Interest in Parenting at the End of the Eighties: A Study of Canadian Students

This paper begins by comparing the numbers of children wanted by Anglophone and Francophone Canadian students who responded to surveys conducted in 1968 1977 and 1988. The 1988 data are then used to test hypotheses suggested by the work of Lesthaeghe (1983) Keyfitz (1986) Preston (1986) and Schultz (1986) and these hypotheses are largely supported. Differences in the independent variables predictive of numbers of children wanted in 1978 and 1988 are discussed as well. The analyses generally indicate the increasing importance of predictive variables relating to increased freedom of choice with respect to fertility and some decline in the effectiveness of family influences. (SUMMARY IN FRE) (EXCERPT)