Double Shift and Childcare Help: Gendered Influences on Fertility Intentions

Alicia Adsera, Princeton University
Federica Querin, Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna

Multiple factors underpin fertility intentions. We use newly collected US dataset, including both men and women ages 25-50, to examine the (negative) effect of the double shift of paid and unpaid work, and the (positive) effect of receiving help for childcare. We distinguish hours worked for pay, for household chores, childcare, and extra-curricular activities for both men and women. We know whether parents receive help from family and, if so, from whom, as well as if they pay for childcare and extra-curricular activities. Controls include household income, education of both partners and grandparents, race and ethnicity, type of union, family structure, migration, and religiosity. Preliminary results for partnered individuals show that for mothers, fertility intentions are positively associated with part-time work, lower share of unpaid work within the couple, vicinity with own mother, and receiving help from both family and paid childcare. Childless women are less sensitive to these factors. Fathers value being close to mother-in-law as well as having a living mother. The final paper will include both fertility plans and intentions and examine differences by parity and ethnicity.

Keywords: Fertility, Gender Dynamics, Families, Unions and Households

See extended abstract.