Family, Life Course, and Society Commons^™

Having A First Versus A Second Child: Comparing Women's Maternity Leave Choices And Concerns, Medora W. Barnes

Medora W. Barnes

There are good reasons to suspect that the transition parents go through when having their second child may be different from when having their first, yet these differences remain understudied. This study focuses on one specific area of possible divergence by looking at how first-time versus secondtime mothers decide on maternity leave length. To address this question, a series of in-depth semistructured longitudinal interviews were conducted at three different times over the course of 1 year with 16 pregnant public school teachers; 8 of whom were having their first child and 8 their second child. Findings indicate that some areas …