Family formation over the life course – 23 years of family histories among the adult population in Denmark.

Lene Toelboell Blenstrup, Aalborg University

This paper analyses and describes the course of family formation patterns among the adult population in Denmark and aims to determine whether one can speak of “a common, stabile sequence” as opposed to more “turbulent” family formation patterns. Analyses are based on all aspects of family patterns registered in Danish public registers in the years from 1980 to 2003, with main emphasis on family histories as they progress for approximately 85.000 men and women born in 1962; from the year they turn eighteen to the year they turn forty-three. The paper describes a period in life where a number of important aspects of the family formation process usually take place, e.g. partnership formation, childbirth, marriage and divorce. Analyses take into account these events, their succession and spacing as well as how these events are timed in relation to other events, e.g. completion of education. The analyses are part of an ongoing PhD project.