Child naming,religion, and the decline of marital fertility in nineteenth-century america |
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| Affiliation: | 1. University of Pittsburgh, 4200 Fifth Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA;2. Center for Women''s Health Research and Innovation (CWHRI), 230 McKee Place, Suite 600, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA;3. Magee-Women''s Research Institute, 204 Craft Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA;4. Clinical and Translational Science Institute, University of Pittsburgh, Forbes Tower, Suite 7057, Atwood & Sennot Streets, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA;5. Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion (CHERP), VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System, University Drive (151C), Pittsburgh, PA 15240, USA;1. Jagiellonian University in Krakow, ul. Gołębia 13, 31-007 Kraków, Poland;2. Warsaw School of Economics, ul. Madalińskiego 6/8, 02-513 Warszawa, Poland;3. Warsaw School of Economics and IZA, ul. Madalińskiego 6/8, 02-513 Warszawa, Poland;4. University of Oxford, George Street, Oxford OX1 2RL, UK;1. Spanish Biomedical Research Centre in Diabetes and Associated Metabolic Disorders (CIBERDEM), Spain;2. UGCI de Endocrinología y Nutrición, Hospital Regional Universitario, Málaga, Spain;3. Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de Málaga (IBIMA), Málaga, Spain;4. Diabetes Research Group, Hospital Universitario de Cruces, UPV-EHU, Baracaldo, Spain;1. Department of Economics and Social Sciences, University of Bamberg, Feldkirchenstr. 21, Bamberg 96045, Germany;2. Department of Economics, University of Graz, Universitätsstrasse 15, Graz 8010, Austria |
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| Abstract: | Demographic historians have long suspected that cultural factors played an important role in the early decline of fertility in nineteenth-century America. Using the recently released 1850 and 1880 IPUMS samples, this article investigates correlates of marital fertility among native-born white women of native parentage, focusing on the relationship between religion and fertility. Two proxies of religious sentiment are found to be significantly correlated with marital fertility. First, county-level census data indicate that the presence of Congregationalists and Universalists was associated with lower marital fertility, while the presence of Lutherans was associated with higher marital fertility. Second, the proportion of own children with biblical names—believed to be a proxy of parental religiosity—is found to be positively associated with marital fertility. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that traditional religious beliefs were an impediment to the adoption of family limitation strategies. |
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