Washington Week: Student Voices (O)

Americans having more kids, says study
By Valerie Housley
The Daily Universe (BYU)
08/01/2006

(U-WIRE) PROVO, Utah — Babies, babies, babies — they're everywhere these days, according to a recent study. Not surprisingly, BYU follows, or perhaps leads, the trend.

According to a study published in the May 2006 issue of LIFE Magazine, Americans are having more children. Today the average birthrate is 2.1, compared to 1.5 in 1992, with the traditional four-member family — mom, dad, brother and sister — as standard. But the pull toward smaller families is not the typical trend anymore.

"It seems everybody used to have two, maybe three children," said Dr. Marjorie Greenfield in the study, an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at University Hospitals of Cleveland. "Now they're having three and maybe four."

David Dollahite, a professor in home and family living, said BYU has little problems in the baby department.

While BYU doesn't track the number of children its students have, the overall birthrate for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints reaches 3.7, almost double the national average. However, despite the difference between the national average and the church average, the overall birthrate for LDS members has historically been higher than it is now.

"Although the Church does not publish fertility statistics, the best available data suggest that the overall birthrate for LDS parents is about 3.7," said Dollahite. "While it is twice the national average, the number is down from recent years, and I would be surprised to hear of any other university that had a higher number of parents in school than BYU."

For the past three decades, American families have been shrinking because more women are entering the workforce and the cost of child rearing is on the rise. However, the National Center for Health Statistics' data has shown an increase in the number of births to families of two or more children. In their most recent survey, 28 percent of all births in 2003 were to families who already had two or more children — an increase of almost 4 percent since 1996 and 12 percent since 1984.

Some BYU students have already started experiencing the joys and stresses of balancing school, work and a growing family.

Josh Sparks, 27, is working toward earning a degree in exercise science while he and his wife raise two kids at home.

"Some days are harder than others," he said. "But my wife has been a trooper and has been understanding of my schooling through it all."

After his April 2007 graduation, Sparks plans to attend dental school — another four years of education.

His years of schooling, however, didn't deter him and his wife from starting a family.

"We have been married for six years now and waited three years before we started having kids," he said. "The actual number of kids we'll have is unknown, but we know we want at least four."

Sparks and his wife knew that if they decided to put off having children until he finished school, they would both be 32.

"If we were to wait until I was done I would be putting my wife's dream of being a mother on hold," he said. "And to me that is kind of selfish."

Sparks' life motto and advice to other students is "family comes first."

Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles commented on childbearing in a 1993 October General Conference.

"When married couples postpone childbearing until after they have satisfied their material goals, the mere passage of time assures that they seriously reduce their potential to participate in furthering our Heavenly Father's plan for all of his spirit children," Elder Oaks said.

Growing up in different cultures and areas can shape people's view points on when to start a family and how many children to have.

Dollahite said this study should be encouraging to BYU students, especially those who come from outside of Utah.

"It should be encouraging to know that many of our friends of other faiths — Orthodox Jews, Muslims, and many Catholics and others — like us believe strongly in family, and like us believe that welcoming a good number of children into our families is doing God's work," he said.

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