The Life Course of Fragile Families: The Disability of a Child as a Shaping Factor of Parents’ Family and Fertility Behaviors

Danilo Bolano , University of Florence
Nicoletta Balbo, Bocconi University
Øystein Kravdal, University of Oslo
Jonathan Wörn, Norwegian Institute of Public Health

This paper investigates the effects of child disability on parent’s life course by using Norwegian register data comparing family life course of parents with and without a disabled child. Within the group of parents with a disabled child, we distinguish those who have a likely expected case of disability in their newborn (Down syndrome) from those who have an unexpected child disability (cerebral palsy). We might find more disruptive events for parents with a disabled child (higher union instability), but also higher immobility (lower fertility) in the life course of parents with an unplanned disabled child. Preliminary findings on the likelihood of divorce and of having another child show the highest risk of divorce and the lowest fertility for parents with children having cerebral palsy, who unexpectedly had to face such a traumatic experience. Parents with children having Down syndrome seem to be less vulnerable and the most likely to have additional child.

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 Presented in Session 84. Flash session Life Course