We have good knowledge of the timing of the historical fertility transitions in different regions, but we know much less regarding specific features and causes. In this study, we used longitudinal micro-level data for five local populations in Europe and North America to study the relationship between socioeconomic status and fertility during the transition. Using the same analytical model and identical class scheme, we examined the development of socioeconomic differences in marital fertility and related it 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 support the idea that they acted as forerunners in the transition by reducing their fertility before other groups. Farmers and unskilled workers were latest to start to limit their fertility. Apart from this regularity, the patterns of class differences in fertility varied significantly among populations.

BACKGROUNDDespite the large amount of research on European fertility transition, the mechanisms of this demographic process are still poorly understood. This is particularly true in the Italian demographic experience, especially for some regions. OBJECTIVEWe wish to improve the knowledge of the determinants of fertility transition in Sardinia, a region situated in the heart of the Mediterranean but paradoxically one which is the least "Mediterranean" region of the country. The analysis of SES differentials and their evolution over the transition process is the core purpose of this paper. METHODSWe use a complex individual database deriving from the combination of civil and religious sources of Alghero, a large costal town in north-western Sardinia. Our analysis is focussed on the reproductive history of Alghero marriage cohorts , followed through the mid-1930s. A micro-level statistical analysis is performed on legitimate births of parity 2+. RESULTSWe find that, in the period under examination, the process of fertility decline already underway in the northern and central regions, was almost absent in Alghero. However we did prove significant socio-economic differentials in marital fertility. The "elite" group shows the first clear signs of deliberate marital fertility control.

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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.

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