TY - JOUR A1 - Kreyenfeld, Michaela T1 - Causal Modelling in Fertility Research: A Review of the Literature and an Application to a Parental Leave Policy Reform JF - Comparative Population Studies N2 - This paper reviews empirical studies that have examined the causal determinants of fertility behaviour. In particular, we compare the approaches adopted in the different disciplines to improve our understanding of how birth dynamics are influenced by changes in female employment and changes in family policies. The wide array of panel data that have become available in recent years provide great potential for advanced causal modelling in this field. Event history modelling has been a dominant approach in sociology and demography. However, researchers are increasingly turning to other methods to unravel causal effects, such as fixed-effects modelling, the regression discontinuity approach, and statistical matching. We summarise selected studies, and discuss the advantages and the shortcomings of the different approaches. In an empirical section, we analyse the impact of the German 2007 policy reform on birth behaviour to illustrate the difficulties involved in isolating policy effects. The final chapter concludes by underscoring that even simple modelling strategies may be beneficial for improving our understanding of how policy effects shape demographic behaviour, and for laying the groundwork for more fine-grained causal investigations. * This article belongs to a special issue on “Identification of causal mechanisms in demographic research: The contribution of panel data”. Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.12765/cpos-2021-10 SN - 1869-8999 VL - 46 PB - German Federal Institute for Population Research ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kreyenfeld, Michaela A1 - Schmauk, Sarah A1 - Mika, Tatjana T1 - The gender pension gap in Germany: Is divorce a gender-equaliser? JF - Ageing & Society N2 - Germany is one of the few countries in Europe that has implemented a system of ‘divorce splitting’. Under this system, the pension credits that spouses have accumulated during their marriage are combined and then split equally between them upon divorce. This study examines how divorce affects public pension entitlements in Germany, and how these patterns are influenced by the system of divorce splitting. The data for our analysis comes from SHARE-RV, a direct linkage of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) with administrative data of the research data centre of the German Pension Insurance Fund (Deutsche Rentenversicherung Bund). The data include information on the beneficiaries’ monthly earnings and employment biographies, as well as on their pension entitlements and the credits they received through divorce splitting. The results of the analysis, which was restricted to West German men and women born between 1935 and 1954, reveal that there are large gender gaps in public pension benefit levels. However, the investigation also shows that single and divorced West German women have larger personal pension entitlements than their married or widowed counterparts. Furthermore, the public pension entitlements of divorced men and women in West Germany are very similar. This can be attributed partially to the divorce-splitting system, which tends to increase the pension benefits of divorced women, while reducing the pension benefits of their male counterparts. Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1017/S0144686X21001513 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Haan, Peter A1 - Kreyenfeld, Michaela A1 - Schmauk, Sarah A1 - Mika, Tatjana T1 - Rentenansprüche von Frauen bleiben mit steigender Kinderzahl deutlich hinter denen von Männern zurück JF - DIW Wochenbericht N2 - Frauen verdienen auf dem Arbeitsmarkt im Durchschnitt deutlich weniger als Männer. Im Jahr 2024 betrug der sogenannte Gender Pay Gap, der den Unterschied der Bruttostundenlöhne misst, in Deutschland 16 Prozent.info Da die Rentenansprüche aus der gesetzlichen Rentenversicherung in Deutschland direkt von den Löhnen abhängen, überträgt sich diese Lohndifferenz auch auf Unterschiede bei den Rentenansprüchen. Der Unterschied zwischen Männern und Frauen wird als Gender Pension Gap bezeichnet.info Die unterschiedlichen Löhne sind aber nur ein Faktor für die Differenz. Weitere Gründe sind häufige Erwerbsunterbrechungen von Frauen, beispielsweise wegen Kinderbetreuung oder der Pflege von Angehörigen, Segregation auf dem Arbeitsmarktinfo oder Unterschieden bei der Teilzeiterwerbstätigkeit, die sich auf geschlechtsspezifische soziale Normen und Stereotype zurückführen lassen.info Mit der Einführung der Kindererziehungszeiten im Jahr 1986, die durch mehrere Reformen ausgeweitet wurden, sollten die individuellen Rentenansprüche von Müttern erhöht werden. Damit sollte langfristig der Gender Pension Gap und auch der Motherhood Pension Gap, also der Unterschied zwischen den Rentenansprüchen von Frauen mit und ohne Kinder, reduziert werden.info In diesem Wochenbericht werden auf Basis der Versichertenkontenstichprobe (VSKT) der Deutschen Rentenversicherung die Unterschiede bei den gesetzlichen Rentenansprüchen von Männern und Frauen sowie für Frauen nach Anzahl der Kinder untersucht (Kasten 1). Darüber hinaus zeigen die Auswertungen, welche Rolle die Kindererziehungszeiten knapp 40 Jahre nach ihrer Einführung spielen. Y1 - 2025 U6 - https://doi.org/10.18723/diw_wb:2025-12-1 SN - 1860-8787 VL - 92 IS - 12 SP - 183 EP - 189 PB - DIW Berlin — Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung e.V. CY - Berlin ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Haan, Peter A1 - Kreyenfeld, Michaela A1 - Schmauk, Sarah A1 - Mika, Tatjana T1 - The Gender Pension Gap Grows the More Children a Woman Has JF - DIW Weekly Report N2 - The gender pension gap, the difference in pension entitlements between men and women, is 32 percent for 60-yearolds according to data from the German Pension Insurance (Deutsche Rentenversicherung). In addition, there is a considerable motherhood pension gap: Statutory pension entitlements for mothers and childless women differ greatly. Pensionrelated childcare credits, which were introduced in 1986 and have been modified many times since, counteract this gap. Recognition of pension-related childcare credits reduce the difference in pension entitlements between childless women and mothers considerably, albeit only in the immediate years following the birth of a child. For the birth cohorts from 1952 to 1959, the motherhood pension gap for 60-year-olds in western Germany is 26 percent; pension-related childcare credits could not close the gap. Further social and tax policy measures supporting an equal division of care work and paid work are necessary. In addition to expanding public child care, reforms to joint taxation of married couples with full income splitting (Ehegattensplitting) and reducing subsidies for jobs with few working hours (Minijobs) as well as a restructuring of the workplace to be more caretaker-friendly are required. Y1 - 2025 U6 - https://doi.org/10.18723/diw_dwr:2025-12-1 SN - 2568-7697 VL - 15 IS - 12+13 SP - 79 EP - 85 PB - DIW Berlin — Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung e.V. CY - Berlin ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Kreyenfeld, Michaela A1 - Schmauk, Sarah ED - Mortelmans, Dimitri ED - Bernardi, Laura ED - Perelli-Harris, Brienna T1 - Widowhood and grey divorce T2 - Research Handbook on Partnering across the Life Course N2 - The death of a partner and union dissolution both mark the endpoint of a partnership. However, as these events previously primarily occurred at different life course stages, they have generally been investigated in separate strands of literature. With the growing prevalence of divorce at later ages, however, research on widowhood and “grey divorce” has moved closer together. This chapter examines whether and to what extent the findings on the consequences of grey divorce mirror the existing results on the consequences of widowhood. Attention is also given to the different ways in which welfare states buffer the adverse effects of the death of a partner and divorce on individuals’ economic wellbeing at advanced ages. While this chapter seeks to summarize achievements regarding grey divorce research, we conclude with a critical discussion, which, among other things, reflects on the use of universal and fixed cut-off ages (such as age 50) to define grey divorce. Y1 - 2025 SN - 9781803923383 U6 - https://doi.org/10.4337/9781803923383.00022 SP - 178 EP - 190 PB - Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ramos, Vincent Jerald A1 - Kreyenfeld, Michaela A1 - Alonso-Perez, Enrique A1 - Gellert, Paul A1 - Heisig, Jan Paul A1 - O’Sullivan, Julie Lorraine T1 - Future Caregiving Responsibilities, Employment Uncertainties, and Expected Childbearing Behavior: Survey Experimental Evidence from Germany JF - Population Research and Policy Review N2 - In societies experiencing declining birth rates, understanding factors that influence childbearing decisions is of interest. We used a factorial survey experiment to investigate how scenarios of future caregiving responsibilities toward aging parents and employment uncertainties shape the expected childbearing behavior of a fictitious couple. Respondents from the nationally representative German Socio-Economic Panel Innovation Sample (SOEP-IS) (n = 1,750) were randomly assigned to five vignettes, each describing a hypothetical couple with varying levels of caregiving responsibilities towards an aging parent and employment uncertainties. Respondents subsequently rated their expectations about the hypothetical couple’s childbearing behavior within the next three years using an 11-point scale. Results show that high caregiving responsibilities and dual employment uncertainties reduce expected childbearing behavior by 2.8 and 1.9 units respectively, compared to when these are absent. The negative effect of high caregiving responsibilities is more pronounced among women, while respondents’ own caregiving and employment experiences do not moderate these effects. These results demonstrate how both future-oriented caregiving responsibilities and employment uncertainties alter expectations about family formation and highlight the scenarios that are regarded as more or less favorable for childbearing. Y1 - 2025 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s11113-025-09969-9 N1 - Open Access publication is funded by the Hertie School Library. VL - 44 PB - Springer Science and Business Media LLC ER - TY - JFULL A1 - Kreyenfeld, Michaela ED - Sánchez-Romero, Miguel ED - Kreyenfeld, Michaela ED - Permanyer, Iñaki ED - Potančoková, Michaela ED - di Lego, Vanessa T1 - Special issue: Population inequality matters T2 - Vienna Yearbook of Population Research N2 - The 2025 volume of the Vienna Yearbook of Population Research focuses on the role of population inequality in demographic research, particularly, on the interplay between population diversity and social inequality. Besides classical markers of heterogeneity in individual behavior, such as gender, age, education, family status, migration background, urban-rural residence and socio-economic status, other sources of inequality are covered in the volume. They include marginalized populations, such as homeless people, generational and spatial factors as well as emerging trends, such as digitalization. Understanding population inequality is key for modeling population developments and projecting them into the future. Equally important is to understand how and why different types of inequality arise and evolve, and what policy challenges they impose for socio-economic development, welfare systems and social cohesion. Y1 - 2025 UR - https://austriaca.at/9681-5inhalt VL - 2025 IS - 1 PB - Osterreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Verlag CY - Vienna ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kreyenfeld, Michaela T1 - Reflections on CPoS: A Journey Across Five Decades JF - Comparative Population Studies N2 - In this editorial, Michaela Kreyenfeld, former board member, author and reviewer, reflects on her own experiences with and the evolution and significance of Comparative Population Studies (CPoS), formerly Zeitschrift für Bevölkerungswissenschaft (ZfB), highlighting its role as a dedicated, rigorous platform for demographic and population research. CPoS embraces core demographic topics as well as interdisciplinary approaches, exemplified for example by seminal works on fertility, demographic transitions, and sociological theory. Valued for fairness, accessibility, and intellectual integrity, CPoS offers a respected venue for both emerging and established scholars. * This article belongs to a series celebrating the journal's 50th anniversary. Y1 - 2025 U6 - https://doi.org/10.12765/cpos-2025-11 VL - 50 SP - xxiii EP - xxvi PB - German Federal Institute for Population Research ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wagner, Lena A1 - Molina, Stefania A1 - Alonso-Perez, Enrique A1 - Kreyenfeld, Michaela T1 - What difference does it make? Parental relationship quality and child wellbeing in step- and nuclear families JF - Genus N2 - This study adopts a dyadic perspective to explore how parental partnership quality relates to the wellbeing of children living with both biological parents versus those with a biological parent and a stepparent. We apply multivariable linear regression and a mediation analysis on dyadic data from the German Panel Analysis of Intimate Relationships and Family Dynamics (pairfam) to understand the relationship between family structure, step- and biological parents’ partnership quality, and children’s self-reported wellbeing, operationalised over the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ-scores). We differentiate two separate dimensions of parental partnership quality, namely the frequency of conflict and esteem between the (step-) parents. The results show that children living with a stepparent exhibit higher total difficulties scores as compared to children living with both their biological parents. However, parental conflict occurs less and esteem more frequently in stepfamilies than in nuclear families. Mediation analysis indicates that frequency of esteem between parents partially mediates the impact of family structure on SDQ-scores. Our analysis suggests that the negative effect of living with stepparents on children’s social and behavioural problems is slightly mitigated by increased parental esteem in these unions. Y1 - 2025 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1186/s41118-025-00269-w VL - 81 IS - 1 PB - Springer Science and Business Media LLC ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Nisén, Jessica A1 - Klüsener, Sebastian A1 - Dahlberg, Johan A1 - Dommermuth, Lars A1 - Jasilioniene, Aiva A1 - Kreyenfeld, Michaela A1 - Lappegård, Trude A1 - Li, Peng A1 - Martikainen, Pekka A1 - Neels, Karel A1 - Riederer, Bernhard A1 - te Riele, Saskia A1 - Sulak, Harun A1 - Szabó, Laura A1 - Trimarchi, Alessandra A1 - Viciana, Francisco A1 - Myrskylä, Mikko T1 - Economic Conditions, Education and Parity‐Specific Fertility: A Sub‐National Regional Study Across 15 Countries in Europe JF - Population, Space and Place N2 - There is a longstanding interest in the link between economic conditions and fertility levels. Most research measuring economic development has focused on national‐level patterns and period total fertility levels. We aim to extend existing knowledge by carrying out a sub‐national regional analysis of the link between economic conditions and parity‐specific cohort fertility, while taking into account heterogeneity by educational level. We study three fertility outcomes by women's education: the share of women who remain childless, the mean number of children per mother and the mean number of children per woman. For this analysis, we harmonised register, census and large‐scale survey data from 15 European countries, with a focus on women born in the late 1960s. Women's fertility was measured at the end of their reproductive careers and combined with contextual information, including information on the regional GDP (per capita). In our multiple regression models that controlled for country‐level factors, we found that GDP was positively associated with childlessness among women with medium and high levels of education. However, GDP was negatively associated with the number of children per mother among women with low levels of education. These findings show that the relationship between economic conditions and fertility varies depending on the level of education of the women, and it differs between childlessness and continued childbearing. High‐income contexts may be less supportive of continued childbearing for women with lower levels of education. Y1 - 2025 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/psp.70074 VL - 31 IS - 6 PB - Wiley ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Boll, Christina A1 - Kreyenfeld, Michaela A1 - Molina, Stefania A1 - Wagner, Lena T1 - FReDA Module: Causes and Consequences of Economic Abuse in Intimate Partnerships N2 - This document describes a newly developed module on economic abuse in intimate partnerships that will be integrated into Wave 6 of the FReDA (Family Research and Demographic Analysis) panel study. The module aims to capture key dimensions of economic abuse within intimate relationships and to expand the analytical potential of the FReDA data in this field. It comprises three conceptual batteries: economic control (Wirtschaftliche Kontrolle / Ressourcennutzungsverhinderung), economic sabotage (Wirtschaftliche Sabotage / Ressourcenaneignungsverhinderung), and economic exploitation (Wirtschaftliche Ausbeutung / Ressourcenmissbrauch). Together, these batteries provide a comprehensive and systematic measurement of economic abuse, enabling detailed empirical analyses of its prevalence, forms, and consequences. Y1 - 2026 U6 - https://doi.org/10.31235/osf.io/uatqp_v1 PB - SocArXiv ER -