DEMOGRAPHV© Volume 13, Number 3 August 1976 THE RELATION OF PSYCHOLOGICAL, SOCIAL, AND ECONOMIC VARIABLES TO FERTILITY-RELATED DECISIONS James J. Jaccard Department of Psychological Sciences, Purdue University West Lafayette, Indiana 47907 Andrew R. Davidson Battelle Human Affairs Research Centers, 4000 N.E. 41st Street Seattle, Washington 98105 Abstract-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 X 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 con- sequences of performing that behavior weighted by the value of those con- sequences, 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. Within the past 30 years, studies con- ducted in the United States have docu- mented fertility differentials on the basis of numerous social and demographic vari- ables. For example, research by Freed- man, Whelpton, and Campbell (1959) and Westoff and his associates (Westoff, Pot- ter, and Sagi, 1963; Westoff, Potter, Sagi, and Mishler, 1961) has found an inverse relation between education and fertility among Protestants as well as higher fertil- ity among Catholics relative to non-Cath- olics. Rainwater (1965) has successfully applied the concepts and methods of the family sociologist to the study of family planning and fertility, and his findings suggest that family structure variables may be associated with various birth con- trol practices. Although these studies have greatly advanced our understanding of demographic and social correlates of fertility, attempts to understand and ex- plain fertility differentials in terms of psy- chological factors have been far from suc- cessful (e.g., Kiser and Whelpton, 1958; Westoff et aI., 1961; Westoff et aI., 1963; Westoff and Potvin, 1967; Bumpass and Westoff, 1971). In reviewing the In- dianapolis Study, Kiser and Whelpton (1958) conclude that "for the present, the chief lesson to be emphasized concerns the generally closer relationship of fertility to broad social factors (including the eco- nomic) than to psychological factors." While the relative success of efforts in predicting fertility from a demographic and social perspective is encouraging, the accompanying failure of the psychological and social psychological investigations is indeed discouraging. As numerous in- vestigators have pointed out (e.g., Pohl- man, 1969; Rainwater, 1965; Wyatt, 1967), demographic variables by and of themselves cannot explain why people do 329 Downloaded from http://read.dukeupress.edu/demography/article-pdf/13/3/329/906592/329jaccard.pdf by guest on 22 June 2022