Working-Time Pressure and Fertility: Can Grandparents Help?

Alina Pavelea , University of Warsaw
Beata Osiewalska, University of Warsaw (1); Cracow University of Economics (2)
Anna Matysiak, University of Warsaw

We examine whether grandparental support can buffer the fertility costs of time-demanding work in the United Kingdom. Specifically, we examine whether grandparental proximity, frequency of contact, and help provided enable mothers and fathers in time-pressured jobs—characterised by long working hours or non-standard schedules—to have a second child. Drawing on role theory, the Job Demands–Resources model and evolutionary perspectives on cooperative breeding, we hypothesise that time-demanding jobs reduce the likelihood of progressing to a second birth, while grandparental support mitigates this effect . Using data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study (2009–2023), we follow partnered first-time mothers and fathers and estimate mixed-effects discrete-time complementary log–log models of second-birth transitions. Preliminary results suggest that mothers’ long working hours and non-standard schedules do not directly reduce the likelihood of a second child. However, frequent contact with and proximity to maternal grandmothers increase the probability of a second birth among mothers facing high work-time demands. For fathers, work-time demands and grandparental support are largely unrelated to second births. These findings highlight the critical role of kinship networks in mitigating work–family conflict. Grandparental involvement, especially by maternal grandmothers, remains a vital resource that enables mothers facing high work demands to expand their families.

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 Presented in Session 32. Flash Session Gender, Work and Labour Market