. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2019 Aug 1.

Published in final edited form as: Demography. 2018 Aug;55(4):1389–1421. doi: 10.1007/s13524-018-0683-6

Table 9.

Characteristics of couples with a first birth together, by respondent education and country

	Low/Moderate Education								High Education
	United States	Norway	Sweden	United Kingdom	Austria	France	Italy	Spain	United States	Norway	Sweden	United Kingdom	Austria	France	Italy	Spain
Union Status Indicators
Cohabiting at birth (x₁ = 1)	0.53	0.68	0.70	0.51	0.46	0.61	0.08	0.31	0.10	0.55	0.57	0.30	0.37	0.41	0.10	0.22
Proportion of all months spent married following birth (x₂_t = 1)	0.61	0.43	0.40	0.62	0.63	0.49	0.96	0.77	0.96	0.55	0.48	0.78	0.76	0.67	0.95	0.81
Family Complexity
Respondent had prior childless union	0.14	0.21	0.31	0.10	0.15	0.13	0.03	0.06	0.16	0.26	0.39	0.16	0.25	0.14	0.04	0.09
Respondent or partner had children at union start	0.46	0.31	0.22	0.37	0.22	0.24	0.03	0.16	0.16	0.15	0.07	0.22	0.16	0.11	0.00	0.11
Respondent Age at Focal Birth
<22	0.33	0.14	0.09	0.20	0.15	0.15	0.03	0.12	0.02	0.03	0.02	0.08	0.03	0.01	0.00	0.02
22–25	0.29	0.24	0.25	0.25	0.29	0.28	0.12	0.17	0.15	0.17	0.08	0.15	0.08	0.19	0.02	0.05
26–29	0.19	0.32	0.26	0.27	0.29	0.28	0.34	0.33	0.38	0.39	0.35	0.26	0.32	0.41	0.28	0.28
30+	0.19	0.30	0.40	0.28	0.27	0.29	0.51	0.38	0.46	0.41	0.55	0.51	0.58	0.39	0.70	0.65
Months From Union Start to Birth	29.70	39.14	45.29	31.25	44.95	39.99	39.25	41.76	48.39	46.05	53.61	48.80	53.05	51.04	38.80	48.77
Couple Had Another Child Together (t)	0.33	0.33	0.32	0.34	0.34	0.36	0.26	0.22	0.38	0.44	0.45	0.34	0.35	0.38	0.27	0.30
Foreign-born	0.17	0.08	0.15	0.03	0.27	0.11	0.05	0.15	0.18	0.03	0.15	0.03	0.28	0.07	0.05	0.14
Lived With Both Biological Parents Through Age 15	0.53	0.83	0.62	0.69	0.77	0.79	0.97	0.91	0.74	0.88	0.80	0.80	0.81	0.90	0.97	0.94
N (unions)	4,073	522	351	299	674	470	593	952	1,158	586	355	314	142	325	96	301
N (union-months)	48,596	7,995	1,907	2,784	5,086	6,023	14,122	24,840	61,839	33,717	21,003	19,674	7,423	18,410	4,874	14,124

Notes: Ns are unweighted. All means are weighted using SVY procedures in STATA 12. Time-invariant characteristics are measured in the month of the couple’s first birth together (i.e., the first month of the union-month file). Couples’ (time-varying) subsequent childbearing is estimated from the full union-month sample.

Source: Harmonized Histories and the 2006–2010 and 2011–2013 National Survey of Family Growth (women only, under 45 years). Sample is limited to couples with a first child together within 10 years of interview.