This paper explores the identity construction of a number of young-adult only-children who were winners in the fierce competition for a seat at university. The purpose is to gain an understanding of the choices and decisions these young people viewed as significant and how, in negotiating these choices and striving for their life goals, a…

Although female employment is associated with lower levels of completed fertility in the civilian world, we find family formation rates among U.S. military women to be comparatively high. We compare enlisted women with civilian women using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (N = 3,547), the only data set to measure simultaneously the…

A growing literature examines the empirical relationship between the joint reproductive preferences of marital partners and reproductive outcomes in Africa. Less explored is how spousal power in decision making may be influenced by lineage type. Using pooled data from Ghana, we investigate how lineage affects gendered reproductive decision…

The decline in black fertility after the Civil War to its lowest level about the year 1936 does not fit the typical demographic transition pattern in which fertility declines postdate the initiation of mortality declines. Instead, for blacks much of the fertility decline (56 percent) was due to "involuntary infertility" related to venereal…

This paper, one of two related documents, examines the impact of declining enrollments on educational expenditures. It highlights population and social changes that have contributed to the decline and discusses the general financing of schools. Finally, the paper discusses strategies state policymakers can use to manage decline, including…

This study considers how adolescent development is related to teenage fertility. Findings from two studies indicate that in some ways teenagers as a group differ from older individuals. The paper details some of the ways in which sexual experiences are influenced by social and emotional maturity and outlines some of the problems which result from…

States that one of the major challenges in teaching an introductory sociology course is to find activities that involve students in the research process, illustrate important sociological concepts, and maintain students' interest. Provides a three-part assignment on the birth rate which accomplishes these three goals. Includes copies of handouts…

Gives explanations as to why these two Mexican-American populations deviate from the prevailing norm of extremely high fertility observed among Mexican-Americans. (Author/AM)

This paper reports a test of Easterlin's (1973) hypothesis that marital fertility is more a function of relative than actual income. Results indicate actual income exercised a significant positive effect on marital fertility at all points in time while relative income did not. (Author)

At the Millennium Summit, the world community pledged to promote gender equality and chose as a specific target the achievement of gender equity in primary and secondary education by the year 2005 in every country of the world. Based on the findings from a growing empirical literature that suggests that gender equity in education promotes economic…

This report presents national birth rate trends for teenagers, focusing on the 1990s. The percent change in rates for 1991-2000 is presented for the United States, and the change for 1991-99 is presented for states. Tabular and graphical descriptions of the trends are discussed for the nation and each state by age group, race, and Hispanic origin.…

This report presents preliminary data for 1999 on births in the United States. U.S. data on births are shown by age, race, and Hispanic origin of the mother. Data on marital status, prenatal care, cesarean delivery, and low birthweight rate are also presented. Data are based on a more than 97% sample of births for 1999. The crude birth rate in…

Considers multicollinearity in nonrecursive models, misspecification of models, discrepancies between attitudes and behavior, and differences between static and dynamic models as explanations for contradictory information on the causal relationship between fertility and female employment. Finds that initially fertility affects employment but that,…

Depicts enrollment in grades K-12 from 1950-2000 and projected population changes into the 1990s, and discusses the methodology for projecting changes. (SK)

Fear of death was found to be positively and significantly correlated with fertility experiences, desires, and intentions, but only among respondents whose formal education did not exceed the completion of high school. Males demonstrated megadeath fear with respect to desired and intended fertility. (Author)