Young immigrants adapt to Swedish childbearing norms

A new study finds that immigrants are more likely to adapt to Swedish childbearing norms if they move to Sweden at a young age. This seems to be the case regardless of their gender or country of birth.

Father sitting on a dock with two children looking at the horizon.

Photo: Mostphotos/Shalamov

The study sheds new light on childbearing patterns among both men and women who migrated to Sweden as children. Despite extensive research on immigrant family formation, these groups have remained largely unexplored.

“Until now, most of what we know about the childbearing of immigrants is based on studies of foreign-born women who migrated as adults”, says Ben Wilson, researcher in demography at Stockholm University, who conducted the study.

Ben Wilson. Photo: Leila Zoubir.

The findings confirm that immigrants who arrive as adults often have different childbearing patterns from Swedish-born individuals with Swedish-born parents. However, immigrants who arrived as children, are much closer to the Swedish norm, regardless of their country of birth or whether they are male or female.

The study also finds that age of arrival matters. Immigrants who arrive as infants are more likely to adapt to Swedish childbearing norms than those who migrate as teenagers. This is true for both women and men, in particular immigrants from higher fertility origins, although there is no clear evidence of any critical arrival age that determines a step change in future childbearing.

“This study shows that we shouldn't make simple assumptions about the childbearing and family size of immigrants. Just like the native-born population, immigrants vary a lot in terms of their childbearing”, says Ben Wilson.

As well as innovating by generating a new understanding of the links between age at arrival and future childbearing, the study also innovates by implementing statistical methods that have not previously been used to study this topic. These methods help to add certainty to the conclusions and confirm that the link between age at arrival and parenthood cannot be explained by the country that immigrants have migrated from or the reasons for their migration.