Fertility Related Attitudes of Minority Mothers with Large and Small Families1

Abstract

The relationship between certain attitudes and levels of fertility in five cultural groups–Blacks, Cubans, American Indians, migrant Chicanos, and white Protestants–was explored. Mothers, aged 35–45, with one or two children (small family, N= 253) or five children (large family, N= 196) were compared. Subjects responded to semantic differentials measuring attitudes toward pregnancy, family, abortion, sex, birth control, and parent. Large family mothers were generally more negative toward birth control, sex, and family. Cultures differed significantly on all six attitudes, with those toward abortion and pregnancy being the best discriminators. Significant interactions between cub ture and size were found on attitudes toward birth control and pregnancy. In general, large families wanted fewer children than they had and their negative attitudes toward birth control might be associated with their ineffective experiences; however, the trend was reversed in the migrant group where small family mothers were more negative toward birth control. Since small family mothers among migrant Chicanos were difficult to find and their estimates of ideal family size was large, it is likely that their negative attitudes toward birth mntrol reflected an aversion to its use.