The age pattern of first-birth rates among U.S. women: the bimodal 1990s.
Between 1990 and 2002, the age pattern of Type I first-birth rates (i.e., the hazard of a first birth) among U.S. women was bimodal. This pattern, driven by changing differential fertility patterns among racial and ethnic groups, reached its apex at the mid-1990s and had almost vanished by the decade's end. Research on first-birth timing has tended to focus on Type II first-birth rates and therefore has failed to identify this larger, bimodal pattern. This article presents the benefits of using Type I rates, documents the emergence of the bimodal pattern via two new measures of bimodality, and uses a decomposition analysis to discuss the pattern's causes.
Sullivan
Rachel
R
Graduate Group in Sociology and Demography, University of California, Berkeley, 2232 Piedmont Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94720-2120, USA. rachsull@demog.berkeley.edu
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000193:education / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017677:Age Distribution; D015982:Bias; D001722:Birth Order; D001723:Birth Rate / Q000208:ethnology / Q000639:trends*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D019456:Health Transition; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000193:education / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D015993:Life Tables; D008423:Maternal Age; D008875:Middle Aged; D010298:Parity; D011159:Population Surveillance; D012044:Regression Analysis; D014481:United States; D044465:White People / Q000193:education / Q000706:statistics & numerical data