Religious Affiliation and the Fertility of Married Couples

Abstract

Using the 1973 and 1976 National Surveys of Family Growth--nationally representative samples totalling 14000 married women--a wide range of estimates of the fertility of married couples in religious groups in the United States is presented. These are the most recent the most inclusive or the only national estimates of these parameters. Children everborn total births expected and wanted pregnancies/woman for currently married women 15-44 years of age is given by race and religious affiliation. Selected fertility measures are given for currently married white nonHispanic women 15-44 years by religious affiliation and education; as are observed and adjusted fertility measures by religious affiliation for married couples with white nonHispanic wives 15-44 years of age. Observed and adjusted fertility measures are also given for currently married couples with Black wives 15-44 years of age by religious affiliation. It was found that: 1) the white-Protestant/white-Catholic difference in family size persisted even after controlling for age education and residence; 2) the fertility of Catholic couples is negatively related to the wifes education a reversal of a positive association in the 1950s and 1960s; 3) the fertility of Jewish couples was lower than that of Protestant and Catholic couples both before and after multivariate adjustment; 4) the fertility of black Catholic couples was much lower than that of black Protestant couples; but the difference disappeared after controlling for age education and residence; and 5) the fertility of white and black wives with no religious affiliation was much lower than for Protestants both before and after multivariate adjustment. Religious affiliation continues to be indispensable for understanding fertility difference in the US.