Intergenerational Transmission of Reproductive Behavior in Sweden, 1850-1889
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HISTORICAL LIFE COURSE STUDIES VOLUME 4 2017 MISSION STATEMENT HISTORICAL LIFE COURSE STUDIES Historical Life Course Studies is the electronic journal of the European Historical Population Samples Network (EHPS- Net). The journal is the primary publishing outlet for research involved in the conversion of existing European and non- European large historical demographic databases into a common format, the Intermediate Data Structure, and for studies based on these databases. The journal publishes both methodological and substantive research articles. Methodological Articles This section includes methodological articles that describe all forms of data handling involving large historical databases, including extensive descriptions of new or existing databases, syntax, algorithms and extraction programs. Authors are encouraged to share their syntaxes, applications and other forms of software presented in their article, if pertinent, on the EHPS-Net website. 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HISTORICAL LIFE COURSE STUDIES VOLUME 4 (2017), 181-202 published 14-11-2017 Intergenerational Transmission of Reproductive Behavior in Sweden, 1850-1889 Paul Rotering Wageningen University & Research ABSTRACT Previous studies have consistently observed intergenerational continuities in childbearing. This study uses individual-level parish records to examine the intergenerational transmission of fertility over the life course of women in Sweden during the fertility transition in the second half of the nineteenth century. Bivariate correlations, event history analysis and Poisson regression models are estimated for a large number of indicators of reproductive behavior. In line with the literature, the findings show evidence of intergenerational fertility correlations. The observed correlations are often small, but show that fertility transmission did occur during the demographic transition. The findings confirm our current understanding of intergenerational transmission and highlight the role of kin members in shaping reproductive outcomes. Keywords: Intergenerational fertility transmission, Demographic transition, Sweden, Historical demography, Parental influences e-ISSN: 2352-6343 PID article: http://hdl.handle.net/10622/23526343-2017-0011?locatt=view:master The article can be downloaded from here. © 2017, Paul Rotering This open-access work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, reproduction & distribution in any medium for non-commercial purposes, provided the original author(s) and source are given credit. See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ Paul Rotering 1 INTRODUCTION The intergenerational transmission of reproductive behavior has received considerable attention from demographers in recent decades (Axinn et al. 1994; Bernardi & White 2010; Bittles et al. 2008; Bras et al. 2013; Dahlberg 2013; Fasang & Raab 2014; Jennings et al. 2012; Kolk 2014b; Murphy 1999, 2013a; Murphy & Knudsen 2002; Murphy & Wang 2001; Van Bavel & Kok 2009). Many studies on family formation emphasize the effects of kin members and experiences in early life on later life reproductive behavior (Bras et al. 2013; Sear et al. 2003). Parents undeniably play an important role in shaping the behaviors and views of their children concerning matters of childbearing. Correlations, though weak, between fertility levels of parents and children have been observed in a wide range of contemporary, post-transitional populations. In contrast, in pre-transitional populations with relatively high fertility and mortality rates, there is little evidence for the transmission of reproductive behavior from parents to children (Desjardins et al. 1991; Gagnon & Heyer 2001; Murphy 1999). While most studies focus on pre-transitional historical or contemporary developing populations, or on contemporary post-transitional populations, the aim of this study is to examine the occurrence of intergenerational transmission of fertility during a period of demographic transition, similar to Jennings et al. (2012) and Reher et al. (2008). Using parish register data, life courses are reconstructed for women born in Sweden between 1850 and 1889 (N=8,172). During the period of this study, Sweden underwent a fertility transition, as birth rates fell from around 33 births per 1,000 individuals in 1860 to around 13 per 1,000 in 1930. This study provides further insight into the extent of intergenerational fertility transmission in the context of Sweden during this demographic transition in the second half of the nineteenth century, by examining several different indicators of reproductive outcomes, such as age at first birth, the number of children ever born and birth spacing. The effects of parental fertility outcomes on these indicators are compared to other studies on fertility transmission. The following section provides a summary of the mechanisms used to explain childbearing continuities over generations, followed by an overview of the recent literature on the intergenerational transmission of fertility behavior. In the subsequent section, hypotheses are formulated on the basis of the literature. The sections thereafter introduce the data, methods and measures before presenting the results. Finally, the outcomes of this study are discussed in light of the recent literature. 2 BACKGROUND 2.1 PARENTAL INFLUENCES ON FAMILY FORMATION Parents are likely to play an important role in shaping the views of their children on matters concerning parenthood. Previous research has indeed consistently observed correlations between reproductive outcomes of parents and children, although there is little correlation observed in historical, pre- transitional populations (Murphy 1999). Before further describing the findings of recent literature in greater detail, we first briefly consider three mechanisms behind the transmission of reproductive behavior which are addressed in the literature: shared genetic dispositions (Bras et al. 2013; Fisher 1930; Rodgers et al. 2001), shared environmental factors such as the transmission of socioeconomic status (Barber 2001; Jennings & Leslie 2013) and childhood socialization (Anderton et al. 1987; Axinn et al. 1994; Bernardi 2004, 2013). In both of the earliest studies (Fisher 1930; Pearson et al. 1899), as well as more recent studies (Bras et al. 2013; Kohler et al. 1999), genetic dispositions are used to explain intergenerational childbearing continuities. Accordingly, intergenerational transmission is either a consequence of physical conformation caused by biological advantages or limitations to producing offspring, or resulting from genetic predispositions towards larger or smaller family sizes (Kohler et al. 1999; Miller et al. 1992; Rodgers et al. 2001). These genetic predispositions include psychological traits, such as childbearing motivations, causing similarities in fertility behavior between parents and children (Miller et al., 1992). Studies have shown that the degree to which genetic effects are expressed, depends on the interplay between social norms and economic constraints. In other words, reproductive outcomes depend on how genes interact with the environment (Low 2000; Udry 1996). Kohler et al. (1999) for instance observe strong intergenerational fertility transmission for Danish women born during the nineteenth-century 182 HISTORICAL LIFE COURSE STUDIES, Volume 4 (2017), 181-202 Intergenerational Transmission of Reproductive Behavior in Sweden, 1850-1889 demographic transition, as well as the late 1950s and early 1960s. They argue that the heritability of fertility was expressed more during these decades in particular because individual choice was less constrained and deliberate fertility decisions could be made more freely. In contrast, they found weak transmission for female cohorts born at the turn of the twentieth century. During this period, economic crises and the First World War formed shared environmental