Premarital Sexual Behavior and Sex Codes of Conduct with Acquaintances, Friends, and Lovers

Abstract

The following tentative conclusions can be drawn: 1. There is evidence that present mothers in general tend to value an ideal size varying in amount directly with socio-economic status. 2. In general there is a correspondence between ideal and actual plus planned number of children. However, such value-practice correspondence is a direct function of one's socio-economic status and planning status. 3. For the active and terminated fertility groups (those planning and those not planning to have more children) actual average size is inversely related to socio-economic status. This relationship results in discrepancies between ideal and actual which are greatest for the group not planning to have more children. 4. It is the younger mother, who is undecided whether or not to have more children, who tends to express values in direct relationship with her socio-economic status as measured by objective social variables, and at the same time this indecision takes place when the actual number of children is not only directly related to her status but also far below the expressed ideal.