[Life-style and demographic behavior: an application of latent class analysis]

"The aim of this study is to construct a lifestyle typology which is relevant for demographic behaviour. The concept lifestyle is defined as attitudes towards marriage, family, parenthood and the labour force participation of women. The lifestyle indicators available in the 1988 Netherlands Fertility Survey are used to construct a typology by means of latent-class-models.... The lifestyle typology can be used in two ways for projection purposes. Firstly, it can be as an explanatory variable in models for demographic behaviour. This application is demonstrated with a discrete-time hazard model for first births....Secondly, it can be used to identify innovators with respect to demographic behaviour and to quantify alternative hypotheses about the number of followers. This is demonstrated by calculating the future proportion of childlessness." (SUMMARY IN ENG)