The limits of acceptable family size in Western Nigeria

1975 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 273-296 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen Ware
Keyword(s):  
Family Size ◽  
Ideal Family Size ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Probability Sample ◽  
Ideal Family ◽  
Value Of Children ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Family ◽  
The World ◽  
June July

SummaryThe data in this paper are drawn from interviews with a stratified probability sample of 2996 Yoruba men and women aged 17 or above living in Lagos and Western States in June–July 1973. Although drawing upon other material from the 1 ½-hour interviews the discussion concentrates upon the family size ideals of these individuals. In addition to the customary measures of ideal family size, new measures of the limits of acceptable family size are described, together with the reactions of the whole sample to a wide range of statements relating to family size and the value of children. It is shown that the smallest family which would be acceptable to any appreciable proportion of the population is four children, which would be acceptable to 18% of all respondents. Comparative data from elsewhere in the developing world are presented to show that African family size ideals are amongst the highest in the world. Age, educational and occupational differentials in perceptions of different family sizes are also discussed.

The limits of acceptable family size: evidence from Melbourne, Australia

1973 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 309-328 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen Ware
Keyword(s):  
Population Growth ◽  
Family Size ◽  
Great Majority ◽  
Married Women ◽  
Ideal Family Size ◽  
Ideal Family ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Family ◽  
Zero Population Growth ◽  
Lower Limits

SummaryThe data in this paper are drawn from interviews with a probability sample of 2652 once-married women under the age of 60 currently living with their husbands in 1971 in metropolitan Melbourne. Although drawing from other material from the 2½ hr interviews the discussion concentrates upon the family size ideals of these wives. In addition to the customary measures of ideal family size, new measures of the upper and lower limits of acceptable family size are described, together with the reactions of the whole sample to a wide range of specified family sizes and the reasons for accepting or rejecting them. It is shown that the eventual achievement of zero population growth will almost certainly depend upon the two-child family becoming the norm for the great majority of couples, since childless or one-child marriages are desired by only 2% of couples. Currently, however, 20% of wives consider two-child families to be undesirably small. The marked religious, country of origin and educational differentials in acceptance of the two-child family are also discussed.

Impact of child mortality and sociodemographic attributes on family size desires: some data from urban India

1984 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. N. Saksena ◽  
J. N. Srivastava
Keyword(s):  
Child Mortality ◽  
Family Size ◽  
Family Education ◽  
City Hospital ◽  
Ideal Family Size ◽  
Urban Background ◽  
Younger Women ◽  
Ideal Family ◽  
The Family

SummaryUsing follow-up data on a sample of mothers who gave birth at a Lucknow city hospital, the family size ideals of the women were examined in relation to experienced and perceived levels of child mortality and socioeconomic and demographic characteristics.The fear of child mortality and their own experience tended to increase the size of family which the mothers considered to be ideal. Lower ideal family size was found among younger women, those who married at later ages and those currently using contraception. Family size preferences were also influenced by rural/urban background, religion, caste, type of family, education, income and occupation of husband and type of housing.

scholarly journals Familial Orientations and the Rationales for Childbearing Behaviour

2006 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amir Erfani ◽  
Roderic Beaujot
Keyword(s):  
Family Size ◽  
Ideal Family Size ◽  
Cost Of Children ◽  
Ideal Family ◽  
Value Of Children ◽  
Personal Needs ◽  
Qualitative Sample ◽  
The Ideal

Using a local qualitative sample from Ontario, we explore the rationales for childbearing behaviour across contrasting familial orientations. There are considerable similarities among respondents with traditional and modern familial orientations in terms of the reasons for having children and the costs and values of children. Nonetheless, persons with modern orientations are more likely to give individual related reasons for having children, and to see the value of children in terms of personal needs and desires. The largest difference relates to the ideal timing of childbearing, as persons with modern orientations are more likely to prefer childbearing in the late 20s or early 30s. While the rationales offered by respondents indicate a culture that is supportive of childbearing, and individuals with more modern orientations have views similar to those with traditional orientations on ideal family size and on the value and cost of children, they will probably have fewer children given their more individualistic orientation to childbearing and the conviction that later childbearing is better.

scholarly journals PERIOD AND COHORT DYNAMICS IN FERTILITY NORMS AT THE ONSET OF THE DEMOGRAPHIC TRANSITION IN KENYA 1978–1998

2007 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 443-454 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. G. WHITE ◽  
C. HALL ◽  
B. WOLFF
Keyword(s):  
Family Size ◽  
Fertility Decline ◽  
Fertility Transition ◽  
Period Effect ◽  
High Fertility ◽  
Demographic Model ◽  
Ideal Family Size ◽  
Age Cohorts ◽  
Ideal Family ◽  
Rapid Fall

Summary.A characteristic of African pre-transitional fertility regimes is large ideal family size. This has been used to support claims of cultural entrenchment of high fertility. Yet in Kenya fertility rates have fallen. In this paper this fall is explored in relation to trends in fertility norms and attitudes using four sequential cross-sectional surveys spanning the fertility transition in Kenya (1978, 1984, 1989 and 1998). The most rapid fall in the reported ideal family size occurred between 1984 and 1989, whilst the most rapid fall in the total fertility rate occurred 5 to 10 years later, between 1989 and 1998. Thus these data, spanning the fertility transition in Kenya, support the traditional demographic model that demand for fertility limitation drives fertility decline. These data also suggest that the decline in fertility norms over time was partly a period effect, as the reported ideal family size was seen to fall simultaneously in all age cohorts, and partly a cohort effect, as older age cohorts reporting higher ideal family sizes were replaced by younger cohorts reporting lower ideal family sizes. These data also suggest that a new fertility norm of four children may have developed by 1989 and continued until 1998. This is consistent with, and perhaps could have been used to predict, the stall in the Kenyan fertility decline after 1998.

Family planning in Lae urban area of Papua New Guinea 1981

1984 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 269-275 ◽  
Author(s):  
William K. A. Agyei
Keyword(s):  
Family Planning ◽  
Urban Area ◽  
Papua New Guinea ◽  
Family Size ◽  
Contraceptive Use ◽  
New Guinea ◽  
Ideal Family Size ◽  
Ideal Family ◽  
High Level ◽  
The Ideal

SummaryA summary of 298 male and 358 female respondents in the Lae urban area of Papua New Guinea in 1981 revealed a relatively high level of contraceptive awareness, but the level of contraceptive use is low. However, the overall current usages of non-traditional methods for the wives of the male and for the female respondents are 34–2% and 37% respectively. The male and the female respondents have the same views on the ideal family size—approximately three children.

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