Normative pressures on fertility planning

Using a sample of urban American women under 33 years old and their husbands, this paper examines the relationship between normative pressures and fertility planning. In general, normative pressures, both expected and experienced, are related to parity as one would expect. Pronatal pressures decrease and antinatal pressures increase with increasing parity. However, for parity two and above, there is no evidence of a normative consensus to which persons may respond in their individual behavior.This research was supported by funds from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (#N01-HD-42804). Karl E. Bauman and Boone Turchi are collaborators on the project. Thanks are due to Judith Kovenock for data analysis.