The Recession Is Serving as Birth Control for Many U.S. Women

StocksyAdvertisement - Continue Reading BelowWomen are having kids later and later in life—but when the economy sinks, some women choose to avoid having a baby entirely. A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science projects that 151,000 U.S. women will skip having kids because of the recession, meaning there will be 427,000 fewer births in the long run.
Princeton researchers analyzed 140 million birth records from 1975 to 2010, tracking conception dates with unemployment levels from five different recessions. They found that when economic hopes dip for women who are between the ages of 20 and 24, the birth rate falls, and many of those women don't "make up" for hard times by having children later.
More From ELLEThe study's authors speculate this drop in birth rates happens because at that point in their lives, women are wondering whether they see themselves as parents in the future. So a recession would make them think they can't afford to have kids, and that attitude remains through their adult lives. Also, getting a first job during a recession could put some men in a lower income bracket for life, making them less attractive to potential spouses.
This projection is just a blip when it comes to the general population; there are nine million women who were between 20 and 24 at the start of America's current recession, and most will go on to have kids. But the study shows that for some women, the economy plays a huge role in the decision to have children. And though previous studies had found women delay having kids in the short run when the economy dips, this is the first to show hard times help some women decide motherhood isn't for them.
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