ABSTRACT
Introduction In this chapter we examine the role of attitudes, preferences, and expectations in shaping childbearing behavior in the United States. Theoretical models of childbearing behavior consistently include attitudes1 as central components in understanding this important human behavior (Lesthaeghe & Wilson, 1986; Lesthaeghe, 1998; Preston, 1986). For example, structural or demand theories suggest that higher levels of education and labor force participation for women increase the opportunity costs of childbearing and thereby reduce the demand or desire for children (Becker, 1981; Bulatao & Lee, 1983; Easterlin & Crimmins, 1985; Notestein 1953; Rindfuss, Swicegood, & Rosenfeld, 1987). Ideational theories hypothesize that the spread of new ideas through institutions like schools and the mass media lead to the incorporation of new preferences for delayed parenthood and smaller families (Caldwell, 1982; Lesthaeghe & Willems, 1999; Lesthaeghe & Surkyn, 1988; Rutenberg & Watkins, 1997; Valente et al., 1997; Watkins, 1995). Still other theories posit that increasing consumption aspirations lead to delayed marriage and childbearing as young people put off family formation until they have fulfilled their preferences for consumer goods (Easterlin, 1980; Freedman, 1979). Likewise, the family mode of social organization framework argues that macrolevel social changes influence couple-level childbearing behavior by altering the social organization of families in ways that change individual preferences for family versus non-family behavior (Axinn & Yabiku, 2001; Thornton & Lin, 1994).
