| dc.description.abstract | In this dissertation I investigate whether or not a
series of social, demographic, and cultural factors affect
fertility differently, in either direction or magnitude,
for men and women. This work situates the study of male
fertility within the existing demographic literature,
models and compares male and female fertility through the
use of a variety of dependent and independent variables,
discovers which of those variables reveal a difference
between the determinants of male and female fertility, and
extends understanding of how male fertility should be
studied in addition to and alongside female fertility.
Although there is a significant literature on the
biological and anatomic components of male fertility, there is little work published on the social and cultural factors that affect male fertility. Comparisons of male and female fertility are also lacking within the discipline of demography. The National Survey of Family Growth (Cycle 7) provides survey data on both men and women on a number of social, cultural, and demographic variables used either on
their own, or as components in the construction of
indicator variables. I present the results of models
utilizing both direct and indirect measures of fertility.
Three models are direct measures of fertility, and three
other indirect models examine behaviors as a measure of
exposure to the risk of fertility. Only four of these
models were significant under the initial analysis. Within
each of the models, the respondent’s age, poverty level,
age at first intercourse, and whether the respondent ever
married or cohabited presented the most frequent
differences, in either direction, magnitude, or both,
between males and females. I discuss the implications of
the findings presented in the dissertation, as well as the
potential for future research using other data or methods. | en |
