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Accepted Paper:
"Late-forming" Families, Life Course, and Generation in Spain Today
Nancy Anne Konvalinka (Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia)
Paper short abstract:
Based on ethnographic data, I will discuss the links between culturally-constructed expectations for the life-course, the expectation that women have children, and the achievement of a socio-economic status sufficient to permit having children, for the case of "late-forming" families in Spain.
Paper long abstract:
How does family formation fit into the life-course, in the case of "late-forming" families in Spain?
The "right" age for family formation is constructed culturally, as is the concept of generation. Some people violate the norms by forming families "too early" or "too late." Building on research on life-course (O'Rand and Krecker, 1990), vital conjunctures (Johnson-Hanks, 2002) generation (Martínez de Codes, 2005), intergenerational transfers (Heady, 2012), and care-giving and dependency (López de la Vieja, 2012), this paper will discuss "late-forming" families in Spain: families formed by first-time parents "considered biologically and socially older, with a greater generational difference between parents and children than is conventionally accepted, that is 35 to 40 years" (Hernández Corrochano, 2012). Statistical data for Spain show an increasing number of "late-forming" families, many of which resort to ARTs and adoption to have children.
Our research (funded by a Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation grant, a Wenner-Gren grant, and a Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia grant) shows that life-course developments and stresses, including the stretching out of life course periods such as schooling, job consolidation, and couple consolidation, seem to lead to late family formation. Different groups delay family formation: dual-career couples awaiting job consolidation, same-sex couples who often decide to have children later, and single mothers by choice, among others. Using ethnographic data, I will discuss the links between culturally-constructed expectations for the life-course, the strong expectation that women have children, and the achievement of a socio-economic status considered sufficient to permit having children.
Evolving family types and evolving humanity
Session 1 Thursday 8 August, 2013, -