IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/demogr/v57y2020i6d10.1007_s13524-020-00927-y.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Preferences, Partners, and Parenthood: Linking Early Fertility Desires, Marriage Timing, and Achieved Fertility

Author

Listed:
  • Natalie Nitsche

    (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research)

  • Sarah R. Hayford

    (The Ohio State University)

Abstract

In the United States, underachieving fertility desires is more common among women with higher levels of education and those who delay first marriage beyond their mid-20s. However, the relationship between these patterns, and particularly the degree to which marriage postponement explains lower fertility among the highly educated, is not well understood. We use data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 cohort to analyze differences in parenthood and achieved parity for men and women, focusing on the role of marriage timing in achieving fertility goals over the life course. We expand on previous research by distinguishing between entry into parenthood and average parity among parents as pathways to underachieving, by considering variation in the impact of marriage timing by education and by stage of the life course, and by comparing results for men and women. We find that women with a bachelor’s degree who desired three or more children are less likely to become mothers relative to women with the same desired family size who did not attend college. Conditional on becoming mothers, however, women with at least a bachelor’s degree do not have lower completed family size. No comparable fatherhood difference by desired family size is present. Postponing marriage beyond age 30 is associated with lower proportions of parenthood but not with lower parity among parents. Age patterns are similar for women and men, pointing at social rather than biological factors driving the underachievement of fertility goals.

Suggested Citation

  • Natalie Nitsche & Sarah R. Hayford, 2020. "Preferences, Partners, and Parenthood: Linking Early Fertility Desires, Marriage Timing, and Achieved Fertility," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 57(6), pages 1975-2001, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:demogr:v:57:y:2020:i:6:d:10.1007_s13524-020-00927-y
    DOI: 10.1007/s13524-020-00927-y
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s13524-020-00927-y
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s13524-020-00927-y?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Francesco C. Billari & Hans‐Peter Kohler & Gunnar Andersson & Hans Lundström, 2007. "Approaching the Limit: Long‐Term Trends in Late and Very Late Fertility," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 33(1), pages 149-170, March.
    2. Christine A. Bachrach & S. Philip Morgan, 2013. "A Cognitive–Social Model of Fertility Intentions," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 39(3), pages 459-485, September.
    3. Zhenmei Zhang & Mark D. Hayward, 2001. "Childlessness and the Psychological Well-Being of Older Persons," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 56(5), pages 311-320.
    4. Maria Iacovou & Lara Patrício Tavares, 2011. "Yearning, Learning, and Conceding: Reasons Men and Women Change Their Childbearing Intentions," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 37(1), pages 89-123, March.
    5. Sarah Hayford, 2009. "The evolution of fertility expectations over the life course," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 46(4), pages 765-783, November.
    6. Maarten L. Buis, 2010. "Direct and indirect effects in a logit model," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 10(1), pages 11-29, March.
    7. Monika Mynarska & Anna Matysiak & Anna Rybiñska & Valentina Tocchioni & Daniele Vignoli, 2013. "Diverse Paths into Childlessness over the Life Course," Working Papers 58, Institute of Statistics and Demography, Warsaw School of Economics.
    8. Wolfgang Lutz, 2017. "Education empowers women to reach their personal fertility target, regardless of what the target is," Vienna Yearbook of Population Research, Vienna Institute of Demography (VID) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna, vol. 15(1), pages 027-31.
    9. Alessandra Trimarchi & Jan Van Bavel, 2017. "Education and the Transition to Fatherhood: The Role of Selection Into Union," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 54(1), pages 119-144, February.
    10. John Casterline & Siqi Han, 2017. "Unrealized fertility: Fertility desires at the end of the reproductive career," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 36(14), pages 427-454.
    11. Tomáš Sobotka & Éva Beaujouan, 2014. "Two Is Best? The Persistence of a Two-Child Family Ideal in Europe," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 40(3), pages 391-419, September.
    12. Alison Gemmill, 2019. "From Some to None? Fertility Expectation Dynamics of Permanently Childless Women," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 56(1), pages 129-149, February.
    13. Maximova, Katerina & Quesnel-Vallée, Amélie, 2009. "Mental health consequences of unintended childlessness and unplanned births: Gender differences and life course dynamics," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(5), pages 850-857, March.
    14. S. Philip Morgan & Heather Rackin, 2010. "The Correspondence Between Fertility Intentions and Behavior in the United States," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 36(1), pages 91-118, March.
    15. Monika Mynarska, 2010. "Deadline for Parenthood: Fertility Postponement and Age Norms in Poland [L’âge limite pour avoir des enfants: Report de la procréation et normes d’âge en Pologne]," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 26(3), pages 351-373, August.
    16. Thornton, Arland & Axinn, William G. & Xie, Yu, 2007. "Marriage and Cohabitation," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, number 9780226798660, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Nie, Peng & Peng, Xu & Luo, Tianyuan, 2023. "Internet use and fertility behavior among reproductive-age women in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    2. Yining Milly Yang & Grace Kao, 2024. "Do Resources Blunt the Impact of COVID-19 on Fertility Desires in the United States?," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 43(1), pages 1-20, February.
    3. Ka U Ng, 2024. "Inheriting the Homeland? The Influence of Parental Origin-Country Fertility on Ideal Family Size and the Timing of Birth(s) Among the Children of Immigrants in France," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 43(2), pages 1-23, April.
    4. Jennifer Glass & Carolyn E. Waldrep, 2023. "Child Allowances and Work-Family Reconciliation Policies: What Best Reduces Child Poverty and Gender Inequality While Enabling Desired Fertility?," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 42(5), pages 1-57, October.
    5. Natalie Nitsche & Hannah Brückner, 2021. "Late, But Not Too Late? Postponement of First Birth Among Highly Educated US Women," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 37(2), pages 371-403, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Natalie Nitsche & Sarah Hayford, 2018. "Preferences, Partners, and Parenthood: Linking Early Fertility Desires, Union Formation Timing, and Achieved Fertility," VID Working Papers 1810, Vienna Institute of Demography (VID) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna.
    2. Vincenzo Galasso, 2024. "The Role of Salience and Memory in Fertility Decisions: Experimental Evidence," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 43(4), pages 1-18, August.
    3. Alison Gemmill, 2019. "From Some to None? Fertility Expectation Dynamics of Permanently Childless Women," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 56(1), pages 129-149, February.
    4. Tomáš Sobotka & Éva Beaujouan, 2014. "Two Is Best? The Persistence of a Two-Child Family Ideal in Europe," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 40(3), pages 391-419, September.
    5. Najat Bazah & A. Jesús Sánchez Fuentes, 2024. "Fertility as a variable for tackling the demographic challenge, is having children in Spain an unfulfilled desire?," Working Papers REM 2024/0317, ISEG - Lisbon School of Economics and Management, REM, Universidade de Lisboa.
    6. Eva Beaujouan, 2018. "Late Fertility Intentions and Fertility in Austria," VID Working Papers 1806, Vienna Institute of Demography (VID) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna.
    7. Vida Maralani & Samuel Stabler, 2018. "Intensive Parenting: Fertility and Breastfeeding Duration in the United States," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(5), pages 1681-1704, October.
    8. Zuzanna Brzozowska & Isabella Buber-Ennser & Bernhard Riederer, 2021. "Didn’t Plan One but got One: Unintended and sooner-than-intended Parents in the East and the West of Europe," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 37(3), pages 727-767, July.
    9. Eva Beaujouan & Caroline Berghammer, 2019. "The Gap Between Lifetime Fertility Intentions and Completed Fertility in Europe and the United States: A Cohort Approach," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 38(4), pages 507-535, August.
    10. Nicoletta Balbo & Francesco C. Billari & Melinda Mills, 2013. "Fertility in Advanced Societies: A Review of Research," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 29(1), pages 1-38, February.
    11. Melanie Dawn Channon & Sarah Harper, 2019. "Educational differentials in the realisation of fertility intentions: Is sub-Saharan Africa different?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(7), pages 1-14, July.
    12. Jennifer Yarger & Sarah R. Brauner-Otto, 2024. "Women’s Work Characteristics and Fertility Expectations," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 43(2), pages 1-21, April.
    13. AKEJU, Kemi Funlayo, 2021. "Fertility Preference in Older Women: Effect of Place of Residence and Use of Contraceptives in Nigeria," International Journal of Social Sciences Perspectives, Online Academic Press, vol. 8(1), pages 25-30.
    14. Youngcho Lee, 2022. "Is Leave for Fathers Pronatalist? A Mixed-Methods Study of the Impact of Fathers’ Uptake of Parental Leave on Couples’ Childbearing Intentions in South Korea," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 41(4), pages 1471-1500, August.
    15. Stuart Basten & Georgia Verropoulou, 2015. "A Re-Interpretation of the ‘Two-child Norm’ in Post-Transitional Demographic Systems: Fertility Intentions in Taiwan," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(8), pages 1-16, August.
    16. Christoph Bein & Anne H. Gauthier & Monika Mynarska, 2021. "Religiosity and Fertility Intentions: Can the Gender Regime Explain Cross-Country Differences?," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 37(2), pages 443-472, April.
    17. Katherine M. Johnson & Arthur L. Greil & Karina M. Shreffler & Julia McQuillan, 2018. "Fertility and Infertility: Toward an Integrative Research Agenda," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 37(5), pages 641-666, October.
    18. Sarah R. Brauner-Otto & Claudia Geist, 2018. "Uncertainty, Doubts, and Delays: Economic Circumstances and Childbearing Expectations Among Emerging Adults," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 39(1), pages 88-102, March.
    19. Christine A. Bachrach & S. Philip Morgan, 2013. "A Cognitive–Social Model of Fertility Intentions," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 39(3), pages 459-485, September.
    20. Anne-Kristin Kuhnt & Heike Trappe, 2013. "Easier said than done: childbearing intentions and their realization in a short term perspective," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2013-018, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:demogr:v:57:y:2020:i:6:d:10.1007_s13524-020-00927-y. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.