Marczak, Joanna 
ORCID: 0000-0002-6955-1180
(2016)
Kin support and childbearing intentions.
In: British Society for Population Studies (BSPS) Conference, 2016-10-13, Winchester, United Kingdom.
Abstract
Reproductive decisions imply long-term direct and indirect costs and individuals can utilise family, market and the state’s assistance to achieve resources perceived as necessary for childbearing. Reliance on kin help, social assistance and employment markets may have various impact on childbearing choices. The evidence presented in this paper is based on 42 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with Polish mothers and fathers in the UK and Poland, conducted in 2011. The findings illustrate that specific socio-institutional settings are linked to different strategies parents employ to achieve desired resources related to their childbearing intentions. Respondents in Poland often resorted to the market and the family itself (nuclear and extended). The pervasiveness and importance of long-term kin support in the Polish familialistic context increases economic resources seen by respondents as necessary for childrearing and it has negative consequences for reproductive intentions because many parents in Poland expect to invest rather heavily in their children long into adulthoods. Polish respondents in London derive resources based on the market and the welfare state and their expectations about the necessity of long-term financial investment in children were overall lower than in Krakow. The findings also question assumptions about the meaning of categories used in surveys measuring childbearing intentions, e.g., ‘adequate housing’ may signify enough space for a child but it can also denote being able to provide a property for each adult child. The link between kin support and childbearing intentions is complex, context specific and could well change for an individual when they migrate.
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