Social parenting and childlessness in Norway: Associations by sex and economic uncertainty

Abstract

This study examines whether social parenting—living with a child’s biological parent but not being biologically related to the child—is linked to remaining childless among men and women in Norway. It offers a novel overview of the complexity of partnership histories that include social parenting and whether different types of such histories are associated with childlessness. Using Norwegian register data for the 1980 birth cohort, we reconstruct annual partnership histories from ages 25 to 41 and identify five trajectory clusters with sequence analysis. We then estimate linear probability models of being childless at age 42 and assess differences by sex and economic uncertainty, as measured by unstable employment and insecure income history. Individuals in social-parenting clusters experience a higher probability of childlessness, especially those with complex, less stable histories and later partnership entry. Men in social-parenting clusters show higher childlessness than comparable women, and economic insecurity further elevates childlessness, particularly among men.