ABSTRACT
The measurement of perceived inter-child distances is developed from two procedures based on unfolding theory. One procedure utilizes the individual ordered preferences for various numbers of children to produce an aggregate scale of distances underlying women's preferences. The second procedure yields a direct measure, for each woman, of the perceived distances or similarities between numbers of children with respect to the problems and pleasures associated with children. That the similarities data describe perceived distances between children at the interval level of measurement with a very modest degree of measurement error. Our exploration of the application of unfolding theory to the analysis of fertility has been limited to a rather brief examination of the so-called normative range. The joint scale yields more direct information on what most demographers would consider the norm, whereas the stimulus scale, based on the experience women have with children, may be more appropriate for understanding fertility performance, given a particular norm.
