Table 2.

Significant Covariate Effects in the Australian, Dutch and American Samples

Variable	Birth control (ever/never)	Years married	Catholic	Stepchildren	Education
Number of children
Australian females	ns	ns	χ12 = 17.63 β = .09	ns	ns
Dutch females	ns	χ12 = 14.44 β = .06	*	ns	ns
American females	ns	χ12 = 9.44 β = .01	χ12 = 34.31 β = .61	ns	ns
Number of pregnancies
Australian females	ns	ns	χ12 = 21.18 β = 1.01	ns	ns
Age 1st pregnancy
Australian females	ns	ns	ns	ns	χ12 = 9.03 β = 1.3
Dutch females	ns	χ12 = 8.12 β = –.16	ns	ns	χ12 = 38.62 β = 4.38

Note: ns = nonsignificant,

^*being Roman Catholic was not related to the number of children, but being religious was associated with an increase in the average number of children(χ₁² = 4.87, 1.53 children in those not religious and 2.50 in those religious). Being a member of a church showed an even stronger association with on average 3.11 children in church members versus 1.92 children in those who were not church members (χ₁² = 24.52).