Age, Fertility Expectations and Plans for Employment

Datos Bibliográficos

ID5620168
AutoresRoss M Stolzenberg (0000-0003-3034-5600), L J Waite (0000-0002-8997-5802)
Año1977
Volumen42
Número5
Páginas769
Fecha de publicación1977-10-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaAmerican Sociological Review (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0003-1224 • E-ISSN: 1939-8271
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/2094865
OpenAlexW2056277114
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas49
Referencias citadas6

Fertility, female laborforce participation, and the relationship between them are key subjects in a number of theoretical and applied areas of sociology. Because sex role norms and the widespread use of birth control devices have given American women much control over their fertility and substantial choice in their labor force activity (or inactivity), understanding the development and interrelationship of labor force participation plans and fertility expectations assumes great importance in understanding actual labor force participation and actualfertility. As a step toward understanding this development, we describe and attempt to explain the effect of women's age on the relationship between their labor force participation plans and their fertility expectations. Using data from a national sample of young women aged 19 to 29 in 1973 (N=3,589), we find a strong, linear relationship (r= -.96) between women's age and the effect of their plans for labor force participation on the number of children that they expect to bear in their lifetime. An explanation of this finding (called the Learning Hypothesis) is advanced which survives tests against several plausible alternative hypotheses. Policy implications and productive paths for future research are discussed

Demographic economics · Economics · Fertility · Labour economics · Political science · Population · Sociology · Demography · Gender Diversity and Inequality · Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics · Psychology · Work-Family Balance Challenges