Intergenerational transmission of demographic behaviour

Gender-based domestic violence (GDV) has remained a major concern in India. Though, in the past, studies have identified intergenerational exposure to domestic violence as one of the major contributors, there is almost no evidence on the extent and determinants of intergenerational transmission of GDV in India. Using data from a sub-nationally representative study (Youth in India: Situation and Needs (2006-2007)), we investigate the extent and the patterns of intergenerational transmission of GDV (wife beating) in India. Our initial findings indicate that India suffers from substantial intergenerational persistence (low mobility) of GDV; e.g., we find about 41% of the ever married males whose fathers have ever beaten their mothers, to be involved in wife beating. Similarly, about 66% of the never married males whose fathers have ever beaten their mothers feel that it is alright to beat their wives. Strangely, about 66% and 50% of the unmarried females whose mothers were ever beaten and never beaten by their fathers, respectively feel that it is alright to be beaten by their husbands. There are considerable variations in these figures by location, wealth status, caste and religion.

In high fertility populations, marriage and marriage processes are known to play a critical role in regulating fertility. We examine the connection between changes in marriage and attitudes towards fertility. How do different generations of women perceive marriage and family? How do changes in family formation influence marital practices like marital timing, spouse choice, living arrangements and number and spacing of children? How have changes in attitude affected fertility behaviors?
We use qualitative data from Bungoma and Kwale, Kenya. We show that marriage processes are fast changing, favoring pragmatic unions, commonly called ‘come-we-stay’, most of which are driven by pre-marital pregnancies and lack of resources required for formal marriage. ‘Come-we-stay’ unions are common among the young cohort, but are increasingly becoming acceptable. Their temporary nature causes women to be insecure and desire more children to secure the marriage. The desire for permanence in the union is clearly shown to influence women’s fertility desires and outcomes.

This paper aims to provide a more comprehensive sociodemographic view of the transition to marriage in Mexico, a country with a relatively young and stable age at marriage during most of the twentieth century when important socioeconomic and demographic changes also took place. It builds on the idea that the transition to marriage is influenced simultaneously by social context, family context, and individual’s early biography and socioeconomic status. Unlike previous studies that examine the transition to marriage in Mexico, I consider theoretically and analyze empirically the role of intergenerational influences on marriage timing. I analyze the extent to which mother’s age at marriage is related to children’s age at marriage. I find that children of mothers who married young enter into marriage earlier than children of mothers who delayed marriage. This relationship persists after controlling for important socioeconomic factors. In fact, the effect of mothers’ age at marriage on children’s age at marriage is larger than the effect of mother’s education. I also find this relationship to be similar for both sons and daughters, suggesting that family influences are a key aspect of the transition to marriage in Mexico.

Within the wider concept of intergenerational relations, when intergenerational transmission is strong, children turn out much like their parents and social mobility is low. Such a continuity within the family and between generations in the society is identified as intergenerational attitude congruence. The main question we address in this study is whether congruence of family related attitudes is different in small families as compared to large families (i.e. where there are less or more children). The importance of intergenerational transmission processes might be accentuated in the current climate of low (and lowest-low) fertility in contemporary societies. Other than distinguishing congruence levels in mother-daughter, father-daughter, mother-son and father-son relationships, we investigate on the role of education and religiosity. In this paper, we use a multivariate approach on a large database data, the Netherlands Kinship Panel Study (NKPS).

Total fertility rate in Iran has reached from 7 children in 1985 to 1.9 children per woman in 2006, in other hand, it can be said that Iran has came to the second demographic transition from this year. Of course, it must be noted that population growth rate of the country has not reached at balance level revealed in the first demographic transition and annual growth rate of population is 1.28% according to the new statistics. This rate is caused by population age structure and quickness of the first demographic transition that is an exception in terms of duration, in compared with developed countries.
Van De Kaa believes that in the second demographic transition, secondary needs are replaced by material values equal with primary needs.
Beside the socio-cultural changes in society, many of fundamental changes have happened in sexual relations, marriage and family. In societies, within the recent decades, family as a social institution has been changed.
The aim of this study is to assess the changes of marriage and divorce in Iran and definition effective socio-economic factors.
Method of the study is secondary analysis and necessary data were sourced by center of civil management and the results of DHS project in 2010.

Violence against women is a major public-health problem throughout the world and a serious violation of fundamental rights. The gender gap in the attitudes towards violence against women is shaped by attitudes towards gender. In India, traditional gender-role attitudes are associated with greater acceptance of violence against women. Therefore, this study attempts to understand the effect of childhood exposure to parental violence on spousal violence against women on men and women separately and also to see differentials in this relationship under different settings. The present study is based on the data of National Family Health Survey of India. Exposure to childhood violence was categorized into different levels depending upon the exposure in either single partner or both the partners. Based on these variables various assessments were made with the help of different statistical tools. Explicitly, findings reflect the impact of childhood exposure to parental violence in shaping conformation to the set gender role norms.Childhood exposures by husband or wife alone also have impact on spousal violence but among them women’s exposure has more significant impact.Given the apparent pervasiveness of the problem of childhood exposure to parental violence in India, remains an important area for social, legal and public policy concern.

This study is based on analysis of variations in contraceptive use for women born between 1957 through 1991 considering age cohort effects; this is based on the hypothesis that people born at different time periods experience different socio - economic circumstances which influence their attitudes and behaviors towards development issues like contraception. Uganda Demographic and Health Survey 2006 data with a sample of 5,362 currently married women and those living together in unions was analyzed and conclusions drawn at the multivariate level. Binary logistic regression model was used in analysis because of the binary nature of the outcome and results indicate higher likelihood of contraceptive use for older cohorts compared to younger ones hence family planning programs should be targeted towards younger cohorts to reduce fertility rate from 6.4 children per woman and reduce maternal health problems that result from too many or too closely spaced births. Although age cohort differences are pertinent in influencing contraceptive use, other factors like women’s income levels, schooling level, place of residence have a stronger effect on the same therefore regional interventions focused particularly in the North and West Nile regions, rural communities and efforts to increase literacy levels will yield greater results.

Child’s gender preference (CGP) as a practice constitutes a challenge to human health. Consequently, this often increases fertility through short birth intervals which have been known to constitute threat to maternal and child survival. In Nigeria, there is dearth of information on CGP; hence this study which utilized 2008 NDHS dataset and focused on married women aged 15-49 years (n=18,347) in stable unions. The dependent variables were CGP and child gender specific preference (CGSP). Data was analyzed using Chi-square and multiple logistic regression models. Among those who have CGP, 72.1% have preference for son. The CGSP for son was predominantly high in the; South-East (86.2%), richest wealth index (75.9%) and higher level of education (77.4%). Age, region, education, age at first birth, religion, ethnicity, contraceptive use, marriage type, wealth index and current work activity were significantly associated with CGP (p<0.05). Women in North-East, North-Central, South-West and South-East were 1.27(C.I=1.14-1.54), 1.38(C.I=1.25-1.54), 2.13(C.I=1.92-2.37) and 2.74(C.I=2.44-3.07) respectively more likely to have CGP than their counterparts in South-South. Education, age and region were identified as predictors of CGP. Strategies to eradicate CGP should be developed.

Using data from the longitudinal surveys of “Well-being of Elderly in Anhui Province, China” conducted in 2001 and in 2003 respectively, this paper employs the logistic random effects model to examine the gender difference in the effect of adult children’s out-migration on intergenerational support. The results show that while migrant daughters are more likely to increase financial support to their older parents, which narrows the gap between sons and daughters, migrant sons have a lower probability of increasing instrumental support, which also narrows the gender difference in instrumental support. Since migrant daughters have a greater probability of increasing their emotional support of their parents, the gap between sons and daughters in intergenerational emotional support is further widened. Although the division of family support in rural China has not changed completely, differences between sons and daughters in intergenerational support are reduced under the out-migration of adult children.

It is well established that the timing of childbearing is transmitted from parents to children in the United States. However, little is known about how the intergenerational link has changed over time and under structural and ideological transformations associated with fertility behaviors. This study first considers changes across two birth cohorts from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth (NLSY) in the extent to which parents’ age at first birth is transmitted to their children. The first cohort includes individuals born during the late 1950s through the early 1960s (NLSY79) while the second includes individuals born in the early 1980s (NLSY97). Results from discrete-time event history analyses indicate that the intergenerational transmission of age at first birth between mothers and daughters as well as between mothers and sons significantly increased over the period. These results were confirmed by analyses of data from three cycles of the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) spanning the same time period. Over this period, age at first childbirth became increasingly younger for children born to teenage mothers and increasingly older for those born to mothers who entered parenthood after age 25. These patterns have important implications for reproductive polarization and the low-fertility trap hypothesis.