COUPLE DISAGREEMENT - EFFECTS ON THE FORMATION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF FERTILITY DECISIONS

This article focuses on how couple disagreement affects the translatio n of fertility desires into fertility intentions, and the implementati on of fertility intentions through the initiation of preceptive behavi or. We use data collected by interview from the husbands and wives of 201 married couples with no children, and 200 married couples with one child. Data were collected at four times, spanning a 3-1/2-year inter val. The effect on fertility intentions of couple disagreement in fert ility desires was modeled with regression analysis after disaggregatin g individuals in positive disagreement with their spouses (having stro nger desires) from those in negative disagreement with their spouses ( having weaker desires). The effect on preceptive behavior of couple di sagreement in fertility intentions was similarly modeled. The results reveal different patterns of positive/negative disagreement that vary by sex, parity, and time, and that differ for three different fertilit y desires/intentions and for the prediction of preceptive behavior. Th e discussion focuses on interpreting these findings in terms of a psyc hological state identified as ''responsiveness to spouse'' and on expl aining why this state varies by sex and across the life course.