In this paper data from the Michigan Time Use Survey are used to document the extent of misperceptions of reproductive ideals among couples. Perceptual errors of spouses are found to be common and also nonrandom. The errors are influenced by a variety of socioeconomic variables. The paper concludes that research on fertility intentions and contraceptive use-effectiveness, which uses wife-only data, may be flawed. The paper also speculates on the extent and quality of marital communication.
This research was supported in part by a grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
Daniel Seiver is a Professor of Economics, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio 45056. He received his Ph.D. from Yale. Dr. Seiver''s research interests include financial economics, fertility, and microeconomic theory.
Donald Cymrot received his Ph.D. from Brown University. His research interests include labor economics and the economics of pensions. Dr. Cymrot is a researcher for the Center for Naval Analyses, 4401 Ford Avenue, P.O. Box 16268, Alexandria, Virginia 22303-0268.