ATTITUDES TOWARD CHILDBEARING AMONG YOUNG PARENTS

Grounded in both cultural and rational choice theories of fertility, t his article examines the positive and negative attitudes of young pare nts toward their own childbearing and childrearing experiences. With d ata from a subsample of 412 White and African American respondents, ou r analyses show marked differences in the combinations of variables th at predict attitudes of childbearing rewards and regrets. Respondents who find childbearing most rewarding are disproportionately White, fem ale, married, and have positive feelings about their first pregnancies . Those holding regretful childbearing attitudes, in contrast, are dis proportionately Black, materialistic, have three or more children, and express negative feelings about their first pregnancies. Thus, race a nd retrospections concerning experiences of first pregnancy significan tly predict both rewards and regrets. The findings are interpreted wit hin the context of cultural ambivalence and competing wants regarding the meaning of children to parents in contemporary society.