Intergenerational Transmission of Reproductive Behavior during the Demographic Transition

Abstract

New evidence from the Utah Population Database (UPDB) reveals that at the onset of the fertility transition, reproductive behavior was transmitted across generations--between women and their mothers, as well as between women and their husbands' family of origin. Age at marriage, age at last birth, and the number of children ever born are positively correlated in the data, most strongly among first-born daughters and among cohorts born later in the fertility transition. Intergenerational ties, including the presence of mothers and mothers-in-law, influenced the hazard of progressing to a next birth. The findings suggest that the practice of parity-dependent marital fertility control and inter-birth spacing behavior derived in part from the previous generation and that the potential for mothers and mothers-in-law to help in the rearing of children encouraged higher marital fertility.Is fertility between parents and their children positively correlated? Although the first study of intergenerational fertility was conducted more than a century ago, the number of studies remains few. Most investigators report a positive correlation between the fertility of mothers and that of their daughters, but results vary widely. The mechanism linking fertility across generations is also unclear. Early research that advanced the genetic inheritance of fecundity has given way to studies emphasizing a wide range of possible linkages, including the importance of socialization within the family, the transmission of cultural practices and socioeconomic status across generations, and the inheritance of such psychological and biological characteristics as sex drive, fecundity, and health. New research has also extended the earlier focus on correlations in children ever born to include intermediate reproductive indicators and multivariate models of birth spacing. 1In a useful survey of the literature, Murphy concluded that the relationship between the fertility of parents and that of their children has become much more substantial over time. NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscriptand daughters' fertility is probably close to zero. If further research supports this conclusion, the fertility transition was a key moment in the emergence of intergenerational transmission of fertility. In an analysis of genealogies compiled by the Utah Genealogical Society, Anderton et al. reported that daughters' fertility levels were responsive to their mothers' relative fertility and age at marriage during the U.S. fertility transition. More recently, Reher, Ortega, and Sanz-Gimeno reported a substantial increase in the strength of intergenerational effects over the course of the fertility transition in twentieth-century Spain, suggesting the growing importance of the transmission of values and attitudes relative to biological dimensions of reproduction. 2This article takes a new look at intergenerational fertility transmission using the Utah Genealogical Dataset obtained from the Utah Resource for Genetic and Epid...

Like Mother(-in-Law) Like Daughter? Influence of the Older Generation’s Fertility Behaviours on Women’s Desired Family Size in Bihar, India

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The impact of kin availability, parental religiosity, and nativity on fertility differentials in the late 19th-century United States

“…A recent study based on the Utah Historical Database, however, found higher fertility among women with living mothers and mothers-in-law during the fertility transition (Jennings et al 2012). The finding is consistent with research in evolutionary anthropology that stresses the importance of economic and physical assistance from relatives, particularly post-menopausal grandmothers, in the rearing of human children.…”

Differences in intergenerational fertility associations by sex and race in Saba, Dutch Caribbean, 1876–2004

“…The timing of births is an aspect of fertility behavior that has been found to have an intergenerational component (Jennings et al, 2012; Reher et al, 2008). Cox proportional hazard models are fit for age at first birth for index individuals (Cox, 1972).…”

“…Feelings of closeness with family are also associated with stronger intergenerational fertility correlations (McAllister et al, 1974). Adult women with a living mother are at higher risk of progressing to another birth than are women whose mothers are deceased, suggesting that mothers have an effect on the fertility of their daughters that extends beyond socialization and the environment of the childhood home (Jennings, Sullivan, & Hacker, 2012). Evolutionary studies of human behavior have also demonstrated the importance of kin on fertility.…”