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Running Head: DISCUSSION: DO MEN AND WOMEN DIFFER

Discussion: Do Men and Women Differ in the Number of Children They Would Like to Have?

Jazmine Norwood

SOWK 300

McArthur

Tuskegee University
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SDA 3.2: Tables

General Social Surveys, 1972-2006 [Cumulative File]

Apr 02, 2009 (Thu 03:25 PM PDT)

Variables
Role Name Label Range MD Dataset
Row CHLD2 IDEAL NUMBER OF CHILDREN 1-2 -1,9 2
Column SEX RESPONDENTS SEX 1-2 0 1
Control DEGREE RS HIGHEST DEGREE 0-4 7,8,9 1
Weight WTSSALL WEIGHT VARIABLE .4297-6.4287 1

Statistics for DEGREE = 0(LT HIGH SCHOOL)

Cells contain: SEX

-Column percent 1 2 ROW
-Weighted N MALE FEMALE TOTAL
45.6 46.9 46.3
1: 0 thru 2
1,541 1,882 3,423
54.4 53.1 53.7
CHLD2 2: 3 or more
1,838 2,130 3,968
100.0 100.0 100.0
COL TOTAL
3,380 4,012 7,392

Statistics for DEGREE = 1(HIGH SCHOOL)

Cells contain: SEX

-Column percent 1 2 ROW
-Weighted N MALE FEMALE TOTAL
58.3 56.0 57.0
1: 0 thru 2
4,164 5,218 9,382
41.7 44.0 43.0
CHLD2 2: 3 or more
2,982 4,097 7,079
100.0 100.0 100.0
COL TOTAL
7,146 9,315 16,461
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Statistics for DEGREE = 2(JUNIOR COLLEGE)

Cells contain: SEX

-Column percent 1 2 ROW
-Weighted N MALE FEMALE TOTAL
60.6 58.8 59.6
1: 0 thru 2
392 505 896
39.4 41.2 40.4
CHLD2 2: 3 or more
254 354 608
100.0 100.0 100.0
COL TOTAL
646 858 1,504

Statistics for DEGREE = 3(BACHELOR)

Cells contain: SEX

-Column percent 1 2 ROW
-Weighted N MALE FEMALE TOTAL
59.3 60.7 60.0
1: 0 thru 2
1,166 1,217 2,383
40.7 39.3 40.0
CHLD2 2: 3 or more
801 788 1,589
100.0 100.0 100.0
COL TOTAL
1,967 2,005 3,972

Statistics for DEGREE = 4(GRADUATE)

Cells contain: SEX

-Column percent 1 2 ROW
-Weighted N MALE FEMALE TOTAL
61.5 62.3 61.8
1: 0 thru 2
630 469 1,099
38.5 37.7 38.2
CHLD2 2: 3 or more
394 284 679
100.0 100.0 100.0
COL TOTAL
1,024 753 1,777

Statistics for all valid cases

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Cells contain: SEX

-Column percent 1 2 ROW
-Weighted N MALE FEMALE TOTAL
55.7 54.8 55.2
1: 0 thru 2
7,894 9,290 17,184
44.3 45.2 44.8
CHLD2 2: 3 or more
6,270 7,653 13,923
100.0 100.0 100.0
COL TOTAL
14,163 16,943 31,107

Allocation of cases (unweighted)

Valid cases 31,032
Cases with invalid codes on
19,988
row, column or control variable
Total cases 51,020

Datasets
1 /html/D3/GSS06
2 /html/Npubvars/GSS06
CSM, UC Berkeley

Results

When looking at the association between how many children one may want and the sex of that

person, females and males wanted between none and two children. Makes were more likely to want

between 0 and 2 children by one more percent than women. The results showed that women were more

likely to want three or more children with a percent of 45.2% and 44.3%. Both men and women had the

same idea on whether they wanted 0 to 2 children or three or more.

Once a control variable was added such as degree, the results varied. The level of degree studied

was the education level of an individual consisting of high school, junior college, bachelor, and graduate
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levels. For those who went to high school more men preferred to want to have less than three children

with a percent of 58.3% and a female percentage of 56.0%. Upon looking at those who wanted more than

two kids, females had a percentage of 44.0% and men had 41.7%.

Males who attended junior college had a total of 60.6% of wanting less than three children compared to

58.8% of women. In the case of wanting three or more children males had a percentage of 39.4% and

women totaled 41.5%. When looking at those with a bachelor’s degree, more women wanted less than

three children and males preferred to have three or more children. Those at the graduate level had similar

results to individuals with a bachelor’s degree; women had a percentage of 62.3% and males had a

percentage of three or more kids.

Discussion

It appears that the level of education obtained made a difference on how many children an

individual wants. On any education level the amount of kids wanted were not very different but the level

of education did make a difference on how many kids an individual wanted depending on the gender of

the individual. The lower the level of education obtained the higher the percentage of males wanting three

or less children. As the education level rose, more females wanted fewer children and males wanted more.

No matter what the education level, the percentages were higher for individuals to want 0 to 2 children;

the change occurred when women preferred to have less than three children opposed to wanting more

than three. Having a higher education may have caused males to have better paying jobs therefore

allowing them to provide for a larger family. The reason women with higher education may want to have

less than three children may be due to the jobs they do have. Having a better paying job would mean more

hours which would give a woman less time to have for children.

Conclusion

Whether a male or female wanted less than three kids or more than three kids, the percentages

were extremely close. The difference in the percentages occurred once the control variable was added.
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Upon adding levels of degree caused a change in how many children a male wanted compared to how

many children a woman wanted. The end results show that the lower a males’ education is the less

children he wants and the higher a females’ education the less children she wants.