The rising share of nonmarital births: fertility choice or marriage behavior?

Full Abstract

Much of the sharp rise in the share of nonmarital births in the United States has been attributed to changes in the fertility choices of unmarried and married women-in response, it is often argued, to public policy. In contrast, we develop and test a model that attributes the rise to changes in marriage behavior, with no necessary changes infertility. A variety of empirical tests strongly support this conclusion and invites focused attention to issues related to marriage behavior as well as to the interactions between marriage and fertility.

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Author information

Author/s: Gray, Jo Anna (JA); Stockard, Jean (J); Stone, Joe (J);

Affiliation: Department of Economics, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403-1285, USA. jgray(-atsign-)uoregon.edu

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: Demography (Demography), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2006-May; vol 43 (issue 2) : pp 241-53

Dates: Created 2006/08/07; Completed 2006/09/20;

PMID: 16889127, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adolescent
Adult
Birth Rate - trends
Choice Behavior
Female
Fertility
Humans
Illegitimacy - statistics & numerical data; trends

Illegitimacy - statistics & numerical data; trends
Male
Marriage - psychology; statistics & numerical data
Models, Statistical
Population Dynamics
Probability
Residence Characteristics
United States

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