Fifty Years of Unintended Births: Education Gradients in Unintended Fertility in the US, 1960–2013

Hayford, Sarah R.; Guzzo, Karen Benjamin

doi:10.1111/j.1728-4457.2016.00126.x

Cited by 22 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…Data from 2009 to 2013 indicate that the proportion of births to unmarried mothers with less than a high school degree was 68% compared with 11% for college‐educated mothers (Manning, Brown, & Stykes, 2015). Although education differences in nonmarital and unintended fertility have clearly increased over time (England, Shafer, & Wu, ; Hayford & Guzzo, ), differences in nonmarital fertility between White and Black women have shrunk somewhat because nonmarital births have increased more for White women than for Black women. Nonmarital births grew for White women from 21% in 1995 to 29% in 2016, whereas they were 70% for Black women in both 1995 and 2016 (although fluctuating somewhat in the intervening years; Child Trends, ).…”

Section: Fertilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Demography of Families: A Review of Patterns and Change

Smock

Schwartz

2020

J of Marriage and Family

217

167

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The authors review demographic trends and research on families in the United States, with a special focus on the past decade. They consider the following several topics: (a) marriage and remarriage, (b) divorce, (c) cohabitation, (d) fertility, (e) same‐gender unions, (f) immigrant families, and (g) children's living arrangements. Throughout, the authors review both overall trends and patterns as well as those by social class and race–ethnicity. The authors discuss major strands of recent research, emphasizing emerging themes and promising directions. They close with a summary of central patterns and trends and conclude that recent trends are not as uniform as they tended to be in earlier decades, making the description of family change increasingly complex.

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Section: Fertilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Demography of Families: A Review of Patterns and Change

Smock

Schwartz

2020

J of Marriage and Family

217

167

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Births to disadvantaged women are also more likely to be unintended than births to advantaged women (Finer & Zolna, ), another gap that has widened substantially during the long term (Hayford & Guzzo, ). In 2011, more than half of less‐educated women aged 40 to 44 had had at least one unintended birth compared with slightly more than a third of college‐educated women (Guzzo, ).…”

Section: Socioeconomic Differences In Childbearingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In sum, in the United States, less‐advantaged women start childbearing earlier, on average, than more‐advantaged women, and their births are often unintended and nonmarital. These socioeconomic differences in the context of childbearing have been growing since the 1970s (Hayford & Guzzo, ; Hayford, Stykes, & Guzzo, ). Disadvantaged women are more likely to be mothers and have more children, on average, than more‐advantaged women, but these differences are smaller and have been shrinking (Hayford, ; Livingston, ).…”

Section: Socioeconomic Differences In Childbearingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Guzzo

Hayford

2020

J of Marriage and Family

Self Cite

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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.

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“…Some studies have documented that highly educated women are more likely than their less educated counterparts to say they want to have or are planning to have a large family (e.g., Heiland et al 2008;Mills et al 2008); while other studies have found that better educated women have lower completed fertility levels than less educated women. These apparent discrepancies suggest that unplanned births or early childbearing are the reasons for the higher fertility levels among less educated women (e.g., Musick et al 2009;Hayford 2009;Hayford and Guzzo 2016). A woman in a high-status occupation may plan from the beginning of her reproductive career to have only a small number of children (Friedman et al1994), or she may decide later to have fewer children than she had initially planned (Iacovou and Tavares 2011).…”

Section: Education and Reproductive Plansmentioning

confidence: 99%

Will highly educated women have more children in the future? Looking at reproductive plans and outcomes

Testa¹

2018

Populationyearbook

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"Will highly educated women have more children in the future?" In this contribution, I address this question by looking at both fertility and fertility intentions; i.e., the number of children people plan to have over their reproductive lives. Intended births are highly correlated with actual births, and in low-fertility settings, childbearing has become associated with the couple's agency. 1 On the other hand, education, which is a marker of income and social status, has remained an important driver of fertility choices. 2 Hence, understanding the reproductive decision-making of women and men with low, medium, and high levels of education is crucial when seeking to determine whether -and if so, to what extent -there is scope for additional policy interventions aimed at raising fertility levels.

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Fifty Years of Unintended Births: Education Gradients in Unintended Fertility in the US, 1960–2013

Cited by 22 publications

References 58 publications

The Demography of Families: A Review of Patterns and Change

The Demography of Families: A Review of Patterns and Change

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

Will highly educated women have more children in the future? Looking at reproductive plans and outcomes

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