Religiosity, nationalism and fertility among Jews in Israel revisited

Abstract

This paper focuses on competing explanations of childbearing behaviour among Jews in Israel. Despite evidence of the second demographic transition in Israel, total fertility has not declined during the last three decades, unlike in most western high-income democracies. Two alternative explanations in the literature address this phenomenon. One is religiosity and the other is a nationalist sentiment at the aggregate level -both driving the high fertility rates. Using structural equation modelling, the current study tests the association of each of these two factors with fertility. Religiosity and nationalism were constructed as latent variables based on individual-level observed measures. Supporting previous studies at the aggregate level, the current analysis confirms that religiosity is the main determinant of fertility at the individual level, whereas nationalism has an effect on fertility only due to its high connection with religiosity. Parsimonious and comprehensive models of Jewish fertility in Israel and further research directions are suggested.

Fertility intentions and the way they change following birth- a prospective longitudinal study

“…Religiosity was the main predictor of prenatal fertility intentions. This is similar to findings from other national studies, which indicate that very-religious women have the highest fertility rates, followed by religious women, traditional women and secular women [25,27,30]. It is not surprising that almost all the very-religious women in our study reported desiring five children or more.…”

“…Correspondingly, voluntary childlessness is rare and not a socially acceptable decision [24]. Women's fertility intentions in Israel are formed vastly through tradition and gender roles, in addition to the predominant nationalistic and religious sentiments [14,25]. Judaism, the dominant religion in Israel (74.3% of the population [26]), emphasizes motherhood and fertility as an important role for women:…”

“…The very-religious are the smallest religiosity group (approximately 10% of Jewish women 20 years of age and older), similar to the religious (11%), the traditional group (35%) is larger and the largest group are the secular (non-observant Jews), making up 44% [28]. As with other religions [29], in Judaism, fertility rates are influenced by religiosity [21,25,30]. Israeli very-religious women have high fertility rates, nearing 6.5 children per women.…”

Fertility intentions and the way they change following birth—a prospective longitudinal study

“…Correspondingly, voluntary childlessness is rare and not a socially legitimate decision [23]. Women's fertility intentions in Israel are formed vastly through tradition and gender roles, in addition to the predominant nationalistic and religious sentiments [12,24]. Judaism, the dominant religion in Israel (74.3% of the population [25]), emphasizes motherhood and fertility as an important role for women: The religious commandment states that one should "be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth" (Genesis 1:28) and fertility itself is considered a blessing (Deuteronomy 7: [13][14].…”

Family Welfare Effort, Total Fertility, and In Vitro Fertilization: Explaining the Israeli Anomaly

“…In a variation on this theme, Bystrov () examined individual‐level indicators derived from 2009 and 2010 nationally representative samples of 588 Jewish women between the ages of 20 and 55. She found that “high levels of religiosity, nationalistic attitudes, and traditional attitudes towards gender roles are intertwined,” with religiosity having a significant direct independent effect on total fertility and nationalistic attitudes and traditional attitudes toward gender roles having significant independent indirect effects (Bystrov :182).…”