Abstract: | The impact of changes in the status of women on the demographic characteristics and development of the family in the USSR is examined. Three stages of family development are distinguished: formation, growth as a result of the birth of children, and dissolution with the departure of grown children. The relationship between changes in women's social status and age at marriage, family size, and divorce is analyzed. The effects of factors such as educational level, type of employment, exposure to mass media, urban residence, and declining infant mortality rates on women's attitudes toward family size are discussed. |