Spacing of children and changing patterns of childbearing
Young, C.M.
Journal of Biosocial Science 9(2): 201-226
1977
ISSN/ISBN: 0021-9320 PMID: 558193 Document Number: 524993
The 1st part of the paper traces changes in the length of the childbearing period and ages of women at the time of their 1st and last births among Australian women married between 1905-09 and 1965-69. The source of information was survey data concerning the respondents themselves (once married or currently married women aged under 60 yr in 1971) and information that they gave concerning their mothers' childbearing experience. The main observations were that the trend towards smaller families was more marked among the mothers and that the change in the size distribution of families was the major factor in reducing the length of the childbearing period for marriages occurring up to the Second World War, while closer spacing of children was the major factor since then. The 2nd part of the paper examines more detailed supplementary information about the respondents, including changes in the dispersion of the timing of births, the rapid rate of childbearing among the 1955-59 marriage cohort, reasons for delaying the 1st birth and differences in behavior according to education and religion. The discussion raises the question of the rationality of the trend towards closer spacing of children, with special reference to the interaction between a woman's work role and family role.