Table 2.

Characteristics by Education

	2000s	1990s	1980s
Less than bachelor’s
Married, spouse present
First births	0.48	0.59	0.75
Subsequent births	0.65	0.72	0.80
Education relative to spouse
Wife’s education ≥ husband’s	0.71	0.69	0.65
Age at first birth	24.4 (5.3)	24.5 (5.4)	24.6 (4.7)
Parity of subsequent births	2.7 (1.0)	2.7 (1.0)	2.7 (1.0)
Bachelor’s only
Married, spouse present
First births	0.91	0.93	0.92
Subsequent births	0.95	0.96	0.97
Education relative to spouse
Wife’s education ≥ husband’s	0.81	0.82	0.75
Age at first birth	30.0 (4.4)	29.4 (4.1)	28.4 (3.7)
Parity of subsequent births	2.5 (0.8)	2.5 (0.7)	2.4 (0.6)
Master’s plus
Married, spouse present
First births	0.95	0.95	0.98
Subsequent births	0.98	0.95	0.98
Education relative to spouse
Wife’s education ≥ husband’s	0.57	0.57	0.51
Age at first birth	32.2 (4.1)	32.4 (4.6)	30.5 (3.8)
Parity of subsequent births	2.4 (0.7)	2.4 (0.7)	2.4 (0.6)

Source: Author’s calculations based on the Survey of Income and Program Participation (1984, 1985, 1986, 1996, 2004, and 2008 panels).

Notes: The birth sample includes women ages eighteen to forty-five who gave birth during one of the SIPP panels. Standard deviations in parentheses when relevant.