Incomplete reporting of men's fertility in the United States and Britain: A research note

We evaluate men's retrospective fertility histories from the British Househ old Panel Survey and the U.S. Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID). Furthe r, we analyze the PSID men's panel-updated fertility histories for their po ssible superiority over retrospective collection. One third to one half of men's nonmarital births and births within previous marriages are missed in estimates from retrospective histories. Differential survey underrepresenta tion of previously married men compared with previously married women accou nts for a substantial proportion of the deficits in previous-marriage ferti lity. More recent retrospective histories and panel-updated fertility histo ries improve reporting completeness, primarily by reducing the proportion o f marital births from unions that are no longer intact at the survey date.