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Mburu G, Kiarie J, Allotey P. Towards a nuanced view and response to global fertility trends. Lancet 2024; 403:1953-1956. [PMID: 38521085 DOI: 10.1016/s0140-6736(24)00490-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/26/2024] [Accepted: 03/07/2024] [Indexed: 03/25/2024]
Affiliation(s)
- Gitau Mburu
- UNDP-UNFPA-UNICEF-WHO-World Bank Special Programme of Research, Development and Research Training in Human Reproduction, Department of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Research, World Health Organization, Geneva 1211, Switzerland.
| | - James Kiarie
- UNDP-UNFPA-UNICEF-WHO-World Bank Special Programme of Research, Development and Research Training in Human Reproduction, Department of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Research, World Health Organization, Geneva 1211, Switzerland
| | - Pascale Allotey
- UNDP-UNFPA-UNICEF-WHO-World Bank Special Programme of Research, Development and Research Training in Human Reproduction, Department of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Research, World Health Organization, Geneva 1211, Switzerland
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2
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Bustos B, Lopez M, Dodge KA, Lansford JE, Copeland WE, Odgers CL, Bruckner TA. Family cash transfers in childhood and birthing persons and birth outcomes later in life. SSM Popul Health 2024; 25:101623. [PMID: 38420110 PMCID: PMC10899058 DOI: 10.1016/j.ssmph.2024.101623] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2023] [Revised: 02/05/2024] [Accepted: 02/07/2024] [Indexed: 03/02/2024] Open
Abstract
Much literature in the US documents an intergenerational transmission of birthing person and perinatal morbidity in socioeconomically disadvantaged groups. A separate line of work indicates that family cash transfers may improve life chances of low-income families well into adulthood. By exploiting a quasi-random natural experiment of a large family cash transfer among a southeastern American Indian (AI) tribe in rural North Carolina, we examine whether a "perturbation" in socioeconomic status during childhood improves birthing person/perinatal outcomes when they become parents themselves. We acquired birth records on 6805 AI and non-AI infants born from 1995 to 2018. Regression methods to examine effect modification tested whether the birthing person's American Indian (AI) status and exposure to the family cash transfer during their childhood years corresponds with improvements in birthing person and perinatal outcomes. Findings show an increase in age at childbearing (coef: 0.15 years, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.05, 0.25) and a decrease in pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI; coef: -0.42, 95% CI: -0.76, -0.09) with increased duration of cash transfer exposure during childhood. The odds of large-for-gestational age at delivery, as well as mean infant birthweight, is also reduced among AI births whose birthing person had relatively longer duration of exposure to the cash transfer. We, however, observe no relation with other birthing person/perinatal outcomes (e.g., tobacco use during pregnancy, preterm birth). In this rural AI population, cash transfers in one generation correspond with improved birthing person and infant health in the next generation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brenda Bustos
- Program in Public Health, University of California, Irvine, 856 Health Sciences Quad Irvine, CA, 92697, USA
| | - Marcela Lopez
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California, Irvine, 856 Health Sciences Quad Irvine, CA, 92697, USA
| | - Kenneth A. Dodge
- Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University, 201 Science Drive, Durham, NC, 27708, USA
| | - Jennifer E. Lansford
- Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University, 201 Science Drive, Durham, NC, 27708, USA
| | - William E. Copeland
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Vermont, 1 South Prospect, Burlington, VT, 05405, USA
| | - Candice L. Odgers
- School of Social Ecology, University of California, Irvine, 4326 Social & Behavioral Sciences Gateway, Irvine, CA, 92697, USA
| | - Tim A. Bruckner
- Program in Public Health, University of California, Irvine, 856 Health Sciences Quad Irvine, CA, 92697, USA
- Center for Population, Inequality, and Policy, University of California, Irvine, School of Social Sciences, Irvine, CA, 92697, USA
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3
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Nisén J, Bijlsma MJ, Martikainen P, Wilson B, Myrskylä M. The gendered impacts of delayed parenthood: A dynamic analysis of young adulthood. ADVANCES IN LIFE COURSE RESEARCH 2022; 53:100496. [PMID: 36652214 DOI: 10.1016/j.alcr.2022.100496] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/27/2021] [Revised: 05/13/2022] [Accepted: 07/01/2022] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
Young adulthood is a dynamic and demographically dense stage in the life course. This poses a challenge for research on the socioeconomic consequences of parenthood timing, which most often focuses on women. We chart the dynamics of delayed parenthood and its implications for educational and labor market trajectories for young adult women and men using a novel longitudinal analysis approach, the parametric g-formula. This method allows the estimation of both population-averaged effects (among all women and men) and average treatment effects (among mothers and fathers). Based on high-quality data from Finnish registers, we find that later parenthood exacerbates the educational advantage of women in comparison to men and attenuates the income advantage of men in comparison to women across young adult ages. Gender differences in the consequences of delayed parenthood on labor market trajectories are largely not explained by changes in educational trajectories. Moreover, at the time of entering parenthood, delayed parenthood improves the incomes of fathers more than those of mothers, thereby exacerbating existing gender differences. The results provide population-level evidence on how the delay of parenthood has contributed to the strengthening of women's educational position relative to that of men. Further, the findings on greater increases in fathers' than mothers' incomes at the time of entering parenthood, as followed by postponement, may help explain why progress in achieving gender equality in the division of paid and unpaid work in families has been slow.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jessica Nisén
- Invest Research Flagship & Department of Social Research, University of Turku, Assistentinkatu 7, 20500 Turku, Finland; Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Konrad-Zuse-Straße 1, 18057 Rostock, Germany.
| | - Maarten J Bijlsma
- Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Konrad-Zuse-Straße 1, 18057 Rostock, Germany; Groningen Research Institute of Pharmacy, PTEE, University of Groningen, Antonius Deusinglaan 1, 9713 AV Groningen, Netherlands
| | - Pekka Martikainen
- Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Konrad-Zuse-Straße 1, 18057 Rostock, Germany; Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki, PL 18 (Unioninkatu 35), 00014 Helsinki, Finland
| | - Ben Wilson
- Demography Unit (SUDA), Stockholm University, Department of Sociology, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden; Department of Social Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE, United Kingdom
| | - Mikko Myrskylä
- Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Konrad-Zuse-Straße 1, 18057 Rostock, Germany; Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki, PL 18 (Unioninkatu 35), 00014 Helsinki, Finland; Department of Social Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE, United Kingdom
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4
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Saarela J, Wilson B. Forced Migration and the Childbearing of Women and Men: A Disruption of the Tempo and Quantum of Fertility? Demography 2022; 59:707-729. [PMID: 35322268 DOI: 10.1215/00703370-9828869] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
It is well known that migrant fertility is associated with age at migration, but little is known about this relationship for forced migrants. We study an example of displacement in which the entire population of Finnish Karelia was forced to move elsewhere in Finland in the 1940s. This displacement was unique because of its size and scale, because we have data on almost the whole population of both men and women who moved, and because of the similarity between origin and destination. These aspects enable us to investigate the disruptive impact of forced migration, net of other factors such as adaptation and selection. For all ages at migration from one to 20, female forced migrants had lower levels of completed fertility than similar women born in present-day Finland, which suggests a permanent impact of migration. However, women born in the same year as the initial forced migration showed no difference, which may indicate the presence of a counterbalancing fertility-increasing effect, as observed elsewhere for people born during a humanitarian crisis. There is less evidence of an impact for men, which suggests a gendered impact of forced migration-and its timing-on fertility. Results are similar after controlling for social and spatial mobility, indicating that there may be no major trade-off between reproduction and these forms of mobility.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jan Saarela
- Demography Unit, Åbo Akademi University, Vaasa, Finland
| | - Ben Wilson
- Department of Sociology, University of Stockholm, Stockholm, Sweden.,Department of Methodology, London School of Economics, London, UK
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5
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Chen S. The Positive Effect of Women's Education on Fertility in Low-Fertility China. EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF POPULATION = REVUE EUROPEENNE DE DEMOGRAPHIE 2022; 38:125-161. [PMID: 35370527 PMCID: PMC8924343 DOI: 10.1007/s10680-021-09603-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2020] [Accepted: 12/27/2021] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Despite pervasive evidence of more educated women having lower fertility, it remains unclear whether education reduces women's fertility. This study presents new evidence of the causal effect of women's education on fertility from China, where fertility has remained below the replacement level since the early 1990s. To account for endogeneity, the study exploits the timing and varying intensity of China's higher education expansion as exogenous sources of increase in women's education. Using data from China General Social Survey (2010-2012), findings show that each year of women's education induced by the higher education expansion increases the number of children ever born by 10%. According to the average marginal effects, each additional year of women's education increases the number of children ever born by 0.14, decreases the probability of having no children by 3 percentage points, and increases the probability of having two or more children by 4 percentage points. Two mechanisms drive the positive effect of education: first, education does not cause an increase in the mean age at first marriage; second, among ever-married women, education increases their demand for children. Findings from this study have important implications for China and other low-fertility developing countries.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shuang Chen
- Department of Social Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, London, WC2A 2AE UK
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6
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Fieder M, Huber S. Contemporary selection pressures in modern societies? Which factors best explain variance in human reproduction and mating? EVOL HUM BEHAV 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2021.08.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
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7
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Changing trends between education, childlessness and completed fertility: a cohort analysis of Australian women born in 1952–1971. JOURNAL OF POPULATION RESEARCH 2021. [DOI: 10.1007/s12546-021-09269-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
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8
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Vollset SE, Smith AE, Bisignano C, Murray CJL. Trends in population health and demography - Authors' reply. Lancet 2021; 398:581-582. [PMID: 34391499 DOI: 10.1016/s0140-6736(21)01049-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2021] [Accepted: 04/30/2021] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Stein Emil Vollset
- Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
| | - Amanda E Smith
- Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
| | - Catherine Bisignano
- Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
| | - Christopher J L Murray
- Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nico Keilman
- Department of Economics, University of Oslo, N 0951 Oslo, Norway.
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10
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Andersson L. Online Distance Education and Transition to Parenthood Among Female University Students in Sweden. EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF POPULATION = REVUE EUROPEENNE DE DEMOGRAPHIE 2019; 35:795-823. [PMID: 31656462 PMCID: PMC6797673 DOI: 10.1007/s10680-018-9503-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/20/2017] [Accepted: 10/23/2018] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
Abstract
The expansion of tertiary education is key to understanding postponement of first births. Currently, online distance education is changing the nature of university enrolment. In this study, I suggest that online distance education impacts on fertility by facilitating the transition to parenthood among students. I examine the relationship between online distance education and first births during university enrolment. Using survival analysis of register data for the 1968-1991 female cohorts, I examine the impact of distance and campus education on first-parity transitions during university enrolment between 2004 and 2012 (N = 938,768). Results indicate that the negative association between enrolment and first parity conception differs substantially between campus and distance enrolment. Compared to non-enrolment, the hazard of first parity conception is 70% lower during campus enrolment but 43% lower during distance enrolment. These findings are discussed in relation to educational heterogeneity and fertility postponement and the impact of technological innovation on family dynamics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Linus Andersson
- Swedish Institute for Social Research, Universitetsvägen 10 F, Stockholm, Sweden
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11
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Stature and education among Roma women: taller stature is associated with better educational and economic outcomes. J Biosoc Sci 2019; 52:260-271. [PMID: 31232259 DOI: 10.1017/s0021932019000427] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
The association between body height and educational outcome, as measured by years of completed schooling, was investigated among Roma women in Serbia in 2014-2018. Height, demographic data, level of schooling and reproductive histories were collected from 691 Roma women aged between 16 and 80 years living in rural settlements in central and western Serbia. Multinomial logistic regression analysis showed that short stature was associated with an increased risk of low education, possibly as a result of poor growth and developmental disadvantage in early life. Roma cultural practices were also shown to influence the school achievement of these Roma girls: in addition to height, education was positively associated with a higher bride price and better socioeconomic status, as acquired through marriage. For Roma women, height might influence not only their level of education but also their lifetime prospects.
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12
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Taking birth year into account when analysing effects of maternal age on child health and other outcomes: The value of a multilevel-multiprocess model compared to a sibling model. DEMOGRAPHIC RESEARCH 2019. [DOI: 10.4054/demres.2019.40.43] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/05/2022] Open
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13
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Cohort fertility and educational expansion in the Czech Republic during the 20th century. DEMOGRAPHIC RESEARCH 2018. [DOI: 10.4054/demres.2018.38.56] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/05/2022] Open
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Kravdal Ø. New evidence about effects of reproductive variables on child mortality in sub-Saharan Africa. Population Studies 2018. [PMID: 29521576 DOI: 10.1080/00324728.2018.1439180] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/17/2022]
Abstract
There is still considerable uncertainty about how reproductive factors affect child mortality. This study, based on Demographic and Health Survey data from 28 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, shows that mortality is highest for firstborn children with very young mothers. Other children with young mothers, or of high birth order, also experience high mortality. Net of maternal age and birth order, a short preceding birth interval is associated with above average mortality. These patterns change, however, if time-invariant unobserved mother-level characteristics of importance for both mortality and fertility are controlled for in a multilevel-multiprocess model. Most importantly, there are smaller advantages associated with longer birth intervals and being older at first birth. The implications of alternative reproductive 'strategies' are discussed, taking into account that if the mother is older at birth, the child will also be born in a later calendar year, when mortality may be lower.
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Affiliation(s)
- Øystein Kravdal
- a University of Oslo and Norwegian Institute of Public Health
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15
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Neels K, Murphy M, Ní Bhrolcháin M, Beaujouan É. Rising Educational Participation and the Trend to Later Childbearing. POPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT REVIEW 2017; 43:667-693. [PMID: 29398739 PMCID: PMC5767733 DOI: 10.1111/padr.12112] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/27/2023]
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16
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Holland JA, de Valk HAG. Differences in labour force participation by motherhood status among second-generation Turkish and majority women across Europe. Population Studies 2017; 71:363-378. [PMID: 28565976 DOI: 10.1080/00324728.2017.1319495] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
Second-generation Turkish immigrants make up an increasingly important segment of European labour markets. These young adults are entering the prime working ages and forming families. However, we have only a limited understanding of the relationship between labour force participation and parenthood among second-generation Turkish women. Using unique data from the Integration of the European Second Generation survey (2007/08), we compared the labour force participation of second-generation Turkish women with their majority-group counterparts by motherhood status in four countries. We found evidence that motherhood gaps, with respect to labour force participation, were similar for majority and second-generation Turkish women in Germany and in Sweden; however, there may be larger gaps for second-generation mothers than for majority women in the Netherlands and France. Cross-national findings were consistent with the view that national normative and social policy contexts are relevant for the labour force participation of all women, regardless of migrant background.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer A Holland
- a University of Southampton.,b Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute/KNAW/ University of Groningen
| | - Helga A G de Valk
- b Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute/KNAW/ University of Groningen
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Kravdal Ø, Grundy E, Skirbekk V. Fertility history and use of antidepressant medication in late mid-life: a register-based analysis of Norwegian women and men. Aging Ment Health 2017; 21:477-486. [PMID: 26644174 DOI: 10.1080/13607863.2015.1118010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Life course influences on later life depression may include parenting trajectories. We investigate associations between number and timing of births and use of antidepressant medication in late mid-life using data on the whole Norwegian population. METHODS We estimated logistic regression models to analyse variations in the purchase of antidepressants between 2004 and 2008 by timing of births and number of children among women and men aged 45-73, using Norwegian population register data. We controlled for age, education, marital and partnership status, and (in some models) family background shared among siblings. RESULTS Mothers and fathers of two or more children were generally less likely to purchase antidepressants than the childless. Mothers who started childbearing before age 22 were an exception, although according to sibling models they were not more likely to purchase antidepressants. All models showed that women who became mothers before age 26 and had only one child had higher odds of medication purchase than the childless. Older age at first birth was generally associated with lower risks of antidepressant purchase. CONCLUSION This analysis of high-quality data for a national population indicates that early motherhood, childlessness and low parity are associated with higher usage of antidepressants in late mid-life. Our data did not allow identification of mediating pathways, and we lacked information on early mental and physical health and some other potentially important confounders not shared between siblings. Furthermore purchase of antidepressants is not a perfect indicator of depression. Those concerns aside, the results suggest complex effects of fertility on depression that merit further investigation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Øystein Kravdal
- a Norwegian Institute of Public Health , Oslo , Norway.,b Department of Economics , University of Oslo , Norway
| | - Emily Grundy
- c Department of Social Policy , London School of Economics and Political Science , London , United Kingdom
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18
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Lawson DW, Borgerhoff Mulder M. The offspring quantity-quality trade-off and human fertility variation. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2016; 371:20150145. [PMID: 27022072 PMCID: PMC4822425 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2015.0145] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/08/2016] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The idea that trade-offs between offspring quantity and quality shape reproductive behaviour has long been central to economic perspectives on fertility. It also has a parallel and richer theoretical foundation in evolutionary ecology. We review the application of the quantity–quality trade-off concept to human reproduction, emphasizing distinctions between clutch size and lifetime fertility, and the wider set of forces contributing to fertility variation in iteroparous and sexually reproducing species like our own. We then argue that in settings approximating human evolutionary history, several factors limit costly sibling competition. Consequently, while the optimization of quantity–quality trade-offs undoubtedly shaped the evolution of human physiology setting the upper limits of reproduction, we argue it plays a modest role in accounting for socio-ecological and individual variation in fertility. Only upon entering the demographic transition can fertility limitation be clearly interpreted as strategically orientated to advancing offspring quality via increased parental investment per child, with low fertility increasing descendant socio-economic success, although not reproductive success. We conclude that existing economic and evolutionary literature has often overemphasized the centrality of quantity–quality trade-offs to human fertility variation and advocate for the development of more holistic frameworks encompassing alternative life-history trade-offs and the evolved mechanisms guiding their resolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- David W Lawson
- Department of Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
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Colleran H, Jasienska G, Nenko I, Galbarczyk A, Mace R. Fertility decline and the changing dynamics of wealth, status and inequality. Proc Biol Sci 2016; 282:20150287. [PMID: 25833859 PMCID: PMC4426630 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2015.0287] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
In the course of demographic transitions (DTs), two large-scale trends become apparent: (i) the broadly positive association between wealth, status and fertility tends to reverse, and (ii) wealth inequalities increase and then temporarily decrease. We argue that these two broad patterns are linked, through a diversification of reproductive strategies that subsequently converge as populations consume more, become less self-sufficient and increasingly depend on education as a route to socio-economic status. We examine these links using data from 22 mid-transition communities in rural Poland. We identify changing relationships between fertility and multiple measures of wealth, status and inequality. Wealth and status generally have opposing effects on fertility, but these associations vary by community. Where farming remains a viable livelihood, reproductive strategies typical of both pre- and post-DT populations coexist. Fertility is lower and less variable in communities with lower wealth inequality, and macro-level patterns in inequality are generally reproduced at the community level. Our results provide a detailed insight into the changing dynamics of wealth, status and inequality that accompany DTs at the community level where peoples' social and economic interactions typically take place. We find no evidence to suggest that women with the most educational capital gain wealth advantages from reducing fertility, nor that higher educational capital delays the onset of childbearing in this population. Rather, these patterns reflect changing reproductive preferences during a period of profound economic and social change, with implications for our understanding of reproductive and socio-economic inequalities in transitioning populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Heidi Colleran
- Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse, Toulouse School of Economics, Toulouse 31015, France Department of Anthropology, University College London, London WC1H 0BW, UK
| | - Grazyna Jasienska
- Department of Environmental Health, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Krakow 31-531, Poland
| | - Ilona Nenko
- Department of Environmental Health, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Krakow 31-531, Poland
| | - Andrzej Galbarczyk
- Department of Environmental Health, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Krakow 31-531, Poland
| | - Ruth Mace
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, London WC1H 0BW, UK
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Krzyżanowska M, Mascie-Taylor CN, Thalabard JC. Is human mating for height associated with fertility? Results from a british national cohort study. Am J Hum Biol 2015; 27:553-63. [DOI: 10.1002/ajhb.22684] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/24/2013] [Revised: 12/29/2014] [Accepted: 12/30/2014] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
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21
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The educational gradient of childlessness and cohort parity progression in 14 low fertility countries. DEMOGRAPHIC RESEARCH 2014. [DOI: 10.4054/demres.2014.31.46] [Citation(s) in RCA: 54] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/05/2022] Open
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22
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Christiansen SG. The impact of children's sex composition on parents' mortality. BMC Public Health 2014; 14:989. [PMID: 25246080 PMCID: PMC4179844 DOI: 10.1186/1471-2458-14-989] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2013] [Accepted: 09/15/2014] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND This study explores the relationship between children's sex composition and parents' mortality in a contemporary western society. It improves on earlier research by using a larger and more representative dataset - constructed from registers and encompassing the entire Norwegian population. METHODS The analysis is based on discrete-time hazard models, estimated for the years 1980-2008 for women and men born after 1935. RESULTS When operationalising sex composition as the "number of boys", coefficients are insignificant in all specifications. However, when considering the three categories "only boys", "only girls" and "mixed sex", I find a small but significant disadvantage of having only girls, compared to having at least one child of each sex, for mothers of two or more children. Having only daughters is associated with a mortality disadvantage compared to having only sons for mothers of two children, but a mortality advantage among mothers with four children. Among women who gave birth to their first child as teenagers, those who have only sons have relatively high mortality. I also find an excess mortality both for mothers of only girls and mothers of only boys in the period 1980-1989. CONCLUSION These results lend some support to the notion that there is a larger benefit of the first son or daughter than the later children of the same sex, and especially in the earliest decade of the study period.
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Testa MR. On the positive correlation between education and fertility intentions in Europe: Individual- and country-level evidence. ADVANCES IN LIFE COURSE RESEARCH 2014; 21:28-42. [PMID: 26047540 PMCID: PMC4477715 DOI: 10.1016/j.alcr.2014.01.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 55] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2013] [Revised: 09/10/2013] [Accepted: 01/21/2014] [Indexed: 05/22/2023]
Abstract
Increasing shares of European women are making large investments in their human capital. Whether and to what extent these investments are in conflict with reproductive behaviour are issues that have repercussions for fertility levels. Using two Eurobarometer survey data (2006 and 2011) on individuals clustered in the 27 EU countries, I investigate the relationship between women's education and lifetime fertility intentions. Results suggest that a positive association between women's level of education and lifetime fertility intentions exists at both the individual and country levels, as well as in a micro-macro integrated framework. The main explanation for these findings--which remains to be proven by future research--is that, in institutional contexts allowing highly educated women to have large families, women of reproductive ages are more prone to make investments in both human capital and family size, because these choices are not seen as incompatible alternatives.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria Rita Testa
- Wittgenstein Centre for Demography and Global Human Capital (IIASA, VID/ÖAW, WU), Vienna Institute of Demography, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Wohllebengasse 12-14, 6th Floor, 1040 Vienna, Austria; Vienna University of Economics and Business, Welthandelsplatz 1, Building D4, 1020 Vienna, Austria.
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Creanza N, Feldman MW. Complexity in models of cultural niche construction with selection and homophily. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2014; 111 Suppl 3:10830-7. [PMID: 25024189 PMCID: PMC4113930 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1400824111] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Niche construction is the process by which organisms can alter the ecological environment for themselves, their descendants, and other species. As a result of niche construction, differences in selection pressures may be inherited across generations. Homophily, the tendency of like phenotypes to mate or preferentially associate, influences the evolutionary dynamics of these systems. Here we develop a model that includes selection and homophily as independent culturally transmitted traits that influence the fitness and mate choice determined by another focal cultural trait. We study the joint dynamics of a focal set of beliefs, a behavior that can differentially influence the fitness of those with certain beliefs, and a preference for partnering based on similar beliefs. Cultural transmission, selection, and homophily interact to produce complex evolutionary dynamics, including oscillations, stable polymorphisms of all cultural phenotypes, and simultaneous stability of oscillation and fixation, which have not previously been observed in models of cultural evolution or gene-culture interactions. We discuss applications of this model to the interaction of beliefs and behaviors regarding education, contraception, and animal domestication.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicole Creanza
- Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305
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26
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Nisén J, Myrskylä M, Silventoinen K, Martikainen P. Effect of family background on the educational gradient in lifetime fertility of Finnish women born 1940-50. POPULATION STUDIES 2014; 68:321-37. [PMID: 24946905 PMCID: PMC5062046 DOI: 10.1080/00324728.2014.913807] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/19/2012] [Accepted: 12/10/2013] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
An inverse association between education and fertility in women has been found in many societies but the causes of this association remain inadequately understood. We investigated whether observed and unobserved family-background characteristics explained educational differences in lifetime fertility among 35,212 Finnish women born in 1940-50. Poisson and logistic regression models, adjusted for measured socio-demographic family-background characteristics and for unobserved family characteristics shared by siblings, were used to analyse the relationship between education and the number of children, having any children, and fertility beyond the first child. The woman's education and the socio-economic position of the family were negatively associated with fertility. Observed family characteristics moderately (3-28 per cent) explained the association between education and fertility, and results from models including unobserved characteristics supported this interpretation. The remaining association may represent a causal relationship between education and fertility or joint preferences that form independently of our measures of background.
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27
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Education, Elderly Health, and Differential Population Aging in South Korea: A Demographic Approach. DEMOGRAPHIC RESEARCH 2014. [DOI: 10.4054/demres.2014.30.26] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/05/2022] Open
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28
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Snopkowski K, Kaplan H. A synthetic biosocial model of fertility transition: testing the relative contribution of embodied capital theory, changing cultural norms, and women's labor force participation. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2014; 154:322-33. [PMID: 24633654 DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.22512] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/05/2013] [Revised: 02/18/2014] [Accepted: 03/01/2014] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
This article presents a biosocial model of fertility decline, which integrates ecological-economic and informational-cultural hypotheses of fertility transition in a unified theoretical framework. The model is then applied to empirical data collected among 500 women from San Borja, Bolivia, a population undergoing fertility transition. Using a combination of event history analysis, multiple regression, and structural equation modeling, we examine the pathways by which education responds to birth cohort, parental education and network ties, and how age at first birth and total fertility, in turn, respond to birth cohort, social network ties, education, expectations about parental investment, work, and contraceptive use. We find that in addition to secular trends in education, respondent's education is associated with the education of parents, the investment she received from them, and the education of older siblings. Total fertility has dropped over time, partly in response to increased education; moreover, the behavior of other women in a woman's social network predicts both initiation of reproduction and total fertility, while expected parental investment in offspring negatively predicts total fertility. Involvement in paid work that is incompatible with childcare is associated with a later age of first reproduction, but not subsequent fertility. Contraceptive use partially mediates the effect of education and birth cohort on total fertility, but is not a mediator of the effect of social network or expected parental investment on total fertility. Overall, the empirical results provide support for a biosocial model of fertility decline, particularly the embodied capital and cultural pathways.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kristin Snopkowski
- London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, WC1E 7HT, United Kingdom
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Kravdal Ø, Kodzi I, Sigle-Rushton W. Effects of the number and age of siblings on educational transitions in sub-Saharan Africa. Stud Fam Plann 2013; 44:275-97. [PMID: 24006074 DOI: 10.1111/j.1728-4465.2013.00358.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Studies examining the link between number of siblings and level of education attained by children in Africa have produced mixed results. This study draws on Demographic and Health Survey data from 26 sub-Saharan African countries and employs a multilevel multiprocess model that controls for time-invariant unobserved mother-level characteristics. We find indications that having younger siblings increases the likelihood of entering primary school; however, once a child is enrolled, having pre-school aged siblings is negatively associated with educational progression. Having a greater number of siblings older than age 15 increases the likelihood of primary-school entry and completion but has no effect on subsequent educational transitions. Some positive effects of having a greater number of siblings who are aged 6-15 are also observed. Girls are more adversely affected by having young siblings than are boys, but they benefit more than do boys from having siblings who are older than age 15. On the whole, the effects are not very strong, however.
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Affiliation(s)
- Øystein Kravdal
- Professor of Demography, Department of Economics, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1095 Blindern, 0317 Oslo, Norway. E-mail: . Postdoctoral Researcher, Initiative in Population Research, Ohio State University. Reader in Gender and Family Studies, Gender Institute, London School of Economics and Political Science
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Gerster M, Ejrnæs M, Keiding N. The Causal Effect of Educational Attainment on Completed Fertility for a Cohort of Danish Women—Does Feedback Play a Role? STATISTICS IN BIOSCIENCES 2013. [DOI: 10.1007/s12561-013-9102-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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Nisén J, Martikainen P, Kaprio J, Silventoinen K. Educational Differences in Completed Fertility: A Behavioral Genetic Study of Finnish Male and Female Twins. Demography 2013; 50:1399-420. [DOI: 10.1007/s13524-012-0186-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
Despite the large body of research on educational differences in fertility, how genetic and environmental influences may contribute to educational differences in completed fertility is not well understood. This study examines the association between educational level and completed fertility in a sample of Finnish male and female twins born between 1950 and 1957 with register-based fertility follow-up until 2009. The results show that poorly educated men and highly educated women are least likely to have any children and have lower completed fertility in general. Behavioral genetics analysis suggests that the association between education and having any children in both sexes is influenced by factors shared by co-twins and that these factors are genetic rather than common environmental. No evidence of a causal pathway between education and having any children independent of these shared influences is found. These findings suggest that familial factors may play a role in the process through which educational differences in completed fertility are formed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jessica Nisén
- Population Research Unit, Department of Social Research, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Pekka Martikainen
- Population Research Unit, Department of Social Research, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Jaakko Kaprio
- Department of Public Health & Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Karri Silventoinen
- Population Research Unit, Department of Social Research, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
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Further evidence of community education effects on fertility in sub-Saharan Africa. DEMOGRAPHIC RESEARCH 2012. [DOI: 10.4054/demres.2012.27.22] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/05/2022] Open
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Kye B, Mare RD. Intergenerational effects of shifts in women's educational distribution in South Korea: Transmission, differential fertility, and assortative mating. SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH 2012; 41:1495-514. [PMID: 23017970 PMCID: PMC4075181 DOI: 10.1016/j.ssresearch.2012.05.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/05/2011] [Revised: 02/20/2012] [Accepted: 05/10/2012] [Indexed: 05/14/2023]
Abstract
This study examines the intergenerational effects of changes in women's education in South Korea. We define intergenerational effects as changes in the distribution of educational attainment in an offspring generation associated with the changes in a parental generation. Departing from the previous approach in research on social mobility that has focused on intergenerational association, we examine the changes in the distribution of educational attainment across generations. Using a simulation method based on Mare and Maralani's recursive population renewal model, we examine how intergenerational transmission, assortative mating, and differential fertility influence intergenerational effects. The results point to the following conclusions. First, we find a positive intergenerational effect: improvement in women's education leads to improvement in daughter's education. Second, we find that the magnitude of intergenerational effects substantially depends on assortative marriage and differential fertility: assortative mating amplifies and differential fertility dampens the intergenerational effects. Third, intergenerational effects become bigger for the less educated and smaller for the better educated over time, which is a consequence of educational expansion. We compare our results with Mare and Maralani's original Indonesian study to illustrate how the model of intergenerational effects works in different socioeconomic circumstances.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bongoh Kye
- Kookmin University, Department of Sociology, Jeongneung Ro-77 Seoungbuk-Gu Seoul 136-702 Korea
- Corresponding author. Fax: +82 2 910 4429
| | - Robert D. Mare
- University of California – Los Angeles, Department of Sociology, 264 Haines Hall, Box 951551, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1551, United States
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Ní Bhrolcháin M, Beaujouan E. Fertility postponement is largely due to rising educational enrolment. Population Studies 2012; 66:311-27. [PMID: 22889178 PMCID: PMC3479627 DOI: 10.1080/00324728.2012.697569] [Citation(s) in RCA: 106] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
Abstract
The rise in educational enrolment is often cited as a possible cause of the trend to later childbearing in developed societies but direct evidence of its contribution to the aggregate change in fertility tempo is scarce. We show that rising enrolment, resulting in later ages at the end of education, accounts for a substantial part of the upward shift in the mean age at first birth in the 1980s and 1990s in Britain and in France. The postponement of first birth over that period has two components: a longer average period of enrolment and a post-enrolment component that is also related to educational level. The relationship between rising educational participation and the move to later fertility timing is almost certainly causal. Our findings therefore suggest that fertility tempo change is rooted in macro-economic and structural forces rather than in the cultural domain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Máire Ní Bhrolcháin
- ESRC Centre for Population Change and Divisionof Social Statistics and Demography, University ofSouthampton, Southampton, UK.
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