The proportion of life spent caring for dependent children is a defining feature of life courses. This study uses Swedish register data to analyze the period of life spent as parents to children no older than 18 as a salient difference between single- and multiple-partner fertility trajectories. Individuals who have children with more than one partner spend a much longer time as parents to dependent children than those who have children with one partner, on average 8.2 more years among men and 6.2 more years among women. Cross-partner birth spacing is a more powerful proximate cause of this gap than completed fertility. We argue that an extended time parenthood is part and parcel to multi-partner fertility and discuss implications of this.

照顾受抚养子女的生活比例是生命历程的一个决定性特征。本研究使用瑞典登记数据来分析作为父母为不超过 18 岁的孩子度过的生命周期，作为单伴侣和多伴侣生育轨迹之间的显着差异。与不止一个伴侣生育孩子的人相比只有一个伴侣生育孩子的人，作为父母抚养子女的时间要长得多，男性平均多 8.2 年，女性多 6.2 年。与完全生育相比，跨伴侣生育间隔是造成这种差距的更直接原因。我们认为，延长生育时间是多伴侣生育的重要组成部分，并讨论了这一点的含义。