1.1 The Topic
The life course has become one of the major topics in the social sciences during the past few
decades. In the life course paradigm, innumerable intellectual endeavors resonate and gravitate.
Many researchers in the humanities seem to sense that there is scarcely a better topic that would
encompass as many scientific questions, as much insight into the moderna conditio humana, and as
many possibilities for relevant knowledge the creation, determination, and imponderables of the
path people take