The Decoupling of Marriage and Parenthood? Trends in the Timing of Marital First Births, 1945–2002

Abstract

Family formation changed dramatically over the twentieth century in the United States. The impact of these changes on childbearing has primarily been studied in terms of nonmarital fertility. However, changes in family formation behavior also have implications for fertility within marriage. We use data from ten fertility surveys to describe changes in the timing of marital childbearing from the 1940s through the 21st century for non-Hispanic white and non-Hispanic black women. Based on harmonized data from the Integrated Fertility Survey Series, our results suggest increasing divergence in fertility timing for white women. A growing proportion of marriages begin with a premarital conception; at the same time, an increasing proportion of white women are postponing fertility within marriage. For black women, marital fertility is increasingly postponed beyond the early years of marriage. Evaluating the sequencing of marriage and parenthood over time is critical to understanding the changing meaning of marriage.

Midpregnancy Marriage and Divorce: Why the Death of Shotgun Marriage Has Been Greatly Exaggerated

“…First, in contrast to much conventional wisdom (for an exception, see Hayford et al 2014), midpregnancy marriage continues to be a relevant type of family formation. The relevance of midpregnancy-married births arises not because they are increasing as a fraction of all births.…”

The Second Demographic Transition Theory: A Review and Appraisal

“…Here there is great variability across and within developed countries (Hiekel and Castro-Martin 2014; Hayford et al 2014). Non-marital fertility in the U.S. increased dramatically over the last 50 years, however, it is strongly correlated with poverty and low-education, pointing towards structural explanations more than cultural explanations of ideational change motivating behavior (Bailey et al 2013; Cherlin 2010; Gibson-Davis et al 2005).…”

Fifty Years of Unintended Births: Education Gradients in Unintended Fertility in the US, 1960–2013

“…Thus, we treat all women in the NFS sample as non‐Hispanic. Previous analyses of fertility using these data suggest that this assumption does not distort results (Hayford, Guzzo, and Smock ). Because cohabitation was not measured in the earlier surveys, we are unable to distinguish cohabiting from non‐cohabiting women.…”