Why do people have children?
The new Pew report is a good summary of trends in the demography of mothers, as well as attitudes related to birth decisions.
Which makes it excellent fodder for the shenanigans of talking-head hooligans (h/t Jay Livingston). You know you’re heading into junk-demography land when a column starts with the phrase, “Fifty years ago, American family structures…”
Anyway, one of the interesting things in the report was a question on why parents decided to have children.
I’m interested in those people who say “it just happened.” Fortunately, the report breaks them down (including those who said it was a “somewhat important” as well as those who said “very important.”
We don’t how much of this is a normative expression of appropriate reasons for parenting – social desirability bias – and how much reflects what “really” happened. Either way, though, there is an inequality gradient in perception, or expression, of self-efficacy in family structure (something others have explored in depth).
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