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Differential fertility makes society more conservative on family values

Author

Listed:
  • Tom S. Vogl

    (Department of Economics, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093; National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, MA 02138)

  • Jeremy Freese

    (Department of Sociology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305)

Abstract

Data from the General Social Survey indicate that higher-fertility individuals and their children are more conservative on “family values” issues, especially regarding abortion and same-sex marriage. This pattern implies that differential fertility has increased and will continue to increase public support for conservative policies on these issues. The association of family size with conservatism is specific to traditional-family issues and can be attributed in large part to the greater religiosity and lower educational attainment of individuals from larger families. Over the 2004 to 2018 period, opposition to same-sex marriage and abortion was 3 to 4 percentage points more prevalent than it would have been were traditional-family conservatism independent of family size in the current generation. For same-sex marriage, evolutionary forces have grown in relative importance as society as a whole has liberalized. As of 2018, differential fertility raised the number of US adults opposed to same-sex marriage by 17%, from 46.9 million to 54.8 million.

Suggested Citation

  • Tom S. Vogl & Jeremy Freese, 2020. "Differential fertility makes society more conservative on family values," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 117(14), pages 7696-7701, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:nas:journl:v:117:y:2020:p:7696-7701
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    Cited by:

    1. Ryohei Mogi & Bruno Arpino, 2022. "The association between childlessness and voting turnout in 38 countries," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 47(14), pages 397-414.
    2. Connor, Dylan, 2021. "In the name of the father? Fertility, religion and child naming in the demographic transition," SocArXiv jndqu, Center for Open Science.
    3. Park, June Woo & Nam, Giseok & Tsang, Albert & Lee, Yung-Jae, 2022. "Firstborn CEOs and credit ratings," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(4).

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