Women's Attitudes toward Family Life and U. S. Population Growth

Abstract

At the present time, most Americans apparently feel that continued population growth in the United States is a distinct problem. The two national public opinion polls on Americans' views toward their nation's population growth both found that 54 per cent considered the growth rate to be a serious (Kantner, 1968). In a probability sample survey of adult women living in a small city, the current writer (Barnett, 1968b) found that 56 per cent agreed with the statement that America is rapidly reaching a point where she'll have too many people, and this coming overpopulation is one of the greatest threats today to the future social and economic wellbeing of the country [p. 1]. Yet while Americans view population expansion as a problem, they seem significantly less likely to feel the married couple has a responsibility to limit its family size because of the problems (Barnett, 1968a:1). This discrepancy in attitudes exists in spite of the increasing evidence that population growth is impeding increases in the standard of living for American families (Day and Day, 1964) and in spite of the apparently growing concern that continued population growth might actually lower the standard of living. If it is true that Americans consider population growth as a problem which is independent of the immediate situation of the family, then those possessing favorable attitudes toward family life should be no more likely to view population expansion with concern than those not oriented toward