Abstract
Relatives play an important role in human reproduction according to evolutionary theories of reproductive behavior, but previous empirical studies show large differences in the effects of kin on fertility outcomes. In our paper we examine the effect of co-resident kin and non-kin on the length of birth intervals over the reproductive life course of Dutch women born between 1842 and 1920. We estimate Cox proportional hazard models for parity progression based on the presence of kin and non-kin in the household while controlling for a large number of individual and community-level characteristics. We find that couples living with their brothers experienced shorter birth intervals whereas couples residing with a widowed father had relatively longer birth intervals. The effects of these types of kin on reproduction were most pronounced up to the birth of the fifth child, but not thereafter. We found no effect for mothers or other types of kin.
Highlights
Relatives play an important role in human reproduction according to evolutionary theories of reproductive behavior, but previous empirical studies show large differences in the effects of kin on fertility outcomes
Our results indicate that for later-order births, from parity six and up, co-residence with kin was not significantly associated with longer or shorter birth intervals
The birth intervals of women living with a widowed father were about twice as long as birth intervals of women who did not live with a widowed father
Summary
Relatives play an important role in human reproduction according to evolutionary theories of reproductive behavior, but previous empirical studies show large differences in the effects of kin on fertility outcomes. Empirical results vary because different categories of kin do not always influence fertility in the same manner (Sear and Coall 2011) These differential outcomes suggest that the effects of kin help on fertility may be contingent on specific local conditions and economic factors (Hames and Draper 2004) or that the effects of kin may vary over the life course of women as they progress from one birth to the next. We exploit data on changes and differences in the composition of Dutch households from the second half of the nineteenth century until the beginning of the twentieth century in order to examine the effect of co-resident (non-)kin on the length of birth intervals over the reproductive life course. We develop our hypotheses on kin effects on fertility using insights from inclusive fitness theory
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