Motives for Child-Bearing in America and in India

Abstract

Samples of male and female Americans, the higher varnas of Indian Hindus, and Indian Muslims completed stories designed to elicit motives for wanting to have children. Significant differences between cultural groups and sexes were found for number of children described, sex ratios, ages, and whether children were named. Expressed primary motives were: for American males-vicarious fulfillment of avocational desires, father-child love, the father's loss of personal freedom; for American females-motherchild love, joy of watching children grow, loss of personal freedom; for Indian males-financial burden of fatherhood, vicarious fulfillment of vocational desires, improvement of status on being a father; for Indian females-improvement of status on being a mother, security in old age provided by sons, children's respect for the mother. Indian Muslims deviated slightly from their Hindu compatriots chiefly in that male children were described, to the exclusion of females.

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