Led by Olivia Masi and Mirjam Stockburger, the research project investigates the impact of Germany's G8 educational reform - which shortened upper secondary school by a year - on family formation timing. The project explores the global trend of delaying family planning due to higher educational attainment and the rising average age at first childbirth, questioning whether societal emphasis should shift towards supporting early motherhood or continue promoting delayed family planning.
The study aims to determine how the accelerated educational timeline affects major life milestones like marriage and parenthood, specifically within the German context where the G8 reform was implemented variably across states, years, age cohorts, and school tracks. By analysing individual-level data from the Microcensus, German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), and the Panel Analysis of Intimate Relationships and Family Dynamics (PAIRFAM), this project seeks to uncover the causal effects of reduced schooling duration on the timing of starting a family.
The project outcomes will offer critical insights for policymakers, parents, and society on the consequences of educational reforms on life event timing, potentially guiding decisions on the structure of educational systems and their broader societal impacts.
The grant for the project comes from the German Research Foundation (DFG), which is the central research funding body in Germany. The German Research Foundation supports academic pursuits across both the sciences and humanities and promotes research of the highest quality. DFG prioritises the advancement of knowledge-driven projects initiated by the scholarly community.