Unintended births and the motherhood penalty in the Netherlands

Role: Principal Investigator

The economic position of Dutch women continues to lag behind that of Dutch men and becomes most apparent after parenthood (also referred to as the ‘motherhood penalty’). This project explores if circumstances surrounding the pregnancy influence the economic consequences for women. Specifically, it examines if the motherhood penalty depends on the level to which the pregnancy was planned or not.

Related grants:

  • Microdata Access Grant 2024. Principal Investigator of the project “Unintended births and the motherhood penalty in the Netherlands.“ (€7.5k)
  • GAK-KNAW Award 2023. Principal Investigator of the project “Economische gevolgen van ongeplande zwangerschappen. De invloed van het plannen van kinderen op de arbeidsmarkt emancipatie.” (€340k)

Unmet Need for Family Planning in Moldova

Role: Research Fellow

In 2020, 17% of Moldovan women aged 15-49 had an unmet need for family planning. This percentage should reduce further in the coming years in order to reach the aim of Sustainable Development Goal 3.7 to ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health-care services by 2030. The need for contraception varies across groups of women and depends on age, partner status, number of children, etc. Campaigns and policies tailored to groups who are currently lacking behind in their met need for family planning, could more effectively reach the groups most in need. The aim of this project is to explore which groups of women in the Republic of Moldova are lacking behind and have a relatively high unmet need for family planning. In addition, the project will explore why these groups have a higher unmet need for family planning, compared to other women.

Related grants:

  • Fellowship Demographic Resilience Programme 2022. Principal Investigator of the project “Targeting Groups of Women to Reduce Unmet Family Planning Need in the Republic of Moldova.” ($5k)

Related output:

Generations and Gender Programme

Role: Data manager

The Generations & Gender Programme Research Infrastructure provides scientists and policy makers with high quality and timely data about families and life course trajectories of individuals to enable researchers to contribute insights and answers to current societal and public policy challenges. The Generations and Gender Programme provides users with an open-access data source of cross-nationally comparative surveys and contextual data.

Related output:

  • Dommermuth, L., Lappegård, T., Beaupre, P., Jablonski, W., Koops, J.C., Rijken, A., and Caporali, A. (2021). Norwegian Harmonized Generations and Gender Survey-II.
  • Sakkeus, L., Tambaum, T., Puur, A., Klesment M., Beaupré, P., Emery, T., Jablonski, W., Koops, J.C., Rijken, A., Sturm, N. (2021). Estonian Harmonized Generations and Gender Survey-II Pilot.
  • Kreidl, M., Šťastná, A., Kocourková, J., Hamanová, J., Zvoníček, T., Slabá, Beaupré, P., Jablonski, W., Koops, J.C., Rijken, A., Sturm, N. (2021). Czech Harmonized Generations and Gender Survey-II Pilot.
  • Dossanova, A.,  Moldakulova, G., Emery, T., Koops, J.C., and Caporali, A. (2018). Kazakh Harmonized Generations and Gender Survey-II.

Harmonized Histories

Role: Principal Investigator

The Harmonized Histories is an international comparative dataset, created through harmonizing data from existing surveys into one common format. The aim of the Harmonized Histories is to facilitate cross-national research on topics related to transition to adulthood, family formation, and non-marital childbearing.

Related output:

  • Schumann, A. & Koops, J.C. (2021). Harmonized Histories Norway 2020.
  • Mogi, R., Koops, J.C. & Kubisch, K. (2020). Harmonized Histories Spain 2018.
  • Fostik, A., Koops, J.C. & Kubisch, K. (2020). Harmonized Histories Canada 2011.
  • Fostik, A., Beaupré, P., Koops, J.C. & Kubisch, K. (2019). Harmonized Histories Canada 2006.
  • Koops, J.C. & Kubisch, K. (2019). Harmonized Histories Kazakhstan 2018.
  • Simon, S., Koops, J.C. & Kubisch, K. (2019). Harmonized Histories Netherlands 2013.
  • Fernández Soto, M., Pardo, I., Cabella, W., Nathan, M., Pedetti, G. , Koops, J.C. & Kubisch, K. (2018). Harmonized Histories Uruguay 2015.

World Fertility Survey – Developed countries

Role: Principal Investigator

The World Fertility Surveys was a very successful programme which ran in the 1970s and 1980s. The programme aimed to collect and analyse information to permit countries to “describe and interpret the fertility of their population”. The World Fertility Survey was implemented with two core questionnaires: one aimed at developing countries in Africa, Asia, and South America with high fertility and low contraceptive use and another devised to be applied in developed countries in Europe and North‐America with low fertility and high contraceptive use. The micro‐data collected in the 42 developing countries and Portugal are archived and accessible through the Demographic Health Survey. However, the micro‐data collected in the 20 developed countries were not centrally archived. This project aimed to retrace and archive the micro-data collected in developed countries.

Related grants:

  • DANS Small Data Projects Grant 2020 (together with dr. S. Cabaço). Principal Investigator of the project “International Microdata for Reproductive Studies – promoting and facilitating the use of forgotten and underused fertility and family planning surveys”. (€10k)

Related output:

Social Sciences & Humanities Open Cloud

Role: Task Leader “Voice recorded interviews and audio analysis” and Task Leader “Social policy APIs for social surveys”

Social Sciences & Humanities Open Cloud (SSHOC) is a project funded by the EU framework programme Horizon 2020 and unites 20 partner organisations and their 27 associates in developing the social sciences and humanities area of the European Open Science Cloud.

Related output:

Understanding nonmarital childbearing in Europe and North-America.

Role: PhD Candidate

Through increased acceptance of having children outside of marriage and improved access to family planning, individuals in Western societies have more flexibility when it comes to family formation. But this does not mean that individuals make these decisions in complete isolation from others. This dissertation shows that the chance of experiencing a birth outside of marriage is influenced by ethnicity and socio-economic background. The research shows that in the UK, compared to the native British population, South Asian minorities are less likely to experience a first pregnancy outside of marriage. Instead, Caribbean minorities are more likely to experience a first pregnancy outside of a union and less likely to make a transition to a union during this pregnancy, as compared to the native British population. Furthermore, the research shows that those growing up with lower educated parents are more likely to have a first birth in unmarried cohabitation and are more likely to be single at the moment of the birth of their first child. The influence of parental education on partnership context at birth differs by country. The influence of parental education on births within unmarried cohabitation is stronger in countries where marriage is higher valued. The influence of parental education on single motherhood is stronger in countries where marriage is less valued and in countries with better access to family planning.

Related output:

Involvement in projects during my studies

Research Master Migration, Ethnic Relations, & Multiculturalism

  • Master’s thesis 2012 “Are inter-minority contacts guided by the same mechanisms as minority–majority contacts? A comparative study of two types of inter-ethnic ties in the Netherlands.” Published in International Migration Review, (Supervised by: B. Martinovic)
  • Internship 2011 Ministry of Security and Justice Project “Experienced discrimination among Dutch prisoners” (Supervised by: G. Mol)
  • Research Assistant 2012 Project “New Families in the Netherlands”. (Supervised by: A. R. Poortman)
  • Research Assistant 2011 Project “BOUNDED HELPING How morality and intergroup relations shape children’s reasoning about helping” (Supervised by: J. Sierksma)
  • Research Assistant 2010 Project “Children’s Reasoning About the Refusal to Help: The Role of Need, Costs, and Social Perspective Taking”. (Supervised by: J. Thijs)

Bachelor Psychology

  • Bachelor’s thesis 2010 “(S)he – Effects of the dichotomy man/woman for intersexuals.” (Supervised by: T. Dehue)
  • Volunteer 2009/10 Vereniging Vluchtelingenwerk Nederland (Dutch Council for Refugees)
  • Research Assistant 2008/09

Bachelor Life Science & Technology

  • Bachelor’s thesis 2007 “Alternative to prevent infection following joint replacement surgery with gentamicin-loaded bone cement – addition of BismuthEDT” (Supervised by: D. Neut)