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Effect of family background on the educational gradient in lifetime fertility of Finnish women born 1940-50

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  • Jessica Nisén
  • Mikko Myrskylä
  • Karri Silventoinen
  • Pekka Martikainen

Abstract

An inverse association between education and fertility in women has been found in many societies but the causes of this association remain inadequately understood. We investigated whether observed and unobserved family-background characteristics explained educational differences in lifetime fertility among 35,212 Finnish women born in 1940-50. Poisson and logistic regression models, adjusted for measured socio-demographic family-background characteristics and for unobserved family characteristics shared by siblings, were used to analyse the relationship between education and the number of children, having any children, and fertility beyond the first child. The woman's education and the socio-economic position of the family were negatively associated with fertility. Observed family characteristics moderately (3-28 per cent) explained the association between education and fertility, and results from models including unobserved characteristics supported this interpretation. The remaining association may represent a causal relationship between education and fertility or joint preferences that form independently of our measures of background.

Suggested Citation

  • Jessica Nisén & Mikko Myrskylä & Karri Silventoinen & Pekka Martikainen, 2014. "Effect of family background on the educational gradient in lifetime fertility of Finnish women born 1940-50," Population Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 68(3), pages 321-337, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:rpstxx:v:68:y:2014:i:3:p:321-337
    DOI: 10.1080/00324728.2014.913807
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Lara Tavares, 2008. "Who delays childbearing? The relationships between fertility, education and personality traits," Working Papers 009, "Carlo F. Dondena" Centre for Research on Social Dynamics (DONDENA), Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi.
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    Cited by:

    1. Bilal Barakat, 2017. "Generalised count distributions for modelling parity," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 36(26), pages 745-758.
    2. Francis Kramarz & Olof Rosenqvist & Oskar Nordström Skans, 2023. "How family background shapes the relationship between human capital and fertility," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(1), pages 235-262, January.
    3. Maarten J. Bijlsma & Ben Wilson, 2017. "Modelling the socio-economic determinants of fertility: a mediation analysis using the parametric g-formula," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2017-013, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    4. Felix C. Tropf & Jornt J. Mandemakers, 2017. "Is the Association Between Education and Fertility Postponement Causal? The Role of Family Background Factors," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 54(1), pages 71-91, February.
    5. Tropf, Felix C & Mandemakers, Jornt J, 2017. "Is the Association Between Education and Fertility Postponement Causal? The Role of Family Background Factors," OSF Preprints dqrrx, Center for Open Science.
    6. Andrew N March & Rocío Villar & Monica Ubalde-Lopez & Fernando G. Benavides & Laura Serra, 2020. "Do birthrates contribute to sickness absence differences in women? A cohort study in Catalonia, Spain, 2012-2014," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(8), pages 1-14, August.
    7. Jessica Nisén & Pekka Martikainen & Mikko Myrskylä & Karri Silventoinen, 2018. "Education, Other Socioeconomic Characteristics Across the Life Course, and Fertility Among Finnish Men," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 34(3), pages 337-366, August.
    8. Barclay, Kieron & Keenan, Katherine & Grundy, Emily & Kolk, Martin & Myrskylä, Mikko, 2016. "Reproductive history and post-reproductive mortality: A sibling comparison analysis using Swedish register data," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 82-92.

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