Dimensions of Rational Decision-Making during the Demographic Transition; Aranjuez (Spain) Revisited
A set of linked reproductive histories taken from the Spanish town of Aranjuez during the demographic transition is used to address key issues regarding reproductive change and reproductive choice. This paper builds on the existing literature and especially on the findings first shown in Rehe...
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| Language: | English |
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International Institute of Social History
2015-03-01
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| Series: | Historical Life Course Studies |
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| Online Access: | https://acc.openjournals.nl/hlcs/article/view/9356 |
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| author | David Reher Glenn Sandström |
| author_facet | David Reher Glenn Sandström |
| author_sort | David Reher |
| collection | DOAJ |
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A set of linked reproductive histories taken from the Spanish town of Aranjuez during the demographic transition is used to address key issues regarding reproductive change and reproductive choice. This paper builds on the existing literature and especially on the findings first shown in Reher & Sanz-Gimeno (2007) and in Van Poppel et al. (2012) where the links between childhood survival and reproductive decision-making were specified. This paper goes beyond the original ones in two important ways: (a) the sex composition of the surviving sibset is included in the analysis and (b) behavior is modeled by means of event history analysis. In these models, controls for the survival status of the previous child are introduced so as to distinguish between biological factors related to the cessation of breastfeeding and both short term (child replacement) and more long-term reproductive strategies. The results offer convincing proof that couples were continually regulating their fertility in order to achieve reproductive goals both in terms of net fertility and of the sex composition of the resulting sibset. Here results show that both sexes were desired by parents but that lack of surviving males had greater influence on fertility behavior. As expected, controls for the survival status of the previous-born child were important though they did not diminish appreciably the overall effect of the number of surviving offspring. This article offers strong proof for the existence of active decision-making during the demographic transition and applies a method to model these behaviors over the full reproductive history of the couple.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-b79bd8c20e394a09a69cf737f27f757e |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2352-6343 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2015-03-01 |
| publisher | International Institute of Social History |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Historical Life Course Studies |
| spelling | doaj-art-b79bd8c20e394a09a69cf737f27f757e2025-02-02T21:49:03ZengInternational Institute of Social HistoryHistorical Life Course Studies2352-63432015-03-012Dimensions of Rational Decision-Making during the Demographic Transition; Aranjuez (Spain) RevisitedDavid ReherGlenn Sandström A set of linked reproductive histories taken from the Spanish town of Aranjuez during the demographic transition is used to address key issues regarding reproductive change and reproductive choice. This paper builds on the existing literature and especially on the findings first shown in Reher & Sanz-Gimeno (2007) and in Van Poppel et al. (2012) where the links between childhood survival and reproductive decision-making were specified. This paper goes beyond the original ones in two important ways: (a) the sex composition of the surviving sibset is included in the analysis and (b) behavior is modeled by means of event history analysis. In these models, controls for the survival status of the previous child are introduced so as to distinguish between biological factors related to the cessation of breastfeeding and both short term (child replacement) and more long-term reproductive strategies. The results offer convincing proof that couples were continually regulating their fertility in order to achieve reproductive goals both in terms of net fertility and of the sex composition of the resulting sibset. Here results show that both sexes were desired by parents but that lack of surviving males had greater influence on fertility behavior. As expected, controls for the survival status of the previous-born child were important though they did not diminish appreciably the overall effect of the number of surviving offspring. This article offers strong proof for the existence of active decision-making during the demographic transition and applies a method to model these behaviors over the full reproductive history of the couple. https://acc.openjournals.nl/hlcs/article/view/9356SpainRational decision makingSex-compositionFertility transitionChild mortality |
| spellingShingle | David Reher Glenn Sandström Dimensions of Rational Decision-Making during the Demographic Transition; Aranjuez (Spain) Revisited Historical Life Course Studies Spain Rational decision making Sex-composition Fertility transition Child mortality |
| title | Dimensions of Rational Decision-Making during the Demographic Transition; Aranjuez (Spain) Revisited |
| title_full | Dimensions of Rational Decision-Making during the Demographic Transition; Aranjuez (Spain) Revisited |
| title_fullStr | Dimensions of Rational Decision-Making during the Demographic Transition; Aranjuez (Spain) Revisited |
| title_full_unstemmed | Dimensions of Rational Decision-Making during the Demographic Transition; Aranjuez (Spain) Revisited |
| title_short | Dimensions of Rational Decision-Making during the Demographic Transition; Aranjuez (Spain) Revisited |
| title_sort | dimensions of rational decision making during the demographic transition aranjuez spain revisited |
| topic | Spain Rational decision making Sex-composition Fertility transition Child mortality |
| url | https://acc.openjournals.nl/hlcs/article/view/9356 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT davidreher dimensionsofrationaldecisionmakingduringthedemographictransitionaranjuezspainrevisited AT glennsandstrom dimensionsofrationaldecisionmakingduringthedemographictransitionaranjuezspainrevisited |