Disclaimer

This paper reports the general results of research undertaken by the Census Bureau Staff. The views expressed are attributable to the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Census Bureau.

This is the first report issued by the Census Bureau focusing on the fertility patterns of American men. Earlier studies on fertility published by the Bureau since the late 1940s have only analyzed data for women from either decennial censuses or fertility supplements to the Current Population Survey (CPS). These data sources carried on the traditional view that fertility analysis was best undertaken using women as the survey respondents because they were believed to be more accurate reporters of vital events than were men and because they were more directly involved in childbearing. In the past decade, however, increasing interest in studying issues of child support and paternity has created a demand for fertility data related to men.

The data in this paper are from the fertility history module of the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) conducted in Summer 1992. The SIPP is the Census Bureau’s principal survey for investigating the economic conditions and program participation of the population. About 20,000 occupied housing units were eligible for interviews in this panel. Fertility questions were asked of females 15 years old and over and of males 18 years old and over resulting in a sample size of 19,204 women and 16,777 men. While information on the birth dates of children born to women were collected for their first and last births, the only fertility question asked of men was about the number of children they had ever fathered.

This paper first examines the quality of the fertility data among men and women and the characteristics of the men who did not respond to the question on fertility. Fertility differences among men will be examined by various socioeconomic characteristics, including characteristics of the wives of currently married men and the immigrant status of the respondents. This latter analysis is made possible by the inclusion in the survey of a migration history module which asked the state or country of birth of respondents 15 years old and over. Respondents born in a foreign country were also asked about their citizenship status and when they came to the United States to stay.