Coronavirus, Cohorts, and International Demography

This essay considers how the pandemic will shape current and upcoming cohorts of demographers

Early Women, Late Men: Timing Attitudes and Gender Differences in Marriage

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/138327/1/jomf12426_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/138327/2/jomf12426.pd

Like daughter, like son? Fertility decline and the transformation of gender systems in the family

BACKGROUND An important question for population research is whether fertility decline transforms gender systems. OBJECTIVE This paper contributes to answering this broad question by examining how fertility decline may change the relative value and roles of daughters versus sons in families. First, I outline theoretical pathways, suggesting that a key factor is the gender composition of families. As fertility declines, the proportion of families with children of only one gender increases, which may facilitate greater gender symmetry between daughters and sons. Second, I explore how fertility decline may be transforming the relative value and roles of sons and daughters in practice in one place. METHODS The analysis draws primarily on semi-structured interviews with 30 respondents living in one Indian village. RESULTS In recent decades, fertility has declined to at least replacement levels. Respondents also perceive changes in the gender system, including less son preference, more equal schooling for sons and daughters, more freedom in marriage and pre-marital relationships, and perhaps greater daughter support of parents in old age. CONCLUSIONS The results describe changes in the relative value, treatment, and behavior of sons and daughters that are consistent with the theorized effects of fertility decline. Future research is needed, however, to determine whether fertility decline makes a unique causal contribution to changes in the gender system

Going Nuclear? Family Structure and Young Women's Health in India, 1992-2006

Allendorf's work explores the possibility of increased health benefits for young married women who live in nuclear families in India today rather than the more traditional extended patrilocal family structure.Title VI Grant for National Resource Centers through the U.S. Department of Educationpublished or submitted for publicationnot peer reviewe

Hindu-Muslim differentials in child mortality in India

In India, Muslim children exhibit lower child mortality than Hindu children, in spite of the fact that, on average, their mothers are poorer and less educated – characteristics typically associated with higher child mortality. Using data from the National Family and Health Survey (NFHS-1, -2 and -3), we seek explanations for this paradox. We test the hypothesis that this paradox may be explained by lower son preference among Muslims. Indeed, lower son preference could produce a more typical pattern of sex differentials in mortality among Muslims and generate lower child mortality among them at the national level, compensating for their lower socio-economic status. However, we find no evidence for this hypothesis in the NFHS data. We find that Muslims are subject to a number of advantages, in addition to the better known disadvantages, which appear to contribute to their lower child mortality. However, part of the Muslim mortality advantage remains unexplained

New Research on Developmental Idealism

In this introduction, we offer an overview of developmental idealism (DI) theory and the contributions of this special issue. DI is a collection of values and beliefs about socioeconomic development and its causal links to other elements of societies. Within DI, some societal elements are identified as “modern,” inherently good, and helpful to development, while others are identified as “traditional,” undesirable, and unhelpful to development. DI theory posits that these schemas spread from Northwest European elites to ordinary people. In turn, people are motivated to adopt “modern” behaviors because they are seen as the means of achieving a good life and socioeconomic development. The articles in this special issue contribute to the empirical investigation of DI theory in a variety of ways. This issue enriches the DI methodological toolkit, demonstrating, for example, that DI measures are valid and reliable and that internet search queries can be used to examine DI. The articles also make strides in assessing the prevalence and nature of DI thinking, from the internet to far-flung geographic locations, including Albania, Kenya, Nepal, and Vietnam. Finally, this issue contributes to identifying pathways for the spread of DI, pointing to national elites, monetary incentives, and television

The Influence of Developmental Idealism on Marital Attitudes, Expectations, and Timing

Recent theory suggests that developmental idealism (DI) is an important source of variation and change in family behavior, yet this suggestion is largely untested at the individual level. This study examines the influence of DI beliefs and values on individuals' entrance into marriage. We hypothesize that when individuals and their parents endorse DI, they enter into marriage later, or more slowly. We also hypothesize that two pathways connecting DI to marriage are the instillation of older timing attitudes and expectations of marrying at older ages. We test these hypotheses using panel data collected in Nepal from 2008 to 2014. When young people and their parents endorsed DI, the young people valued older ages at marriage and expected to marry later. Young people's own DI endorsement also delayed their entrance into marriage, but parents' DI did not