Wanneer worden vrouwen moeder? : een beschrijving en verklaring van de leeftijd waarop vrouwen geboren tussen 1940 en 1960 hun eerste kind krijgen

Samenvatting

To investigate the relationship between women's year of birth & their age at the birth of their first child, secondary analysis was performed on demographic data from Jaarcijfers van Nederland ([Annual Statistics for the Netherlands], The Hague: Central Bureau of Statistics) for women born 1940-1960. The later the woman's birth year, the fewer children she had before age 26. Three theories are tested to account for this trend: (1) the generation theory of H. A. Becker presented in "Generaties" ([Generations], Hollands Maandblad, 1985, 4, 14-25); (2) the demographic perspective offered in R. E. Easterlin's Birth and Fortune: The Impact of Numbers on Personal Welfare (New York: Basic Books, 1980); & (3) the life-perspective theory presented in K. Sanders's Vrouwelijke Pioniers: Vrouwen en mannen met een "mannelijke" hogere beroepsopleiding aan het begin van hun loopbaan ([Women Pioneers: Women and Men with a "Masculine" Professional Education at the Beginning of Their Life Course], Amsterdam, 1991). All three theories can account for the observed trends, but Sanders's theory is more economical. 2 Tables, 3 Graphs, 31 References. Adapted from the source document.