Intergenerational Transmission of Reproductive Behavior in Sweden, 1850-1889

Previous studies have consistently observed intergenerational continuities in childbearing. This study uses individual-level parish records to examine the intergenerational transmission of fertility over the life course of women in Sweden during the fertility transition in the second half of the nineteenth century. Bivariate correlations, event history analysis and Poisson regression models are estimated for a large number of indicators of reproductive behavior. In line with the literature, the findings show evidence of intergenerational fertility correlations. The observed correlations are often small, but show that fertility transmission did occur during the demographic transition. The findings confirm our current understanding of intergenerational transmission and highlight the role of kin members in shaping reproductive outcomes.<br/

Family influences on fertility in Europe, 1850-1920

Item does not contain fulltextWageningen University, 10 juni 2020Promotores : Frankema, E.H.P., Kok, J. Co-promotor : Bras, H.A.J

Intergenerational Transmission of Reproductive Behavior in Sweden, 1850-1889

Previous studies have consistently observed intergenerational continuities in childbearing. This study uses individual-level parish records to examine the intergenerational transmission of fertility over the life course of women in Sweden during the fertility transition in the second half of the nineteenth century. Bivariate correlations, event history analysis and Poisson regression models are estimated for a large number of indicators of reproductive behavior. In line with the literature, the findings show evidence of intergenerational fertility correlations. The observed correlations are often small, but show that fertility transmission did occur during the demographic transition. The findings confirm our current understanding of intergenerational transmission and highlight the role of kin members in shaping reproductive outcomes.<br/

Family Systems and Fertility, Western Europe 1870-1960

This paper investigates the associations between fertility decline in Western Europe since the nineteenth century and the most elementary institution through which relationships between kin are defined: the family. Fertility levels in Western Europe declined strongly since the mid-nineteenth century but also show marked regional variations, comparable to developments in sub-Saharan Africa in the world today. Recent explanations of fertility decline point at the role of social relationships with kin and non-kin in the diffusion of family limitation. Based on the classification of family systems by Emmanuel Todd, theoretical connections between family systems and the level and speed of fertility change are made. Non-authoritarian family systems are expected to be more open towards change since non-kin are more likely to enter the social network. Authoritarian family systems on the other hand are expected to maintain higher levels of fertility due to the dense kinship networks. The findings in this paper show no clear association between family systems and reproductive outcomes during the course of the demographic transition. Fertility outcomes are more strongly associated with past fertility levels and the level of fertility in neighbouring regions

Moederschap en sociale netwerken in Oekraïne, 1955-1965

Contains fulltext : 119901pub.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access

With the Help of Kin? Household Composition and Reproduction in The Netherlands, 1842-1920

Relatives play an important role in human reproduction according to evolutionary theories of reproductive behavior, but previous empirical studies show large differences in the effects of kin on fertility outcomes. In our paper we examine the effect of co-resident kin and non-kin on the length of birth intervals over the reproductive life course of Dutch women born between 1842 and 1920. We estimate Cox proportional hazard models for parity progression based on the presence of kin and non-kin in the household while controlling for a large number of individual and community-level characteristics. We find that couples living with their brothers experienced shorter birth intervals whereas couples residing with a widowed father had relatively longer birth intervals. The effects of these types of kin on reproduction were most pronounced up to the birth of the fifth child, but not thereafter. We found no effect for mothers or other types of kin

Courtship and bridal pregnancy in The Netherlands, 1870-1950

Item does not contain fulltextAlthough frowned upon, bridal pregnancies were a common phenomenon in early twentieth-century Netherlands, as they were in many European countries. However, there was a marked regional and social variation in their occurrence. This variation still awaits explanation. In this period with its ineffective forms of contraception, sexuality before marriage was risky. Who took those risks and in what circumstances? What cues from the environment ‘allowed’ (or refrained) unmarried couples from having sex? And what is the relevant ‘environment’ for adolescent lovers: what was the role of their peer group, of their parents, and of their church? In this article, we have used a dataset of nearly ten thousand fertile marriages (contracted between 1870 and 1950) with detailed information on the family backgrounds of the spouses. Moreover, we have combined this dataset with a questionnaire on local courtship customs in the early twentieth century. This allows us to perform a multilevel regression analysis of the likelihood of a premarital pregnancy, in which we can look simultaneously at the effects of social class, religion, family composition, characteristics of the couples themselves (level of homogamy), and local courtship customs. Our analysis of courtship customs focuses on communal norms about the timing of courtship (how young could one start), but especially on local practices regarding who (if at all) supervised the meetings of the lovers. Our results confirm earlier findings that bridal pregnancy in The Netherlands was strongly concentrated in proletarian as well as in protestant groups. We find evidence for parental tolerance for sexual urges of (endogamous) young couples who posed no threat to the planned property transmission. However, we also find evidence that youths deliberately advanced a marriage (using a pregnancy as leverage) to gain independence. Local and regional courtship customs seemed not strongly associated with high or low levels of bridal pregnancies.27 p