A longitudinal study of family size expectations among young blacks and whites

This study is concerned with the stability of family size expectations and the direction of change in such expectations among young people in the United States. "In the...study, 437 low-income respondents, both black and white, male and female, answered a question on expected family size both at high school age and four years later. Respondents varied in their consistency with 78% of those first naming one or two children, but only 9% of those expecting no children, naming the same number at the second interview. Consistency was also found to vary by sex and race. Support was found for the hypothesis that change in expectations is related to the proximity of parenthood decision."