Family-Building Patterns of Professional Women: A Comparison of Lawyers, Physicians, and Postsecondary Teachers

Abstract

Researchers analyzed 1980 data on 1120 postsecondary teachers 839 lawyers and 486 physicians to compare family building events of these 3 groups of 30-39 year old white professional women living in the US. 35-39 year old women were less likely to be currently married and were more likely to have no children than women in the general population ( 75% and 20-30% vs. 9%). More 35-39 year old physicians were currently married than lawyers (68.7% vs. 59.3%; p<.05). They also were less likely to be divorced than both lawyers and teachers (10.1% vs. 20.6% and 16.1% respectively; p<.05). Lawyers had the highest divorce and the lowest marriage rates. A higher percentage of physicians remarried than the other 2 groups (30-34 year olds=49.1% vs. 35.4% for lawyers and 44.6% for teachers; p<.05 for lawyers only; 34-39 year olds=51.4% vs. 46.5% and 49.7% respectively). 35-39 year old physicians were less likely to be childless (21.1% vs. 28.4% for lawyers and 31.4% for teachers; p<.05 for teachers only). They also had more children than the other professional groups (2.18 vs. 1.93 and 1.8 respectively; p<.05). Even though 35-39 year old physicians exhibited greater involvement in family life than the other 2 groups they worked considerably more hours/week than the other 2 groups (43.5 vs. 38.3 and 35.2 respectively; p<.05). Their husbands worked even more hours but the difference was not significant (47.9 vs. 46.3 and 45.2 respectively). A possible explanation for the differences may be wage differences. Women physicians made more money than the other groups. Lawyers and teachers were at greater risk of income loss following marriage and childbearing than physicians. Thus they were more likely to not marry remarry and have children. Other possible reasons which the researchers could not test were personality differences and structure of career paths. Further research is needed to explore these possibilities for the differences among the 3 professional groups of women.