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Analysis of the Biological Clock Decision

Fuqua School of Business, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708
Fuqua School of Business, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708
keeney{at}duke.edu
dinah.vernik{at}duke.edu

The decisions of if and when to have a first child are very important for any woman or couple. This paper develops a model to examine when a woman should begin trying to conceive, which depends on the personal circumstances and values of each woman. The model incorporates separate objectives for a woman's professional, social, and family aspects of life and integrates them into a quality-of-life function that includes the changing relative importance of these aspects with age over a woman's life. Descriptions of the relative quality of each of these three aspects of a woman's life are modeled over time for different cases. One case involves no child and other cases involve the woman giving birth at different ages from 21 to 50. The probabilities of conceiving when trying, as a function of a woman's age, are included. The relative pros and cons of waiting until the late thirties to have a child to avoid perceived detrimental impacts on one's career or social life are investigated. Several illustrations are included in the paper to demonstrate insights that can be generated using the model.

Key Words: childbirth decisions; reproductive timing; reproductive decisions; conception decisions; child bearing; career-family trade-offs; baby decisions; biological clock time preference; personal decision making
History: Received on June 18, 2007. Accepted on August 10, 2007.

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				L. R. Keller and K. M. Kophazi From the Editors... Decision Analysis, June 1, 2008; 5(2): 57 - 59. [Abstract] [PDF]