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Fertility patterns of college graduates by field of study, US women born 1960-79

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  • Katherine Michelmore
  • Kelly Musick

Abstract

Building on recent European studies, we used the Survey of Income and Program Participation to provide the first analysis of fertility differences between groups of US college graduates by their undergraduate field of study. We used multilevel event-history models to investigate possible institutional and selection mechanisms linking field of study to delayed fertility and childlessness. The results are consistent with those found for Europe in showing an overall difference of 10 percentage points between levels of childlessness across fields, with the lowest levels occurring for women in health and education, intermediate levels for women in science and technology, and the highest levels for women in arts and social sciences. The mediating roles of the following field characteristics were assessed: motherhood employment penalties; percentage of men; family attitudes; and marriage patterns. Childlessness was higher among women in fields with a moderate representation of men, less traditional family attitudes, and late age at first marriage.

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  • Katherine Michelmore & Kelly Musick, 2014. "Fertility patterns of college graduates by field of study, US women born 1960-79," Population Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 68(3), pages 359-374, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:rpstxx:v:68:y:2014:i:3:p:359-374
    DOI: 10.1080/00324728.2013.847971
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    Cited by:

    1. Julia Hellstrand & Jessica Nisén & Mikko Myrskylä, 2022. "Educational field, economic uncertainty, and fertility decline in Finland in 2010–2019," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2022-022, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    2. Montez, Jennifer Karas & Zhang, Wencheng & Zajacova, Anna & Hamilton, Tod G., 2018. "Does college major matter for women's and men's health in midlife? Examining the horizontal dimensions of educational attainment," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 198(C), pages 130-138.
    3. Natalie Nitsche & Hannah Brueckner, 2018. "High and Higher: Fertility of Black and White Women with College and Postgraduate Education in the United States," VID Working Papers 1807, Vienna Institute of Demography (VID) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna.
    4. Siqi Han & Dmitry Tumin & Zhenchao Qian, 2016. "Gendered transitions to adulthood by college field of study in the United States," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 35(31), pages 929-960.
    5. Ester Lazzari, 2021. "Changing trends between education, childlessness and completed fertility: a cohort analysis of Australian women born in 1952–1971," Journal of Population Research, Springer, vol. 38(4), pages 417-441, December.
    6. Alessandra Trimarchi & Jan Van Bavel, 2018. "Gender differences and similarities in the educational gradient in fertility: The role of earnings potential and gender composition in study disciplines," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 39(13), pages 381-414.
    7. Anja Oppermann, 2017. "Educational field and fertility in western Germany: an analysis of women born between 1955 and 1959," Vienna Yearbook of Population Research, Vienna Institute of Demography (VID) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna, vol. 15(1), pages 239-267.

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