The age difference between spouses and reproduction in 19th century Sweden
Background: The influence of spousal relations on reproductive outcomes has received considerable attention in the demographic literature. Previous studies have shown the complex interplay between age difference, female autonomy, and reproductive outcomes, but only a few have focused on historical h...
Published in: | Demographic Research |
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Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/11370/c51238c3-a65f-4a84-a23a-b0703b6456ce https://research.rug.nl/en/publications/c51238c3-a65f-4a84-a23a-b0703b6456ce https://doi.org/10.4054/DemRes.2019.41.37 https://pure.rug.nl/ws/files/107805826/41_37.pdf |
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ftunigroningenpu:oai:pure.rug.nl:publications/c51238c3-a65f-4a84-a23a-b0703b6456ce 2024-06-23T07:55:38+00:00 The age difference between spouses and reproduction in 19th century Sweden Rotering, Paul Bras, Hilde 2019-10-22 application/pdf https://hdl.handle.net/11370/c51238c3-a65f-4a84-a23a-b0703b6456ce https://research.rug.nl/en/publications/c51238c3-a65f-4a84-a23a-b0703b6456ce https://doi.org/10.4054/DemRes.2019.41.37 https://pure.rug.nl/ws/files/107805826/41_37.pdf eng eng https://research.rug.nl/en/publications/c51238c3-a65f-4a84-a23a-b0703b6456ce info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Rotering , P & Bras , H 2019 , ' The age difference between spouses and reproduction in 19th century Sweden ' , Demographic Research , vol. 41 , no. 37 , pp. 1059-1090 . https://doi.org/10.4054/DemRes.2019.41.37 BIRTH INTERVALS FERTILITY GENDER MARRIAGE EMPOWERMENT MORTALITY BEHAVIOR AUTONOMY WOMEN RISK article 2019 ftunigroningenpu https://doi.org/10.4054/DemRes.2019.41.37 2024-06-10T16:49:47Z Background: The influence of spousal relations on reproductive outcomes has received considerable attention in the demographic literature. Previous studies have shown the complex interplay between age difference, female autonomy, and reproductive outcomes, but only a few have focused on historical high-fertility populations. Objective: This study investigates the associations between spousal age difference and the timing of first and higher order births, as well as the total number of children born. Methods: Data from the Demographic Data Base (married women, born between 1840 and 1889, first marriages only) are used to construct individual life courses in central and northern Sweden. The relative risk of age-homogamous and age-heterogamous couples having a child is examined using event history analysis. Poisson regression is applied to identify the effects of age difference on the total number of children born. Results: After controlling for the age of the wife, women in wife-older marriages show higher hazard rates for the transition to first and later order births compared to women in age-homogamous marriages. By contrast, women in husband-older marriages show lower hazard rates for the transition between births, with the exception of first childbirth. However, the net effect of spousal age difference on the total number of children ever born is small. Contribution: This study provides empirical evidence of the association between spousal age gap and fertility outcomes, using the spousal age gap as a proxy for conjugal power. It shows that women in wife-older marriages used their greater female autonomy to shorten the interval between childbirths, although the effect on the total number of children born is negligible. Article in Journal/Newspaper Northern Sweden University of Groningen research database Demographic Research 41 1059 1090 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
University of Groningen research database |
op_collection_id |
ftunigroningenpu |
language |
English |
topic |
BIRTH INTERVALS FERTILITY GENDER MARRIAGE EMPOWERMENT MORTALITY BEHAVIOR AUTONOMY WOMEN RISK |
spellingShingle |
BIRTH INTERVALS FERTILITY GENDER MARRIAGE EMPOWERMENT MORTALITY BEHAVIOR AUTONOMY WOMEN RISK Rotering, Paul Bras, Hilde The age difference between spouses and reproduction in 19th century Sweden |
topic_facet |
BIRTH INTERVALS FERTILITY GENDER MARRIAGE EMPOWERMENT MORTALITY BEHAVIOR AUTONOMY WOMEN RISK |
description |
Background: The influence of spousal relations on reproductive outcomes has received considerable attention in the demographic literature. Previous studies have shown the complex interplay between age difference, female autonomy, and reproductive outcomes, but only a few have focused on historical high-fertility populations. Objective: This study investigates the associations between spousal age difference and the timing of first and higher order births, as well as the total number of children born. Methods: Data from the Demographic Data Base (married women, born between 1840 and 1889, first marriages only) are used to construct individual life courses in central and northern Sweden. The relative risk of age-homogamous and age-heterogamous couples having a child is examined using event history analysis. Poisson regression is applied to identify the effects of age difference on the total number of children born. Results: After controlling for the age of the wife, women in wife-older marriages show higher hazard rates for the transition to first and later order births compared to women in age-homogamous marriages. By contrast, women in husband-older marriages show lower hazard rates for the transition between births, with the exception of first childbirth. However, the net effect of spousal age difference on the total number of children ever born is small. Contribution: This study provides empirical evidence of the association between spousal age gap and fertility outcomes, using the spousal age gap as a proxy for conjugal power. It shows that women in wife-older marriages used their greater female autonomy to shorten the interval between childbirths, although the effect on the total number of children born is negligible. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Rotering, Paul Bras, Hilde |
author_facet |
Rotering, Paul Bras, Hilde |
author_sort |
Rotering, Paul |
title |
The age difference between spouses and reproduction in 19th century Sweden |
title_short |
The age difference between spouses and reproduction in 19th century Sweden |
title_full |
The age difference between spouses and reproduction in 19th century Sweden |
title_fullStr |
The age difference between spouses and reproduction in 19th century Sweden |
title_full_unstemmed |
The age difference between spouses and reproduction in 19th century Sweden |
title_sort |
age difference between spouses and reproduction in 19th century sweden |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/11370/c51238c3-a65f-4a84-a23a-b0703b6456ce https://research.rug.nl/en/publications/c51238c3-a65f-4a84-a23a-b0703b6456ce https://doi.org/10.4054/DemRes.2019.41.37 https://pure.rug.nl/ws/files/107805826/41_37.pdf |
genre |
Northern Sweden |
genre_facet |
Northern Sweden |
op_source |
Rotering , P & Bras , H 2019 , ' The age difference between spouses and reproduction in 19th century Sweden ' , Demographic Research , vol. 41 , no. 37 , pp. 1059-1090 . https://doi.org/10.4054/DemRes.2019.41.37 |
op_relation |
https://research.rug.nl/en/publications/c51238c3-a65f-4a84-a23a-b0703b6456ce |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.4054/DemRes.2019.41.37 |
container_title |
Demographic Research |
container_volume |
41 |
container_start_page |
1059 |
op_container_end_page |
1090 |
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1802648298973036544 |