IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/anname/v624y2009i1p99-117.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Why Do Poor Men Have Children? Fertility Intentions among Low-Income Unmarried U.S. Fathers

Author

Listed:
  • Jennifer March Augustine

    (Department of Sociology and research trainee at the Population Research Center, University of Texas at Austin)

  • Timothy Nelson

    (Harvard University)

  • Kathryn Edin

    (Harvard University)

Abstract

Over the past several decades, nonmarital childbearing rates have risen sharply, especially among socioeconomically disadvantaged groups. Recent research suggests that disadvantaged Americans may defer or delay marriage in part because of perceived economic barriers. Yet, childbearing is also costly. Few studies have examined low-income parents' motivations for having children in a context of socioeconomic disadvantage. This study deploys qualitative data drawn from repeated, in-depth interviews with a heterogeneous sample of low-income, noncustodial fathers ( N = 171) in which men describe in rich detail the circumstances surrounding the conceptions of each of their children and characterize their fertility intentions. The authors find that “planned†and “unplanned†pregnancies are at either end of a continuum of intentionality and that the vast majority of pregnancies are in intermediate categories along that continuum.

Suggested Citation

  • Jennifer March Augustine & Timothy Nelson & Kathryn Edin, 2009. "Why Do Poor Men Have Children? Fertility Intentions among Low-Income Unmarried U.S. Fathers," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 624(1), pages 99-117, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:anname:v:624:y:2009:i:1:p:99-117
    DOI: 10.1177/0002716209334694
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0002716209334694
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0002716209334694?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Margaret E. Greene & Ann E. Biddlecom, 2000. "Absent and Problematic Men: Demographic Accounts of Male Reproductive Roles," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 26(1), pages 81-115, March.
    2. Charles Westoff & Norman Ryder, 1977. "The Predictive Validity Of Reproductive Intentions," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 14(4), pages 431-453, November.
    3. Sandra Hanson & Donna Morrison & Alan Ginsburg, 1989. "The Antecedents of Teenage Fatherhood," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 26(4), pages 579-596, November.
    4. Jo Gray & Jean Stockard & Joe Stone, 2006. "The rising share of nonmarital births: Fertility choice or marriage behavior?," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 43(2), pages 241-253, May.
    5. Ted Joyce & Robert Kaestner & Sanders Korenman, 2002. "On the validity of retrospective assessments of pregnancy intention," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 39(1), pages 199-213, February.
    6. Theodore Joyce & Robert Kaestner & Sanders Korenman, 2000. "The effect of pregnancy intention on child development," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 37(1), pages 83-94, February.
    7. Dearden, K.A. & Hale, C.B. & Woolley, T., 1995. "The antecedents of teen fatherhood: A retrospective case-control study of Great Britain youth," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 85(4), pages 551-554.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Daniël C. Wijk & Helga A. G. Valk & Aart C. Liefbroer, 2022. "Economic Precariousness and the Transition to Parenthood: A Dynamic and Multidimensional Approach," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 38(3), pages 457-483, August.
    2. Laura Tach & Kathryn Edin, 2011. "The Relationship Contexts of Young Disadvantaged Men," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 635(1), pages 76-94, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wanchuan Lin & Juan Pantano & Shuqiao Sun, 2020. "Birth order and unwanted fertility," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 33(2), pages 413-440, April.
    2. Emily Smith-Greenaway & Christie Sennott, 2016. "Death and Desirability: Retrospective Reporting of Unintended Pregnancy After a Child’s Death," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 53(3), pages 805-834, June.
    3. Jennifer Barber & Heather Gatny, 2021. "The social context of retrospective-prospective changes in pregnancy desire during the transition to adulthood: The role of fathers and intimate relationships," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 44(38), pages 899-940.
    4. Frank Heiland & Alexia Prskawetz & Warren C. Sanderson, 2008. "Are Individuals’ Desired Family Sizes Stable? Evidence from West German Panel Data," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 24(2), pages 129-156, June.
    5. Bamishigbin, Olajide N. & Dunkel Schetter, Chris & Stanton, Annette L., 2019. "The antecedents and consequences of adolescent fatherhood: A systematic review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 232(C), pages 106-119.
    6. Sara Yeatman & Christie Sennott & Steven Culpepper, 2013. "Young Women’s Dynamic Family Size Preferences in the Context of Transitioning Fertility," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 50(5), pages 1715-1737, October.
    7. Heather Rackin & S. Philip Morgan, 2018. "Prospective versus retrospective measurement of unwanted fertility: Strengths, weaknesses, and inconsistencies assessed for a cohort of US women," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 39(3), pages 61-94.
    8. Marcia Carlson & Alicia VanOrman & Natasha Pilkauskas, 2013. "Examining the Antecedents of U.S. Nonmarital Fatherhood," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 50(4), pages 1421-1447, August.
    9. Jessica Houston Su & Fenaba R. Addo, 2018. "Born Without a Silver Spoon: Race, Wealth, and Unintended Childbearing," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 39(4), pages 600-615, December.
    10. Jennifer Barber & Patricia East, 2011. "Children’s Experiences After the Unintended Birth of a Sibling," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 48(1), pages 101-125, February.
    11. Silvia Meggiolaro, 2010. "The importance of intentions in the mechanism of reproductive behaviour formation," Statistical Methods & Applications, Springer;Società Italiana di Statistica, vol. 19(1), pages 107-125, March.
    12. Adsera, Alicia, 2005. "Differences in Desired and Actual Fertility: An Economic Analysis of the Spanish Case," IZA Discussion Papers 1584, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Hope Corman & Dhaval Dave & Nancy E. Reichman, 2018. "Evolution of the Infant Health Production Function," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 85(1), pages 6-47, July.
    14. Seema Jayachandran, 2017. "Fertility Decline and Missing Women," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 9(1), pages 118-139, January.
    15. Zsolt Spéder & Balázs Kapitány, 2009. "How are Time-Dependent Childbearing Intentions Realized? Realization, Postponement, Abandonment, Bringing Forward," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 25(4), pages 503-523, November.
    16. Valente, Christine, 2014. "Access to abortion, investments in neonatal health, and sex-selection: Evidence from Nepal," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 225-243.
    17. Angelika Tölke, 2004. "Die Bedeutung von Herkunftsfamilie, Berufsbiografie und Partnerschaften für den Übergang zur Ehe und Vaterschaft," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2004-007, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    18. Alicia Adsera, 2006. "An Economic Analysis of the Gap Between Desired and Actual Fertility: The Case of Spain," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 4(1), pages 75-95, March.
    19. Nicoletta Balbo & Francesco C. Billari & Melinda Mills, 2013. "Fertility in Advanced Societies: A Review of Research," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 29(1), pages 1-38, February.
    20. Jane Waldfogel & Wen-Jui Han & Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, 2002. "The effects of early maternal employment on child cognitive development," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 39(2), pages 369-392, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:anname:v:624:y:2009:i:1:p:99-117. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.