Religion and fertility ideals, intentions and behaviour: a comparative study of European countries

Philipov, Dimiter; Berghammer, Caroline

doi:10.1553/populationyearbook2007s271

Cited by 92 publications

(117 citation statements)

References 49 publications

(44 reference statements)

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“…Philipov and Berghammer (2007) analyzed the data collected under the Fertility and Family Survey in 18 European countries. Of these countries, Germany, Latvia, Hungary, and Switzerland can be regarded as multi-denominational.…”

Section: Religious Affiliationmentioning

confidence: 99%

How are Time-Dependent Childbearing Intentions Realized? Realization, Postponement, Abandonment, Bringing Forward

Spéder¹,

Kapitány²

2009

Eur J Population

114

131

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Our study aims to identify factors that facilitate or inhibit the realization of fertility intentions. The analysis uses data collected in the first two waves of a Hungarian longitudinal survey. Fertility intentions recorded at the first wave pertain to the subsequent 3-year period, just similar to the behavior variable measuring the realization of intentions, i.e., a birth within the 3-year period in question. For this analysis, we used the respondents' demographic, socio-structural, and orientational traits recorded at the first interview. Our findings show that age, parity, and partnership play a determining role in the realization of fertility intentions, but employment status, religious affiliation, and overall life satisfaction all exhibit significant effects. A marked gender difference was detected not only with regard to employment status but in the area of values and orientations as well.Keywords Fertility intentions Á Fertility behavior Á Fertility dynamics Á Postponement Á Panel survey Á Generation and gender survey Á Hungary Résumé L'objectif de notre étude est d'identifier les facteurs qui facilitent ou inhibent la réalisation des intentions de fécondité. L'analyse s'appuie sur les deux premières vagues d'une enquête longitudinale menée en Hongrie. Les intentions de fécondité recueillies dans le cadre de la première vague concernent la période des trois années à venir, de la même façon que la variable de comportement mesurant la réalisation des intentions, à savoir, une naissance survenue au cours de cette même période. Les caractéristiques démographiques et socio-structurelles, de même que certaines dispositions personnelles recueillies lors du premier entretien ont été utilisées dans l'analyse. Nos résultats indiquent qu'à la fois l'âge, la parité, et la

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Section: Religious Affiliationmentioning

confidence: 99%

How are Time-Dependent Childbearing Intentions Realized? Realization, Postponement, Abandonment, Bringing Forward

Spéder¹,

Kapitány²

2009

Eur J Population

114

131

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“…23 More secular cultures tend to have a general set of progressive societal norms about gender, family, and reproductionincluding gender egalitarianism, sex for pleasure rather than reproduction, and selfactualization-that lead to lower fertility preferences and greater readiness to use effective family planning methods (Adsera 2006;Buber-Ennser and Skirbekk 2016;Hayford and Morgan 2008). 24 More religious countries, on the other hand, tend to have values-familism, drive to family formation, idealized fertility, and even explicit injunctions to "be fruitful and multiply"-that promote pronatalist preferences and a reluctance to use modern contraceptives and abortion (Bearman and Bruckner 2001;Billy and Moore 1992;Edgell and Docka 2007;Gallagher 2003;Jong 1965;Philipov and Berghammer 2007). As I demonstrated, material conditions and cultural values related to gender, family, and reproduction fully explain differential fertility rates in more or less secular countries.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Secularism and Fertility Worldwide

Schnabel¹

2016

Preprint

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This study hypothesizes a link between societal secularism and fertility. Using country-level data from multiple sources (N=181) and multilevel data from 55 countries in the World Values Survey (N=78,639), I document a strong negative relationship between societal secularism and both country-level fertility rates and individual-level fertility behavior. Secularism, even in small amounts, is associated with population stagnation or even decline, whereas highly religious countries have higher fertility rates that promote population growth. This country-level pattern is driven by more than aggregate lower fertility of individual nonreligious people. In fact, secularism is more closely linked to religious than nonreligious people's fertility behavior and appears to be a function of different cultural values related to gender and reproduction in more secular societies. Beyond its importance for the religious composition of the world population, the societal-level association between secularism and fertility is relevant to key fertility theories and may help account, in part, for below-replacement fertility. Rather than religious people becoming a smaller proportion of the world population, demographers have projected that because the nonreligious have fewer children they will make up a smaller proportion of the world population over time (Hackett et al. 2015;Kaufmann 2010;Skirbekk, Kaufmann, and Goujon 2010;Stonawski et al. 2015). This literature improves on secularization theory by highlighting how individual-level secularity limits fertility behavior and thus constrains secularization, but has thus far neglected potential impacts of societal-level secularity despite secularism being more than just an individual attribute. Culture is transmitted, and religious beliefs and preferences acquired, both vertically (i.e., within families) and 1 "Religious" and "nonreligious" can be defined in many ways. Past research has often conceptualized secularism as the inverse of absence of religion, and work on religion and fertility in particularly has frequently focused on binary measures that categorize people as religious or not. In order to consider varieties of secularism, I examine multiple religion/non-religion measures, some of which are binary and some gradational, and aggregations of these items.Secularism and Fertility Worldwide 2 horizontally (i.e., peer-to-peer within the wider culture) Verdier 2000, 2011).Research on religion and fertility has highlighted how the lower fertility of secular individuals limits vertical transmission of secularism, has thus far largely neglected potential demographic limits to horizontal transmission of secularism. The key unanswered question is whether a country-level relationship exists between secularism and fertility net of individual-level religion, which would further constrain secularization-due to fewer children being socialized in more secular contexts-and could contribute to below-replacement fertility.To examine the country-level relationship between secularism and f...

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“…McQuillan 2004;Chatters and Taylor 2005;Philipov and Berghammer 2007). The following considerations are most pertinent for the Christian religion.…”

Section: Conceptual Background and Research Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Adsera also concludes that church attendance is a strong predictor of a higher ideal number of children, especially for women, and a stronger determinant for younger generations than for older ones. Philipov and Berghammer (2007) studied the impact of several religious measures on fertility ideals, intentions and behaviour in 18 European countries. They confirm that belonging to a religious denomination is significant for the ideal number of children, but only find denominational differences in a few countries.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Church attendance, by contrast, involves active participation which only a subgroup of affiliated persons is willing to undertake. Several publications indicate that in European countries church attendance is more predictive of fertility ideals and behaviour than affiliation (Adsera 2006b;Philipov and Berghammer 2007). Respondents who confirm that they are a member in a religious or church association may think of a range of different groups or organisations.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Religious Socialisation and Fertility: Transition to Third Birth in The Netherlands

Berghammer

2009

Eur J Population

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Although previous studies have demonstrated that religious people in Europe have larger families, the role played by religious socialisation in the context of contemporary fertility behaviour has not yet been analysed in detail. This contribution specifically looks at the interrelation between religious socialisation and current religiosity and their impact on the transition to the third child for Dutch women. It is based on data of the first wave of the Netherlands Kinship Panel Study (2002)(2003)(2004) and uses event history analysis. The transitions to first, second and third birth are modelled jointly with a control for unobserved heterogeneity. The findings provide evidence for an impact of women's current church attendance as well as religious socialisation measured by their fathers' religious affiliation, when they were teenagers. A religious family background remains influential even when a woman has stopped attending church. The effects of religious indicators strengthen over cohorts. Moreover, the combined religious make-up of the respondent's parents also significantly determines the progression to the third child.Keywords Religion Á Fertility Á Third child Á Netherlands Á Event history analysis Résumé S'il est bien établi que les croyants en Europe ont plus d'enfants que les autres, le rôle de la socialisation religieuse dans le contexte de la fécondité contemporaine n'a pas encore été analysé à ce jour. Cette étude s'intéresse au lien entre la socialisation religieuse et la religiosité actuelle, et à leur impact sur la probabilité d'agrandissement de deux à trois enfants de la descendance des femmes néer-landaises. Les données exploitées sont celles de la première vague du Panel Néerlandais d'Etude de la Parenté (the Netherlands Kinship Panel Study, 2002Study, -2004.

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Religion and fertility ideals, intentions and behaviour: a comparative study of European countries

Cited by 92 publications

References 49 publications

How are Time-Dependent Childbearing Intentions Realized? Realization, Postponement, Abandonment, Bringing Forward

How are Time-Dependent Childbearing Intentions Realized? Realization, Postponement, Abandonment, Bringing Forward

Secularism and Fertility Worldwide

Religious Socialisation and Fertility: Transition to Third Birth in The Netherlands

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