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Title: Is Two Too Many? Parity and Mothers Labor Force Exit
Resulting in 1 citation.
1. Doren, Catherine
Is Two Too Many? Parity and Mothers Labor Force Exit
Presented: Philadelphia PA, American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, August 2018
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Births, Repeat / Spacing; Exits; First Birth; Labor Force Participation; Maternal Employment

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

Many mothers leave the labor force during their childbearing years. Conventional wisdom and qualitative research suggest there may be a tipping point at the second child when women are particularly likely to leave. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979, I find no evidence for a tipping point around the birth of second children. Women are instead most likely to leave the labor force when they are pregnant with their first child. Each subsequent child is associated with a smaller increase in the probability of exit. In addition, women who only ever have one child are less likely to leave the labor force than those who have more children. College-educated women who only have one child are especially unlikely to exit. I conclude with a discussion of why the tipping point hypothesis is so prevalent despite strong evidence against it.
Bibliography Citation
Doren, Catherine. "Is Two Too Many? Parity and Mothers Labor Force Exit." Presented: Philadelphia PA, American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, August 2018.