NORTHridge — California women are increasingly having children later in life, tripling from age 40 to 44, according to a study released Thursday.
The Public Policy Institute of California report also found that some women are giving up having children altogether, the highest rate in the state’s history. In 2006, 25% of women in their early 40s had no children, almost twice as many as in 1980.
“California does have a high rate of childlessness, but it’s hard to pinpoint why,” said report author Hans Johnson, noting that the state generally has higher wages and that women are less likely to have children because: He pointed out that he is likely to focus on his career. that.
From 1982 to 2005, the birth rate for U.S.-born women ages 40 to 44 jumped from 3.5 to 10.5 children per 1,000 women.
Still, childbirth delays have not had a significant impact on the state’s population or economy, as women waiting to have children account for only 5% of all births, and immigrants continue to have large families. Johnson said.
“Birth rates remain fairly stable,” he said. “The birth rate is not exploding, but it is not so low that the population is declining.”
According to the report, white and Asian women are most likely to have children over the age of 40. This is enough to push the average age at birth for whites and Asians from their late 20s to early 30s. Johnson said the foreign-born population is boosting California’s economy and future workforce because they have more children.
By comparison, most U.S.-born Latinos are in their early 20s when they have children. In general, birth rates for Latinas are much higher than for other ethnic groups, with foreign-born Latinas having the highest birth rate in the state at 3.7 children per woman.
“One of the reasons California and the United States don’t have the same aging problem as Europe is because we have large immigrant families,” Johnson said. “This creates economic vitality and a young workforce.”
Johnson and sociologists say the decision to have children will increasingly be one of economic, technological and social factors. Throughout history, birth rates have waxed and waned for a variety of reasons, including the emergence of industrial economies, the Great Depression, and the post-World War II birth surge from 1946 to 1964, which led to the formation of the baby boomer generation.
“The women’s liberation movement succeeded in changing social rules, college admissions policies, and employment practices, and more women completed their college education and entered the professions,” said Christian Kohli, a professor of sociology at California State University, Northridge. “There is,” he said. “And for that to happen, it is absolutely necessary to delay childbirth.”
Kohli also says that women may not be able to establish a stronghold in their profession until they are in their late 30s or early 40s. Then there’s the celebrity factor. Madonna gave birth to her second child at the age of 41, and Halle Berry, 41, is pregnant.
“Women may look at other women around them and see them having healthy babies and think, ‘I can do this too,'” Kohli says. “This could include high-profile celebrities. People are definitely influenced by what the people around them are doing.”
The cost of living can also be another factor in the decision to delay starting a family, Kohli said, especially in Southern California, where most families need two incomes to buy a home. Ta. Childlessness is also associated with marital status, with 70% of children born to married couples. For many women, this means having no children or delaying childbearing isn’t always an option, said Jane Prather, who is also a sociology professor at CSUN.
“Men are reluctant to get married just to have children, and they’re putting off getting married,” Prather said. “Men in particular are increasingly delaying puberty. They want to integrate their careers with recreation more. And men don’t want to get married until they’re financially stable. By the time they decide they want to have children, they are marrying younger women.
Infertility expert Dr. Gilaire Koniarian, who established one of the country’s first IVF programs in 1983 and is credited with performing the first surrogacy on the West Coast in 1986, has He said that many more births have been possible since then due to advances in science. Childbirth is possible.
But he cautions women from waiting too long, as difficulties can arise as they age.
“We’ve seen this trend increase over the past 10 years,” the Northridge doctor said. “Sometimes it’s because the man and woman want to have children together in a second marriage, or because the woman doesn’t want to marry the first man that comes along right away. , it is desirable to start a family by the age of 35.
One of his patients, a 37-year-old woman who did not want to be named, said she chose not to wait. She just didn’t meet the man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with sooner than she expected.
“Before having a child, I would like to see how the relationship works first,” said the woman, who is eight months pregnant with her first child. “But I don’t understand why women would wait if they don’t have to.”
Meanwhile, continuing a national trend reflected in California, the report found that the state’s overall birth rate for teens ages 15 to 19 has fallen from a peak of 74 births. It was also revealed that
It went from 1,000 in 1991 to 38 per 1,000 in 2005.
California’s African American teen birth rate fell by 63 percent, and the Latino birth rate fell by 46 percent.
“This trend is very good news, given the social, economic and health problems historically associated with teenage childbirth,” Johnson said.
