Open AccessThe relation of psychological, social, and economic variables to fertility-related decisions
Author(s) -
James Jaccard,
Andrew R. Davidson
Publication year - 1976
Publication title -
demography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.099
H-Index - 129
eISSN - 1533-7790
pISSN - 0070-3370
DOI - 10.2307/2060531
Subject(s) - socioeconomic status , fertility , psychology , social psychology , test (biology) , protestantism , differential (mechanical device) , variance (accounting) , demography , developmental psychology , population , sociology , economics , political science , law , paleontology , accounting , engineering , biology , aerospace engineering
To test a recent model of social behavior, a questionnaire was designed and administered to 270 married women in a midwestern city. A stratified random sample was obtained, comprising a 2 × 3 factorial design (Catholic vs. Protestant and high vs. middle vs. low socioeconomic status). It was hypothesized that an individual’s intention to engage in a fertility-related behavior would be highly correlated with (a) her beliefs about the consequences of performing that behavior weighted by the value of those consequences, and/or (b) her beliefs about what relevant others think she should do and her motivation to comply with those others. The data strongly supported this hypothesis for each of three different behaviors. Analysis of variance revealed a significant religious differential for intentions to have a two-child family (Catholics were less likely to intend to have a two-child family than Protestants). This differential was further examined in terms of the proposed model of behavior.
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