Fertility of Rhode Island women.

Rhode Island has always been an area of lower fertility than the nation as a whole in spite of a Catholic majority. Researchers in the early 1960s attributed this to the high degree of urbanization and above average female labor-force participation. This study considers demographic patterns and looks for factors which may have influenced them. It was found that women aged 40-49 had fewer children longer periods between marriage and 1st child and longer intervals between children. Women aged 30-39 were part of the baby boom and had more children with shorter intervals between. A larger proportion of the younger women were still childess. Those who did have children had a median of 15 months between marriage and 1st child and 21 months between 1st and 2nd children while for women 40-49 these intervals were 24 months and 39 months. However if the 32.4% under age 25 and the 14.7% aged 25-29 who are now childless to have children they will change these intervals significantly. Average number of children expected was 3.3 with the 30-39 age group expecting the most. Age at marriage was an important variable with women marrying at 25 or later expecting only 2 children compared with 3-4 among women married at age 20. The tendency especially among younger women is to expect fewer babies thus forecasting still lower birthrates for Rhode Island.