Childspacing and Family Economic Position

Abstract

It was found that the timing of births after marriage had a strong and consistent relationship to the economic position of a sample of white Detroit couples who had recently had a 1st 2nd or 4th birth in that the position was substantially better the longer the interval to 1st or to last birth. Those wives already pregnant with their 1st child at the time of marriage were particularly disadvantaged. The 20% of the sample who were premaritally pregnant were found to have had their subsequent children more quickly and showed the strongest relationships between childspacing and economic position. Whether early and rapid family growth caused relatively low income status could not be determined. The relationship between tempo of family growth and level of income was diminished but not eliminated when marital duration and husbands education were controlled for. It is suggested that those who had children very quickly after marrage found themselves under great economic pressure particularly if they married at an early age and that they were more likely than others to become discouraged early on in the quest for economic success.(Authors modified)