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Does grandparental help mediate the relationship between kin presence and fertility?

Author

Listed:
  • Kristin Snopkowski

    (Boise State University)

  • Rebecca Sear

    (Brunel University London)

Abstract

Background: Previous research suggests that kin availability may be correlated with reproductive outcomes, but it is not clear that a causal relationship underlies these findings. Further, there is substantial variation in how kin availability is measured. Objective: We attempt to identify whether different measures of kin availability influence how kin affect reproductive outcomes and whether the effect of kin on reproductive outcomes is driven by the help that they provide. Methods: Using data from the Indonesia Family Life Survey (1993, 1997, 2000, 2007), we compare the survival of parents and parents-in-law, their co-residence, geographic proximity, contact frequency, and helping behavior in predicting fertility outcomes, and test a hypothesized causal pathway linking kin availability to reproduction via helping behavior. Results: We find different results if we operationalize parental availability as survival or co-residence, suggesting that these measures cannot be used interchangeably. Receiving help from parents or parents-in-law has a positive effect on progression to birth when women have fewer than three living children. Path analyses show that geographic proximity is associated with contact frequency, which in turn influences helping behavior. Kin help has a positive effect on progression to giving birth for all parental categories, but the effects are strongest for mothers-in-law. Conclusions: In Indonesia, kin availability has a positive effect on fertility only when kin provide help, suggesting that there is a causal relationship between kin availability and fertility which is mediated via the provision of help.

Suggested Citation

  • Kristin Snopkowski & Rebecca Sear, 2016. "Does grandparental help mediate the relationship between kin presence and fertility?," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 34(17), pages 467-498.
    • Handle: RePEc:dem:demres:v:34:y:2016:i:17
    DOI: 10.4054/DemRes.2016.34.17
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Snopkowski, Kristin & Sear, Rebecca, 2015. "Grandparental help in Indonesia is directed preferentially towards needier descendants: A potential confounder when exploring grandparental influences on child health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 105-114.
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    4. Rebecca Sear & David Coall, 2011. "How Much Does Family Matter? Cooperative Breeding and the Demographic Transition," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 37(Supplemen), pages 81-112, January.
    5. Jan Beise & Eckart Voland, 2002. "A multilevel event history analysis of the effects of grandmothers on child mortality in a historical German population (Krummhörn, Ostfriesland, 1720-1874)," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2002-023, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    6. Paul Gertler & Jack Molyneaux, 1994. "Erratum to: How Economic Development and Family Planning Programs Combined to Reduce Indonesian Fertility," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 31(2), pages 1-1, May.
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    9. Paul Mathews & Rebecca Sear, 2013. "Family and Fertility: Kin Influence on the Progression to a Second Birth in the British Household Panel Study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(3), pages 1-10, March.
    10. Jan Beise & Eckart Voland, 2002. "A multilevel event history analysis of the effects of grandmothers on child mortality in a historical German population," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 7(13), pages 469-498.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Pei, Yaolin & Cong, Zhen & Wu, Bei, 2020. "Education, adult children's education, and depressive symptoms among older adults in rural China," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 253(C).
    3. Laure Spake & Susan B. Schaffnit & Rebecca Sear & Mary K. Shenk & Richard Sosis & John H. Shaver, 2021. "Mother’s Partnership Status and Allomothering Networks in the United Kingdom and United States," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-25, May.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Indonesia; intergenerational transfers; kin networks; fertility; grandparenting;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

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