Making Babies: Choosing to have Children… …or not

Choosing to have Children Pronatalist Bias: having children is taken for granted, while not having children needs to be justified Why wouldn’t you have children?

Choosing not to have Children Structural Antinatalism (Friedan): American society is insufficiently supportive of having children *

Why have Children: the Value of Children Perspective Cultural shift from children as economic asset to emotional investment- “a child to love” *

Social Capital Perspective The anticipated social benefits as motivation *

ADVANTAGES OF CHILDREN: Hoffman 1. AFFECTION / PRIMARY GROUP TIES (63%) 2. FUN / STIMULATION (58%) 3. EXPANSION OF SELF (34%) 4. ADULT STATUS (21%)

DISADVANTAGES OF HAVING CHILDREN 1. LOSS OF FREEDOM (51%) 2. FINANCIAL COSTS (42%) 3. OPPORTUNITY COSTS • economic • emotional 4. TENSION in RELATIONSHIP

Effects of having Children on Marriage (Picker) 33 to 50% experience distress after first child as high as couples in counseling WHY? Child Care pushes couples into traditional gender roles--Women take on majority of work

Solutions to Negative effect of children (Gottman) Couples remain happy when… Husband admires his wife Keeps romance alive Understand wife’s inner life Husband’s behavior most influential in marital satisfaction

Postponing Parenthood * 2-sided coin… One Child Families NEW TRENDS Remaining Child Free * reasons why… Postponing Parenthood * 2-sided coin… One Child Families * the good and bad…

PREMARITAL PREGNANCIES • 1940, unwed birthrate less than 5% of total births • 2005, unwed birthrate 37% of total births

Older Single Mothers 1980 to 1998, Unwed birthrates for women Women ages 30-34 increased by more than 90%

Older Single Mothers White women’s rate increased by 128% while the increase was only 20% among the same age-group of black women

Teenage Pregnancies • unwed birth rate among teens decreasing • 2000 12% of all births • 2000, 79% of teenage births occurred outside of marriage Highest rates of teen pregnancy was in 1950