Childlessness in a Transitional Population: the United States At the Turn of the Century

• Published in: Journal of Family History
• Main Authors: Tolnay, Stewart E., Guest, Avery M.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: SAGE Publications 1982
• Subjects: Social Sciences (miscellaneous); Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous); Anthropology; North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/036319908200700204; http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/036319908200700204

Most analyses of white childless ness in the United States before 1920 have perceived it as being primarily due to in voluntary factors, such as poor health and nutrition. This paper analyzes childless ness across various geographic areas at the turn of the century. It shows that the sub stantial variations in childlessness were due largely to voluntary choice on the part of many American women, particularly in the North Atlantic region. In other areas, such as the agricultural South, almost all childlessness was probably involuntary. On the whole, variations in childlessness seemed primarily to reflect the stage of these areas in the general transition to low fertility occurring in the United States. There is some evidence, however, that urban industrialism may have had an in dependent positive influence on the degree of childlessness.