Attitudes Toward Immigration in Europe. Understanding the Links Between Pronatalism and Voluntary Childlessness

Figures & data

Table 1. Variables and summary statistics, ESS Round 9.

Variables		%	M	SD	N	Minimum	Maximum
Economic threat			5.17	2.55	43,954	0	10
Cultural threat			5.41	2.66	43,954	0	10
Gender	Men	46.9			20,627	0	1
	Women	53.1			23,364
Age group	<31	17.3			7605	1	4
	31–45	22.3			9794
	46–60	26.4			11,597
	≥61	34			14,958
Attendance at religious services	At least once a week	13.1			5753	1	5
	At least once a month	9.9			4348
	Only on special holy days	23.3			10,221
	Less often	19.6			8613
	Never	34.2			15,019
Having Children	No children	30			13,177	0	1
	Having one or more children	70			30,777
Education	Low	40			17,557	1	3
	Medium	35.5			15,624
	High	24.5			10,773
Employment	Active	50.9			22,380	1	3
	Non-active	22			9685
	Retired	27.1			11,889
Political view	Left-wing oriented	5.9			2595	1	5
	Moderate left-wing oriented	23.1			10,171
	Neutral	28.5			12,520
	Moderate right-wing oriented	24.8			10,917
	Right-wing oriented	5.5			2398
	Not answered	12.2			5353
Voluntary childlessness	Disagree strongly	9.3			4090	1	5
	Disagree	16.9			7417
	Neither agree nor disagree	34.4			15,118
	Agree	22.2			9760
	Agree strongly	17.2			7569
Split design	About women	50.7			22,274	1	2
	About men	49.3			21,680
Regions	Northern	13.6			5972	1	4
	Western	34.7			15,264
	Southern	12.9			5655
	Central and Eastern Europe	38.8			17,063

Table 2. Results of the multivariate analysis: predicting attitudes toward migration in economic dimension.

	Model A	Model B	Model C	Model D	Model E	Model F
Gender: Female (ref: Male)	−0.23***	−0.23***	−0.23***	−0.24***	−0.24***	−0.24***
Age group: 45–60	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.
<31	0.21***	0.20***	0.17***	0.17***	0.18***	0.17***
31–45	−0.01	−0.01	−0.01	−0.02	−0.02	−0.02
≥61	0.07	0.07	0.07	0.07	0.07	0.07
Attendance: At least once a week	0.4***	0.4***	0.4***	0.42***	0.42***	0.42***
Attendance: At least once a month	0.25*	0.26*	0.25*	0.27**	0.27**	0.27**
Attendance: Only on special holy days	0.06	0.06	0.06	0.07	0.07	0.07
Attendance: Less often	0.07	0.07	0.07	0.08	0.08	0.08
Attendance: Never	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.
Not having a child (ref: Having children)	0.29***	0.29***	0.29***	0.26***	0.25***	0.25***
Education: Low	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.
Medium (ISCED 3–4)	0.51***	0.51***	0.51***	0.52***	0.51***	0.52***
High (ISCED 5–6)	1.26***	1.26***	1.26***	1.27***	1.27***	1.27***
Employment: Active	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.
Not active	−0.05	−0.05	−0.05	−0.05	−0.05	−0.05
Retired	−0.12	−0.12	−0.12	−0.12	−0.12	−0.12
Political view: neutral	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.
Left-wing oriented	0.68***	0.68***	0.68***	0.67***	0.67***	0.67***
Left-wing oriented but not too much	0.67***	0.67***	0.67***	0.67***	0.67***	0.67***
Right-wing oriented but not too much	0.08	0.09	0.09	0.09	0.09	0.09
Right-wing oriented	−0.73*	−0.73*	−0.73*	−0.73*	−0.73*	−0.73*
Not answered	−0.21*	−0.21*	−0.21*	−0.21*	−0.21*	−0.21*
Voluntary childlessness: disapprove strongly	−0.19*	−0.19*	−0.19**	−0.19**	−0.19**	−0.19**
Voluntary childlessness: disapprove	−0.15*	−0.15*	−0.15*	−0.15*	−0.15*	−0.14*
Neither approve nor disapprove	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.
Voluntary childlessness: approve	−0.05	−0.05	−0.05	−0.06	−0.01	−0.01
Voluntary childlessness: approve strongly	0.3***	0.31***	0.31***	0.3***	0.3***	0.30***
Split: About female (ref: about men)	0.01	0.01	0.01	0.01	0.01	0.01
Northern European		−0.21				−0.04
Western European countries		Ref.				Ref
Southern Europe		−0.32				−0.03
Central and Eastern European countries		−0.98***				−0.17
Female childlessness rate			0.09***			0.03
Migration rate				0.06**		0.04
Access to citizenship					0.01**	0.01
Random effects
SD residual	5.33	5.32	5.32	5.33	5.33	5.33
SD intercept	0.54	0.35	0.39	0.41	0.45	0.3
SD voluntary childlessness	0.002	0.002	0.002	0.002	0.002	0.002
Akaike information criterion (AIC)	175,583.7	175,578.9	175,577.2	175,844.4	175,603.1	175,575
ICC	0.09	0.06	0.07	0.07	0.07	0.05
N (individuals/countries)	43,954/28

*p < .05; **p < .01; ***p < .001.

Source: European Social Survey Round 9, 2018.

Table 3. Results of the multivariate analysis: predicting attitudes toward migration in cultural dimension.

	Model A	Model B	Model C	Model D	Model E	Model F
Gender: Female (ref: Male)	0.05	0.05	0.05	0.05	0.05	0.04
Age group: 45–60	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.
<31	0.36***	0.36***	0.35***	0.34***	0.34***	0.34***
31–45	0.06	0.06	0.06	0.05	0.05	0.05
≥61	0.02	0.02	0.02	0.02	0.02	0.02
Attendance: At least once a week	0.33*	0.33*	0.34*	0.35*	0.35*	0.35*
Attendance: At least once a month	0.17	0.17	0.02	0.18	0.18	0.18
Attendance: Only on special holy days	0.02	0.02	0.03	0.03	0.03	0.03
Attendance: Less often	0.01	0.01	0.05	0.05	0.05	0.05
Attendance: Never	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.
Not having a child (ref: Having children)	0.28***	0.28***	0.25***	0.24***	0.24***	0.24***
Education: Low	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.
Medium (ISCED 3–4)	0.47***	0.47***	0.46***	0.47***	0.47***	0.47***
High (ISCED 5–6)	1.29***	1.29***	1.3***	1.3***	1.3***	1.3***
Employment: Active	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.
Not active	0.03	0.03	0.03	0.03	0.03	0.03
Retired	−0.02	−0.02	−0.23	−0.23	−0.23	−0.23
Political view: neutral	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.
Left-wing oriented	1.01***	1.05***	0.99***	0.99***	0.99***	0.99***
Left-wing oriented but not too much	0.82***	0.82***	0.82***	0.82***	0.82***	0.82***
Right-wing oriented but not too much	−0.26**	−0.26**	−0.26**	−0.26**	−0.26**	−0.26**
Right-wing oriented	−1.04***	−1.04***	−1.03***	−1.03***	−1.03***	−1.03***
Not answered	−0.18*	−0.18*	−0.19*	−0.19*	−0.19*	−0.19*
Voluntary childlessness: Disapprove strongly	−0.28**	−0.27*	−0.27***	−0.27***	−0.27***	−0.27***
Voluntary childlessness: Disapprove	−0.25***	−0.25***	−0.24***	−0.25***	−0.25***	−0.25***
Neither approve nor disapprove	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.
Voluntary childlessness: Approve	0.01	0.01	0.01	0.01	0.01	0.01
Voluntary childlessness: Approve strongly	0.42***	0.42***	0.42***	0.41***	0.42***	0.42***
Split: About female (ref: about men)	0.01	0.01	0.01	0.01	0.01	0.01
Northern European		0.44				0.71**
Western European countries		Ref.				Ref.
Southern Europe		−0.31				0.24
Central and Eastern European countries		−1.06***				0.39
Female childlessness rate		–	0.11***			0.08*
Migration rate				0.06*		0.05*
Access to citizenship					0.02***	0.02**
Random effects
SD residual	5.75	5.75	5.76	5.76	5.76	5.76
SD intercept	0.7	0.39	0.49	0.46	0.31	0.31
SD voluntary childlessness	0.006	0.006	0.006	0.006	0.006	0.006
AIC	178,606.7	178,596.9	178,607.2	178,611.9	178,606.1	178,591.8
ICC	0.11	0.06	0.08	0.09	0.08	0.04
N (individuals/countries)	43,954/28

*p < .05; **p < .01; ***p < .001.

Source: European Social Survey Round 9, 2018.

Figure A1. Means and medians of attitudes toward voluntary childlessness by country.

Source: Own calculation based on ESS 2018.

Figure A2. Means of attitudes toward immigrations in two dimensions by country.

Source: Own calculation based on ESS 2018.

Table A1. Results of the OLS regression models: predicting attitudes toward migration in economic dimension.

	Model A	Model B	Model C	Model D	Model E	Model F
Gender: Female (ref: Male)	−0.19***	−0.16***	−0.17***	−0.18***	−0.18***	−0.16***
Age group: 45–60	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.
<31	0.19***	0.19***	0.21***	0.19***	0.18***	0.19***
31–45	0.04	0.04	0.03	0.03	0.03	0.04
≥61	0.08*	0.08*	0.12**	0.11*	0.1*	0.07
Attendance: At least once a week	0.19***	0.24***	0.14***	0.16***	0.16***	0.25***
Attendance: At least once a month	0.13**	0.21***	0.11*	0.16***	0.14***	0.19***
Attendance: Only on special holy days	−0.02	0.09*	0.01	0.01	0.03	0.09**
Attendance: Less often	0.07*	0.09*	0.05	0.07*	0.07*	0.09**
Attendance: Never	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.
Not having a child (ref: Having children)	0.17***	0.17***	0.14***	0.17***	0.18***	0.18***
Education: Low	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.
Medium (ISCED 3–4)	0.29***	0.43***	0.36***	0.35***	0.28***	0.4***
High (ISCED 5–6)	1.19***	1.17***	1.17***	1.14***	1.08***	1.15***
Employment: Active	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.
Not active	0.04	0.04	0.03	0.03	0.01	0.01
Retired	−0.17***	−0.13**	−0.15**	−0.13**	−0.15***	−0.12***
Political view: Neutral	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.
Left-wing oriented	0.28***	0.37***	0.27***	0.32***	0.32***	0.37***
Left-wing oriented but not too much	0.52***	0.48***	0.49***	0.53***	0.51***	0.49***
Right-wing oriented but not too much	0.02	0.01	0.01	0.04	0.01	0.01
Right-wing oriented	−0.52***	−0.41***	−0.53***	−0.45***	−0.51***	−0.39***
Not answered	−0.52***	−0.37***	−0.51***	−0.43***	−0.48***	−0.36***
Voluntary childlessness: Disapprove strongly	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.
Voluntary childlessness: Disapprove	−0.76***	−0.42***	−0.63***	−0.63***	−0.63***	−0.41***
Neither approve nor disapprove	0.51***	0.22***	−0.39***	−0.41***	−0.41***	−0.22***
Voluntary childlessness: Approve	0.03	0.01	−0.01	−0.01	−0.01	−0.01
Voluntary childlessness: Approve strongly	0.31***	0.18***	0.28***	0.28***	0.24***	0.18***
Split: About female (ref: about men)	0.05*	0.04	0.05*	0.05*	0.05*	0.03
Northern European		−0.19***				−0.13*
Western European countries		Ref.				Ref.
Southern Europe		−0.37***				−0.15***
Central and Eastern European countries		−0.94***				−0.66***
Female childlessness rate			0.05***			−0.01*
Migration rate				0.06***		0.03***
Access to citizenship					0.01***	0.01***
R square	0.09	0.11	0.09	0.1	0.1	0.11
N	43,954

*p < .05; **p < .01; ***p < .001.

Source: European Social Survey, 2018.

Table A2. Results of the OLS regression models: predicting attitudes toward migration in cultural dimension.

	Model A	Model B	Model C	Model D	Model E	Model F
Gender: Female (ref: Male)	0.05*	0.09***	0.05*	0.05*	0.06*	0.09**
Age group: 45–60	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.
<31	0.3***	0.26***	0.29***	0.26***	0.27***	0.26***
31–45	0.03	0.06	0.03	0.03	0.03	0.05
≥61	0.04	−0.02	0.03	0.03	−0.01	−0.05
Attendance: At least once a week	0.08*	0.15***	0.15***	0.16***	0.14***	0.14***
Attendance: At least once a month	−0.02	0.05	−0.05	0.01	0.01	0.04
Attendance: Only on special holy days	−0.09*	0.01	−0.09**	−0.06	0.01	0.03
Attendance: Less often	0.09*	0.05	0.08*	0.08*	0.08*	0.05
Attendance: Never	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.
Not having a child (ref: Having children)	0.09**	0.12***	0.09**	0.09**	0.12***	0.14***
Education: Low	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.
Medium (ISCED 3–4)	0.37***	0.49***	0.43***	0.43***	0.34***	0.42***
High (ISCED 5–6)	1.25***	1.27***	1.31***	1.28***	1.19***	1.21***
Employment: Active	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.
Not active	0.17**	0.16***	0.17***	0.17***	0.12***	0.12***
Retired	−0.16***	−0.13***	−0.14**	−0.13*	−0.14**	−0.11**
Political view: Neutral	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.
Left-wing oriented	0.6***	0.69***	0.59***	0.63***	0.65***	0.69***
Left-wing oriented but not too much	0.64***	0.57***	0.6***	0.64***	0.62***	0.59***
Right-wing oriented but not too much	−0.11***	−0.18***	−0.12***	−0.08**	−0.13***	−0.15***
Right-wing oriented	−0.62***	−0.55***	−0.59***	−0.53***	−0.59***	−0.53***
Not answered	−0.47***	−0.3***	−0.45***	−0.47***	−0.39***	−0.29***
Voluntary childlessness: Disapprove strongly	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.
Voluntary childlessness: Disapprove	−0.85***	−0.45***	−0.7***	−0.7***	−0.6***	−0.42***
Neither approve nor disapprove	−0.59***	−0.26***	−0.41***	−0.41***	−0.39***	−0.25***
Voluntary childlessness: Approve	0.12***	0.1***	0.13***	0.13***	0.11**	0.08**
Voluntary childlessness: Approve strongly	0.69***	0.39***	0.56***	0.56***	0.56***	0.39***
Split: About female (ref: about men)	0.04	0.01	0.03	0.03	0.02	0.01
Northern European		0.48***				0.5***
Western European countries		Ref.				Ref.
Southern Europe		−0.29***				0.11**
Central and Eastern European countries		−0.95***				−0.28***
Female childlessness rate			0.05***			−0.02***
Migration rate				0.06***		0.06***
Access to citizenship					0.02**	0.01***
R square	0.12	0.15	0.12	0.13	0.14	0.16
N	43,954

*p < .05; **p < .01; ***p < .001.

Source: European Social Survey, 2018.

Table A3. Results of the fixed effect multilevel regression models: predicting attitudes toward voluntary childlessness (Country is the panel variable so we can only run Model A).

	Economic dimension	Cultural dimension
	Model A	Model A
Gender: Female (ref: Male)	−0.18***	0.09***
Age group: 45–60	Ref.	Ref.
<31	0.18***	0.24***
31–45	0.05	0.06
≥61	0.04	−0.06
Attendance: At least once a week	0.18***	0.06
Attendance: At least once a month	0.15***	−0.02
Attendance: Only on special holy days	0.06*	−0.02
Attendance: Less often	0.08	0.01
Attendance: Never	Ref.	Ref.
Not having a child (ref: Having children)	0.19***	0.15***
Education: Low	Ref.	Ref.
Medium (ISCED 3–4)	0.42***	0.43***
High (ISCED 5–6)	1.12***	1.18***
Employment: Active	Ref.	Ref.
Not active	0.02	0.08*
Retired	−0.05	−0.1*
Political view: Neutral	Ref.	Ref.
Left-wing oriented	0.45***	0.71***
Left-wing oriented but not too much	0.52***	0.59***
Right-wing oriented but not too much	0.04	−0.13***
Right-wing oriented	−0.35***	−0.51***
Not answered	−0.31***	−0.25***
Voluntary childlessness: Disapprove strongly	−0.31***	−0.4***
Voluntary childlessness: Disapprove	−0.18***	−0.23***
Neither approve nor disapprove	Ref.	Ref.
Voluntary childlessness: Approve	−0.02	0.01
Voluntary childlessness: Approve strongly	0.24***	0.35***
Split: About female (ref: About men)	0.3	0.01
Sigma_u	0.74	0.81
Sigma_e	2.35	2.39
Rho	0.09	0.1
N (individuals/countries)	43,954/28	43,954/28

*p < .05; **p < .01; ***p < .001.

Source: European Social Survey, 2018.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are openly available at https://www.europeansocialsurvey.org/.