Mobility, non-familial activity, and fertility

Area of Science:

• Sociology
• Demography
• Family Studies

Background:

• The study examines fertility patterns among non-Catholic faculty couples at an American university.
• It investigates the relationship between social mobility, non-familial activities, and fertility.
• Couples are categorized by family size and social mobility status.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze temporal patterns in education, employment, marriage, and parenthood.
• To test the social mobility-fertility and non-familial activity-fertility hypotheses.
• To explore differences in wives' work experiences based on family size and marital duration.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of fertility data from a sample of university faculty couples.
• Categorization of couples into four groups: mobile-small, non-mobile-small, mobile-large, and non-mobile-large families.
• Comparison of educational attainment, employment history, and parenthood experiences between husbands and wives.

Main Results:

• Husbands' educational and career establishment timelines were similar across mobility groups.
• Wives' premarital educational attainment and work experiences showed little variation.
• Post-marriage, wives with two children were more likely to be employed, while those with four or more children often remained outside the labor force.

Conclusions:

• The findings support a distinction between
• working wives
• and
• working mothers
• based on their labor force participation after marriage and parenthood.
• Wives' employment behavior is significantly influenced by family size.
• Fertility decisions and work-life balance are complex and context-dependent.