Childcare-Provision, Family Ideology and Fertility in Sweden

Sandra Krapf, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research

This study examines the impact of public and private childcare provision and family ideologies on individual childbearing behavior in Sweden. The central argument is that childcare provision will incentivize parenthood only under the condition that potential parents generally accept the concept of child minding outside the family. The empirical investigation focuses on a multilevel analysis of transition to first birth. The model takes into consideration the interaction effect of publicly and privately provided childcare and its social acceptance. We use the Swedish survey data set “Family and Working Life in the 21st Century” and combine it with data of the Swedish provinces.