Ann Nilsen is Professor of Sociology at the Department of Sociology, University of Bergen, Norway. Her extensive research experience is in areas of life course and biographical methods and transitions in the life course. Julia Brannen is Professor of Sociology of the family at the Thomas Coram Research Unit, Institute of Education UK. Her research interests include gender and work-family issues, intergenerational relationships and research methodology. She is co-founder and co-editor of the International Journal of Social Research MethodologySuzan Lewis is Professor of Organisational Psychology at the Department of Human Resource Management at Middlesex University Business School UK. Among her research themes are work-personal life issues, workplace practice and social policy issues. She is founder and former editor of the journal Community Work and Family.

"This collaborative study provides a subtle and multi-layered understanding of the transition to parenthood within a cross-national comparative framework. Here is a study which is heartily recommended not only to researchers and students of family and social policy but also to those interested in the practice and promise of comparative analysis." Emeritus Professor David Morgan, Morgan Centre for the Study of Relationships and Personal Life, University of Manchester

• Introduction ~ Ann Nilsen, Julia Brannen, Suzan Lewis; Cross-national comparisons: the history-biography link ~ Ann Nilsen; Methodological approaches, practice and reflection ~ Julia Brannen, Ann Nilsen; Comparing transitions to motherhood across contexts ~Ann Nilsen, Maria dos Dores Guerreiro, Siyka Kovacheva, Janet Smithson; Comparing transitions to fatherhood across contexts ~Lars Plantin, Margareta Bäck-Wicklund, Siyka Kovacheva and Maria das Dores Guerreiro; Supports and constraints for parents: a gendered cross-national perspective ~ Janet Smithson, Suzan Lewis, Siyka Kovacheva, Laura den Dulk, Bram Peper, Anneke van Doorne-Huiskes; being a working parent in the present: case comparisons in time and place ~ Julia Brannen and Nevenka Sadar Černigoj; Discussion and conclusions ~ Suzan Lewis, Ann Nilsen, Julia Brannen.

Ann Nilsen is Professor of Sociology at the Department of Sociology, University of Bergen, Norway. Her extensive research experience is in areas of life course and biographical methods and transitions in the life course. Julia Brannen is Professor of Sociology of the family at the Thomas Coram Research Unit, Institute of Education UK. Her research interests include gender and work-family issues, intergenerational relationships and research methodology. She is co-founder and co-editor of the International Journal of Social Research MethodologySuzan Lewis is Professor of Organisational Psychology at the Department of Human Resource Management at Middlesex University Business School UK. Among her research themes are work-personal life issues, workplace practice and social policy issues. She is founder and former editor of the journal Community Work and Family.

"This collaborative study provides a subtle and multi-layered understanding of the transition to parenthood within a cross-national comparative framework. Here is a study which is heartily recommended not only to researchers and students of family and social policy but also to those interested in the practice and promise of comparative analysis." Emeritus Professor David Morgan, Morgan Centre for the Study of Relationships and Personal Life, University of Manchester

• Introduction ~ Ann Nilsen, Julia Brannen, Suzan Lewis; Cross-national comparisons: the history-biography link ~ Ann Nilsen; Methodological approaches, practice and reflection ~ Julia Brannen, Ann Nilsen; Comparing transitions to motherhood across contexts ~Ann Nilsen, Maria dos Dores Guerreiro, Siyka Kovacheva, Janet Smithson; Comparing transitions to fatherhood across contexts ~Lars Plantin, Margareta Bäck-Wicklund, Siyka Kovacheva and Maria das Dores Guerreiro; Supports and constraints for parents: a gendered cross-national perspective ~ Janet Smithson, Suzan Lewis, Siyka Kovacheva, Laura den Dulk, Bram Peper, Anneke van Doorne-Huiskes; being a working parent in the present: case comparisons in time and place ~ Julia Brannen and Nevenka Sadar Černigoj; Discussion and conclusions ~ Suzan Lewis, Ann Nilsen, Julia Brannen.