Fertility, sex role attitudes, and labor force participation
Thornton, A.; Camburn, D.
Psychology of Women Quarterly 4(1): 61-80
1979
ISSN/ISBN: 0361-6843 PMID: 12336875 DOI: 10.1111/j.1471-6402.1979.tb00699.xDocument Number: 451417
Data from the 1979 U. S. National Fertility Study were used to examine the relationship between fertility, sex role attitudes, and labor force participation. Respondents were assigned 4 sex role index scores on the basis of their responses to 18 questions. The indexes measured the degree to which the women 1) were oriented to the home; 2) believed males should be given preference in the job area; 3) opposed special privileges for working women; and 4) attributed passive roles to women. High scores indicated acceptance of traditional sex roles. Data on 3 labor force participation variables and on 3 fertility variables were also collected. The impact of sex role attitudes on fertility was examined 1st and then the impact of sex roles on fertility as mediated through work force participation was examined. Multivariate analysis was used. Analysis revealed that when other relevant factors were controlled, high scores on the home oriented and passivity indexes were significantly and positively related to fertility and home oriented index scores were negatively and significantly related to labor force participation. Women who were oriented to the home were less likely to be currently employed or to have plans to work in the future. Women with high passivity scores had higher parity than women with low passivity scores; however, high passivity scores were not significantly related to the number of additional children. This finding probably indicated that women with low passivity scores felt a lack of control over their child bearing in the past and expected to have little control over their child bearing in the future.