Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T14:50:27.605Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Cultural comparisons of mothers with large and small families§

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2008

Margaret W. Linn ,
Lee Gurel ,
John Carmichael  and
Patricia Weed
Margaret W. Linn
Affiliation:
Veterans Administration HospitalWashington, DC University of Miami School of Medicine, miami, Florida
Lee Gurel
Affiliation:
American Psychiatric Association, Washington, DC
John Carmichael
Affiliation:
Veterans Administration HospitalWashington, DC University of Miami School of Medicine, miami, Florida
Patricia Weed
Affiliation:
University of Miami School of Medicine, miami, Florida
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Contraceptive knowledge and behaviour of mothers of large (five of more children) and small (under three children) families in four subcu;tures were compared with white Protestants. Four hundred and forty-nine mothers aged 35–45 years were studied from black, Cuban, Indian, Chicano, and white groups. With social class, knowledge of birth control, and degree of religiosity held constant, the best predictors of family size were the mother's desited family size (expressed as desired minus actual children) age at childbirth, and age at mariage. Data suggest that family size is not purely a function of birth control knoeledge but related to early marrage and pregnancy and in keeping with attitudes about an ideal family size. In general, factors related to size were stronger in the white group than in the subcultures, and in a few instances certain cultures were not consostent with others in overall trends.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 8 , Issue 3 , July 1976 , pp. 293 - 302
Copyright
Copyright © 1976, Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Armijo, R. & Monrea, T. (1965) The problem of induced abortion in Chile. Proceedings of the 1965 Milbank Memorial Fund Conference.Milbank meml Fund Q. bull. 53, 263.Google Scholar
Blake, J. (1965) Public Health and Population Change. Edited by Sheps, M. C. and Ridley, J.C.University of Pittsburg Press.Google Scholar
Buckhout, R. (1972) Toward a two-child norm: changing family planning attiudes. Am. Psychol. 27, 16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bumpass, L. & Westoff, C.G. (1970) The ‘perfect contraceptive’ population Science, N.Y. 169, 1177.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
davis, K. (1967) Population policy: will current programs succeed ? Science, N.Y. 158, 730.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Davis, R. (1949) Studies in Population. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J.Google Scholar
Doran, C.M. (1972) Attitudes of 30 American Indian women toward birth control. Hlth Serus Rep. 87, 658.Google ScholarPubMed
Ehrlich, P.R. (1970) Playboy interview. Playboy, August, P. 55.Google Scholar
Eisner, T. (1970) Population control, and ignorance. Science, N.Y. 167, 337.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goldscheider, C. & Uhlenberg, P.R. (1969) Minority group status and fertility. Am. J. Sociol. 74, 361.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Grabill, W.H., Kiser, V. & Whelpton, P.K. (1958) The Fertillty of American women. Wiley, New York.Google Scholar
Hill, R. (1968) Research on fertility. Int. Soc. Sci. J. 20, 226.Google Scholar
Hollingshead, A.B. (1957) Two Factor Index of Social Position. Yale Station, New Haven, Conn.Google Scholar
Hutchinson, B.H. (1964) Induced abortion in Brazilian married women. Am. Lat. 7, 19.Google ScholarPubMed
Kammeyer, K.C., Yetman, N.R. & McClendon, M.J. (1974) Family planning services and the distribution of black Americans. Soc. Problems, 21, 674.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kiew, A. (1968) Curanderismo: Mexican-American Folk Psychiatry. Free Press, New York.Google Scholar
Lee, A. & Lee, E. (1952) The differential fertility of the American negro. Am. Social. Rev. 17, 446.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peterson, W. (1961) Population. Macmillan, New York.Google Scholar
Preston, S.H. (1974) Differential fertility, unwanted fertility, and racial trends in occupational achievement. Am. Social. Rev. 39, 492.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rainwater, L. (1960) And the Poor get Children. Quadrangle, Chicago, III.Google Scholar