In the research regarding family and fertility, little attention has been paid to the couple unit. The majority of fertility studies have focused upon the wife only. Where data are available for both husband and wife, it is often clustered under the headings 'males' and 'females;' again ignoring the specific husband and wife dyad. In addition, the attitudes of husbands and wives are often assumed to be essentially the same This study investigates couple agreement on desired family size. The following hypotheses are examined. (1) Agreement on desired family size is related to similarity of background; the more homogeneous the couple in their background characteristics, the more they are likely to agree on their family size desires. (2) Agreement on desired family size will be greater among those who have discussed their family size desires and goals than among those who have not. (3) The longer the duration of the family of procreation, the greater will be the agreement concerning family size preference between husbands and wives The study is based on the secondary analysis of data from the New Orleans Family Survey of 1965. The data are from a subsample of 357 couples. Separate interviews were held with husband and wife; their responses to the survey questions were subsequently compared The data concerning demographic homogeneity are inconsistent. Sometimes those similar in characteristics agree more highly on family size preferences than those dissimilar in characteristics; sometimes they do not. The zero order relationships are weak, rarely manifesting chi squares large enough to reject chance. Multiple regression of the twenty-six explanatory variables indicates homogeneity on these variables explains only fourteen percent of the variance in agreement on desired family size Discussion of family size also yields inconclusive data. Couples who have discussed family size preferences indicated a slightly higher percent agreement than did those who had not discussed preferences. The highest percent agreement was shown, however, among couples who disagreed concerning whether they had ever discussed family size preferences Length of marriage was found to have no relationship to agreement on desired family size In all, the data show a high percent of disagreement concerning family size preferences among the couples; slightly over sixty percent of the couples disagree. This indicates that researchers should be cautious in interpreting information from one spouse as indicative of the opinions of the other. In addition, spouses who are homogeneous in characteristics should not be assumed to be homogeneous in outlook / acase@tulane.edu
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TULANE/oai:http://digitallibrary.tulane.edu/:tulane_25062 |
| Date | January 1981 |
| Contributors | Jones, Annette Justine (Author) |
| Publisher | Tulane University |
| Source Sets | Tulane University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | Access requires a license to the Dissertations and Theses (ProQuest) database., Copyright is in accordance with U.S. Copyright law |
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