Abstract
Previous studies of the use of birth control by sexually active single women tend to emphasize family background and aspirations, and restrict their attention to teenagers. We elaborate this framework by considering how labor market experiences might shape the birth control practices of women in their late teens and twenties. Data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Labor Force Experiences — Youth Cohort provide evidence that employment histories and wages influence birth control practices, net of the effects of family background, aspirations, and educational attainment. Several pronounced racial and ethnic differences are found.
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The first author acknowledges support from a research training grant (T32-AA-07473) awarded to the University of Georgia by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism; the second author acknowledges grant support from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (HD-25749-01), Robert D. Mare and Christopher Winship, Principal Investigators. We thank Chris Winship, Sandy Jencks, and the reviewers and editor for helpful comments. The authors contributed equally to this paper. An early version was presented at the 1991 annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, held in Cincinnati.
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Kraft, J.M., Coverdill, J.E. Employment and the Use of Birth Control by Sexually Active Single Hispanic, Black, and White Women. Demography 31, 593–602 (1994). https://doi.org/10.2307/2061793
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/2061793