Changing family models in Spain: the impact of the sociodemographic factors

1 CHANGING FAMILY MODELS IN SPAIN: THE IMPACT OF THE SOCIODEMOGRAPHIC FACTORS ALMUDENA MORENO MÍNGUEZ (corresponding autor) Departamento de Sociología y Trabajo Social. Universidad de Valladolid. España. E-mail: [email protected] MARTA ORTEGA GASPAR Departamento de Derecho de Estado y Sociología. Universidad de Málaga. España. E-mail: [email protected] CARLOS GAMERO BURÓN Departamento de Estadística y Econometría. Universidad de Málaga. España. E-mail: [email protected] 2 Abstract During the last few decades, there has been an increasing international recognition of the studies related to the analysis of the family models change, the focus being the determinants of the female employment and the problems related to the work family balance (Lewis, 2001; Petit & Hook, 2005Saraceno, Crompton & Lyonette, 20062008; Pfau-Effinger, 2012). The majority of these studies have been focused on the analysis of the work-family balance problems as well as the effectiveness of the family and gender policies in order to encourage female employment (Korpi et al., 2013). In Spain, special attention has been given to the family policies implemented, the employability of women and on the role of the father in the family (Flaquer et al., 2015; Meil, 2015); however, there has been far less emphasis on the analysis of the family cultural models (González and Jurado, 2012; Crespi and Moreno, 2016). The purpose of this paper is to present some of the first results on the influence of the socio-demographic factors on the expectations and attitudes about the family models. This study offers an analytical reflection upon the foundation of the determinants of the family ambivalence in Spain from the cultural and the institutional dimension. This study shows the Spanish family models of preferences following the Pfau-Effinger (2004) classification of the famiy living arrangements. The reason for this study is twofold; on the one hand, there is confirmed the scarcity of studies that have focused their attention on this objective in Spain; on the other hand, the studies carried out in the international context have confirmed the analytical effectiveness of researching on the attitude and value changes to explain the meaning and trends of the family changes. There is also presented some preliminary results that have been obtained from the multinomial analysis related to the influence of the socio-demographic factors on the family model chosen by the individuals in Spain (father and mother working full time; mother part-time father full-time; mother not at work father full-time; mother and father part-time). 3 The database used has been the International Social Survey Programme: Family and Changing Gender Roles IVISSP 2012-. Spain is the only country of South Europe that has participated in the survey. For this reason it has been considered as a representative case study. Keywords: Family models, preferences, attitudes, contradictory transformation, Spanish society. 1. Introduction The present study analyses the attitudes and expectations of the Spanish population related to the family models in order to explain the ambivalent social reality in Spain. The main interest of this study emerges from the scarcity of studies related to the attitudes and values and their influence on the election of the different family models. Another reason that justified the interest of this study is that the international researches have proven the effectiveness of studying the attitudes and values to understand the tendencies and family model changes. The structure of the present work is the following: firstly, there have been developed a literature review that allow us to establish the theoretical framework of the study. The methodology section offers information about the data sources used to answer the research question of our study. The section dedicated to the results has been divided into two parts, the first part is focused on the descriptive analysis of the data and the second part offers an explanatory analysis based on the estimation of multinomial logit models. The conclusions show some of the most outstanding results of this work 1 . 1 It must be taken into account that this paper is still in progress. 4 2. Literature Review and theoretical discussion In the ongoing debate on changing family models as a result of the decline of the male breadwinner family model, the main focus has generally been placed on a possible shift towards a dual, full-time, adult worker model with a more equal gender balance (Lewis, Campbell and Huerta, 2008; Daly, 2011). On the other hand, in a context of growing family diversity less attention has been paid to the normative change on the values and attitudes on work-family arrangements and family models in Spain. Thus, change in family models (decline of male breadwinner family model vs increase of dual-earner couples) affects both the level of work-family conflict and values to family-work arrangements (O’Brien, 2009; Treviño et al., 2009; Cooke, 2010; Daly and Scheiwe, 2010; Daly, 2011). Empirical research into the factors determining female employment has given rise to a lot of interpretations regarding the cultural, institutional and individual effects on women’s employment patterns in different countries based on the analysis of individual characteristics and the effects of macro conditions (Hakim, 2004; Crompton and Lyonette, 2005; Fortin, 2005; Pettit and Hook, 2005; Del Boca et al., 2009). However, very few studies have set out to study the determinants of normative models of family arrangements from a micro perspective by using individual data. In this regard, some studies have thrown doubt on whether institutional and cultural factors have the same effect on women’s employment patterns and work-family arrangements and family in different contexts (Pfau-Effinger, 2004). According to the preference theory, the preferences and life style freely chosen by individuals determine the family diverse models, the different employment patterns and the occupational careers (Hakim, 2000). This theory identifies three main types of women that develop different ways of living according to their preferences at work and family (work centred women, home-centred women and, adaptive women). The main critics of this analytical model address that women´s employment and family choice should be understood as a result of a constraint and accommodate choice because of lack of alternative options (O´Reilly and Fagan, 1998; McRae, 2003; Walters, 2005; Gash, 2008). On the other hand, according to Pfau Effinger (2004) cross-national disparities in women’s employment and family policies offer a better understanding for 5 the analysis of the “gender arrangements”. She focuses on the relevance of culture and institutional matters for explaining different preferences of family arrangements. Other researches highlight the relevance of “gender roles values” explaining how mothers and fathers construct the dilemma women work-family from a micro perspective (Cromptom and Lyonette; 2005; Fortim, 2005; Steiber and Haas, 2009; Moreno Mínguez, 2010; Hobson, 2011; Stam et al., 2013). This could explain why among European countries it is observed that similar family polices and care regimes generate a variety of family-work preferences (Duncan, 2005; Jensen, 2008). The human capital theory emphasize that individual factors such as education, number of children, occupation and economic situation can explain the different family model preferences. Some researches confirm that education is a strong predictor of the familywork arrangement´s attitudes (Crompton and Lyonette, 2005; Van Well and Knijin, 2006; Debacker, 2008). In this sense, Cloin et al. (2011) observe that the high level of education has a positive impact on the women´s employment and the equalitarian family arrangement. The reverse situation is observed among mothers with the lowest level of education and with a traditional gender role perspective that experience greater difficulties at work and family (Myers and Booth, 2002; Den Dulk, et. al. 2003; Bolzedahl and Myers, 2004). Based on these theoretical frameworks the objective of this communication is to present some of the most relevant results of this research that is still in progress. The main focus of our study is the analysis of the factors that determine the family model preferences of the Spanish population. For this purpose we have analysed data from the ISSP 2012. 3. Data and Methods The empirical analysis are based on individual level survey data for Spain from the 2012 “Family Changing Gender Roles” module of the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP). 2 As indicated by the own ISSP Research Group, this module mainly deals with gender related issues, such as attitudes towards women’s employment, 2 Data are collected through face-to-face interviews and self-completion surveys. They are available for researchers without charge from the site http://www.issp.org. 6 marriage, children and financial support, household management and partnership. The sample is nationally representative of the Spanish’s adult population (over 18 years). All the analysis presented are run on all sample and on males and females separately. Distinction has also been made based on the age of respondents (over or below 49 years) in order to account for generational differences. Firstly, some exploratory analyses were developed. These analyzes offer a description about the attitudes and values of Spanish population towards the role that a working mother should play at work considering different situations. They also reflect the respondents’ valuations of the repercussion that adopting that role should have on family life. Secondly, we carry out a discrete choice analysis, more specifically three multinomial logit models, that enables us to determine the different factors that influence the predisposition to opt towards the different family models as the best desirable ones. 4. Results Results from the descriptive analysis In this section it is presented the results from the exploratory analysis where it is analysed the opinions related to the different family models. First, it is analysed the level of agreement related to different statements on female working roles. It is observed that 93% of the interviewees agree or highly agree with the idea that both members of the couple should contribute to the household incomes. It has not been appreciated any differences between groups. The situations analysed proved that men over 49 years old maintain the most traditional opinions and that women over 49 years old are also more traditional than women under 49, but it should be noted that the oldest group of women tend to be less traditional than the oldest men ones. It could be argued that women opinions and attitudes move more quickly than men ones towards a gender equalitarian model. 7 It should be highlighted that a 71% of women at their 49 or under this age consider that when mom works the relation with children are as warm as if they wouldn’t work. A 60% of men over 49 years old agree or highly agree with that opinion. The opinions of the youngest women group and the oldest men ones offer an interesting contrast. A 27% of women under 49 and a 54% of men over 49 agree or highly agree with the idea that what women really want is home and kids. The differences are also remarkable in relation with their opinions about the thought that “being a housewife is as fulfilling as a working for a pay” (34% in contrast to a 63%). Second, it is analysed the opinions related to the question if women should work when there is a child under school age (from 0 to 5 years old), distinguishing different model of work (full-time, part-time, stay at home). The results offer information about the opinions of the whole sample and as well by sex and age. Almost a quarter of the total interviewees think that women under that circumstance should stay at home while a 60% believe that they should work part-time. It is observed a quite remarkable differences between the young and the old generations: the 35% of the interviewees over 49 years old affirm that women should stay at home, this percentage represents almost the double of the answers of the 49 or under 49 years old interviewees. In this respect, two interesting results emerge. On one hand if we compare the answers by gender, the data indicate that men are more traditional than women. More specifically, the 31% of Spanish men affirm that women should stay at home when there are children under school age at home in contrast with a 21% of women. On the other hand, women interviewed opt in a higher proportion than men to choose part-time jobs as the more desirable option while there are children under school age at home (65,8% and 53,3% respectively). It is interesting to observe that the 42% of men over 49 years prefer that women stay at home in contrast with the 22% of men 49 years old or under this age. This data should be taken as an indicator of an interesting change in the Spanish attitudes related to the division of gender roles. 8 Third, it is analysed the opinions of the interviewees related to the most desirable parental childcare when the children are under school age. The determination of the factors that explain their preferences towards the different family models, under the referred situation, will be the aim of the following section. It is important to highlight that it is being analysed an hypothetical option that could or not could be experienced in the real life. The results are coherent with the findings above related. The 42% of the interviewees prefer a family model where the mother works part-time and the father full-time. Only a quarter of the sample here analysed have opted to choose the traditional family model (mother at home/father full-time). If we analyse the data by sex, it is observed that a higher percentage of women than men have choose the model where the mother work part-time and the father full-time (44,4 % and 39,8% respectively). In this sense, the percentage of men indicating that the best family model is the most traditional one (“the male breadwinner family model”) is higher than the women ones (31%, 21% respectively). It is observed interesting differences in the answers by sex and age groups. The 45% of men over 49 years affirm that the best desirable parental childcare option, when children are under school age, is the male breadwinner one, father working full-time and mother staying at home, that is in clear contrast with the answers of the 19% of the men at 49 years old or under this age. Furthermore, this group of young men are more traditional that women at the same age. Fourth, it has been also analysed the opinions about the family models that the interviewees considered the least desirable ones in the situation commented before. The 50% of the interviewees believe that, under the related circumstances, the least desirable option should be the one where both parent work full-time. In this case, it is not observed significant differences either by sex or age. In general, and in concordance with the results that have being observed previously, the the evidence shows that the old generations tend to show lower predisposition towards 9 the social family change and the diversity of the family models. In this way, the family model where the mother work full time and the father work part time is chosen as the least desirable (22% of the interviewees) and the men over 49 are the most critical ones in this respect (30%) Results from the explanatory analysis As it has been explained, the principal aim of the multivariable analysis developed in this paper is to determine the factors that influence the predisposition to opt towards the different family models as the best desirable ones when there are children under school age at home, in Spain. For that purpose, the methodology we have developed is the multinomial logit model. The logit models have been estimated for the total interviewed sample (adults from 18 and over, a sample initially chosen from the ISSP 2012) and for the case of men and women separately. Fifteen predictors (as reported previously as the characteristics included in the vector) were included in the three analysis. The models exhibit high statistical significance considered as a whole (statistical significance of 1%) In the estimation for the whole sample, not presented here due to limitation of the extension of the paper, it is observed that women show a lower probability (of 7,7 percentage points) to opt to the most traditional family model (mother at home/father at work full-time) than men. While the probability that women opt to one of the least traditional family models (in this case the one where both parents work part-time) is 6,9 percentage points superior than men. These results are in concordance with the ones offered by the descriptive analysis. The multinomial logit models for women and men offered a high degree of significance. The three main general results are: Firstly, the independent variables considered are highly significant from a statistical point of view with the exception of the variable “number of children between 6 and 17 years old”. Secondly, it is observed that, for some of those variables, the sign, the magnitude, and the statistical significance of the marginal effects differ from women to men. Thirdly and in the case of the women group, the great amount of the significant marginal effects observed correspond to the