ABSTRACT

Previous studies have found that the positive relationship between personal income and fertility for men in the United States is primarily due to childlessness among low-income men. Yet because of the opposite effects of income on fertility for men and women, it is important to examine the effects of income net of spouse’s income. An analysis of income from all sources and biological fertility data for husbands and wives from the Survey of Income and Program Participation (2014) shows that for men their own income is positively associated with the number of their biological children, while their spouse’s income is negatively associated with total children ever fathered. The reverse is true for women. These results are not because of childlessness among low-income men and high-income women, but also hold true among all those with children. For men and women aged 45–65, who likely have completed fertility, these results hold regardless of whether or not education is controlled. These findings suggest that if status is measured as personal income for men and husband’s income for women, the positive relationship between status and fertility persists in a postdemographic transition society.

摘要

先前的研究发现，美国男性的个人收入与生育率之间的正相关关系主要是由于低收入男性中没有孩子。然而，由于收入对男性和女性生育率的相反影响，重要的是检查收入扣除配偶收入的影响。收入和计划参与调查（2014 年）对夫妻所有来源的收入和生物生育数据的分析表明，对于男性来说，他们自己的收入与其亲生子女的数量呈正相关，而他们的配偶的收入与他们的亲生子女数量呈负相关与曾经生过的孩子总数有关。女性则相反。这些结果并不是因为低收入男性和高收入女性没有孩子，而是在所有有孩子的人中都是如此。对于可能已经完成生育的 45-65 岁的男性和女性，无论教育是否受到控制，这些结果都成立。这些发现表明，如果以男性的个人收入和女性的丈夫收入来衡量地位，那么在后人口转型社会中，地位与生育率之间的正相关关系仍然存在。