Childbearing behaviours of Polish migrants in Norway

Abstract

The chapter explores the aspects of childbearing, procreation plans and fertility among Polish migrant couples and families settled in Norway. It tackles the migration-fertility nexus by engaging with five hypotheses put forward by Milewski (2007) and sheds light on childbearing decision and the germane topics linked to fertility in the Polish-Norwegian transnationality. Through an integrated analysis of the quantitative and qualitative data, the chapter explores the links between mobility and a desire (and lack thereof) to have children, as well as the reasons for having more children. It outlines some issues around the timing of a first-time-parenthood and having subsequent children abroad, seeing them through a migration lens, i.e. experienced in a distinctively different cultural setting of Norway. The empirical material is guided by a mixed-methods approach and combines two datasets from the Transfam project: the quantitative data collected through an on-line survey (n=648) and the qualitative material from biographic interviews. The results confirm the hypothesis of a one-spouse migration being disruptive to fertility, while also pointing to the catching-up fertility behaviours. We argue that an interrelation of family biographic events, and a fulfilment of the family’s procreation desires, occur after the reunification and settlement in Norway.