Studying or Children? Factors and Diversity of Event Sequences in Female Educational and Childbearing Trajectories

Comparative Sociology. 2026. Vol. 25. P. 446–474.

Anna Cherviakova, Gudkova T., Alla Makarentseva, Zharakhovich M., Biryukova S.

This study examines the relationship between educational and reproductive choices and aims to establish whether they compete in the lives of young Russian women born in the 1990s. The authors use longitudinal data of the ‘Trajectories in Education and Carriers’ survey (2011–2021; panel sample N = 992) and successively apply sequence analysis, cluster analysis, and regression analysis. The latter shows that young women who initially have no plans for a long course of study choose early motherhood. Giving birth while studying lengthens the educational trajectory rather than interrupts it. However, the most preferred strategy of young Russian females is a long course of study and delayed childbearing. The predictors of this choice include, inter alia, a high socio-economic status of the parental family, residence in large urban centers, good grades at high school, individual plans to get tertiary education, and higher educational expectations of parents. These factors affect both educational and reproductive choices.

Keywords: образование, образовательные траектории, education, childbearing, деторождение, families, educational trajectories, sequence analysis, анализ последовательностей, семьи, жизненный выбор, life choices

Publication based on the results of: Decision-making in key life spheres: space of choice and the role of individual characteristics and contextual factors (2025)