Evolving Fertility Goals and Behaviors in Current U.S. Childbearing Cohorts.

ABSTRACT: In the post-Recession era, U.S. fertility rates have continued to fall. It is unclear if these declines are driven by shifts in fertility goals or growing difficulty in achieving goals. In this paper, we construct synthetic cohorts of men and women to examine both cross-cohort and within-cohort changes in fertility goals using multiple cycles of the National Survey of Family Growth. Although more recent cohorts exhibit lower achieved fertility at younger ages than earlier cohorts at the same age, intended parity remains around two children, and intentions to remain childless rarely exceed 15%. There is weak evidence of a growing fertility gap in the early 30s, suggesting more recent cohorts will need considerable childbearing in the 30s and early 40s to 'catch up' to earlier goals, yet low

SUBMITTER: Guzzo KB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10312362 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature