Health and socio-demographic conditions as determinants of marriage and social mobility

This paper makes use of data collected from military registers and marriage certificates for the population of Alghero, in Sardinia, for the period 1866-1925, with the aim of investigating the role played by physical characteristics and health in the possibility of social mobility through marriage. Our findings demonstrate that, whereas physical defects and ill health had little impact on the chances of marrying an illiterate woman, these factors did have a negative effect on the chances of marrying a woman who was literate. In a context in which intergenerational social mobility remained limited and the family had the final say on marriage arrangements, it is likely that only healthy individuals were selected for marriages regarded as strategic for the purposes of forming and strengthening family alliances, and/or improving the social position within the community.health, marriage, Sardinia, social mobility

Male partner choice in Sardinia, late 19th-early 20th century

This paper makes use of data collected from military registers and marriage certificates for the population of Alghero, in Sardinia, for the period 1866-1925, with the aim of investigating the role played by physical characteristics and health in the possibility of social mobility through marriage. Our findings demonstrate that, whereas physical defects and ill health had little impact on the chances of marrying an illiterate woman, these factors did have a negative effect on the chances of marrying a woman who was literate. In a context in which intergenerational social mobility remained limited and the family had the final say on marriage arrangements, it is likely that only healthy individuals were selected for marriages regarded as strategic for the purposes of forming and strengthening family alliances, and/or improving the social position within the community

The Legacy of Foundlings in Emilia-Romagna (Italy)

Between 1820 and 1929, in Iggio and in Tiola, rural parishes not too distant from the respective chief towns, a large number of marriages occurred between natives and former foundlings. The study of the distribution of surnames within the provinces of Emilia-Romagna (Italy) leads one to believe that the phenomenon was quite widespread in this area. This observation does not wish to call into question what is known about the extinction of families from the towns, their continual replacement by people who immigrated from the surrounding countryside and the resulting gene flow; however, it supplies evidence of how, in many cases, this was accompanied by a gene flow, limited but not negligible, in the opposite direction. The gene flow from immigration occurring over the last hundred years would seem to be on a completely different scale, with a notable impact on the genetic structure of the populations studied

Socioeconomic status and fertility decline:Insights from historical transitions in Europe and North America

The timings of historical fertility transitions in different regions are well understood by demographers, but much less is known regarding their specific features and causes. In the study reported in this paper, we used longitudinal micro-level data for five local populations in Europe and North America to analyse the relationship between socio-economic status and fertility during the fertility transition. Using comparable analytical models and class schemes for each population, we examined the changing socio-economic differences in marital fertility and related these to common theories on fertility behaviour. Our results do not provide support for the hypothesis of universally high fertility among the upper classes in pre-transitional society, but do support the idea that the upper classes acted as forerunners by reducing their fertility before other groups. Farmers and unskilled workers were the latest to start limiting their fertility. Apart from these similarities, patterns of class differences in fertility varied significantly between populations

Spouse selection by health status and physical traits: Sardinia, 1856–1925

Military medical information and data from civil registers of death and marriage have been used to study the role of physical characteristics and health conditions in explaining access to marriage for the male population of Alghero, a small city located in Sardinia Island (Italy), at the turn of 19th century. Literature data about contemporary populations have already demonstrated the influence of somatic traits in the mate choice. The results presented here show that men with low height and poor health status at the age of 20 were negatively selected for marriage. This holds true also in a society where families often arranged marriages for their children. This pattern of male selection on marriage was found to be particularly marked among the richest and wealthiest SES groups. Our hypothesis is that this social group carefully selected for marriage those individuals who were apparently healthier and therefore more likely to guarantee good health status and better life conditions to offspring. In evolutionary terms, the mate choice component of sexual selection suggests that the height of prospective partners could be claimed as one of the determinants, along with other environmental causes, of the observed higher stature of men belonging to the wealthiest social strata of the Alghero population

Immigration, Poverty, and Infant and Child Mortality in the City of Madrid, 1916–1926

In this paper, we study differential infant and child mortality according to the origin of the mothers, natives of Madrid or immigrants, between 1916 and 1926. From 1880 to 1939, Madrid experienced spectacular demographic growth, with a massive influx of immigrants, mainly from the Castilian Plateau. Using the city’s records of births and deaths, which we linked for the study period, we demonstrate an important spatial heterogeneity in infant and child mortality across the city. Although the development of the town was planned in the 1860s, the infrastructure and the real estate market were overwhelmed by the continuous arrival of new inhabitants. Moreover, major investments in public health increased the gap between the wealthy districts and peripheral areas. These improvements deepened inequality. During years marked by the waves of the influenza pandemic, we isolate the impact of poverty, which threatened the survival of newborns through poor nutrition, deficient hygienic infrastructures and deplorable housing conditions. Such features explain the impressive association between summer and the risk of dying from enteritis, diarrhea and other diseases of the same type among weaned children. However, the mortality differentials between the offspring of native and migrant mothers were surprisingly small, which we explained in terms of behavioral adaptation to the large city and its mass society.</p

Mortality in the first years of life in Madrid (1916-1926) inequalities across the urban environment

Peer reviewe

The unusual path of Sardinian fertility transition

Findings from the Princeton Project show that fertility decline in Italy, as in other European countries, followed its own specific path. Despite initially low levels compared to other Southern regions, fertility levels in Sardinia went on to become the highest in Italy during the 1950s. While the national average was around 2.3 and that of the south was 3.2, the TFR of Sardinia was approaching 4 children per woman. In contrast, Sardinia presently has the lowest fertility levels of all the Italian regions. Here I will explore this peculiar path, using both aggregate and individual data.Fundación BBVAN