Childbearing behaviours of Polish migrants in Norway

Paulina Pustułka , Ewa Krzaklewska , Lihong Huang

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