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Spacing of children and changing patterns of childbearing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2008

Christabel M. Young
Christabel M. Young
Affiliation:
Department of Demography, Australian National University, Canberra
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Summary

The first part of the paper traces changes in the length of the childbearing period and ages of women at the time of their first and last births among women in Australia married between 1905–09 and 1965–69. The source of information was survey data concerning the respondents themselves (once married, currently married women aged under 60 years at 1971) and information that they gave concerning their mothers' childbearing experience. The main observations are that the trend towards smaller families was more marked among the mothers and that the change in the size distribution of families was the major factor in reducing the length of the childbearing period for marriages occurring up to the Second World War, while closer spacing of children was the major factor since then. The second part of the paper examines more detailed supplementary information about the respondents, including changes in the dispersion of the timing of births, the rapid rate of childbearing among the 1955–59 marriage cohort, reasons for delaying the first birth, and differences in behaviour according to education and religion. The discussion raises the question of the rationality of the trend towards closer spacing of children, with special reference to the interaction between a woman's work role and family role.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 9 , Issue 2 , April 1977 , pp. 201 - 226
Copyright
Copyright © 1977, Cambridge University Press

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