Ethnicity and fertility in Liberia: a test of the minority group status hypothesis

This study examines the relationship between ethnicity and fertility in Liberia, within the context of the minority group status hypothesis. The hypothesis argues that minority group status exerts an independent effect on fertility, net of controls for socioeconomic and demographic variables. Using a subsample of women from the 1974 Liberian census, the study examines interethnic variations in fertility by comparing five ethnic minorities--Bassa, Vai, Grebo, Kru, Kpelle--with the majority group, Americo-Liberian. With the possible exception of Bassa women, the findings do not support the minority group status hypothesis. Instead, the findings are more congruent with the alternative assimilationist hypothesis which argues that when sociodemographic differences between majority and minority groups are controlled, their fertility levels should converge. The implications of these findings are explored.     

Racial fertility differences: The role of female employment and education in wanted and unwanted childbearing

Abstract

This paper employs data from a merged sample of the National Surveys of Family Growth to examine how female employment status conditions the relationship between education and wanted and unwanted births among African American and white women. A rationale is presented for why a minority group status hypothesis that posits lower fertility among more highly educated African American women as compared to similar white women might find support in the case of wanted births and among certain women, including earlier birth cohorts. Our results provide some evidence for these ideas as well as evidence for a social characteristics hypothesis that predicts convergence of childbearing with rising education. However, persistently higher levels of unwanted births among African American women of all educational levels suggest that the dynamics of racial fertility differences are more complex than either of the hypotheses imply.     

Discrimination and Chinese fertility in Canada

The study examines Chinese fertility in Canada in the context of minority-status and fertility. Chinese-Canadians are compared with British-Canadians, who are considered in this analysis as the majority group. The study is unique in three ways. First, we argue that discrimination brings a minority group not only psychological insecurity but also social-economic insecurity, which can be measured by Chinese husbands' economic status relative to the British. Second, we analyze the relationship between discrimination against the Chinese at the social class level and Chinese fertility behavior at the individual level, which has been ignored by most previous studies. Third, we describe "insecurities" effects to explain the fertility behavior of the Chinese across social classes, including the lower classes to which many researchers believe the minority status hypothesis is not applicable. We conclude that discrimination variations over social classes combined with normative influence are a major factor in causing class fertility differentials between the Chinese and the British in Canada.     

Prejudice in the former Soviet Union

Research in the United States and Europe has focused on the prejudice of majority groups towards minority groups, the implication somehow being that majority groups were more prejudiced than minority groups. In the former Soviet Union, ethnic environments were more complex; the same ethnic group could be a majority in one region but a minority in others. Using a sample of 1,459 first‐ and fourth‐year university students from eight regions of the former USSR, this study focuses on Russian, Tatar and Ukrainian respondents (n = 821) to test the hypothesis that the status of an ethnic group (majority/minority) or in‐group bias explains members’ prejudice. According to in‐group bias, all ethnic groups are equally prejudiced, minority and majority alike, whereas group status posits that groups in a majority position are more prejudiced. Findings show that group status has greater impact on prejudice than does in‐group bias. This applies, however, only to Russians. Interpretations of the findings rest on Soviet history and the rise of nationalism during the breakup of the Soviet Union.     

Explaining the Role of Proximate Determinants on Fertility Decline among Poor and Non-Poor in Asian Countries

ObjectivesWe examined the overall contributions of the poor and non-poor in fertility decline across the Asian countries. Further, we analyzed the direct and indirect factors that determine the reproductive behaviour of two distinct population sub-groups.DesignData from several new rounds of DHS surveys are available over the past few years. The DHS provides cross-nationally comparable and useful data on fertility, family planning, maternal and child health along with the other information. Six selected Asian countries namely: Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Philippines, and Vietnam are considered for the purpose of the study. Three rounds of DHS surveys for each country (except Vietnam) are considered in the present study.MethodsEconomic status is measured by computing a “wealth index”, i.e. a composite indicator constructed by aggregating data on asset ownership and housing characteristics using principal components analysis (PCA). Computed household wealth index has been broken into three equal parts (33.3 percent each) and the lowest and the highest 33.3 percent is considered as poor and non-poor respectively. The Bongaarts model was employed to quantify the contribution of each of the proximate determinants of fertility among poor and non-poor women.ResultsFertility reduction across all population subgroups is now an established fact despite the diversity in the level of socio-economic development in Asian countries. It is clear from the analysis that fertility has declined irrespective of economic status at varying degrees within and across the countries which can be attributed to the increasing level of contraceptive use especially among poor women. Over the period of time changing marriage pattern and induced abortion are playing an important role in reducing fertility among poor women.ConclusionsFertility decline among majority of the poor women across the Asian countries is accompanied by high prevalence of contraceptive use followed by changing marriage pattern and induced abortion.     

Age at first birth and family size: Evidence from a longitudinal study

Abstract

This paper examines the correlates of the relationship of age at first birth to completed parity, using data from a fifteen‐year longitudinal study. Particular emphasis is given to measures of orientation toward family roles which have been singled out in previous studies as a likely causal factor not yet examined. Women who had an early first birth went on to have larger families than women who postponed childbearing longer. Demographic factors, including premarital pregnancies, unwanted births, and fecundity differentials, did not appear to account for the observed relationship. The hypothesis that early socialization toward traditional female roles might account for the higher fertility of women who began childbearing early was not confirmed. Women with a first birth at a young age were not characterized by more traditional sex‐role behavior or attitudes nor did they express higher initial fertility preferences. They did more often increase their fertility preferences over the inter‐survey period.     

Patterns of digit preference and avoidance in the age statistics of some recent national censuses: A test of the turner hypothesis

Abstract

The relationship between family type and fertility among Iranian peasant women is examined through multiple classification analysis. It is shown that peasant women living in extended families have a significantly lower level of fertility than do those living in nuclear families. The hypothesis that part of this lower fertility is due to population pressure on the limited resources of the household is tested, and it is noted that women in extended families with three or more “non‐nuclear” members have the lowest level of fertility.     

Ethnicity and fertility in Nigeria

Using a sample of Hausa-Fulani, Yoruba, Ibo, and all other women from the 1990 Nigerian Demographic and Health Survey, this study examines ethnic fertility differentials in Nigeria within the context of the social characteristics and cultural hypotheses. Among all women, we find the net fertility of Hausa-Fulani women to be lower than that of Other women; with no statistically significant difference in the net fertility of Ibo, Yourba, and Other women. But, among currently married women, we find the net fertility of Hausa-Fulani and Yoruba women to be lower than that of Other women, while the net fertility of Ibo women is higher than that of Other women. Overall, the findings of this study are more consistent with the cultural hypothesis, because statistically significant fertility differentials by ethnicity remain, even after controlling for selected socioeconomic and demographic variables.     

Farm background,socioeconomic status,and fertility: The two‐generation hypothesis

Abstract

This paper reports on an examination of whether the effects of farm background on socioeconomic differentials in fertility are diminished among nonfarm couples. The data are for a sample of white ever‐married women belonging to the 1901–1910 birth cohorts. The research provides another test of the two‐generation‐urbanite hypothesis first advanced by Goldberg. Unlike a number of other studies, the findings do not support the hypothesis. Reasons for the lack of support are discussed, and methodological weaknesses of previous studies are identified.     

Intimate Territories and the Experimental Subject in Ladakh,India

Abstract

This paper explores the management of reproduction and sexuality as experimental political practice. In Leh District of India's Jammu and Kashmir State, vote bloc politics and a tenuous geopolitical context highlight the reproductive body's potential to maintain political and territorial control through demographic trends. Conflict between the Buddhist majority and Muslim minority is articulated partly through the regulation of fertility and sexuality. Population is described as a zero-sum game in which each side acquires or cedes territory; activists and religious leaders experiment with the body as a territorial tool. These projects collide with the hopes and fears of women and men considering love, marriage, pregnancy, and contraceptive use. This paper draws on research conducted in 2004 and 2007–2009 to explore how women's desiring and reproductive bodies are folded into geopolitical experiments, how women cope under this experimental regime, and the ways that they turn to a tactic of ‘not knowing.’     

Immigration and Chinese reproductive behavior in Canada

This study is intended to provide an empirical testing of the minority status hypothesis with regard to the fertility behavior of Chinese immigrants to Canada. The focus is placed on the role of group or social context on actions of individuals. Factors incurred in the immigration process as explained by disruption and assimilation hypotheses are also examined. Using the multi-level contextual analysis, we have found that the relative economic insecurity that comes from minority membership and the course of immigration serves to decrease fertility of minority members, whether they are associated with a pronatalist heritage or not. However, pronatalist traditions do stimulate fecundity of Chinese immigrants as long as their relative economic status is improved and the hardship is gone.     

Women's role orientations and expected fertility: Evidence from the Detroit area, 1978

Abstract

The paper investigates whether there is empirical evidence to support the hypothesis that women's attitudes toward traditionally female family roles affect their expected fertility net of the much‐discussed link between women's employment and fertility. Along with several socio‐demographic variables, the study uses a nonwork related attitude variable comprised of a motherhood role attitude measure and a housekeeping attitude measure. The study uses a probability sample of white, fecund, once‐married women under 35 living with their husbands in the Detroit Metropolitan Area in 1978. Findings suggest that nonwork related attitudes have a significant effect on fertility expectations net of labor force participation. They also suggest that general fertility surveys could benefit from including questions on nonwork related role orientations.     

Minority statuses and positive views of the country in the United States: an investigation of nativity/immigrant status,and racial/ethnic and religious backgrounds

Using a nationally representative sample of adults in the US, this study examines the majority and minority’s positive views of the country in terms of nativity status, race and ethnicity, and religion. The results suggest that the majority–minority differences vary by demographic characteristics and attitudes examined. Although non-US citizens have a lower level of regard for the US as the best country in which to be a citizen than their counterparts, they have no less favourable views in other respects. Among ethnic minorities, only blacks have more negative views of the US than whites do. While religious minorities also have less regard for the country than the majority, individuals with no religious affiliation hold lower levels of most national attitudes. These findings suggest that the associations between minority status and views of the country go beyond race and ethnicity, which previous research has overlooked.     

Farm background, socioeconomic status, and fertility: the two-generation hypothesis

This paper examines whether the effects of farm background on socioeconomic differentials in fertility are diminished among nonfarm couples. The data are for a sample of white ever-married women belonging to the 1901-1910 birth cohorts. The research provides another test of the 2 generation-urbanite hypothesis 1st advanced by the Goldberg studies of Detroit and Indianapolis. Unlike a number of other studies, the findings do not support the hypothesis. Thus, a number of questions arise concerning the results obtained by previous investigators in support of this hypothesis. Different types of samples measuring farm background and socioeconomic status may be plausible explanations for the differing results. It is also important to note that both the Detroit and Indianapolis samples can hardly be considered representative of US urban populations in the 1940s and 1950s. A further difficulty with the Detroit study was that Goldberg aggregated the data of a relatively large number of cohorts. The Indianapolis sample was constrained by the eligibility requirements of the original study. The difficulties of adequately testing Goldberg's hypothesis may have been compounded by the extension of the hypothesis to nationally representative samples. Moreover, The hypothesis was not supported when education was used as a measure of socioeconomic status in the Detroit study. Until other studies can be carefully replicated, definitive answers to such questions as to whether fertility differentials by socioeconomic status will disappear or have become attenuated must remain an unanswered question.     

Determinants of fertility decline in China, 1981: Analysis of intermediate variables

Abstract

This study examines the proximate determinants of fertility in China by making use of the data collected by the One‐per‐Thousand Sample Fertility Survey of 1982. The results indicate that the most important inhibitor of potential fertility is deliberate control. Its contribution to fertility change has been far greater than all other proximate determinants. The marital structure of the population is also an important factor, while lactational infecundability and induced abortion are relatively unimportant. Comparative results by using data from the In‐depth Fertility Survey conducted in Shanghai Municipality, Hebei and Shaanxi Provinces in April 1985 agree well in the ranking of the four intermediate factors. The findings point to successful family planning program and government population policies, which propelled the fertility transition to a substantial degree. Further research needs and policy implications of the results of the study are discussed.     

More on the determinants of the fertility transition

Abstract

The economic approach to fertility is an application of the economics theory of consumer behavior. It is assumed that consumers of children are utility‐maximizers with stable preferences over time. Thus, changes in fertility are related to changes in household income and the “price” of children. One concern in this approach is that demographic changes are a product of changes in tastes rather than exogenous changes in economic factors such as the earning ability of women. In this paper, the effect of economic variables on the demand for children in the United States in 1950, 1960, 1970, and 1980 is examined. Support is provided for the hypothesis that the earning ability of women is an important determinant of fertility.     

Sociodemographic attributes of Iranian wives who reported unwanted pregnancies

Abstract

In a 1989 Family Planning Study in Iran, 40 percent of the married women of reproductive age reported that their last or current pregnancies were unwanted and unintended. This finding is consistent with the results obtained from a number of studies undertaken in the countries of North Africa and the Middle East. Although the phenomenon of unwanted pregnancy is a significant topic in the population studies, it has received very little attention. This paper shows the differences between two groups: group A, those married women who reported that their last or current pregnancies were wanted, and group B, those married women who reported that their last or current pregnancies were unwanted. The findings of this study clearly show significant differences between these two groups in regard to some key sociodemographic attributes: wife/husband's education, actual and desired fertility, wife's current age, past and present practice of contraceptive methods, and extent of satisfaction with family planning services are among the attributes differentiating these two groups. Our examination of these variables suggests that group B had higher parity, fertility, less desire for more children, less use of contraceptive techniques, and less satisfaction with the efficiency of the contraceptive techniques than group A. The relationship between education and wanted/unwanted pregnancies is mixed. The urban women who wanted‐pregnancies and were 25 years old or older were more educated than those who did not want pregnancies. On the contrary, the rural women whose pregnancies were not wanted were more educated than those who wanted pregnancies regardless of age, parity, and locality differences. Furthermore, the urban/rural women with different levels of parities who did not want to be pregnant were more educated than the urban/rural women who wanted pregnancies. Finally, the standardized regression coefficients, obtained in logistic regression, reveal that among urban women the desire for more children and parity are the first and second most significant independent variables differentiating between group A and group B. Among rural women, living children and the desire for more children were the first and second most important variables differentiating between group A and group B.     

Determinants of the sex ratio at birth: Review of recent literature

Abstract

Use of contraception by rural Egyptian women who desire no more children is examined within a modified microeconomic framework. Four sets of factors are hypothesized to influence current use of contraception: (1) costs of contraception, ‘(2) factors influencing the slope of the desired family size function, (3) anticipated costs of child rearing and (4) strength of motivation for fertility regulation. Women's education and two measures of psychic costs were found to be important predictors of contraceptive use. Factors affecting the demand for children and thus indirectly influencing the motivation for fertility regulation were also important. Land ownership, cultivating status of the household, and educational expectations for children were significantly related to current use. Strength of motivation, although significant, was less strongly related to use of contraception. The findings suggest women who want no more children, but who are not practicing contraception, are affected by factors influencing both the costs of contraception and the costs of an unwanted child.     

Women's educational attainment and intergenerational patterns of fertility behaviour in Kenya

There is a strong theoretical and empirical relationship between educational attainment and fertility behaviour. However, a fundamental issue that has largely been neglected is the change in this relationship across cohorts resulting from differential improvement in educational opportunities for women over time and how it relates to fertility transition. Utilizing the 1998 DHS data from Kenya this study examines the differential effect of educational attainment on women's use of modern contraception and desire for cessation of childbearing across generations. The findings indicate that even after controlling for husband's education and other relevant factors, a woman's advanced education is positively associated with use of modern contraception. However, support for a similar hypothesis on a woman's desire for family limitation was only found among the youngest cohort of women. The results suggest that for Kenya's incipient fertility transition to be sustained the government needs to continue efforts to improve female education and support access to family planning among younger women.