The proposed research will examine two dyadic processes through which the separate experiences, motives, desires and behaviors of wife and husband are transformed into fertility outcomes. First, the development of marital agreement (or disagreement) about fertility goals and behaviors will be analyzed as a function of (a) mate selection processes, (b) marital circumstances, history and organization, and (c) mutual influence of wife and husband. Second, the resolution of remaining fertility conflicts will be analyzed as the outcome of (a) gender-based (female or male) authority or power; (b) pronatal or antinatal decision rules; (c) couple-specific power, and/or (d) normative constraints. The research will use data from several large-scale U.S. fertility surveys, focusing on marriage cohorts of the Depression (1930s), the Baby Boom (1950s) and the Baby Bust (1970s). The surveys to be analyzed include the 1941 Indianapolis Fertility Survey, the Princeton Fertility Surveys, the Growth of American Families Surveys (1955 and 1960), the National Surveys of Family Growth (1973 and 1976), and the 1975 Value of Children Survey. Models of economic, social and cultural determinants of fertility behaviors and outcomes will be examined in the light of findings about fertility agreement and conflict resolution, and will be compared to models that treat the wife or the couple as a single actor in the fertility decision process. The research will enhance our understanding of fertility responses to economic, social and cultural conditions and change observed in the U.S. over the past 50 years, and will be relevant to understanding the future course of fertility.
| Thomson, E (1997) Couple childbearing desires, intentions, and births. Demography 34:343-54 |
| Thomson, E; McDonald, E; Bumpass, L L (1990) Fertility desires and fertility: hers, his, and theirs. Demography 27:579-88 |
