Why Do Americans Want Children?

Schoen, Robert; Kim, Young Jin; Nathanson, Constance A.; Fields, Jason; Astone, Nan Marie

doi:10.2307/2137548

Cited by 189 publications

(137 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…As Schoen et al (1997) maintain, having a child can be seen as a social investment by future parents. Applying the classic theory of Herbert Simon (1956;1957), we argued that individuals are often unable to make the complex calculations required to understand how a child or additional child might influence their lives, also considering uncertainty and inexperience with the situation.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Here the central argument is that children do not deplete or necessitate social capital, but rather generate social capital by establishing new or better relations among persons (parents, relatives and friends, from whom potentially drawing resources) and by guaranteeing more security for parents in their old age (Billari and Galasso 2008;Mills and Begall 2010). Building upon this body of research, we anticipate that those with weak family ties would be more willing to have a child to improve their own social capital (Schoen et al 1997). In a recent study using Bulgarian data, Bühler (2008) demonstrated that children can operate to improve their own parent's social networks.…”

Section: H1b) the Higher The Level Of Family Social Capital The Lowementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Schoen et al 1997;Bühler and Philipov 2005;Philipov et al 2006). This body of research looks at supportive network relationships as strategies for coping with one's socio-economic circumstances in relation to fertility (e.g.…”

Section: Family Social Capitalmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The influence of the family network on the realisation of fertility intentions

Balbo

Mills

2012

Populationyearbook

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The gap between fertility intentions and behaviour remains a contentious area of theoretical, methodological and policy debate. Previous fertility studies have focused on individual and institutional characteristics, at the expense of the recognition of meso-level family social capital and networks. This study examines the realisation of time-dependent fertility intentions for the transition to first and higher-order births. Building upon and extending the previous literature we explore two competing theoretical mechanisms of how high levels of family social capital operate to either enable or inhibit the realisation of intentions and the impact of cross-sibling effects. Using two waves of the Netherlands Kinship Panel Survey (NKPS), we also introduce a methodological extension by examining whether the inclusion of only those with positive fertility intentions in previous research has resulted in selection bias. By adopting a probit model with sample selection, we both avoid this selection problem and empirically test whether there is a bias. Results show that there are some, albeit negligible, unobserved characteristics affecting both an individual's fertility intentions and the realisation of these intentions. High levels of family social capital operate to deter from having a child, particularly when individuals already have at least one child, suggesting that individuals adopt a 'satisficing' strategy. Our findings also suggest that children may operate as a means to generate family social capital. Having a sibling with a young child is associated with a higher probability to realise one's own intention to have a first child.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: H1b) the Higher The Level Of Family Social Capital The Lowementioning

confidence: 99%

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The influence of the family network on the realisation of fertility intentions

Balbo

Mills

2012

Populationyearbook

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“…Previous research on childbearing intention has focused on the influence of attitudes, norms, and the social network or social capital (Schoen et al 1997;Philipov, Spéder, and Billari 2006;Bühler and Fratczak 2007;Ruckdeschel 2007;Bühler 2008;Billari, Philipov, and Tester 2009;Dommermuth et al 2009;Klobas 2010), gender equity (Mills et al 2008;Neyer and Rieck 2009), happiness (Billari 2009), and religion (Hayford and Morgan 2008). Moreover some studies have dealt with the impact of the employment situation on childbearing intentions.…”

Section: Problemmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the links between employment, partnership quality, and the desire to have a first child

Berninger¹,

Weiß²,

Wagner³

2011

DemRes

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“…In the United States, despite increasing acceptance of nonmaritalchildbearing, marriage is still seen as the ideal locus for childbearing and childrearing, and married couples remain more likely to want children than unmarried people (Schoen et al 1997;Thornton and Young-DeMarco 2001). Moreover, since marriage is a monogamous relationship in which regular sexual activity occurs, married couples generally use more reliable forms of contraception (Martinez et al 2006), such that having a child often requires the decision not to employ contraceptive methods.…”

Section: Planning Status and Partnershipmentioning

confidence: 99%