| Abstract: | A nationally representative survey of 2753 urban married women aged 20-54 years was conducted in 1989 in Poland. The family life cycle is described as family formation stage (first child is born), family development stage, family stabilization stage (last child is born and first child leaves home), and family shrinking stage (all children leave home). The sample included 69.1% in the family development stage, 20.2% in the stabilization stage, and 10.7% in the shrinking stage. Employment of women increased from 81.1% during the development stage to 89.9% during the stabilization stage. Labor force activity increased over time. The highest professional activity was 93% during the first stabilization stage. Only 5.6% of the sampled women had never worked. 54.8% had worked continually without breaks. Differences in parity among working and nonworking mothers changed over the life cycle. The parity of working mothers during the development stage was 1.85 compared to 2.12 among nonworking mothers. During the stabilization stage parity was 1.87 among working mothers and 2.57 among nonworking mothers. During the shrinking stage, parity was 2.57 among working mothers and 3.23 among nonworking mothers. The average number of children decreases in subsequent cohorts. The average number of children was 2.83 for cohorts married after 1959, 2.25 for cohorts married during 1960-69, and 2.08 for cohorts married during 1970-79. Birth decreases by cohort were quicker among working mothers. The difference between first and last cohort was 0.55 children for working mothers and 0.89 children for nonworking mothers. For all families of working and nonworking mothers in all cohorts and at all family life cycle stages, parity decreased with increased level of education. Little change occurred among mothers who never worked (inactive mothers). Working mothers' families completed reproduction 30 months earlier than inactive mothers. The entire reproductive period shortened between the first and last cohort from 100.4 months to 48.8 months. The differences between working and nonworking mothers reproductive years declined from about 3 years to about 2 years between the first and last cohort. The probability of bearing subsequent children is found to be irregular. |
