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Abstract

This study uses retrospective life history data to investigate the developmental implications of the socio-cultural meaning of father absence, as expressed in the family formation of German men who are members of two birth cohorts, 1929-31 and 1939-41. Mass mobilisation for military service during World War II exposed large numbers of these men to father absence for an extended time span, but it did so at different ages in their lives. The developmental consequences are specified by the life stage principle: Social change has different effects for people of different ages. However, the normative character of father absence during the war may have diminished this difference and assigned greater risk to the lives of men who experienced father absence before or after World War II. The data analyses consistently support the historical hypothesis. Only men who encounter father absence before or after World War II show a pronounced delay in the transition to parenthood. Father absences that were war-related actually accelerated the transition of men to fatherhood according to event history analyses.

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Historical Context of Father Absence: Some Consequences for the Family Formation of German Men

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