Fertility Differentials for the Indigenous Non-Farm Population of the U. S.

The hypothesis that the relationship between socio-economic status and fertility is changing from a negative one to a positive one as urbanization increases is examined. The Growth of American Families Study, conducted in 1955, provides data which are analyzed for two groups of people living in non-farm areas: indigenous non-farm couples and farm migrants. The authors conclude that when socio-economic status is measured by husband's income, the negative association disappears completely for the indigenous non-farm couples and becomes slightly positive. When status is measured by wife's education, however, the pattern formed is more complex. There appears to be evidence of a transitional period in which the relationship shifts from negative in the marriages of longer duration to positive in the more recent ones.