Work

Religiosity and Fertility in the United States: The Role of Fertility Intentions

Year: 2008

Type: article

Abstract: Using data from the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG), we show that women who report that religion is "very important" in their everyday life have both higher fertility and higher intended fertility than those saying religion is "somewhat important" or "not important." Factors such as unwanted fertility, age at childbearing, or degree of fertility postponement seem not to contribute to religiosity differentials in fertility. This answer prompts more fundamental questions: what is the nature of this greater "religiosity"? And why do the more religious want more children? We show that those saying religion is more important have more traditional gender and family attitudes and that these attitudinal differences account for a substantial part of the fertility differential. We speculate regarding other contributing causes.

Source: Social Forces

DOI: 10.1353/sof.0.0000

Authors: S. R. Hayford, S. P. Morgan

Institutions: Arizona State University, Duke University

Language: English

Topic: Family Dynamics and Relationships

Subfield: Demography

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funder: Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

Awards: Effects of Employment on Fertility after the First Birth, G6403363507, Late 20th Century U.S. Fertility Trends and Differences