The proposed research will examine the changing relationships between work and family behaviors among Puerto Rican women, employing both a life course and cohort perspective. The focus is on entry into adult roles (marital, parental, and labor force) and the consequences of these early adult transitions. The PIs will analyze the detailed retrospective life histories of over 3,000 Puerto Rican women aged 15 to 49 in 1982, interviewed in the Puerto Rico Fertility and family Planning Assessment survey. They will compare the early adult experiences of different age cohorts of women who reached adulthood between the 1950s and the 1970s, the period of most rapid social and economic change in Puerto Rico. Because of improved opportunities for women outside the home, the investigators expect to find marked changes in the timing and nature of women's early work and family behavior and that the effects of such changes will be greater for younger women. The proposed combined cohort and life course perspective has not previously been applied to the study of Puerto Rican women, a relatively low-income population experiencing rapid industrialization. By examining both their productive and reproductive roles from this perspective, the proposed study should contribute significantly to our limited understanding of life course dynamics and the impact of economic development on women.
