Abstract
Evolutionary discussions regarding the relationship between social status and fertility in the contemporary U.S. typically claim that the relationship is either negative or absent entirely. The published data on recent generations of Americans upon which such statements rest, however, are solid with respect to women but sparse and equivocal for men. In the current study, we investigate education and income in relation to age at first child, childlessness, and number of children for men and women in two samples—one of the general American population and one of graduates of an elite American university. We find that increased education is strongly associated with delayed childbearing in both sexes and is also moderately associated with decreased completed or near-completed fertility. Women in the general population with higher adult income have fewer children, but this relationship does not hold within all educational groups, including our sample with elite educations. Higher-income men, however, do not have fewer children in the general population and in fact have lower childlessness rates. Further, higher income in men is positively associated with fertility among our sample with elite educations as well as within the general population among those with college educations. Such findings undermine simple statements on the relationship between status and fertility.
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Jason Weeden (Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania) is currently a postdoctoral researcher in psychology at Arizona State University. His research explores contemporary American life history strategies, including in relation to religiosity and political conflict.
Michael Abrams is a doctoral candidate in psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. His research focuses on evolution and psychopathology.
Melanie C. Green is assistant professor of psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her research has explored the mechanisms of narrative persuasion, as well as the evolutionary basis of emotional responses to infidelity.
John Sabini was professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. He passed away in July 2005.