WIVES MOTIVES AND FERTILITY

A model of fertility demand is constructed that incorporates a shift p arameter for wives' motives. The model is used to test the hypothesis that there is an inverse relationship between a wife's taste for child ren and her level of education. Data from the 1976 survey of Americans ' mental health indicate that wives who are motivated by both hope of power and affiliation in social interactions with their husbands do no t have less education than wives with other personality dispositions, tend to have more children, and tend to work fewer hours.