Note on the Racial and Educational Factors in the Declining Birth-Rate
The declining birth-rate in the United States is usually ascribed to the diminishing rate of reproduction among the native born. It is necessary, however, to abandon the common identification of the native-born with the well-to do. A study of native, mixed, and foreign families represented in Mount Holyoke College ha the advantage of utilizing families of various nationalities but with similar economic and cultural standards. When the group studied is defined in this way the tendency toward larger families in the alien stock remains. The birth-rate in immigrant families has fallen within the last generation just as the birth-rate among the native-born has fallen, but the groups maintain their relative positions. The chances of survival for the children are lower in the immigrant families than in the (smaller) native families. A college education for the mother usually results in a smaller number of children but improved chances of survival for those children.