Valued Family
The fertility gap and economic freedom
Clara Piano & Lyman Stone
Contemporary Economic Policy, forthcoming
Abstract:
The difference between desired fertility and achieved fertility is called the fertility gap. This paper investigates the relationship between economic freedom and the fertility gap across the United States since greater economic freedom may empower individuals to choose work more compatible with their family goals. We test this hypothesis using individual measures of fertility preferences from a nationally representative survey of reproductive-aged women (2020-2024) and find evidence that women are more likely to achieve their family goals in states with greater economic freedom. This effect is strongest when focusing on variation in labor market freedom.
Confidence in Pregnancy Among U.S. Women
Arthur Greil et al.
Sociological Inquiry, forthcoming
Abstract:
Researchers often ask women about pregnancy intentions but seldom ask how confident women are that they will be able to become pregnant when they desire. We argue that beliefs about fertility and infertility may function as justifications for behaviors to which one is already committed. Thus, women who have delayed childbearing but who intend to become pregnant may express confidence in their ability to become pregnant, even in the face of diminished odds of conception. Using data from the National Survey of Fertility Barriers, we demonstrate that over 75 percent of women who intend a first or subsequent pregnancy express confidence that they will be able to become pregnant when they wish, even if they perceive themselves as having a fertility problem or meet medical criteria for infertility. Our results are consistent with the motivated reasoning perspective. Our findings suggest that confidence in pregnancy may be a response to social-structural pressures to delay childbearing among women who intend to become pregnant, but not necessarily the reason for delay.
Firearms, families, and financial distress: Economic instability and increased gun desire
Justin Sola & Tara Warner
Social Science Quarterly, November 2024, Pages 2017-2033
Abstract:
The United States is a global leader in estimated rates of civilian gun ownership, and over the past few years -- as the country grappled with a struggling economy exacerbated by a global pandemic -- gun-buying surged. We argue that the COVID-19 pandemic's economic impact has implications for gun purchasing interest, and this intersects with gendered expectations about familial roles. Integrating sociological scholarship on gender and families with consumer behavior research, and using a preregistered online survey of over 8000 American adults collected in the early months of the pandemic's emergence in the United States (May 2020-June 2020), we hypothesize that men in familial roles may express greater gun interest in response to financial instability, and theorize why such a process may also be observed among women. Analyses show that men's gun interest is unaffected by family roles or financial distress. Women in family roles -- mothers, in particular -- who experience financial stress, however, are significantly more amenable toward guns than other women and express interest at levels approaching those of men. We discuss how such findings increase our understanding of the heterogeneity of gun owners.
Can Cash Transfers Improve Maternal Well-being and Family Processes among Families with Young Children? An Experimental Analysis
Katherine Magnuson et al.
University of Wisconsin Working Paper, September 2024
Method: The Baby's First Years study recruited 1,000 low-income mothers of newborns. Shortly after giving birth, mothers were randomized to receive a monthly unconditional cash transfer of either $333 or $20 per month. Follow-up data were collected from mothers approximately 12, 24, and 36 months after the birth of their child.
Results: Although the intervention produced a moderate increase in household income and reduced poverty, we observe no detectable improvements in mothers' subjective reports of economic hardship or the quality of play with their infants, and some small, although mostly non-significant, increases in parental psychological distress and declines in the quality of mothers' relationships. However, mothers who received the higher cash gift amounts reported more frequently engaging in enriching child activities than did mothers who received lower cash gift amounts.
Effects on Maternal Bandwidth of Monthly Unconditional Cash Starting at Birth Among U.S. Families with Low Income
Shannon Egan-Dailey et al.
Duke University Working Paper, August 2024
Abstract:
Financial scarcity has been posited to reduce adults' cognitive bandwidth. Evidence of the causal impact of reducing poverty and improving cognitive bandwidth is thin, particularly in the context of the United States and for the parents of young children. We examine the impact of a monthly unconditional cash transfer on cognitive bandwidth of U.S. mothers with low income (N=828). Preregistered intent-to-treat analyses find no differences in cognitive bandwidth of mothers after receiving a high-cash gift ($333/month) versus a low-cash gift ($20/month) for 48 months after childbirth.
Two tiers, not one: Different sources of extrinsic mortality have opposing effects on life history traits
Bruce Ellis, Brie Reid & Karen Kramer
Behavioral and Brain Sciences, forthcoming
Abstract:
Guided by concepts from life history (LH) theory, a large human research literature has tested the hypothesis that exposures to extrinsic mortality (EM) promote the development of faster LH strategies (e.g., earlier/faster reproduction, higher offspring number). A competing model proposes that, because EM in the past was intimately linked to energetic constraints, such exposures specifically led to the development of slower LH strategies. We empirically address this debate by examining (1) LH variation among small-scale societies under different environmental conditions; (2) country-, regional- and community-level correlations between ecological conditions, mortality, maturational timing, and fertility; (3) individual-level correlations between this same set of factors; and (4) natural experiments leveraging the impact of externally-caused changes in mortality on LH traits. Partially supporting each model, we found that harsh conditions encompassing energetic stress and ambient cues to EM (external cues received through sensory systems) have countervailing effects on the development of LH strategies, both delaying pubertal maturation and promoting an accelerated pace of reproduction and higher offspring number. We conclude that, although energetics are fundamental to many developmental processes, providing a first tier of environmental influence, this first tier alone cannot explain these countervailing effects. An important second tier of environmental influence is afforded by ambient cues to EM. We advance a 2-tiered model that delineates this second tier and its central role in regulating development of LH strategies. Consideration of the first and second tier together is necessary to account for the observed countervailing shifts toward both slower and faster LH traits.
The Effects of Restricted Abortion Access on IUDs and Vasectomies: Evidence from Texas
Bradley Crowe, Graham Gardner & Cara Haughey
Texas Christian University Working Paper, October 2024
Abstract:
Contraception and abortion both result in fertility reductions but identifying if they are substitutes remains an open question. Using administrative outpatient records from Texas, we exploit the passage of House Bill 2 (HB2), which imposed strict regulations on abortion providers, to identify the effects of restricted abortion access on the timing and demand for intrauterine devices (IUDs) and vasectomies using an event study design. We find evidence that expectations of limited abortion access significantly increase the demand for IUDs, with no substantial evidence of an effect for the incidence of vasectomies. These findings support the hypothesis that abortion and contraception are substitutes, particularly for individuals with the capacity to become pregnant.