Race Differences in Cohort Effects on Nonmarital Fertility in the United States
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Date
2008-01
Authors
Stone, Joe A.
Gray, Jo Anna
Stockard, Jean
O'Brien, Robert
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Oregon, Dept of Economics
Abstract
We employ newly developed methods to disentangle age, period and cohort
effects on nonmarital fertility ratios (NFRs) from 1972 to 2002 for black and white
women aged 20-44 in the United States. We focus on three cohort factors: family
structure, school enrollment, and the sex ratio. For both blacks and whites, cohorts with
less traditional family structures have higher NFRs. Other results differ by race. The
impact of school enrollment on NFRs is significantly negative for whites, but
significantly positive for blacks. The impact of sex ratio is significantly negative for
blacks, but insignificant for whites. If black women and white women had cohort
characteristics typical of the other group, age-specific NFRs for black women would
decline markedly, while those for whites would increase markedly.
Description
48 p.
Keywords
Fertility, Education, Family structure, Sex ratio, Unmarried births, Cohort