Real Number of Children and Conjugal Interaction in French Urban Families: A Comparison with American Families.

Using the data collected from two studies in France and America about the relationships between marital interaction and real number of children, the authors found that in both countries better marital salts faction and agreement are related to the success of the realization of the desired number of children and not to the actual number of children. Furthermore, excessive fertility in France and in America is more damaging to conjugal interaction than negative fertility. In both countries the wife's satisfaction with the standard of living is the single aspect of marital interaction which is related to the real number of children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]