Gender Role Attitudes and Fertility Revisited: Evidence from the United States

Whether gender egalitarianism is associated with higher or lower fertility intentions is debatable. Some studies show that gender egalitarianism is associated with higher fertility intentions; others document the opposite. Moreover, the interrelationship may vary by gender and across countries. Based on longitudinal data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 in the United States, we examine the effects of gender role attitudes with multiple measures of fertility (ideals, intentions and outcomes) and investigate how gender role attitudes are reshaped by the number of children. Our results show that individuals holding more egalitarian attitudes tend to have a smaller ideal family size, desire fewer children and have fewer children. In addition, for both men and women, the arrival of children can shape gender role attitudes towards more traditional ones. Different dimensions of gender attitudes may, however, affect and be affected by fertility to different extents, and the interrelationship can vary across gender. Our study adds more evidence to the debate over the effect of gender role attitudes on fertility, helps to understand distinct findings in the literature, sheds light on the development of gender role attitudes of men and women over time, and highlights the importance of using longitudinal data to examine the effects of gender attitudes on fertility behaviors.