Does an effect of marriage duration on pre-transition fertility signal parity-dependent control? An empirical test in nineteenth-century Leuven, Belgium

Bibliographic Data

ID4267396
AuthorsJan Van Bavel (0000-0001-7250-6949, KU Leuven, corresponding author)
Year2003
Volume57
Issue1
Pages55-62
Publication date2003-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenuePopulation Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0032-4728 • E-ISSN: 1477-4747
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/0032472032000061721
PMID12745809
OpenAlexW2152998061
LanguageEN
Citations received21
References cited19

It has been demonstrated for many pre-industrial populations that the age at marriage, or marriage duration, influences age-specific marital fertility but the reason for this remains unclear. Among the several mechanisms that may be responsible, the following are often cited: secondary sterility or increased subfecundity associated with parity; declining coital frequency; the age difference between the spouses; and, importantly, parity-dependent fertility control. If the latter mechanism were partly responsible for the marriage-duration effect in pre-transition populations, it would contradict the concept of the modern fertility transition as the evolution (or revolution) from parity-independent to parity-dependent fertility. The study presented in this paper investigates the relative importance of these alternative explanations. The application of multivariate Poisson regression to the fertility data from two birth cohorts in the Belgian city of Leuven shows that a linearly declining or even concave age-specific fertility pattern, disaggregated by age at marriage, does not imply parity-dependent fertility limitation

Economics · Fertility · Parity (physics) · Physics · Population · Sociology · Demographic Trends and Gender Preferences · Demography · Historical Economic and Social Studies · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes · Psychology

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