36 BULLETIN 1466, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
regarded as influencing the demands or desires of the family as ex- 
pressed in the value of goods used, (2) those involving the use of 
time as an aspect of the standard of living, and (3) those indicative 
of the family's ability to provide the economic goods of family liv- 
ing. Analyses of the factors selected for their relationship to the 
standard of living are limited to the tabular method. The standard 
of living is defined and measured in terms of the values of goods 
used, as in the preceding pages, although a less detailed classification 
of the goods involved is made to suffice in most instances. The prin- 
cipal groups of goods are limited to food, clothing, rent, advance- 
ment, and all others, except with the number of children and the 
ages of children per family where the detailed classification is used. 
FACTORS REGARDED AS INFLUENCING THE DEMANDS AND DESIRES OF THE 
FAMILY 
Among the factors regarded as influencing the demands and de- 
sires of the family, as expressed in the value of goods used, are (1) 
number of children and ages of children per family, (2) the ages 
of operator and home maker, (3) formal schooling of operator and 
home maker, and (4) isolation, in terms of distances from the local 
trading center, church, and high school. 
NUMBER OF CHILDREN PER FAMILY 
The results of tabulation by the number of children per family 
are shown in Table 12. A few explanatory notes are necessary in 
connection with Table 12, preceding an interpretation of the existing 
relationships. Only those households consisting of members of the 
immediate family supported from the family purse, 1,662 in number, 
are included. All households having hired helpers, boarders, rela- 
tives, or others housed or fed at the family table during all or part 
of the year of study are excluded. Families with sons or daughters 
away at school or college, provided their expenses are paid from the 
family purse, are included. Thus, each family represented in the 
table could be classified readily on the basis of the number of per- 
sons supported during the year of study. 
It will be noted that the average value of all goods used by the 
1,662 families, $1,469.60 (Table 12), is somewhat lower than the 
average value of all goods used by all families of the study, $1,597.50 
(Table 1). It is interesting, however, that the distributions of these 
values among the different groups of goods are not widely different. 
The percentages of the total value of all goods devoted to rent and 
to personal uses are the same in both instances. The percentages 
of the total value of all goods for food, clothing, and furniture and 
furnishings are slightly higher with the 1,662 families, whereas the 
percentages for operation goods, maintenance of health, advancement 
goods, insurance, and unclassified goods are slightly higher with all 
families. 
The proportion that the value of goods furnished by the farm is 
of the value of all goods used is higher with the 1,662 families — 
44.1 per cent — in comparison with the 42.8 per cent furnished by the 
farm for all families. This higher percentage for the 1,662 families 
is due in part to relatively heavier demands by the families support- 
ing children only for the more essential goods of family living, as 
food, housing, and fuel, the bulk of which is furnished by the farm. 
