Women's fertility in late modernity.

Format:

Book

Thesis/Dissertation

Author/Creator:

King, Rosalind Berkowitz.

Contributor:

Smith, Herbert L., advisor.

University of Pennsylvania.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Demography.

Families--Research.

Families.

Sociology--Research.

Sociology.

0628.

0938.

Penn dissertations--Sociology and demography.

Sociology and demography--Penn dissertations.

Local Subjects:

Penn dissertations--Sociology and demography.

Sociology and demography--Penn dissertations.

0628.

0938.

Physical Description:

199 pages

Contained In:

Dissertation Abstracts International 61-03A.

System Details:

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

text file

Summary:

Demographic theorists have difficulty accounting for why women in late modern developed societies continue to have children. I add sociological perspectives drawn from several other bodies of theory---Giddens' theory of self-identity in late modernity, life course theory, feminist theories of reproduction and the body, evolutionary psychology---to current demographic perspectives to illuminate features of late modern fertility that have not been considered in traditional demography. First, I use vital statistics data in time series and decomposition techniques to show the influence of changes in the age distribution, prevalence of childlessness, and parity distribution of births over time on changes in the first birth ratio. Second, I use the 1995 National Survey of Family Growth and event history analysis to compare the influences of age and marriage on the transition to first birth. Third, I use the same survey data to demonstrate an association between fecundity status and anxiety.

The results of these analyses show that late modern fertility is dominated by increasing childlessness and an increase in the proportion of births that are first births, although both first birth rates and higher order birth rates have decreased. First births may be viewed as surrounded by more uncertainty than higher order births, and thus late modern fertility is weighted more toward uncertain fertility than has been true in the past. Additionally, the evidence suggests that women who wait for marriage progress more quickly to childbearing if they are older at marriage, reflecting less certainty of time available for childbearing. Finally, women who are uncertain about their childbearing ability---represented by self-knowledge of difficulty conceiving or carrying a pregnancy to term---are also significantly more likely to experience generalized anxiety disorder. In sum, the uncertainties surrounding childbearing in the late modern period should be taken into account in theorizing about continued fertility in contemporary developed nations.

Notes:

Thesis (Ph.D. in Sociology and Demography) -- University of Pennsylvania, 2000.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 61-03, Section: A, page: 1177.

Adviser: Herbert L. Smith.

Local Notes:

School code: 0175.

ISBN:

9780599701229

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.