Introduction The birth rate for the United States dropped 2 percent in 2008. This puts the US birth rate slightly the replacement level of fertility, 2.1 births per women. While some people express concern about the possibility of a decreasing population, others celebrate the large decrease in teen pregnancy. Preliminary analysis points to the slow economy as the reason behind the falling birthrate. While there seems to be a correlation between recession and lower birthrates this does not prove a causal link. To prove causation a theory must be proposed. The Value of Time (VOT) theory of fertility developed by Gary Becker states that demand for children is determined by the value of time of the wife in a family. Over time extensive amounts of evidence has been gathered supporting this theory. For example, household surveys show a negative correlation between wages earned by wives and number of children. And, if we assume that wives are the sole providers of care for children, evidence collected showing positive correlation between husband's wages and number of children also supports Becker's theory. However, contrary to Becker's theory, recent trends show that women with lower wages due to the current recession are putting off childbirth while women with higher wages are having children (Stein, 2010). Given this discrepancy between historical data confirming and current data disproving Becker's theory new studies should consider performing an in-depth evaluation of the theory. The model relies on many assumptions which can change in practicality depending on the economy, culture, and family structure in the country it is being applied to. This paper evaluated the validity of Becker's assumptions through analysis of data on ti... ... middle of paper ... ...hat women are the sole childcare providers in a family is seen as not true. However we accept this assumption because we can see women are the primary childcare providers in families. Second we check to see if an increase in the number of children in a household results in more time spent on childcare. Although weak, we do find a positive correlation between number of children in a household and time spent on childcare. The final test, to see whether or not non-students spend the same amount of time on childcare as students shows that the assumption that everybody spends the same amount of time on childcare is not true. Without this assumption the application of the theory is limited. Overall this study is a cursory look at the analysis that can be performed using data on the time spent on childcare to evaluate the VOT theory of fertility and should be expanded upon.
finally the opportune moment for individuals to build a stable family that previous decades of depression, war, and domestic conflicts had restricted. We see that this decade began with a considerable drop in divorce rates and rise in marriage rates, which is often assumed as the result of changed attitudes and values. However, this situation cannot be only just attributed to women’s
Around the 1950’s, the media perpetuated the idea of the picturesque family unit; children made the shift from being a necessary evil to a symbol of status. Children were no longer meant to help sustain the family, so much as meant to be trophies of the parents’ competentness. Children became an outlet for parents to mold and live through vicariously: the more perfect your child was, the better parent you were. The problem is not that people want to have children, but that many cannot afford to take care of their spawn. Whether you are a young mother utilizing the assistance of government programs such as WIC or simply writing off your children on your taxes, you are making use of government incentive to procreate. Reproduction is completely natural; however, once backed by government incentive, the motivations for having children can take an unnatural turn. Children may be a symbol of love and unity, but it has expanded beyond the family unit. Many children have become the responsibility of the Unite...
The “family wage gap” is the notion that women with children earn less than women without children (Detcher 97). On average, a woman spends five to six months on maternity leave, time spent out of the workforce after childbirth, which is the main factor contributing to the family wage gap (Detcher 99). Detcher attempts to discover tangible reasons for the gap recognizable after maternity leave such as the depreciation of women’s human capital, decrease in hours they work, and effort they exert. The results conclude that after child birth, the hourly wage decreases by about four percent, the hours women work after maternity leave are seven percent lower than before child birth, and the effort after maternity leave is consistent but is dependent upon the individual (Detcher 99). The length of maternity leave has a direct influence on the family wage gap, revealing a depreciation of post-motherhood
Studies show that within the last seven years there has been a dramatic drop in the number of teen pregnancies. Teen pregnancy is best known as, the act of getting pregnant between the ages of fifteen and nineteen. Teen pregnancy does not come with much of a history. In the past, (mostly in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s) it was common for girls to be married between the ages of fourteen and sixteen and give birth not long after. Some girls were having babies as young as thirteen and fourteen years old! During the times that young girls would bear children and be married so young, college and education was not an important factor. As a young girl you learned how to take care of your house, farm, laundry, crops, animals, husband, and children. The father was your main source of income. Obviously things in our time are very different. Over the years a growing importance for education and making a living on your own has become crucial to many women. It was no longer important to have children so soon, but to learn to be a strong, educated, and independent woman. Even now as time has gone by, the image of being a pregnant teenage girl has been glorified solely by media. It becomes less important to get an education so you can get a good job and be able to raise a child and give them a good life, and more important to get pregnant and get a chance to be worshiped nationally on t.v. for being pregnant and making all of your money through fame.
Many scientist and specifically sociologists are concerned with the population on planet Earth. Many couples today are choosing not to have children. This choice does not just effect the couples personally, however it effects the whole country's demographic. The increase in childlessness among couples generates economic and social problems. Many countries are facing this problem. Hara in a journal article mentions that Japan and Germany are a couple of the countries that are going through childlessness (Hara, 2008).Today, more than 80 countries depend on immigration to prevent the populations from declining, due to the death rate being higher than birth rate. (Becker-Posner, 2013) How will declining birth rates affect demographics in many countries around the world? How will it affect the Global economy? How will it affect societies in different countries; will it raise social and racial tensions? Will it affect relations
Men are likely to get hired if they have children and tend to get paid more. In contrast, women are less likely to get hired even though they have more quality and children. This is when the gender inequality come in. In this article “The Motherhood Penalty vs. the Fatherhood Bonus” the author presented the role and the impact between the roles of the genders. Michelle Budig, a sociology professor at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst put it this way, “The inequality of gender role reveals when men get paid high for having children and women pay the biggest price for the low income” (Qtd. in Miller). According to Bureau of Labor Statistics, 71 percent of mothers are with their children working at home and 40 percent are the primary bread winner (Pew Research Center). In this perspective of women working at home and men working in career shift the qualification between them. The inequality is that employer sees the father as a commit worker and a mother as a distraction in workplaces because women have extra hours of work to do at home with their children and house chores. Claire Miller states that, “one of the worst career moves a women can make is to have children” (Claire Miller). As for the women in the United States, there are a lot of negative impact for them if they decide to have babies. The quality for them shrink to the corner while men hold the advantage of having
In today’s society, the amounts of single-parent households are increasing and this is another reason for the existence of childhood poverty. Statistics show that children living in single-parent homes are five times more likely to be poor. More people are getting divorced and are also having children outside of wedlock. It has also been said that women rather than men head about 90% of single-parent families. One of the
There were rises and falls in birth rates starting in the late 1920’s. “The birth rates were low in the late 20’s and early 30’s, then became very high in the 1940’s through the early 1960’s. The birth rate growth was only then modest in the late 1970’s through the early 1990’s” (Lerman & Schmidt, n.d.). It was not uncommon for large families in the earlier years from the 1940’s through to the 1960’s. The increase of children could have been cau...
Teen Pregnancy has been a big epidemic this past century. Not only effecting countries like the United States , Mexico and England but also countries like Canada and Sweden. The big baby boomer epidemic started it all not only in the United states but all over the world. Many people wouldn’t think that Canada has had a problem with teen pregnancy rates but it was one of the many countries that was involved with the baby boomer era. Most people didn’t know pregnancy rates doesn’t just include live births but also abortions and fetal loss rates which many people fail to add in this category. The main purpose of the research was to show the trends in teen pregnancy only in Canada from 2001 to 2010. The researchers believed that pregnancy has in facet went down since the start of research in the 1974 by almost 20% . Most people think this information isn’t that important but it is its important for educators , service providers, and also policy makers. Teen pregnancy numbers were compared per 1000 women ages 15 to 19. Some of the Providences didn’t want to participate in this study so they had to estimate the number of abortions per clinic that did let them do the study for teens ages 19 and under. In years leading up to 2008 the CIHI reported a decline in teen abortions not only in one providence but also in others. From 2001 – 2005 teen birth and abortions declined in 10 out of 12 Providences by 14.8% this was the largest decrease they've seen so far. Researchers found that teen birth and abortion rates both declined from 2001 to 2010. Birth rates declined by 15.6% while abortion rates declined by 24.2 % Both rates fell by 20.3% from 2001 to 2010. Since teen pregnancy has decreased since starting research it shows that teens are eit...
Donovan, Patricia. "Falling Teen Pregnancy, Birthrates: What's Behind the Declines?" The Guttmacher Report. 1.5 (Oct. 1998); 31-34.
Mizuochi, Masaki. “The Effect of the work-family policy on fertility in Japan.” Princeton. Princeton.edu, n.d., Web. 1 Mar. 2014
Around the world teenage pregnancy has been an issue. Many of the teen mothers are between 15 and 19. There have been a variety of attempts to provide a decline in teenage pregnancy such as: abstinence groups, the Federal Government, and local attempts. Teenage pregnancy was at an all time low in 2005 and then rose in 2006 and continues to rise. It is believed that teen pregnancy was lower because it was highly looked down upon as opposed to todays society it is more accepted.
A contributing factor to this, according to Mary Brinton, sociology professor at Harvard University, is that women continue to balance family with the demand of work and being available all the time (Gender Inequality and Women in the Workplace, 2016). As a result, women take on a “second shift” when they get home from work and in choosing to progress professionally many are having less children or waiting longer to have children. There seems to be a correlation between gender equality at home and the workplace with lower birth
Singapore currently has a very low birth rate. Fertility began falling from the 1960s and 70s (Saw, 1980 and Chen, 1977) from a high Total Fertility Rate (TFR) of 5.76 in 1960 to a low 1.29 in 2012 and the lowest recorded in 2010 at only 1.15 (Department of Statistics, 2013). This is much lower than the replacement rate of 2.1, which is a worrying concern for the nation. It is a pressing issue which has led to many changes in policies with respect to other issues related to it, such as immigration and ageing population.
There are many interesting statistics regarding teen pregnancy in the United States. In 2012 alone, there were 305, 388 babies born to teenage mothers (The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy 2013). Even though 305, 388 is a considerably high number of teen births, the number of teen births in 2012 actually decreased six percent from 2011 and fifty-two percent from 1991(The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pre...