Self-Esteem Enhancement Through Fertility? Socioeconomic Prospects, Gender, and Mutual Influence

The author analyzes data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) using a LISREL model to determine whether having children influences ones self-esteem whether the effect of children upon self-esteem is stronger among the less socioeconomically privileged and among women and whether there is evidence of mutual influence in the relationship between having children and self-esteem. The NLSY is comprised of a multistage stratified probability sample of 12686 people aged 14-21 years when first interviewed in 1979. Respondents have been re-interviewed annually. The author considers the period 1979-88 during which the remaining 10465 participants in the sample were 23-30 years old. Relevant literature on the link between self-esteem and fertility were also reviewed. The author found that the number of children does not affect self-esteem for both men and women and for different socioeconomic groups. There is no evidence of nonlinearity in the relationship between number of children and self-esteem. Moreover self-esteem does not affect whether men or women have children.