Background: The analysis of migrants’ preferences on the timing of fertility offers insights on how the migration experience and the contextual characteristics at destination might shape migrant women’s expectations and behaviors. Objective: This paper explores the ideal age at first birth among Spanish and foreign-born women in Spain and its gap in relation to the actual age at first birth among those who are mothers. Methods: We use the 2018 Spanish Fertility Survey to study respondents’ ideal age at first birth and the gap between ideal and actual age – whether a postponement or an advancement. We analyze the variation of the gap by age at arrival into Spain and the motherhood status at migration, together with contextual and sociodemographic characteristics. Results: Migrants report an earlier ideal age for having their first child than do natives. Migrants from Africa and Western Europe are more likely to have had children after their ideal age, while on average migrants from Latin America and Eastern Europe became mothers earlier than desired. In addition, both migrants who arrived as children and those who were already mothers on arrival report a negative gap (advancement of motherhood), while adult women who were childless at arrival report a positive gap (postponement of motherhood). Conclusions: Preferences on the ideal timing of fertility among migrant women display important differences by origin, age at arrival, and motherhood status at migration. We posit that the socialization and adaptation hypotheses explain the gap between ideal and actual age at first birth of child migrants and migrant mothers, while the interruption and adaptation (and perhaps selection) hypotheses are likely behind the fertility gap of adult migrants who become mothers after migration. Contribution: This study provides new empirical evidence in the underexplored area of migrants’ ideals concerning fertility timing and the gap between ideals and behaviors.

中文翻译：

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提前做母亲还是推迟做母亲？西班牙移民和当地人第一胎出生的理想年龄与实际年龄之间的差距（作者：Xiana Bueno、Mariona Lozano、Alícia Adserà）

背景：对移民对生育时间偏好的分析提供了关于移民经历和目的地背景特征如何影响移民妇女的期望和行为的见解。目的：本文探讨了西班牙和外国出生的西班牙女性的理想生育年龄及其与母亲实际生育年龄的差距。方法：我们利用 2018 年西班牙生育力调查来研究受访者的理想第一胎年龄以及理想年龄与实际年龄之间的差距——无论是推迟还是提前。我们分析了到达西班牙时的年龄和移民时的母亲身份所导致的差距变化，以及背景和社会人口特征。结果：移民的生育第一个孩子的理想年龄比本地人更早。来自非洲和西欧的移民更有可能在理想年龄后生育孩子，而平均而言，来自拉丁美洲和东欧的移民成为母亲的时间比期望的要早。此外，孩童时期抵达的移民和抵达时已为人母的移民都报告存在负差距（孕产提前），而抵达时没有孩子的成年女性则报告存在正差距（孕产推迟）。结论：流动妇女对理想生育时间的偏好因出身、到达年龄和流动时母亲身份而存在显着差异。我们假设社会化和适应假设解释了移民儿童和移民母亲的理想年龄与实际年龄之间的差距，而中断和适应（或许还有选择）假设可能是成年移民在移民后成为母亲的生育率差距背后的原因。贡献：这项研究为移民关于生育时机的理想以及理想与行为之间的差距这一尚未充分探索的领域提供了新的经验证据。