Stepfamilies in Denmark and France: Does the Number of Previous Children from Both Partners and Whether the Previous Children Reside with the Couple Influence Fertility?

Laurent Toulemon, Institut National d'Études Démographiques (INED)
Lisbeth B. Knudsen, Aalborg University

Based on large data sets, we compare stepfamilies' fertility in Denmark and France related to which partner brought the stepchildren, being co-resident or not, interactions with shared children, and non-monotonous variations with the number of previous stepchildren, assuming that the main results should be similar in the two countries. Stepfamilies are increasing in both countries, but are most common in Denmark. Almost all co-resident stepfamilies involve a stepfather. If the woman has one child born before the union in France, fertility is much lower at shared parity 0 and, especially, at shared parity 1, but not if the couple already has 2+ shared children. If the woman has 2 children born before the union, fertility is higher than if she only has one previous child, at shared parities 0 and 1. These strange results are also found in Denmark, and will be further studied.