Bring Men Back In1: A Re-examination of the Impact of Type of Education and Educational Enrolment on First Births in Spain

In this article, by focusing on men, I re-examine two established findings concerning the effect of education on family formation. I investigate whether the effects on fertility of timing of departure from education and type of education found among women in Spain apply also for men. I use data from the Spanish Family and Fertility Survey and apply event history models that take account of unobserved heterogeneity. My results show that, for men, type of education is just as important as level of education. However, the mechanism linking mens field of study to their fertility behaviour is quite the opposite to womens: those academic fields concerned with caring and/or which emphasise interpersonal skills do not have a positive influence on first birth timing in Spain. Additionally, and contrary to results from the female sample, neither process for men seems to be partially determined by common (unmeasured) determinants.