Family Building Patterns of Professional Women

Citation

Cooney, Teresa M. & Uhlenberg, Peter (1989). Family Building Patterns of Professional Women. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 51(3), 749-758.

Abstract

Past work documents unique family-building patterns for highly educated professional women. This study advances previous research by comparing the family careers of professional women in law, medicine, and postsecondary teaching. Based on 1980 U.S. Census data for women aged 30-39, the analyses generally reveal greater involvement in marriage and childbearing for physicians than for lawyers and teachers. Also, lawyers show markedly higher rates of divorce and lower rates of remarriage than women in the other professions. Characteristics of their different occupations and their husbands are used to account for these observed differences. Suggestions for future research are made.

URL

http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/352173

Reference Type

Journal Article

Year Published

1989

Journal Title

Journal of Marriage and the Family

Author(s)

Cooney, Teresa M.
Uhlenberg, Peter