Women’s Educational Attainment, Marital Status and the Timing of Childbearing: An Analysis of Recent Trends in the United States (1995-2001)

Hyeyoung Woo, University of Texas at Austin

Recent publication by Martin (2000) showed that educational differentials in first birth rates among women past 30 increased from 1975 to 1995. We examine whether this diverging pattern continues by using data from the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth to describe first birth rates by education among women age 30 and older from 1995 to 2001. In addition, we estimate event history models similar to those estimated by Martin except that we also include a control for marital status. Overall, our results indicate that the first birth rate among women past 30 has declined since 1995, however it has declined less for college educated women than for women with no college degree. Estimates from logistic regression show that the positive relationship between first birth rate among women past 30 and educational attainment became larger.