Postwar Fertility Trends and Differentials in the United States examines fertility trends and levels within social and economic subgroups in the United States. The major portion of the book deals with the time period 1945-1969; the last chapter extends the findings through the first half of the 1970s. The study is based on data made available by the release of the 1-in-a-100 Public Use Samples from the 1960 and 1970 United States Censuses. This book is the first comprehensive study of socioeconomic fertility trends and differentials to use these Public Use Samples.
The book opens with a chapter that presents annual estimates of age-specific fertility rates by educational attainment of women and by race for the period 1945-1969. Separate chapters then examine the pattern of differentials in recent fertility in the late 1950s and the late 1960s for the U.S. population as a whole; changing fertility during the period 1955-1969; and differentials in fertility within and among members of various racial and ethnic minorities. Subsequent chapters deal with rural fertility trends and differentials; the effect of migration on fertility; and the similarity of all social and economic groups with respect to fertility trends.

Contenu

Preface
1 Introduction
Historical and Contemporary Perspective
Methodological Perspective
Overview of the Study
2 Measurement: Sources, Opportunities, and Limitations
Own-Children Data
Data Requirements
Comparisons with Vital Registration Data
Comparisons with Birth History Data
Individual and Aggregate Measures
Summary
3 Trends in Fertility: 1945-1969
Education and the Estimation of Annual Fertility Rates
Pervasiveness
Trends within Education Groups
Trends within Racial and Education Groups
Fertility Patterns: Concept and Measurement
Trends in Fertility Patterns
Summary
4 Differentials: Persistence and Change
Poverty and Fertility
Differentials within the Total Population
Differentials in Trends: Urban Whites
Summary
5 Fertility Trends among Minority Groups
Aggregate Trends: 1955-1969
Annual Rates and Recent Marital Fertility
Changing Status and Own-Children Trend Estimates
Fertility Declines within Two High-Fertility Groups
Fertility Declines within the Southern Urban Black and the Non-Southern Black Population
Minority Status and Fertility
Summary
6 Fertility Differentials within Minority Groups
Differentials within Three High-Fertility Groups
Differentials within the Urban Black Population
Differentials within Two Low-Fertility Populations
Differentials within the Puerto Rican Population
Differences in the Timing of Fertility
Summary
7 Rural Fertility Trends and Differentials
Definitions of "Rural" and "Urban"
Migration and Fertility Rate Estimates
Aggregate Trends
Differential Fertility Declines within the Farm Population: 1960-1970
Trends in the Pattern of Fertility
Current Differentials
Rural/Urban Differences in the Age Patterns of Fertility
Summary
8 Fertility and Migration: The Case of Puerto Rico
Measuring Migration Status
Other Methodological Concerns
Migration and Current Fertility
Migration and Children Ever Born
Knowledge of English and Current Fertility
Summary
9 Similarity and Diversity: Some Extensions and Implications
Similarity and Diversity in the 1970s
Some Implications
Appendix A Urban White Recent Marital Fertility Differentials
Appendix B Stability of Racial Estimates of Annual Fertility Rates
Appendix C Differentials in Recent Marital Fertility within Various Racial and Ethnic Groups: 1960
Appendix D Post-1970 Fertility Trends and Differentials within the Black Population
References
Index