CORRELATES OF CHILDLESSNESS AND EXPECTATIONS TO REMAIN CHILDLESS: U.S. 1967

摘要

It is widely agreed that society has strong mores proscriptive of couples remaining childless. Nonetheless, childlessness varies regularly by a number of socio-demographic factors. Given the presumed universal acceptance of the norm concerning desirability of children, why does childlessness vary so widely among social aggregates?nFirst, it may simply be the case that this norm is not as universal as previously thought. Alternatively, if the norm is as universal as represented, various social structural influences may operate to selectively counter the prevailing norms and produce deviance.nData from the 1967 Survey of Economic Opportunity for wives still in the childbearing years are used to explore these alternatives.