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Author: Stabler, Samuel
Resulting in 3 citations.
1. Maralani, Vida
Stabler, Samuel
Intensive Parenting: Fertility and Breastfeeding Duration in the United States
Demography 55,5 (October 2018): 1681-1704.
Also: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13524-018-0710-7
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Population Association of America
Keyword(s): Births, Repeat / Spacing; Breastfeeding; Expectations/Intentions; Fertility

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Using 30 years of longitudinal data from a nationally representative cohort of women, we study the association between breastfeeding duration and completed fertility, fertility expectations, and birth spacing. We find that women who breastfeed their first child for five months or longer are a distinct group. They have more children overall and higher odds of having three or more children rather than two, compared with women who breastfeed for shorter durations or not at all. Expected fertility is associated with initiating breastfeeding but not with how long mothers breastfeed. Thus, women who breastfeed longer do not differ significantly from other breastfeeding women in their early fertility expectations. Rather, across the life course, these women achieve and even exceed their earlier fertility expectations. Women who breastfeed for shorter durations (1-21 weeks) are more likely to fall short of their expected fertility than to achieve or exceed their expectations, and they are significantly less likely than women who breastfeed for longer durations (≥22 weeks) to exceed their expected fertility. In contrast, women who breastfeed longer are as likely to exceed as to achieve their earlier expectations, and the difference between their probability of falling short versus exceeding their fertility expectations is relatively small and at the boundary of statistical significance (p = .096). These differences in fertility are not explained by differences in personal and family resources, including family income or labor market attachment. Our findings suggest that breastfeeding duration may serve as a proxy for identifying a distinct approach to parenting. Women who breastfeed longer have reproductive patterns quite different than their socioeconomic position would predict. They both have more children and invest more time in those children.
Bibliography Citation
Maralani, Vida and Samuel Stabler. "Intensive Parenting: Fertility and Breastfeeding Duration in the United States." Demography 55,5 (October 2018): 1681-1704.
2. Maralani, Vida
Stabler, Samuel
The Fertility Patterns of Women Who Breastfeed
Presented: Washington DC, Population Association of America Annual Meeting, March-April 2016
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Population Association of America
Keyword(s): Births, Repeat / Spacing; Breastfeeding; Expectations/Intentions; Family Size; Fertility

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Demographers have long studied breastfeeding as part of the process of fertility. There is, however, little demographic work on how breastfeeding fits into women's reproductive lives in the U.S. Using longitudinal data from a cohort of American women with completed fertility, we study the relationship between breastfeeding and subsequent fertility timing and levels. We also study differences in fertility intentions early in life by the breastfeeding status women go on to have. We find that women who breastfeed their first child for at least five months have larger families than those who breastfeed for shorter durations or not at all. These women also have significantly shorter intervals between births. Moreover, these women report higher expected fertility at ages 14-22, before ever conceiving their first child. These findings run counter to the quality-quantity tradeoff. Women who breastfeed choose both to have more children and to invest more time in those children.
Bibliography Citation
Maralani, Vida and Samuel Stabler. "The Fertility Patterns of Women Who Breastfeed." Presented: Washington DC, Population Association of America Annual Meeting, March-April 2016.
3. Maralani, Vida
Stabler, Samuel
The Wages and Work Patterns of Women Who Breastfeed Their Children
Presented: New Orleans LA, Population Association of America Annual Meeting, April 2013
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Population Association of America
Keyword(s): Breastfeeding; Earnings; Labor Force Participation; Maternal Employment; Wages

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

We revisit the question of how the earnings of women who breastfeed might differ from the earnings of those who do not. Breastfeeding is just one of numerous changes, constraints, and choices that come with having a new child. In order to understand the role that breastfeeding plays in the working lives of women, our analyses link this question back to the larger literature on work and motherhood. We describe differences in women’s economic outcomes (wages, weeks worked, annual earnings) by breastfeeding separately for those who stay in the labor force versus those who take time off or leave. We answer the following research questions: do women who breastfeed their children have different work patterns, including leaves from work, than women who do not breastfeed at all? Conditional on working within one year after giving birth, what is the difference in the wages that women earn by breastfeeding status?
Bibliography Citation
Maralani, Vida and Samuel Stabler. "The Wages and Work Patterns of Women Who Breastfeed Their Children." Presented: New Orleans LA, Population Association of America Annual Meeting, April 2013.