Coresidential Stepfamily and Simple Family Births: Does Intendedness Differ?

• In Event: 450 - Regular Session. Fertility: Childbearing Decisions in Family Context

Abstract

Childbearing across partnerships is now a fairly common behavior in industrialized countries, as parents repartner and childless individuals form relationship with parents. Shared childbearing in stepfamilies is usually explained by the value of children perspective, which argues that children serve a unique purpose for couples and suggests that births in stepfamilies should primarily be intended births, particularly for the first shared birth. However, work on multipartnered fertility suggests that unintended fertility is a common component of childbearing across partnerships. Using the 2006-2010 National Survey of Family Growth, this research examines the intendedness of a woman’s first, second, and third shared births with a particular cohabiting or marital partner, comparing births in simple families and stepfamilies. While bivariate results show that first and second shared births are less likely to be intended in stepfamilies, multivariate results reveal that the differences are strongest for second births, with variations in stepfamily union structure and prior unintended births explaining much of the association. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of differences in intendedness and the composition of simple and stepfamilies for family processes and stability.

Author

• Karen Guzzo, Bowling Green State University