Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Emotional Variation and Fertility Behavior

  • Published:
Demography

    We’re sorry, something doesn't seem to be working properly.

    Please try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, please contact support so we can address the problem.

Abstract

Emotional influences on fertility behaviors are an understudied topic that may offer a clear explanation of why many couples choose to have children even when childbearing is not economically rational. With setting-specific measures of the husband-wife emotional bond appropriate for large-scale population research matched with data from a long-term panel study, we have the empirical tools to provide a test of the influence of emotional factors on contraceptive use to limit fertility. This article presents those tests. We use long-term, multilevel community and family panel data to demonstrate that the variance in levels of husband-wife emotional bond is significantly associated with their subsequent use of contraception to avert births. We discuss the wide-ranging implications of this intriguing new result.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Man is a Nepali word that represents both the heart and mind; it does not directly translate into English.

  2. Individuals who moved out of the study area were tracked and interviewed throughout this period.

  3. In supplementary models, we limited the analytic sample to married women who had never used contraception at the time of the survey. The results were consistent with those produced in the analyses shown here, confirming that prior contraceptive use is not what is driving both the strength of the couple’s emotional bond and their subsequent uptake of contraception.

  4. Although it may appear that the discrete-time method of creating multiple person-months for each individual inflates the sample size resulting in artificially deflated standard errors, this is not the case (Allison 1982, 1984; Petersen 1986, 1991). In fact, the estimated standard errors are consistent estimators of the true standard errors (Allison 1982:82).

References

  • Ahearn, L. M. (2001). Invitations to love: Literacy, love letters, and social change in Nepal. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Allendorf, K. (2009). The quality of family relationships, women’s agency, and maternal and child health in India (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Department of Sociology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI.

  • Allendorf, K., & Ghimire, D. J. (2013). Determinants of marital quality in an arranged marriage society. Social Science Research, 42, 59–70.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Allison, P. D. (1982). Discrete-time methods for the analysis of event histories. In S. Leihardt (Ed.), Sociological methodology (pp. 61–98). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

  • Allison, P. D. (1984). Event history analysis: Regression for longitudinal event data. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications.

  • Axinn, W. G. (1992). Family organization and fertility limitation in Nepal. Demography, 29, 503–521.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Axinn, W. G., & Barber, J. S. (2001). Mass education and fertility transition. American Sociological Review, 66, 481–505.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Axinn, W. G., Barber, J. S., & Ghimire, D. J. (1997). The neighborhood history calendar: A data collection method designed for dynamic multilevel modeling. Sociological Methodology, 27, 355–392.

  • Axinn, W. G., & Pearce, L. D. (2006). Mixed method data collection strategies. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

  • Axinn, W. G., Pearce, L. D., & Ghimire, D. J. (1999). Innovations in life history calendar applications. Social Science Research, 28, 243–264.

  • Axinn, W. G., & Yabiku, S. T. (2001). Social change, the social organization of families, and fertility limitation. American Journal of Sociology, 106, 1219–1261.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barber, J. S. (2000). Intergenerational influences on the entry into parenthood: Mothers’ preferences for family and nonfamily behavior. Social Forces, 79, 319–348.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barber, J. S. (2001). The intergenerational transmission of age at first birth among married and unmarried men and women. Social Science Research, 30, 219–247.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barber, J. S., & Axinn, W. G. (2004). New ideas and fertility limitation: The role of mass media. Journal of Marriage and Family, 66, 1180–1200.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barber, J. S., Murphy, S., Axinn, W. G., & Maples, J. (2000). Discrete-time multilevel hazard analysis. Sociological Methodology, 30, 201–235.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barber, J. S., Pearce, L. D., Chaudhury, I., & Gurung, S. (2002). Voluntary associations and fertility limitation. Social Forces, 80, 1369–1401.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Basu, A. M. (2006). The emotions and reproductive health. Population and Development Review, 32, 107–121.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Becker, G. S. (1991). A treatise on the family. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

  • Belli, R. F. (1998). The structure of autobiographical memory and the event history calendar: Potential improvements in the quality of retrospective reports in surveys. Memory, 6, 383–406.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bennett, L. (1976). Sex and motherhood among the Brahmins and Chhetris of East Central Nepal. Contributions to Nepalese Studies, 3(Special Issue), 1–52.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bennett, L. (1983). Dangerous wives and sacred sisters: Social and symbolic roles of high caste women in Nepal. New York, NY: Columbia University Press.

  • Bista, D. B. (1972). People of Nepal. Kathmandu, Nepal: Ratna Pustak Bhandar.

  • Blaikie, P., Cameron, J., & Seddon, D. (1980). Nepal in crisis: Growth and stagnation at the periphery. Dehli, India: Oxford University Press.

  • Bongaarts, J. (1982). The fertility-inhibiting effects of the intermediate fertility variables. Studies in Family Planning, 13, 178–189.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brauner-Otto, S. R. (2011). The effect of flora quality on fertility behavior. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Southern Demographic Association, Tallahassee, FL.

  • Brauner-Otto, S. R. (2012). Schools, their spatial distribution and characteristics, and fertility limitation. Rural Sociology, 77, 321–354.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brauner-Otto, S., Axinn, W. G., & Ghimire, D. J. (2007). The spread of health services and fertility transition. Demography, 44, 747–770.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bulatao, R. A., & Lee, R. D. (Eds.). (1983). Determinants of fertility in developing countries. New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Caldwell, J. C. (1982). Theory of fertility decline. London, UK: Academic Press.

  • Caldwell, J. C., Reddy, P. H., & Caldwell, P. (1983). The causes of marriage change in South India. Population Studies, 37, 343–361.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Caldwell, J. C., Reddy, P. H., & Caldwell, P. (1988). The causes of demographic change: Experimental research in South India. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cleland, J., & Hobcraft, J. (1985). Reproductive change in developing countries: Insights from the World Fertility Survey. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

  • Cleland, J., & Wilson, C. (1987). Demand theories of fertility transition: An iconoclastic view. Population Studies, 41, 5–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Coale, A. J., & Watkins, S. C. (Eds.). (1986). The decline of fertility in Europe. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

  • Cochrane, S. H. (1979). Fertility and education: What do we really know? Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.

  • Coontz, S. (2005). Marriage, a history from obedience to intimacy, or how love conquered marriage. New York, NY: Viking.

  • Davis, K. (1955). Institutional patterns favoring high fertility in underdeveloped areas. Eugenics Quarterly, 2, 33–39.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Degler, C. N. (1980). At odds: Women and the family in America from the Revolution to the present. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

  • Easterlin, R. A., & Crimmins, E. N. (1985). The fertility revolution: A demand–supply analysis. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

  • Elder, G. H., Jr. (1983). The life course perspective. In M. Gordon (Ed.), The American family in social-historical perspective (pp. 54–60). New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press.

  • Elder, G. H., Jr. (1985). The life course dynamics: Trajectories and transitions: 1968–1980. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

  • Elder, G. H., Jr. (1994). Time, human agency, and social change: Perspective on the life course. Social Psychology Quarterly, 57, 4–15.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Entwisle, B., & Mason, W. M. (1985). Multilevel effects of socioeconomic development and family planning programs on children ever born. American Journal of Sociology, 91, 616–649.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Entwisle, B., Rindfuss, R. R., Walsh, S. J., Evans, T. P., & Curran, S. R. (1997). Geographic information systems, spatial network analysis, and contraceptive choice. Demography, 34, 171–187.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Freedman, D., Thornton, A., Camburn, D., Alwin, D., & Young-DeMarco, L. (1988). The life history calendar: A technique for collecting retrospective data. Sociological Methodology, 18, 37–68.

  • Freedman, R. (1979). Theories of fertility decline: A reappraisal. Social Forces, 58, 1–17.

  • Fricke, T. E. (1986). Himalayan households: Tamang demography and domestic processes. Ann Arbor, MI: University Microfilms Research Press.

  • Fuller, C. J., & Narasimhan, H. (2008). Companionate marriage in India: The changing marriage system in a middle-class Brahman subcaste. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 14, 736–754.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ghimire, D. J. (2015). Wives’ and husbands’ nonfamily experiences and first-birth timing. International Journal of Sociology, 45, 4–23.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ghimire, D. J., & Axinn, W. G. (2006). Family change in Nepal: Evidence from Western Chitwan. Contributions to Nepalese Studies, 33, 177–201.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ghimire, D. J., & Axinn, W. G. (2013). Marital processes, arranged marriage, and contraception to limit fertility. Demography, 50, 1663–1686.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ghimire, D. J., Axinn, W. G., Yabiku, S. T., & Thornton, A. (2006). Social change, premarital nonfamily experience, and spouse choice in an arranged marriage society. American Journal of Sociology, 111, 1181–1218.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Glenn, N. D., & McLanahan, S. (1982). Children and marital happiness: A further specification of the relationship. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 44, 63–72.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goode, W. (1959). The theoretical importance of love. American Sociological Review, 24, 38–47.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goode, W. (1963). World revolution and family patterns. New York, NY: The Free Press.

  • Gottman, J. M. (1979). Marital interaction: Experimental investigations. New York, NY: Academic Press.

  • Gottman, J. M. (1998). Psychology and the study of marital processes. Annual Review of Psychology, 49, 169–197.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gottman, J. M., & Notarius, C. I. (2002). Marital research in the twentieth century and a research agenda for the twenty-first century. Family Process, 41, 159–197.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guneratne, U. A. (1994). The Tharus of Chitwan: Ethnicity, class and the state in Nepal (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL.

  • Gurung, H. B. (1980). Vignettes of Nepal. Kathmandu, Nepal: Sajha Prakashan.

  • Hamon, R. R., & Ingoldsby, B. B. (2003). Mate selection across cultures. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

  • Hart, K. (2007). Love by arrangement: The ambiguity of “spousal choice” in a Turkish village. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 13, 345–362.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hobcraft, J. (2006). The ABC of demographic behavior: How the interplays of alleles, brains, and contexts over the life course should shape research aimed at understanding population processes. Population Studies, 60, 153–187.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hoelter, L. F., Axinn, W. G., & Ghimire, D. J. (2004). Social change, premarital non-family experiences, and marital dynamics. Journal of Marriage and Family, 66, 1131–1151.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Khandelwal, M. (2009). Arranging love: Interrogating the vantage point in cross-border feminism. Signs, 34, 583–609.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Knodel, J. (1987). Starting, stopping, and spacing during the early stage of fertility transition: The experiences of German village population in the 18th and 19th centuries. Demography, 24, 143–162.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lasee, A., & Becker, S. (1997). Husband-wife communication about family planning and contraceptive use in Kenya. International Family Planning Perspectives, 23, 15–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lesthaeghe, R. (1983). A century of demographic and cultural change in Western Europe: An exploration of underlying dimensions. Population and Development Review, 9, 411–435.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lesthaeghe, R., & Wilson, C. (1986). Modes of production, secularization, and the pace of fertility decline in Western Europe, 1870–1930. In A. Coale & S. C. Watkins (Eds.), The decline of fertility in Europe (pp. 261–292). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

  • Lillard, L. A., & Waite, L. J. (1993). A joint model of childbearing and marital disruption. Demography, 30, 653–681.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Link, C. F. (2011). Spousal communication and contraceptive use in rural Nepal: An event history analysis. Studies in Family Planning, 42, 83–92.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Macfarlane, A. (1976). Resources and population: A study of the Gurungs of Nepal. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

  • Malhotra, A. (1991). Gender and changing generational relations: Spouse choice in Indonesia. Demography, 28, 549–570.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mason, K. O., & Smith, H. L. (2000). Husbands’ versus wives’ fertility goals and use of contraception: The influence of gender context in five Asian countries. Demography, 37, 299–311.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Massey, D. S. (2002). A brief history of human society: The origin and role of emotions in social life. American Sociological Review, 67, 1–29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Matthews, D. J. (1989). Love and marriage in modern Nepali literature. Kailash, 15, 157–178.

    Google Scholar 

  • Medora, N. P. (2003). Mate selection in contemporary India. In R. R. Hamon & B. B. Ingoldsby (Eds.), Mate selection across cultures (pp. 209–230). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

  • Ministry of Health and Population (MOHP) [Nepal], New ERA, and ICF International Inc. (2012). Nepal Demographic and Health Survey 2011. Kathmandu, Nepal: Ministry of Health and Population and New ERA; Calverton, MD: ICF International.

  • Morgan, S. P., & Niraula, B. B. (1995). Gender inequality and fertility in two Nepali villages. Population and Development Review, 21, 541–561.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Norton, R. (1983). Measuring marital quality: A critical look at the dependent variable. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 45, 141–151.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Notestein, F. (1953). Economic problem of population change. In Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference of Agricultural Economics (pp. 13–31). London, UK: Oxford University Press.

  • Pasupathi, M. (2002). Arranged marriage: What’s love got to do with it? In M. Yalom & L. L. Carstensen (Eds.), Inside the American couple: New thinking, new challenges (pp. 211–235). Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Patico, J. (2010). From modern loves to universal passions: Ethnographies of love, marriage, and globalization. Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power, 17, 372–386.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peters, H. E. (1986). Marriage and divorce: Informational constraints and private contracting. American Economic Review, 76, 437–454.

    Google Scholar 

  • Petersen, T. (1986). Estimating fully parametric hazard rate models with time-dependent covariates: Use of maximum likelihood. Sociological Methods and Research, 14, 219–246.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Petersen, T. (1991). The statistical analysis of event histories. Sociological Methods and Research, 19, 270–323.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prasad, K. N., Ingalgeri, B. M., Poovitha, R., Sujitha, E., Sukanya, K., Singh, T. B., . . . Viswanath, V.. (2015). Study on the reproductive behavior among women of rural areas of Pondicherry. International Journal of Reproduction, Contraception, Obstetrics and Gynecology, 4, 185–188.

  • Ramachandran, R. (2010). Hinduism in the context of Manusmriti, Vedas and Bhagavat Gita. New Dehli, India: Vitasta Publishing.

  • Rindfuss, R. R., & Morgan, S. P. (1983). Marriage, sex, and the first birth interval: The quiet revolution in Asia. Population and Development Review, 9, 259–278.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rindfuss, R. R., Morgan, S. P., & Swicegood, G. (1988). First birth in America: Changes in the timing of parenthood. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Salway, S. (1994). How attitudes toward family planning and discussion between wives and husbands affect contraceptive use in Ghana. International Family Planning Perspectives, 20(44–47), 74.

    Google Scholar 

  • Satayavada, A., & Adamchak, D. J. (2000). Determinants of current use of contraception and children ever born in Nepal. Social Biology, 47, 51–61.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shakya, K., & Gubhaju, B. (2016). Factors contributing to fertility decline in Nepal. Journal of Population and Social Studies, 24, 13–29.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sharan, M., & Valente, T. W. (2002). Spousal communication and family planning adoption: Effects of a radio drama serial in Nepal. International Family Planning Perspectives, 28, 16–25.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Skirbekk, V. (2008). Fertility trends by social status. Demographic Research, 18(article 5), 145–180. doi:10.4054/DemRes.2008.18.5

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sorenson, A. M. (1989). Husbands’ and wives’ characteristics and fertility decisions: A diagonal mobility model. Demography, 26, 125–135.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stone, L. (1978). Cultural repercussion of childlessness and low fertility in Nepal. Journal of the Research Center for Nepal and Asian Studies, 5, 6–36.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stone, N., & Ingham, R. (2002). Factors affecting British teenagers’ contraceptive use at first intercourse: The importance of partner communication. Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, 34, 191–197.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, W. (1929). Population. American Journal of Sociology, 34, 959–975.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thornton, A. (1978). Marital instability differentials and interactions: Insights from multivariate contingency table analysis. Sociology and Social Research, 62, 572–595.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thornton, A. (2001). The developmental paradigm, reading history sideways, and family change. Demography, 38, 449–465.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thornton, A. (2005). Reading history sideways: The fallacy and enduring impact of the developmental paradigm on family life. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

  • Thornton, A., Axinn, W. G., & Xie, Y. (2007). Marriage and cohabitation. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

  • Thornton, A., & Lin, H.-S. (1994). Social change and the family in Taiwan. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

  • Vātsyāyana. (2009). Kamasutra: A new, complete English translation of the Sanskrit text; With excerpts from the Sanskrit Jayamangala commentary of Yashodhara Indrapada, the Hindi Jaya commentary of Devadatta Shastri, and explanatory notes by the translators (W. Doniger & S. Kakar, Trans.). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

  • Waite, L. J., & Lillard, L. A. (1991). Children and marital disruption. American Journal of Sociology, 96, 930–953.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • White, L. K., Booth, A., & Edwards, J. N. (1986). Children and marital happiness: Why the negative correlation? Journal of Family Issues, 7, 131–147.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Willis, R. J. (1973). A new approach to the economic theory of fertility behavior. Journal of Political Economy, 81, S14–S64.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yabiku, S. T. (2004). Marriage timing in Nepal: Organizational effects and individual mechanisms. Social Forces, 83, 559–586.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yabiku, S. T. (2005). The effect of non-family experiences on age of marriage in a setting of rapid social change. Population Studies, 59, 339–354.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yabiku, S. T. (2006). Neighbors and neighborhoods: Effects on marriage timing. Population Research and Policy Review, 25, 305–327.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This research was jointly supported by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R01HD32912 and R03HD055976) and the Fogarty International Center (5D43TW000657). The authors thank Cathy Sun for assistance with data management and analyses, the research staff at the Institute for Social and Environmental Research in Nepal for collecting the data reported here, and the CVFS respondents who continuously welcome us into their homes and share their invaluable experiences, opinions, and thoughts. All errors and omissions remain the responsibility of the authors. Conflict of interest: Dr. Ghimire is also the Director of the Institute for Social and Environmental Research in Nepal (ISER-N) that collected the data for the research reported here. Dr. Ghimire’s conflict of interest management plan is approved and monitored by the Regents of the University of Michigan.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to William G. Axinn.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Axinn, W.G., Ghimire, D.J. & Smith-Greenaway, E. Emotional Variation and Fertility Behavior. Demography 54, 437–458 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13524-017-0555-5

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13524-017-0555-5

Keywords

Navigation