Event history modelling techniques have become increasingly widespread in the social sciences over the last few decades and the range of applications includes demographic and sociological analyses, labour market studies, mobility and migration studies, as well as analyses within political science. In principle, event history analysis represents an extension of the statistical techniques connected with the life table method and can be defined as an analysis of the duration of the non-occurrence of a given event during a risk period. This article devotes attention to the concept of event history analysis in terms of data considerations, basic principles and methods of analysis. In order to discuss the basic methods and their potential to interpret results, the author applied the event-history approach to an analysis of the process of leaving the parental home using data from the Czech Generations and Gender Survey [2005]. The final part of this study discusses some key issues involved in using the event history approach when analysing socio-demographic topics within the Czech context., Anna Šťastná., and Obsahuje bibliografii a bibliografické odkazy
Event history modelling techniques have become increasingly widespread in the social sciences over the last few decades and the range of applications includes demographic and sociological analyses, labour market studies, mobility and migration studies, as well as analyses within political science. In principle, event history analysis represents an extension of the statistical techniques connected with the life table method and can be defined as an analysis of the duration of the non-occurrence of a given event during a risk period. This article devotes attention to the concept of event history analysis in terms of data considerations, basic principles and methods of analysis. In order to discuss the basic methods and their potential to interpret results, the author applied the event-history approach to an analysis of the process of leaving the parental home using data from the Czech Generations and Gender Survey [2005]. The final part of this study discusses some key issues involved in using the event history approach when analysing socio-demographic topics within the Czech context.
In the final decade of the 20th century, reproductive behaviour in the Czech Republic underwent significant changes, which were manifested in, among other things, a decline in the birth rate. Views on the ideal number of children in a family have, conversely, remained consistent in the population over time, and the ideal of the two-child model has been repeatedly identified in sociological studies over the long term. Given the currently very low fertility rate and the continued postponement of childbirth to a later age, it is important to ask whether the proclaimed aspirations for a two-child family will be fulfilled and whether the tendency will be for women to actually have a second child. This article focuses on values associated with children and especially selected factors connected with the decision to have a second child, including an evaluation of the factors that women take into consideration when deciding to have more children. The analysis is based on data from the survey Men and Women in the Czech Republic: Life Courses and Inter-generational Relationships (GGS: Generations and Gender Survey), the first wave of which was conducted in the Czech Republic in 2005, and for the analysis focusing on a second child in the family selected generations of women were chosen.
Childcare leave schemes are one of the key measures that affect the ability of women and men to balance their work and family lives. Both the length of the parental leave period and the amount of the benefit have the potential to shape the timing of a subsequent birth. Important changes have been introduced into the Czech parental benefit scheme over the last 10 years in terms of both the scheme’s flexibility and the monthly amount of the benefit, which has provided a unique opportunity for studying the links between the institutional conditions of parenthood and the behaviour of real stakeholders. Using data on births from the Czech Statistical Office and the parity-cohort analytical approach, we investigate changes in the spacing of second and third births among women who had their first or second child between 1986 and 2013. The results revealed an increase in the second- and third-birth rate during the second and third year following a delivery, together with a decrease in the second- and third-birth rate during the fourth year and later among mothers exposed to changes in the parental benefit scheme. These changes in reproductive behaviour noticeably coincided with the incentives that have been provided since 2008 by the increased flexibility of the parental leave scheme and the author argues that the option to increase the monthly amount of the parental benefit together with the flexibility of its use has contributed to the closer spacing of births, most notably among more educated women.