Twentieth-century American men and women were often unable to live up to or down
to their own fertility ideals. In a national random sample of 11,126
ever-married men and women over the age of 44, “discrepant
fertility”—the difference between ideal fertility and completed
fertility—was common. This article seeks to identify the causes of such
discrepancies, and findings suggest that the most important exogenous factor is
“birth cohort.” Those born prior to or after the Great Depression
were prone to exhibit negative discrepant fertility, having had fewer children
than they thought ideal, while those born during the Depression—the
parents of the baby boom—were characterized by significant positive
discrepant fertility, having had more children than they thought ideal. It is
argued that these cohort effects are closely related to social and economic
conditions that prevailed as twentieth-century Americans came of age and
assessed their professional and familial prospects.