Education and Childbearing

Romania has undergone dramatic economic and social transitions since the fall of state-socialism, and changes in the socio-political regime, in family policies, and in the educational system affected the impact of educational attainment on childbearing behaviour. Interesting results about the effect of educational level on births and about the extent to which motherhood can be combined with fulfilling educational and professional aspirations, are presented. Using data from GGS 2005 and event-history-analysis, two different contexts are differentiated: the communist era and the more democratic times. First, the influence of educational level, enrolment in education, and time elapsed since completion of education on the transition to first birth is considered. It is shown that a greater educational differentiation of labour market opportunities and constraints brought about a corresponding greater educational differentiation in the timing of entry into motherhood. Then, the focus is on the effect of educational attainment and educational enrolment on the risks of second birth. A persistently negative effect of education is found, even when the effect of selectivity is controlled for.