Hispanic Familism Reconsidered

Familism has been described as a cultural trait that might explain why the fertility of Hispanic women remains higher than non‐Hispanic white women. Still, few studies have analyzed group differences in childbearing attitudes. This article focuses on two dimensions of childbearing orientation: social value of children and fertility intentions. Using the National Survey of Family Growth, we find limited support for the idea that familism undergirds differentials in fertility between native‐born Hispanics and whites. However, for foreign‐born Hispanics, there are some differences in the perceived value of children compared with whites, and these differences could contribute to fertility differentials.     

Korea's Strong Familism and Lowest-Low Fertility

Abstract:  The emergence of lowest-low fertility in southern and eastern Europe dramatically changed the relationship between fertility and its covariates. Today, low fertility countries are characterized by low female labor force participation, low gender equity, robust marriage institution, and strong familism. It is assumed that the discrepancy between an advanced socioeconomic system and robust family patterns is an important cause of lowest-low fertility. The Republic of Korea is a typical case where the conventional family pattern causes disharmony with socioeconomic development and depresses fertility. The direct cost of children has been rising rapidly because of the Confucian value of education and strong family ties. The tight labor market conditions and the increasing uncertainty about the future are depressing nuptiality as well as marital fertility. The robustness of traditional gender role division checks the improvement in compatibility between work and the family and sustains the high opportunity cost of childbearing. Although the Korean government announced an ambitious pronatal program in 2006, the budget is so limited that its effect is questionable. Furthermore, a large part of the difference between moderately low and lowest-low fertility is attributed to cultural patterns and is beyond family policy.     

Migration and fertility in Malaysia: a tale of two hypotheses

2 hypotheses that are prevalent in the migration and fertility literature, are tested using data from the 1966-67 West Malaysian Family Survey. Particular attention is paid to conceptual and methodological frameworks of research and study of sociodemographic trends in Malaysia. Noting that confusion exists in previous studies of migration and fertility, especially in regards to comparing migrants and nonmigrants with residence background and migration experience, the 2 hypotheses are discussed: 1) the assimilation hypothesis in which a) place of childrearing (origin) is an important influence on fertility behavior (e.g. geographical differentials of fertility norms, family size preference), b) residence during childbearing period (destination) is a residential status that may be related to fertility (e.g. values, expectation, economic opportunities, contraceptive availability), and c) the assimilitation process can be expressed as a weighted combination of specific influences of either place of childrearing or childbearing; 2) the migration hypothesis in which a) there is something intrinsic to geographical shifts that cannot be accounted for by mere knowledge of the place of origin or destination, b) individuals are selected by age, education, ethnicity, and motivation, and c) the impact of migration is selected on specific fertility-related characteristics, e.g. the postponment of childbearing. The data in the study are drawn from a KAP-style national survey which utilized a stratified (size of place) probability sampling frame of 5457 married Malaysian women between 15 and 45 years of age. In view of the hypothesis, the identification of area of early socialization and adult experience measures the area of greatest influence on individual fertility behavior. Measures of migration are advantageous to approximating the true timing of migration and fertility in a causal ordering. To conclude, Bach suggests that fertility levels of migrants can be accounted for through the assimilation model, while migration is considered to have only a unique and small effect. The acceptance of the assimilation model also suggests that migration is related to fertility through exposing individuals to two divergent environments. Rural to urban and urban to small town migrants, however, require use of both the assimilation and migration models.     

Childbearing after Migration: Fertility Patterns of Foreign‐born Women in Sweden1

The present study provides an investigation of patterns in childbearing among foreign‐born women in Sweden from the 1960s to the 1990s. Event‐history techniques are applied to longitudinal population register data on childbearing and migration of 446,000 foreign‐born women who had ever lived in Sweden before the end of 1999. Period trends in parity‐specific fertility appear to be quite similar for Swedish‐ and foreignborn women, but important differences exist in levels of childbearing propensities between women from different countries of origin. Most immigrant groups tend to display higher levels of childbearing shortly after immigration. We conclude that migration and family building in many cases are interrelated processes and that it is always important to account for time since migration when fertility of immigrants is studied.     

Pathways to Parenthood in Social and Family Contexts: Decade in Review, 2020

Whether, and under what circumstances, people become parents has implications for individual identity, family relationships, the well-being of adults and children, and population growth and age structure. Understanding the factors that influence pathways to parenthood is central to the study of families and can inform policies aimed at changing childbearing behaviors. This review summarizes recent trends in fertility as well as research on the predictors and correlates of childbearing, with a focus on the United States and on research most relevant to family scholars. U.S. fertility has declined in recent years, perhaps reflecting the influence of the Great Recession and increasing economic inequality, and there is growing divergence in behaviors across social class. Scholars of childbearing have developed theories to better understand how childbearing is shaped by life course processes and social contexts, but more work is needed to understand group differentials, refine measurement and theories, and better integrate men and couples. Childbearing research has important implications for social policy, but the application of research to policy is hindered by ideological factors.     

Low‐Income Childless Young Adults' Marriage and Fertility Frameworks

The authors investigated how low‐income young adults without children understand marriage and fertility. Data come from the Becoming Partners and Parents Study (N = 69), a qualitative study of African American adults aged 18 to 22 in a mid‐size southern city. This is the first study to analyze young, low‐income, childless, and unmarried Black respondents' frameworks (i.e., internal understandings of the world) of marriage and fertility. In contrast to research conducted on parents, this research on childless adults indicated a narrative in which there were close connections between marriage and fertility and an economic bar adhered to both marriage and childbearing. Respondents also believed that childbearing was meaningful and provided purpose, but that it was morally questionable if the parent was not financially stable. The results suggest that prior findings related to meanings of family formation and childbearing for low‐income parents may not extend to those without children.     

Exposure to international migration and its effect on childbearing in Turkey

International migration alters social norms, family structures, and population development in sending regions. Each of these factors affects fertility, making the impact of international migration on childbearing an increasingly important area of study. In many sending regions, the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) provide a promising, but underutilized, source of data for understanding the relationship between international migration and childbearing. Using the household and individual questionnaires in the 2003 Turkish DHS, we develop a multi-layered approach for measuring international migration. We then use these measures to examine differences in childbearing among women in migrant and non-migrant households, assessing the effects of migrant selection and migration-related roles and attitudes on the number of children born. After adjusting for selection characteristics, we find return female migrants and migrant wives are not significantly different from women in non-migrant households; role and attitude differences have only modest impacts on the association between women’s exposure to migration and childbearing.     

Trade Dependence and Fertility in Hispanic America, 1950–1990

This paper explores Hout's (1980) conceptual model of the development–fertility relationship under trade dependency of Hispanic America, 1950–1990. The results of this study are that the effects of development and dependency on fertility are consistent with Hout's (1980) theory and his findings and that his positive development × dependency interaction term is not replicated. Thus, the well-known long-term negative effect of development might have been misspecified in Hout's model. In contrast to Hout's findings, our results based on all models support that as dependency increased, the long-term negative effect of development on fertility increased in magnitude for Hispanic America. Hence, the findings of this study suggest that the fertility transition for Hispanic America can occur based on an explanation that is alternative to what world system theorists' have so far offered.     

Born Without a Silver Spoon: Race,Wealth, and Unintended Childbearing

The United States has a surprisingly high rate of unintended fertility, particularly among women of color. Although studies have examined socioeconomic correlates of unintended fertility, the role of economic resources remains unclear. Wealth may provide an important context for whether a birth was intended or unintended. Moreover, staggering racial wealth disparities may contribute to racial/ethnic patterns of unintended childbearing. This study examines the linkages between wealth and unintended first births, drawing on data from the NLSY79 (N?=?1508). Results suggest that net wealth is negatively related to the probability of having an unintended first birth, controlling for a host of sociodemographic characteristics. We also use decomposition analysis to quantify wealth’s contribution to racial/ethnic disparities in unintended childbearing. Second only to marital status, differences in net wealth account for 9–17% of racial/ethnic disparities in unintended childbearing. Our results suggest that wealth is a significant and heretofore overlooked correlate of unintended childbearing.     

No Longer Intending: The Relationship Between Relinquished Fertility Intentions and Distress

We use data from both waves of the National Survey of Families and Households to assess whether relinquishing a serious intention to have (more) children leads to greater increases in depressive symptoms than continuing confidence in childbearing intentions. Our sample includes 2,200 individuals of childbearing age, men and women, all parities, and all marital statuses. Change score analysis shows that individuals who relinquished a serious intent to have children had elevated distress at Time 2 and that the association is conditioned by gender, health, and education. We find that fertility potential can be important to psychosocial well‐being and that closing the door on future fertility, especially for women, those in ill health, and the better educated, leads to increased distress.     

Evaluating a basic-needs strategy and population policies: the BACHUE approach

The BACHUE model, a dynamic simulation technique developed within the International Labour Organization's World Employment Program, has been applied to the Philippines. The model simulates behavior and consequences in a number of key areas: fertility, marriage, migration, savings and expenditure, and labor force participation for households and a macro-model for demand, ouput, employment, and income. The design and development of the model are discussed in detail. The model was run for a series of 13 experiments ranging from nationlization of modern sectors, increasing self-employment, movement toward labor-intensive techniques, changes in growth rates of various sectors, and a reduction in fertility by 2% over 1976-1985, an increase over the 1% assumed in the base run. Runs R-2 to R-11 all showed that a change in basic needs is associated with significant declines in fertility, largely because of increasing education and decreasing mortality. Better economic conditions in rural areas also reduced migration. R-13 which examined the effects of a family planning program of moderate size on ultimate fertility, showed that even by year 2000 the effects were small. The population is reduced 5% over the run which assumes negative income tax and government subsidies to poor families but the gain in income per adult is less than 4%. Any real improvement in income as the result of family planning will take 40-50 years to achieve. Economic incentives, on the other hand, have much faster demographic results. The models also show that rural-urban migration is responsive to policy changes. Planners are cautioned that the model is not a picture of the entire range of human behavior but is an adjunct for use in analyzing interaction between policies.     

The Decoupling of Marriage and Parenthood? Trends in the Timing of Marital First Births, 1945–2002

Family formation changed dramatically over the 20th century in the United States. The impact of these changes on childbearing has primarily been studied in terms of nonmarital fertility. However, changes in family formation behavior also have implications for fertility within marriage. The authors used data from 10 fertility surveys to describe changes in the timing of marital childbearing from the 1940s through the 21st century for non‐Hispanic White and non‐Hispanic Black women. Based on harmonized data from the Integrated Fertility Survey Series, the results suggest increasing divergence in fertility timing for White women. A growing proportion of marriages begin with a premarital conception; at the same time, an increasing proportion of White women are postponing fertility within marriage. For Black women, marital fertility is increasingly postponed beyond the early years of marriage. Evaluating the sequencing of marriage and parenthood over time is critical to understanding the changing meaning of marriage.     

Nonmarital Childbearing, Union History, and Women's Health at Midlife

Despite high rates of nonmarital childbearing in the U.S., little is known about the health of women who have nonmarital births. We use data from the NLSY79 to examine differences in age 40 self-assessed health between women who had a premarital birth and those whose first birth occurred within marriage. We then differentiate women with a premarital first birth according to their subsequent union histories and estimate the effect of marrying or cohabiting versus remaining never-married on midlife self-assessed health, paying particular attention to the paternity status of the mother's partner and the stability of marital unions. To partially address selection bias, we employ multivariate propensity score techniques. Results suggest that premarital childbearing is negatively associated with midlife health for white and black (but not Hispanic) women. We find no evidence that these negative health consequences of nonmarital childbearing are mitigated by either marriage or cohabitation for black women. For other women, only enduring marriage to the biological father is associated with better health than remaining unpartnered.     

Effective approaches to reducing adolescent unprotected sex,pregnancy, and childbearing

In the United States, there exist a multitude of different approaches to reducing adolescent sexual risk-taking, unintended pregnancy, childbearing, and sexually transmitted disease, including HIV. While many of these approaches have some positive effects upon some outcomes (such as greater knowledge), only some of these programs actually delay the initiation of sex, increase condom or contraceptive use, and reduce unprotected sex among youth. This article summarizes a review of 73 studies and their respective programs, and describes four groups of programs which have reasonably strong evidence that they delay sex, increase condom or contraceptive use, or reduce teen pregnancy or childbearing. These four groups of programs include (a) sex and HIV education curricula with specified characteristics, (b) one-on-one clinician-patient protocols in health settings with some common qualities, (c) service learning programs, and (d) a particular intensive youth development program with multiple components.     

Temporal dimensions of the fertility transition: an age-period-cohort analysis of frontier fertility

"This paper evaluates age, period, and cohort effects on marital fertility during onset of the Utah fertility transition (1880-1900). Computerized genealogies are used to derive age-period-cohort fertility rates for 49,842 once-married couples. Age, period and cohort effects on marital fertility are then estimated using Johnson's (1985) relational model. Declining marital fertility in Utah is shown to be explained by both lower fertility levels across periods and increasing age-specific limitation across cohorts. Direct cohort effects on fertility are insignificant. These results are consistent with prior research, and the view that fertility levels were adaptive (in part through birth spacing across ages) to immediate contexts of childbearing while age-specific fertility truncation increased across cohorts (in part through the more general diffusion of contraceptive innovations)."     

Money,Marriage, and Children: Testing the Financial Expectations and Family Formation Theory

Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Survey (N = 2,954), a birth cohort study, this work examines how gains in earnings and income are associated with marriage and subsequent childbearing for low‐income couples. Using change models, results indicate that positive changes in earnings, controlling for baseline levels of earnings, were associated with greater odds of marriage. Cohabiting couples who became poor were associated with a 37% decrease in marriage likelihood. Neither earnings nor income was affiliated with additional fertility. Results are consistent with the Financial Expectations and Family Formation theory, which posits that positive economic circumstances are necessary for marriage, but are not associated with subsequent childbearing.     

More Kin,Less Support: Multipartnered Fertility and Perceived Support Among Mothers

Recent research has documented the high prevalence of having children with more than 1 partner, termed multipartnered fertility. Because childbearing is an important mechanism for building kin networks, we theorize that multipartnered fertility will influence the availability of social support for mothers. Analyzing 3 waves of data from the Fragile Families study (N = 12,259), we find that multipartnered fertility is negatively associated with the availability of financial, housing, and child‐care support. Our longitudinal evidence suggests a bidirectional relationship in which multipartnered fertility reduces the availability of support, and the availability of support inhibits multipartnered fertility. We conclude that smaller and denser kin networks seem to be superior to broader, but weaker kin ties in terms of perceived instrumental support.     

Grasping the Diversity of Cohabitation: Fertility Intentions Among Cohabiters Across Europe

The authors examined the association between different meanings of cohabitation and fertility intentions. Using data from the Generations and Gender Surveys on 5,565 cohabiters from 9 European countries (Austria, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Hungary, Lithuania, Norway, Romania, and Russia), they proposed a cohabitation typology based on attitudes toward marriage, intentions to marry, and perceived economic deprivation. Despite substantial variation in the prevalence and types of cohabiting relationships across Europe, cohabitation has become a living arrangement within which childbearing intentions are commonly formed and at times carried out. The authors found that the meaning that cohabiters attached to their union influenced significantly their short‐term fertility intentions, net of other covariates. Cohabiters who viewed their unions as a prelude to marriage were the most likely to plan to have a child in the near future, both in Western and Eastern European societies. The association between fertility intentions and marriage intentions was particularly strong among cohabiters who do not as yet have children in common, but it was also present in a more muted form among cohabitating parents. The findings suggest that, although marriage and childbearing are becoming less closely linked life events, they are not disconnected decisions for a large majority of cohabiters across Europe.     

Children as risky investment

This article provides a theoretical model to explain endogenous fertility and use the panel data of 169 countries to analyze the extent to which fertility behaviors are influenced by financial development and social security tax. A negative effect of financial development on fertility supports the evidence that people in countries with lower levels of financial development tend to have more children. Those people in countries, where there is limited access to other risky investments, tend to have more children. In addition, those who are poor are more likely to have more children, which will lower their overall welfare, and further reduce their investment in capital markets. Social security tax also has a negative impact on fertility behaviors.     

Mature unwed mothers in Israel: Socio-moral and psychological dilemmas

Today, more than ever, women can control their own fertility and dissociate it from long-term intimacy. Among the types of nonmarital fertility, one of the least studied and often most controversial is the phenomenon of childbearing out of wedlock among mature women who are threatened by their own biological clock. It is estimated that there are about 3,000 mature unwed mothers in Israel. No psychological study of this population has so far been undertaken. This article attempts to delineate the demographic characteristics, the reasons for pregnancy, and the moral dilemma of 50 unwed mothers who deliberately decide to give birth as single mothers when they are over the age of 30.Ruth Linn is a senior lecturer in Education, School of Education, Haifa University, Israel 31999. Her research interests include conscientious objection, moral judgment of men and women, socio-moral conflicts in the family, and early childhood education. She received her Ed.D. from the School of Education at Boston University.