A minority of young people become parents during their twenty. Between 18 and 29 years old, only 16% of women and 8% of men have already had a child. Among people who are 29 years old, proportions increase respectively to 46% and 30%. The gender difference is mainly explained by maintaining an average age gap of two years in favor of men in heterosexual couples (Bergström, 2018).
In addition to being predominantly women, people who enter parenthood before 30 years old also tend to be more from popular classes and little graduates: 25% of women aged 18 to 29 whose parents belong to the popular classes have already had a child, against 5% of those whose parents belong to the upper classes (see figure below).
The differences according to the diploma are even more pronounced, the study course playing a decisive role in transitions towards adulthood and the age of entry into parenting (Reigne-Loilier and Perron, 2016): among the 22-29 year olds, 48% of women with a level below the bac are mothers, against only 11% of those which have a bac+2 or more level. We find differences for these two characteristics in men, but lower amplitude: 12% of men whose parents belong to the working classes and 25% of those with a level lower than the bac are parents, against 4% of those whose parents belong to the upper classes and 6% of those with a bac+2 or more level.
The differences in diplomas and social origins vary strongly depending on the age of the first child: the shorter it is, the lower the differences. Conversely, it was in people who had a child before 22 years that the differences according to the diploma and the parents’ class are the strongest. It is early parenthood, rather than parenting in itself, which most differentiates young people according to the level of diploma and the original class.
Among the 18-29 year olds, people belonging to the majority group without migration history are as numerous to be parents (12%) as those racialized immigrants as Arab-Muslim (11%) and even a little more than descendants of immigrants racialized as Arab-Muslim (10%). The dynamics are relatively similar in racialized and black people: immigrants are a little more numerous than descendants of immigrants to have a child (16% against 12%) and, on the whole, the share of young parents is very close to that in the majority group.
Note that whatever the migratory journey and the position in race relationships, religious affiliation, in particular to the Muslim religion, promotes entry into parenting before the age of 30. Conversely, people aged 18-29 who declare themselves without religion are the least numerous to have a child. The absence of religious affiliation has a particularly strong effect in descendants of immigrants racialized as Arab-Muslim, which are only 6% to be parents.
In addition, the emotional and sexual journey of young parents is relatively specific. First of all, the lower the age of the first child, the more the parents tend to be single. In addition, parents under the age of 30 often have their child with an older partner, on average 3 years for women and 9 months for men. As a comparison, in heterosexual couples without children, women aged 18-29 are on average two years younger than their spouse and men are 0.2 years older.
Entry into sexuality is earlier: the median age at the first sexual intercourse is one year lower for people who have become parents before 22 years old in comparison with those without children at 29 years old. Finally, at equal age, women – and to a lesser extent men – having had a first child before 22 years old also declare more sexual partners than those who have become parents between 25 and 29 years old, and as much as those who have no children. Early entry into sexuality associated with the pursuit of short studies are all signs that suggest, following previous scientific studies, that entry into parenting at a young age, especially before 22 years, is generally associated with a rapid transition to adulthood (Testenoire, 2006).
