Family strategy and immigration

In a sample of married women, Swiss, Spanish and Italian, between 18 and 45 years of age and resident in Geneva (Switzerland), the authors examine the consequences of migration on the aspirations concerning fertility as well as the strategy chosen for family-planning according to the duration of residence. A conceptual framework is set up and the attitudes towards acceptance of birth-control, abortion and reliance on the "natural" inter-genetic interval are analyzed. Significant differences are found in the attitudes of skilled and unskilled workers, but in both cases a period of destructuration and anomie resulting from the confrontation of two cultures is present during the first years of residence in the new context.