Abstract
Reproductive behavior is a complex process involving psychological, biological, and social influences throughout individual’s life. Yet, to date, most research on determinants of fertility has treated these factors simply as the unobservable. Using three large longitudinal studies, the current study estimates the effects of personality traits, physical attractiveness, intelligence, and SES on transition to parenthood and on number of children ever born. Analyses results indicated that, among the personality traits, extraversion significantly accelerates childbearing among both sexes. Moreover, extraversion was found to be positively associated with number of children born during the reproductive career. Openness was found to significantly reduce the odds of transitioning to parenthood and size of completed fertility among women. The present study also provides support for the strong and positive correlation between physical attractiveness and reproductive success even among contemporary populations. Finally, the effect of intelligence on fertility were inconsistent across samples and between genders.
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