IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/dem/wpaper/wp-2002-023.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

A multilevel event history analysis of the effects of grandmothers on child mortality in a historical German population (Krummhörn, Ostfriesland, 1720-1874)

Author

Listed:
  • Jan Beise

    (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany)

  • Eckart Voland

Abstract

We analyzed data from the historic population of the Krummhörn (Ostfriesland, Germany, 1720-1874) to determine the effects of grandparents in general and grandmothers in particular on child mortality. Multilevel event-history models were used to test how the survival of grandparents in general influenced the survival of the children. Random effects were included in some models in order to take the potentially influential effect of unobserved heterogeneity into account. It could be shown that while maternal grandmothers indeed improved the child’s survival, paternal grandmothers worsened it. Both grandfathers had no effect. These findings are not only in accordance with the assumptions of the “grandmother hypothesis” but also may be interpreted as hints for differential grandparental investment strategies.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2002-023
    DOI: 10.4054/MPIDR-WP-2002-023
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.demogr.mpg.de/papers/working/wp-2002-023.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.4054/MPIDR-WP-2002-023?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sear, Rebecca & Steele, Fiona & McGregor, Ian A. & Mace, Ruth, 2002. "The effects of kin on child mortality in rural Gambia," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 247, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    2. Craig Packer & Marc Tatar & Anthony Collins, 1998. "Reproductive cessation in female mammals," Nature, Nature, vol. 392(6678), pages 807-811, April.
    3. Rebecca Sear & Fiona Steele & Ian McGregor & Ruth Mace, 2002. "The effects of kin on child mortality in rural gambia," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 39(1), pages 43-63, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Simon Chapman & Mirkka Danielsbacka & Antti O Tanskanen & Mirkka Lahdenperä & Jenni Pettay & Virpi Lummaa, 2023. "Grandparental co-residence and grandchild survival: the role of resource competition in a pre-industrial population," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 34(3), pages 446-456.
    2. Li, Yunrong & Mora, Ricardo, 2016. "Re-assessing the Impact of the Grandparent’s Income on the Infant Mortality Rate: An Evaluation of the Old Age Allowance Program in Nepal," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 333-348.
    3. Samuel Lucas, 2014. "An inconvenient dataset: bias and inappropriate inference with the multilevel model," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 48(3), pages 1619-1649, May.
    4. Kai Pierre Willführ & Johannes Johow & Eckart Voland, 2018. "When the mother-in-law is just as good—Differential mortality of reproductive females by family network composition," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(3), pages 1-22, March.
    5. Krzysztof Tymicki, 2009. "The correlates of infant and childhood mortality," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 20(23), pages 559-594.
    6. Qiang Li, 2005. "Subjective well-being and mortality in Chinese oldest old," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2005-011, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    7. Emma Zang & Cameron Campbell, 2018. "Males’ Later-Life Mortality Consequences of Coresidence With Paternal Grandparents: Evidence From Northeast China, 1789–1909," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(2), pages 435-457, April.
    8. Jan Havlíček & Petr Tureček & Alice Velková, 2021. "One but not two grandmothers increased child survival in poorer families in west Bohemian population, 1708–1834," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 32(6), pages 1138-1150.
    9. Marcantonio Caltabiano, 2003. "Italian adolescents’ first romantic relationships: an explorative study," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2003-038, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    10. 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.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. 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.
    2. Jan Beise, 2004. "The helping and the helpful grandmother - The role of maternal and paternal grandmothers in child mortality in the 17th and 18th century population of French Settlers in Quebec, Canada," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2004-004, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    3. Emily H Emmott & Ruth Mace, 2015. "Practical Support from Fathers and Grandmothers Is Associated with Lower Levels of Breastfeeding in the UK Millennium Cohort Study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(7), pages 1-12, July.
    4. Laurie F. DeRose & Andrés Salazar-Arango & Paúl Corcuera García & Montserrat Gas-Aixendri & Reynaldo Rivera, 2017. "Maternal union instability and childhood mortality risk in the Global South, 2010–14," Population Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 71(2), pages 211-228, May.
    5. Treleaven, Emily, 2023. "The relationship between extended kin resources and children's healthcare utilization: An analysis of family networks," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 321(C).
    6. David Lawson & Mhairi A. Gibson, 2018. "Polygynous marriage and child health in sub-Saharan Africa: What is the evidence for harm?," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 39(6), pages 177-208.
    7. Ding, Feng & Du, Limin & Shi, Jinchuan, 2020. "Lucky to have a sister: The effects of unmarried sister on brother outcomes in late imperial China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    8. Aurélien Dasré & Olivia Samuel & Véronique Hertrich, 2019. "The dynamics of the family network during childhood: A genealogical and longitudinal approach to rural Mali," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 41(9), pages 231-262.
    9. Walter Rasugu Omariba & Fernando Rajulton & Roderic Beaujot, 2008. "Correlated mortality risks of siblings in Kenya," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 18(11), pages 311-336.
    10. Shelley Clark & Dana Hamplová, 2013. "Single Motherhood and Child Mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Life Course Perspective," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 50(5), pages 1521-1549, October.
    11. Martin Fieder & Susanne Huber, 2012. "The Association between Pro-Social Attitude and Reproductive Success Differs between Men and Women," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(4), pages 1-3, April.
    12. Daniel Nettle & Mhairi A. Gibson & David W. Lawson & Rebecca Sear, 2013. "Human behavioral ecology: current research and future prospects," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 24(5), pages 1031-1040.
    13. David Bishai & El Daw Suliman & Heena Brahmbhatt & Fred Wabwire-Mangen & Godfrey Kigozi & Nelson Sewankambo & David Serwadda & Maria Wawer & Ron Gray, 2003. "Does biological relatedness affect child survival?," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 8(9), pages 261-278.
    14. Katrina Kosec & Jie Song, 2021. "The effects of income fluctuations on undernutrition and overnutrition across the lifecycle," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(10), pages 2487-2509, September.
    15. Adelman, Sarah, 2013. "Keep your friends close: The effect of local social networks on child human capital outcomes," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 284-298.
    16. Rachel Margolis & Ashton M. Verdery, 2019. "A Cohort Perspective on the Demography of Grandparenthood: Past, Present, and Future Changes in Race and Sex Disparities in the United States," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 56(4), pages 1495-1518, August.
    17. Li, Yunrong & Mora, Ricardo, 2016. "Re-assessing the Impact of the Grandparent’s Income on the Infant Mortality Rate: An Evaluation of the Old Age Allowance Program in Nepal," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 333-348.
    18. Sangeetha Madhavan & Tyler W. Myroniuk & Randall Kuhn & Mark Collinson, 2017. "Household structure vs. composition: Understanding gendered effects on educational progress in rural South Africa," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 37(59), pages 1891-1916.
    19. Kevin Thomas, 2010. "Family Contexts and Schooling Disruption among Orphans in Post-Genocide Rwanda," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 29(6), pages 819-842, December.
    20. Donald Cox, 2007. "Biological Basics and the Economics of the Family," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 21(2), pages 91-108, Spring.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

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

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2002-023. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Peter Wilhelm (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.demogr.mpg.de/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.