Mobility and the Fertility of Wives in an Urban Neighborhood: A Research Note

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between mobility and fertility among women in a low income urban neighborhood. It compares recent movers with long-term residents in one neighborhood with a view toward clarifying the relationship between fertility and intra-urban migration or mobility. Mobility and migration are most often studied on the basis of census data tabulated for the nation as a whole and for the various political subdivisions. Consequently, we know a great deal about the patterns and correlates of moves between and among regions, states, and counties, from rural to urban areas, and from cities to suburbs. The relationship between migration and fertility tends to be discussed in these terms, e.g., the fertility of rural to urban migrants. Although increased attention has been paid to patterns of intra-urban mobility in recent years, the number of studies is limited, (Simmons, 1968; Speare, 1970; Chevan, 1971; Long, 1972) and no well-articulated body of theory has been developed such as that which explains migration in terms of economic push-pull factors. Two variables found to be related to mobility in most demographic analyses are age and stage of the family life cycle. Age is highly correlated with mobility, with a peak mobility period occurring in the early twenties (Shryock, 1964). This age effect is compounded by the influence of occupational and family life cycle stage (Lansing and Kish, 1957; Rossi, 1955). Whereas long distance migration appears to be best explained by economic or job-connected reasons, intra-community moves may reflect life cycle changes to a greater extent (Shryock and Larmon, 1965). One theory suggests that residential mobility is most likely to be triggered by a