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The influence of kin proximity on the reproductive success of American couples, 1900-1910

Hacker, J David ; Helgertz, Jonas LU ; Nelson, Matt A. and Roberts, Evan (2021) In Demography 58(6). p.2337-2364
Abstract
Children require a large amount of time, effort, and resources to raise. Physical help, financial contributions, medical care, and other types of assistance from kin and social network members allow couples to space births closer together while maintaining or increasing child survival. We examine the impact of kin availability on couples' reproductive success in the early twentieth-century United States with a panel data set of over 3.1 million couples linked between the 1900 and 1910 U.S. censuses. Our results indicate that kin proximity outside the household was positively associated with fertility, child survival, and net reproduction, and suggest that declining kin availability was an important contributing factor to the fertility... (More)
Children require a large amount of time, effort, and resources to raise. Physical help, financial contributions, medical care, and other types of assistance from kin and social network members allow couples to space births closer together while maintaining or increasing child survival. We examine the impact of kin availability on couples' reproductive success in the early twentieth-century United States with a panel data set of over 3.1 million couples linked between the 1900 and 1910 U.S. censuses. Our results indicate that kin proximity outside the household was positively associated with fertility, child survival, and net reproduction, and suggest that declining kin availability was an important contributing factor to the fertility transition in the United States. We also find important differences between maternal and paternal kin inside the household—including higher fertility among women residing with their mother-in-law than among those residing with their mother—that support hypotheses related to the contrasting motivations and concerns of parents and parents-in-law. (Less)
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author
; ; and
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
fertility decline, kinship, historical demography
in
Demography
volume
58
issue
6
pages
2337 - 2364
publisher
Population Assn Amer
external identifiers
  • scopus:85120585152
  • pmid:34605542
ISSN
1533-7790
DOI
10.1215/00703370-9518532
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
41524692-0013-42dd-b6a1-8ee4bb221d9e
date added to LUP
2022-01-25 03:58:41
date last changed
2022-04-27 07:17:25
@article{41524692-0013-42dd-b6a1-8ee4bb221d9e,
  abstract     = {{Children require a large amount of time, effort, and resources to raise. Physical help, financial contributions, medical care, and other types of assistance from kin and social network members allow couples to space births closer together while maintaining or increasing child survival. We examine the impact of kin availability on couples' reproductive success in the early twentieth-century United States with a panel data set of over 3.1 million couples linked between the 1900 and 1910 U.S. censuses. Our results indicate that kin proximity outside the household was positively associated with fertility, child survival, and net reproduction, and suggest that declining kin availability was an important contributing factor to the fertility transition in the United States. We also find important differences between maternal and paternal kin inside the household—including higher fertility among women residing with their mother-in-law than among those residing with their mother—that support hypotheses related to the contrasting motivations and concerns of parents and parents-in-law.}},
  author       = {{Hacker, J David and Helgertz, Jonas and Nelson, Matt A. and Roberts, Evan}},
  issn         = {{1533-7790}},
  keywords     = {{fertility decline; kinship; historical demography}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{6}},
  pages        = {{2337--2364}},
  publisher    = {{Population Assn Amer}},
  series       = {{Demography}},
  title        = {{The influence of kin proximity on the reproductive success of American couples, 1900-1910}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1215/00703370-9518532}},
  doi          = {{10.1215/00703370-9518532}},
  volume       = {{58}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}