Geographic variation in personality is associated with fertility across the United States

Levels of fertility and the shape of the age-specific fertility schedule vary substantially across U.S. regions with some states having peak fertility relatively early and others relatively late. Structural institutions or economic factors partly explain these heterogeneous patterns, but regional differences in personality might also contribute to regional differences in fertility. Here, we evaluated whether variation in extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience measured at the U.S. state-level was associated with the level, timing, and context of fertility across states above and beyond sociodemographics, voting behavior, and religiosity. Generally, states with higher levels of agreeableness and conscientiousness had more traditional fertility patterns, and states with higher levels of neuroticism and openness had more nontraditional fertility patterns, even after controlling for established correlates of fertility (r ~ |.50|). Personality is an overlooked correlate that can be leveraged to understand the existence and persistence of fertility differentials.

The Fertility of Immigrants From Low-Fertility Settings: Adaptation in the Quantum and Tempo of Childbearing?

Immigrant women who have lived longer in a destination often have relatively low levels of fertility, which is sometimes taken as evidence of the adaptation of behavior. This evidence is almost exclusively based on studies of immigrants from high-fertility settings, while the fertility of immigrants from low-fertility settings has been largely overlooked. Research has also rarely studied the fertility of immigrants who migrated as children, despite the methodological advantages of applying such an approach. This study focuses on women who grew up in Sweden with a migration background from low-fertility origins. We expect that Sweden's welfare regime makes it easier for women to combine childbearing and working life, regardless of migration background, thereby facilitating an adaptation of fertility behavior toward that prevailing in Sweden. We find evidence of adaptation in terms of birth timing for at least half of the country-origin groups that we study, but very little evidence of adaptation in terms of completed fertility. Further, we find that, in comparison with ancestral Swedes, completed fertility differentials are larger for second-generation individuals than for immigrants who arrived during childhood. This is evidence against the notion of “straight-line” adaptation for immigrants and the children of immigrants who are born in Sweden.

Determinants of Burundi fertility differentials: Evidence from the 2016-17 Burundi Demographic and Health Survey.

Background Although fertility control remains a major priority for the Burundian government and most of its partners, few studies on Burundi’s fertility determinants are available to guide interventions. Our study aims to examine factors influencing Burundi’s fertility differentials using the latest Burundi Demographic and Health Survey data. Results In our weighted sample size of 17,269 women aged 15–49, the total number of children ever born ranged from 0 to 15 children by women with a mean of 2.7 children (Standard deviation = 2.8). Factors such as residence in rural or in Central-Eastern, western and Southern regions, illiteracy/low level of education of both husband and women, women and husband agricultural professions, household poverty, male headed households, previous experience of infant mortality, early marriage and early childbearing, lack of knowledge of any contraceptive methods, non-use of modern contraceptive methods and desire of a large number of children were identified as factors associated with a high fertility rate in Burundi. Conclusion The results of this study suggest that actions aimed at promoting education, especially female education, and improving child survival, women’s socioeconomic status, agriculture mechanization and increasing number and scope of family planning services could help reduce Burundi’s fertility rate.

Methodological analysis of period fertility in Saudi Arabia 2018

Exact measurement and evaluation of indicators of period fertility in a multiracial society could help explaining disparities. This paper represents a methodological and analytical attempt to systematically analyze period fertility and discuss differentials in its level and pattern between domestic and expatriate women in Saudi Arabia as far as available data allow. The data used are obtained from official Sources published by General Authority for Statistics in the Household Health Survey 2018. Estimated period fertility indicators, started from the simplest rates to the more elegant ones with adequate illustration of the advantages and disadvantages of each of them. The purpose was to establish fertility differentials and historical pattern. The paper has consistently shown that the fertility of expatriates in Saudi Arabia is lower than the fertility of the Saudi domestic women, but the reason for the disparity was not established as contraceptive practice has not confirmed sufficient influence. It was also revealed that the fertility transition that had been taking place since early eighties will continue but it will have precautions in the future.

SES differences in marital fertility widened during the fertility transition—evidence from global micro-level population data

The decline in human fertility during the demographic transition is one of the most profound changes to human living conditions. To gain a better understanding of this transition we investigate the association between socioeconomic status (SES) and marital fertility in different fertility regimes in a global and historical perspective. We use data for a large number women in 91 different countries for the period 1703–2018 (N = 116,612,473). In the pre-transitional fertility regime the highest SES group had somewhat lower marital fertility than other groups both in terms of children ever born (CEB) and number of surviving children under 5 (CWR). Over the course of the fertility transition, as measured by the different fertility regimes, these rather small initial SES differentials in marital fertility widened, both for CEB and CWR. There was no indication of a convergence in marital fertility by SES in the later stages of the transition. Our results imply a universally negative association between SES and marital fertility and that the fertility differentials widened during the fertility transition.

Analysis of Latin American Fertility in Terms of Probable Social Classes

Theories of demographic change have not paid enough attention to how factors associated with fertility decline play different roles across social classes that are defined multidimensionally. I use a multidimensional definition of social class along with information on the reproductive histories of women born between 1920 and 1965 in six Latin American countries to show the following: the enduring connection between social stratification and fertility differentials, the concomitance of diverse fertility decline trajectories by class, and the role of within- and between-class social distances in promoting/preventing ideational change towards the acceptance of lower fertility. These results enable me to revisit the scope of theories of fertility change and to provide an explanatory narrative centred on empirically constructed social classes (probable social classes) and the macro- and micro-level conditions that influenced their life courses. I use 21 census samples collected between 1970 and 2005 in Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Paraguay.

The Role of Fertility in the Demography of Grandparenthood: Evidence from Italy

Grandparents play an important role in their family’s lives. However, little is known about the demography of grandparenthood. Given dramatic recent changes in fertility, we explore the role of number of children and age at first birth in the timing of the transition into grandparenthood focusing on Italy, a country with well-known North-South fertility differentials. We used data from the 2009 Italian Survey ‘Family and Social Relations’ (N = 10,186) to estimate median ages of grandparenthood across three birth cohorts of parents (1920–29; 1930–39; 1940–49). Findings show an overall postponement of age of grandparenthood of 5 years, shifting for women from early to mid- or late-50s (in the South and North, respectively). Such postponement is largely driven by family compositional changes: although the age of grandparenthood among mothers of three or more children has not changed much over cohorts, the percentage of mothers with such characteristic decreased significantly. The heterogeneity in experiencing the transition to grandparenthood has implications for intergenerational transfers and other roles in later life.