Childhood Family Structure and Early Family Formation in East and West Germany

• Published date: 01 February 2017
• Author: Marcel Raab
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12333
• Date: 01 February 2017

M R University of Mannheim

Childhood Family Structure and Early Family

Formation in East and West Germany

This study investigated the association between

childhood living arrangements and early fam-

ily formation in Germany. Drawing on persist-

ing sociocultural differences between East and

West Germany, the author examined whether

the association of childhood family structure

and the transition to adulthood varies in dif-

ferent societal contexts. Data from the German

Family Panel showed that children from non-

traditional family structures experience impor-

tant demographic transitions faster than chil-

dren who wereraised by both biological parents.

The study revealed considerable context-specic

differences that point to the long-term conse-

quences of the postwar separation of East and

West Germany. Family structure was less pre-

dictive for early family formation in the post-

communist East. In addition, this study adds to

a growing body of literatureindicating that even

seemingly similar family-structure effects might

bear very different implications—for example,

for status attainment and the reproduction of

inequality—depending on the sociocultural con-

text.

During the past decades, changes in family

structure increased the diversity of childhood

living arrangements in many afuent societies.

Department of Sociology, Universityof Mannheim, A5, 6,

68131 Mannheim, Germany

(marcel.raab@uni-mannheim.de).

This article was edited by Rob Crosnoe.

Key Words: families and individuals in societal contexts,

intergenerationalissues, life course, nontraditional families,

young adulthood.

Children increasingly experience parental

divorce, periods of single parenting, parental

repartnering, and remarriage (Andersson,

2002). A large body of research investigated

how children are affected by these changes. One

preeminent strand of this literature compellingly

shows that children who have not been raised by

both biological parents differ from their peers

from stable two-parent families with regard

to family formation (Fomby & Bosick, 2013;

McLanahan & Bumpass, 1988). In comparison,

they are younger when they leave the parental

home (Goldscheider & Goldscheider, 1998),

enter their rst coresidential union (Teachman,

2003), or have their rst child (Hofferth &

Goldscheider, 2010). Evidence for the transition

to marriage is inconclusive, indicating a similar

accelerating effect for older cohorts and no or

even an opposite effect for more recent cohorts

(Erola, Härkönen, & Dronkers, 2012; Woln-

ger, 2003). Moreover, it has been consistently

shown that children of divorce and even more

so children who experience parental remarriage

or multiple divorces have an elevated divorce

risk themselves (Diekmann & Engelhardt, 1999;

Wolnger, 2000).

Although there is an increasing number

of studies from Europe, the majority of this

research has used survey data from the United

States. The established mechanisms linking

childhood family structure and later fam-

ily formation behavior, however, are rather

generic and as such applicable to other con-

texts. International comparative research on the

intergenerational transmission of divorce, for

instance, indicates a consistent transmission

effect in several developed countries (Dronkers

110 Journal of Marriage and Family 79 (February 2017): 110–130

DOI:10.1111/jomf.12333

Family Structure and Early Family Formation 111

& Härkönen, 2008). Despite this regularity,

noticeable cross-national differences in effect

sizes are pointing to the relevance of the larger

contexts in which the effects of childhood

family structure unfold (Diekmann & Schmid-

heiny, 2013; Wagner & Weiss, 2006). Varying

effect sizes across cohorts, as they have been

shown for the association of parental divorce

and offspring marriage behavior, point to a

similar direction by highlighting the relevance

of temporal contexts (Wolnger, 1999, 2011).

In contrast to the thoroughly examined trans-

mission of divorce, the association between

childhood living arrangements and early demo-

graphic transitions has been less often studied

outside the United States, although this asso-

ciation affects the life chances of young adults

in ways that contribute to the reproduction of

social inequality (McLanahan & Percheski,

2008). The number of studies from other

countries, however, is steadily increasing and

comprises analyses from Great Britain (Cherlin,

Kiernan, & Chase-Lansdale, 1995; Kiernan,

1992) and from various other institutional and

cultural contexts such as Italy (Ongaro & Maz-

zuco, 2009) and Sweden (Bernhardt, Gähler, &

Goldscheider, 2005). Most of these insightful

studies are focusing on establishing the associ-

ation between childhood family structure and

demographic outcomes in one specic country

and do not elaborate on institutional and cultural

differences in this association. Exploring such

differences, however, can contribute to our

understanding of the underlying mechanisms of

this association and of its consequences in terms

of the intergenerational reproduction of family

biographies and social inequalities.

In this vein, the present study adds to the liter-

ature by scrutinizing the link of childhood family

structure and the early transition to adulthood

in Germany. Although the German unication

happened more than 20 years ago, the case of

Germany provides insight into two very different

contexts because of the long-term consequences

of the postwar separation. Drawing on persist-

ing differences in family formation in East and

West Germany, this research examines if nd-

ings from other countries can be replicated in

these contexts. In addition, using recent data

from the German Family Panel (pairfam) allows

for a comparison of two cohorts (those born in

1971–1973 and 1981–1983) and provides the

opportunity to explore if family of origin effects

in East and West Germany are converging over

time. Specically, this article addresses the fol-

lowing research questions: Are alternative fam-

ily structures during childhood and early ado-

lescence linked to early home leaving, cohab-

itation, and parenthood in Germany? Can the

mechanisms identied in other country contexts

also be applied to the German case? Do child-

hood living arrangements affect the early tran-

sition to adulthood similarly in East and West

Germany? Finally, the discussion addresses the

question of what can be learned from the Ger-

man case for the study of family-structure effects

in general. In particular, it is argued that different

macro-structural and cultural contexts shape the

association between childhood living arrange-

ments and subsequent demographic transitions

and that even seemingly similar family-structure

effects might bear very different implications

(e.g., for status attainment and the reproduction

of inequality) depending on the context.

B

In view of sociology’s long-standing interest in

family-of-origin effects, this study is informed

by several complementary and overlapping the-

oretical perspectives. At the most general level

it is referring to three main principles of the life

course paradigm (Elder, Johnson, & Crosnoe,

2003). First, the principle of linked lives implies

that the family biographies of parents affect their

offspring’s life courses in multiple ways, for

instance, via socialization processes or the provi-

sion of emotional and economic resources. Sec-

ond, life course theory focuses on the timing of

transitions. In the present study, timing matters

with regard to the onset of family formation. The

focus on early family biographies follows from

the assertion that early off-time transitions might

entail negative long-term consequences for sta-

tus attainment or the stability of partnerships.

Third, life course theory emphasizes the impor-

tance of sociohistorical contexts. According to

the principle of time and place, similar childhood

living arrangements experienced in different his-

torical times and places are expected to result in

very different outcomes. Consequently, a com-

parison of two German cohorts raised in very

distinct societal and historical contexts provides

valuable insights concerning the generalizability

of previous research.

Research on social stratication and intergen-

erational family processes provides orientation

for understanding how childhood living