Women’s household income contributions and higher-order births in the United States

Since the 1970s, married women have been increasingly participating in the labor force and providing a greater share of household incomes. Little is known about how women’s rising income contributions might influence couples’ fertility behavior. This study explores the relationship between husbands' and wives’ share of household income and fertility trajectories among married couples in the U.S. using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. The authors employ event history models to investigate differences in the propensity of having a second or third child. In unadjusted analyses, the relationship between relative income and subsequent childbearing follows a U-shaped pattern such that equal earner families are less likely than male and female breadwinner families to have second and third births . However, in fully adjusted models, only significant associations with male breadwinner families remain.