The Changing Educational Gradient in Nontraditional Attitudes toward Family Behavior: A Cross‐National Study

Katrin Schwanitz, Lydia Palumbo, Ann Berrington and Marika Jalovaara

Population and Development Review, 2026, vol. 52, issue 2, 519-552

Abstract: The second demographic transition (SDT) theory highlights how nontraditional family behaviors first emerged in Nordic countries and diffused elsewhere. Cross‐national variations in approval of such behaviors across educational groups and changes over time remain underexplored, however. Using European Social Survey data (2006, 2018) from 21 countries, we examine approval of voluntary childlessness, nonmarital cohabitation, nonmarital childbearing, parental divorce, and mothers working with young children. Approval was widespread for cohabitation, nonmarital childbearing, and maternal employment, but voluntary childlessness and parental divorce were less accepted. Country differences did not always align with SDT predictions: Nordic countries showed the highest approval, followed by Southern Europe, where Spain and Portugal align with SDT progress, but Cyprus remains conservative. There is notable diversity in Western Europe—Belgium and the Netherlands showed approval similar to Nordic countries, while German‐speaking countries displayed lower approval. Eastern Europe is polarized: Poland and Slovenia exhibit greater approval, while Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, and Slovakia remain less aligned. Educational differences vary by behavior: clear gradients exist for divorce and women's employment, whereas differences for other behaviors are modest. Over time, educational differences for nonmarital cohabitation and childbearing narrowed in Southern and Eastern Europe but remained stable in Nordic countries and Western Europe.

Date: 2026
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