Social and Psychological Factors Affecting Fertility. XXX. Extra-Familial Participation of Wives in Relation to Interest in and Liking for Children, Fertility Planning, and Actual and Desired Family Size

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Abstract
This report studies the hypothesis that "The extent of the wife''s participation in activities outside her family is directly related to her interest in and liking for children and the effectiveness of her fertility planning is inversely related to her fertility and desired family size." Regular absences from home may be a positive influence toward promoting her interest in the family. Both positive and negative pressures operate to make a small planned family and the desire for a small family more likely among women who participate actively outside their home. The negative pressure is competition for time, effort, and financial resources. The positive pressures include training in interpersonal relations and development of values about obligations of parents to children. Data pertain to 1309 couples with children in the inflated sample of 1444 "relatively fecund" couples of the Indianapolis Study. The extent of a wife''s participation in activities outside the home is directly related to her interest in and liking for children and the effectiveness of her fertility planning, and inversely related to her fertility and desired family size, all as hypothesized.
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