Private Pensions and Individual Savings

had their second child expected on t,he average to have 3 children when their families are completed; those who had had a fourth child expected 4.6 children. While these expectations are somewhat, lower than those found among white Detroit area women at comparable parities, there is serious question as to whether they are realistic. Attitudes and use of birth control among the Negro sample lend credence to the idea that expectations may not be realized. A fairly high proportion indicated that they were in favor of birth control, but considerable numbers also reported never having used it. Family income, education, and occupation were all positively related to later marriage and slower family building patterns. Twenty-five percent of the second-parity families and 52 percent of the fourth either were receiving welfare assistance at the time of the interview or had received it sometime in the past. While a sample of this size does not, provide a large number of cases for detailed analysis, the differences were large and striking and worth comment. Wives who were receiving welfare, or had been in the past, expected more children than those who had never been on welfare, and timing patterns indicate that the differentials in expectations of the two groups may if anything be accentuated when families are completed. Earlier marriage, more illegitimacy, and shorter intervals between births characterized the welfare group. There was a great deal of dissatisfaction with this timing of children. The low proportion who have ever used birth control, ho\vever, makes the probability slight that the spacing pattern will change to one more to the respondents’ liking.