Fertility in Advanced Societies: A Review of Research
01 Feb 2013-European Journal of Population-revue Europeenne De Demographie (SPRINGER)-Vol. 29, Iss: 1, pp 1-38
TL;DR: This paper provides a review of fertility research in advanced societies, societies in which birth control is the default option, and summarizes how contemporary research has explained ongoing and expected fertility changes across time and space.
Abstract: This paper provides a review of fertility research in advanced societies, societies in which birth control is the default option. The central aim is to provide a comprehensive review that summarizes how contemporary research has explained ongoing and expected fertility changes across time and space (i.e., cross- and within-country heterogeneity). A secondary aim is to provide an analytical synthesis of the core determinants of fertility, grouping them within the analytical level in which they operate. Determinants are positioned at the individual and/or couple level (micro-level), social relationships and social networks (meso-level); and, by cultural and institutional settings (macro-level). The focus is both on the quantum and on the tempo of fertility, with a particular focus on the postponement of childbearing. The review incorporates both theoretical and empirical contributions, with attention placed on empirically tested research and whether results support or falsify existing theoretical expectations. Attention is also devoted to causality and endogeneity issues. The paper concludes with an outline of the current challenges and opportunities for future research.
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TL;DR: The authors argue that the trends normally linked with the second demographic transition (SDT) may be reversed as the gender revolution enters its second half by including men more centrally in the family.
Abstract: This article argues that the trends normally linked with the second demographic transition (SDT) may be reversed as the gender revolution enters its second half by including men more centrally in the family. We develop a theoretical argument about the emerging consequences of this stage of the gender revolution and review research results that bear on it. The argument compares the determinants and consequences of recent family trends in industrialized societies provided by two narratives: the SDT and the gender revolution in the public and private spheres. Our argument examines differences in theoretical foundations and positive vs. negative implications for the future. We focus primarily on the growing evidence for turnarounds in the relationships between measures of women's human capital and union formation, fertility, and union dissolution, and consider evidence that men's home involvement increases union formation and fertility and decreases union instability. Although the family trends underlying the SDT and the gender revolution narratives are ongoing and a convincing view of the phenomenon has not yet emerged, the wide range of recent research results documenting changing, even reversing relationships suggests that the gender approach is increasingly the more fruitful one.
612 citations
Posted Content•
TL;DR: It is argued that school entry policies manipulate primarily the education of young women at risk of dropping out of school.
Abstract: This paper uses age-at-school-entry policies to identify the effect of female education on fertility and infant health. We focus on sharp contrasts in schooling, fertility, and infant health between women born just before and after the school entry date. School entry policies affect female education and the quality of a woman%u2019s mate and have generally small, but possibly heterogeneous, effects on fertility and infant health. We argue that school entry policies manipulate primarily the education of young women at risk of dropping out of school.
469 citations
TL;DR: A continuing expansion of both treatment numbers in Europe and more variability in treatment modalities resulting in a rising contribution to the birth rates in most participating countries is shown.
Abstract: Study question: What are the European trends and developments in ART and IUI in 2014 as compared to previous years?
Summary answer: The 18th ESHRE report on ART shows a continuing expansion of both treatment numbers in Europe and more variability in treatment modalities resulting in a rising contribution to the birth rates in most participating countries.
What is known already: Since 1997, ART data generated by national registries have been collected, analysed by the European IVF-monitoring (EIM) Consortium and reported in 17 manuscripts published in Human Reproduction.
Study design, size, duration: Continuous collection of European data by the EIM for ESHRE. The data for treatments performed in 2014 between 1 January and 31 December in 39 European countries were provided by national registries or on a voluntary basis by clinics or professional societies.
Participants/materials, setting, methods: From 39 countries and 1279 institutions offering ART services, a total of 776 556 treatment cycles, involving 146 148 with IVF, 362 285 with ICSI, 192 027 with frozen embryo replacement (FER), 15 894 with PGT, 56 516 with egg donation (ED), 292 with IVM and 3404 with frozen oocyte replacement (FOR) were reported. European data on IUI using husband/partner's semen (IUI-H) and donor semen (IUI-D) were reported from 1364 institutions offering IUI in 26 countries and 21 countries, respectively. A total of 120 789 treatments with IUI-H and 49 163 treatments with IUI-D were included.
Main results and the role of chance: In 14 countries (17 in 2013), where all institutions contributed to their respective national registers, a total of 291 235 treatment cycles were performed in a population of ~208 million inhabitants, corresponding to 1925 cycles per million inhabitants (range: 423-2978 per million inhabitants). After treatment with IVF the clinical pregnancy rates (PR) per aspiration and per transfer were marginally higher in 2014 than in 2013, at 29.9 and 35.8% versus 29.6 and 34.5%, respectively. After treatment with ICSI the PR per aspiration and per transfer were also higher than those achieved in 2013 (28.4 and 35.0% versus 27.8 and 32.9%, respectively). After FER with own embryos the PR continued to rise, from 27.0% in 2013 to 27.6% in 2014. After ED a similar trend was observed with PR reaching 50.3% per fresh transfer (49.8% in 2013) and 48.7% for FOR (46.4% in 2013). The delivery rates (DR) after IUI remained stable at 8.5% after IUI-H (8.6% in 2013) and at 11.6% after IUI-D (11.1% in 2013). In IVF and ICSI together, 1, 2, 3 and ≥4 embryos were transferred in 34.9, 54.5, 9.9 and in 0.7% of all treatments, respectively (corresponding to 31.4%, 56.3, 11.5% and 1% in 2013). This evolution in embryo transfer strategy in both IVF and ICSI resulted in a singleton, twin and triplet DR of 82.5, 17.0 and 0.5%, respectively (compared to 82.0, 17.5 and 0.5%, respectively, in 2013). Treatments with FER in 2014 resulted in a twin and triplet DR of 12.4 and 0.3%, respectively (versus 12.5 and 0.3% in 2013). Twin and triplet DR after IUI were 9.5 and 0.3%, respectively, after IUI-H (in 2013:9.5 and 0.6%) and 7.7 and 0.3% after IUI-D (in 2013: 7.5 and 0.3%).
Limitation, reasons for caution: The method of data collection and reporting varies among European countries. The EIM receives aggregated data from various countries with variable levels of completeness. Registries from a number of countries have failed to provide adequate data about the number of initiated cycles and deliveries. As long as incomplete data are provided, the results should be interpreted with caution.
Wider implications of the findings: The 18th ESHRE report on ART shows a continuing expansion of treatment numbers in Europe. The number of treatments reported, the variability in treatment modalities and the rising contribution to the birth rates in most participating countries point towards the increasing impact of ART on reproduction in Europe. Being the largest data collection on ART, the report gives detailed information about ongoing developments in the field.
Study funding/competing interest(s): The study has no external funding and all costs are covered by ESHRE. There are no competing interests.
409 citations
Cites background or result from "Fertility in Advanced Societies: A ..."
...Although a link between women’s higher educational status and reproductive postponement has been established (Balbo et al., 2013), and the variation in the proportion of highly educated women across nations is a reality, no statistically significant relation between the percentage of middle-aged women with tertiary education and ART usage was apparent in this study....
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...Several publications have already approached many of the issues in this complex field (Adamson, 2009; Balbo et al., 2013; Präg and Mills, 2017)....
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352 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a study of the periode vruchtbaarheids in Europe and the Vereinigte Staaten in Centraal and Oost Europa is presented.
Abstract: Europeanen stellen het ouderschap steeds verder uit. Vrouwen in Ierland, Italie, Frankrijk, Nederland, Spanje, Zweden en Zwitserland krijgen hun eerste kind na hun 28-jarige leeftijd, gemiddeld 4 jaar later dan de generatie van hun moeders. Gelijktijdig daalt de periode vruchtbaarheid tot ongekende lage niveaus, vooral in landen van Centraal en Oost Europa. In 2001 kende Europa een vruchtbaarheidscijfer (TFR) van 1.39. In alle post-communistische landen van Europa en alle landen van Zuid Europa (behalve Portugal) werd een TFR van minder dan 1.4 geregistreerd. In vijftien landen was de TFR lager dan 1.30. Deze twee trends – uitstel van het eerste kind en daling van de vruchtbaarheid tot ongekende lage niveaus – zijn aan elkaar gerelateerd. De centrale vraag in dit boek is of de zeer lage periode vruchtbaarheidscijfers in Europa het resultaat zijn van het uitstel van ouderschap (aangeduid als ‘tempo effect’) of van een daling van de vruchtbaarheidsniveau (aangeduid als ‘quantum effect’). Het uitstellen van ouderschap verstoort de periode vruchtbaarheid. De verstoring houdt op zodra de leeftijd waarop vrouwen kinderen krijgen stabiliseert. Een gevolg is dat vruchtbaarheids-indicatoren die transversaal gemeten worden een verkeerd beeld kunnen geven van de vruchtbaarheid. Deze studie besteedt relatief veel aandacht aan methodologie aspecten van vruchtbaarheidsindicatoren en aan alternatieven voor de veel gebruikte TFR. De andere onderwerpen die in deze studie aan bod komen, namelijk analyse en projectie van kinderloosheid in Europe and de Vereinigte Staaten en een analyse en interpretatie van vruchtbaarheidsveranderingen in Centraal en Oost Europa, zijn aan het uitstel van het ouderschap gerelateerd. Het onderzoek werd verricht in het kader van het project ‘Naar een scenariomodel voor economische determinanten van Europese bevolkingsdynamiek’, dat werd gefinancierd door de Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO) [project nummer A 510-03-901]. Het doel van het project was een beter inzicht te verkrijgen in de determinanten van demografische processen (vruchtbaarheid, sterfte, binnenlandse en buitenlandse migratie, en de interactie tussen deze processen) met het oog op een betere theoretische en empirische onderbouwing van demografische scenario’s voor Europa en de Europese regio’s. Het onderzoek waarover in dit boek wordt gerapporteerd is gericht op de meest markante aspecten van de vruchtbaarheidstrends in Europa: lage en zeer lage periode vruchtbaarheid, uitstel van het eerste kind, en de dramatische transformatie van het gezin in Centraal en Oost Europa. Indien de gegevens dat toelaten wordt een gedetailleerd beeld gegeven van trends per land. Een grote verscheidenheid aan statistische gegevens wordt gebruikt, afkomstig van meerdere bronnen. Naast een bespreking van markante trends leidt deze studie tot inzicht in mogelijke toekomstige ontwikkelingen en scenario’s. .
261 citations
References
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TL;DR: Ajzen, 1985, 1987, this article reviewed the theory of planned behavior and some unresolved issues and concluded that the theory is well supported by empirical evidence and that intention to perform behaviors of different kinds can be predicted with high accuracy from attitudes toward the behavior, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control; and these intentions, together with perceptions of behavioral control, account for considerable variance in actual behavior.
65,095 citations
"Fertility in Advanced Societies: A ..." refers background in this paper
...This theory differs from the TPB in that it acknowledges that fertility behavior might not only be the result of a reasoned rational deliberation, but also the result of automatic unconscious processing....
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...According to the TPB, intentions are the culmination of a combination of three antecedents: (i) attitudes (i.e., perceived costs and benefits); (ii) subjective norms (e.g., influence of close friends and relatives); and, (iii) perceived control over behavior (i.e., extent to which behavior is perceived as subject to control by the individual)....
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TL;DR: In this paper, it is argued that the degree of overlap of two individuals' friendship networks varies directly with the strength of their tie to one another, and the impact of this principle on diffusion of influence and information, mobility opportunity, and community organization is explored.
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TL;DR: In this paper, the concept of social capital is introduced and illustrated, its forms are described, the social structural conditions under which it arises are examined, and it is used in an analys...
Abstract: In this paper, the concept of social capital is introduced and illustrated, its forms are described, the social structural conditions under which it arises are examined, and it is used in an analys...
31,693 citations
"Fertility in Advanced Societies: A ..." refers background in this paper
...Social capital is defined as the resources that individuals have access to via personal relationships and can include goods, as well as information, money, capacity to work, influence, power or active help (Granovetter 1973; Bourdieu 1986; Coleman 1988)....
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01 Jan 2011
TL;DR: The notion of capital is a force inscribed in objective or subjective structures, but it is also a lex insita, the principle underlying the immanent regularities of the social world as mentioned in this paper, which is what makes the games of society, not least the economic game, something other than simple simple games of chance offering at every moment the possibility of a miracle.
Abstract: The social world is accumulated history, and if it is not to be reduced to a discontinuous series of instantaneous mechanical equilibria between agents who are treated as interchangeable particles, one must reintroduce into it the notion of capital and with it, accumulation and all its effects. Capital is accumulated labor (in its materialized form or its ‘incorporated,’ embodied form) which, when appropriated on a private, i.e., exclusive, basis by agents or groups of agents, enables them to appropriate social energy in the form of reified or living labor. It is a vis insita, a force inscribed in objective or subjective structures, but it is also a lex insita, the principle underlying the immanent regularities of the social world. It is what makes the games of society – not least, the economic game – something other than simple games of chance offering at every moment the possibility of a miracle. Roulette, which holds out the opportunity of winning a lot of money in a short space of time, and therefore of changing one’s social status quasi-instantaneously, and in which the winning of the previous spin of the wheel can be staked and lost at every new spin, gives a fairly accurate image of this imaginary universe of perfect competition or perfect equality of opportunity, a world without inertia, without accumulation, without heredity or acquired properties, in which every moment is perfectly independent of the previous one, every soldier has a marshal’s baton in his knapsack, and every prize can be attained, instantaneously, by everyone, so that at each moment anyone can become anything. Capital, which, in its objectified or embodied forms, takes time to accumulate and which, as a potential capacity to produce profits and to reproduce itself in identical or expanded form, contains a tendency to persist in its being, is a force inscribed in the objectivity of things so that everything is not equally possible or impossible. And the structure of the distribution of the different types and subtypes of capital at a given moment in time represents the immanent structure of the social world, i.e. , the set of constraints, inscribed in the very reality of that world, which govern its functioning in a durable way, determining the chances of success for practices.
21,046 citations
"Fertility in Advanced Societies: A ..." refers background in this paper
...Building on previous sociological applications (Granovetter 1973; Bourdieu 1986; Lin et al. 2001; Flap and Völker 2004), some demographic studies have demonstrated how social capital (or the lack thereof), next to economic and cultural resources, shapes fertility decision-making (e....
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...Social capital is defined as the resources that individuals have access to via personal relationships and can include goods, as well as information, money, capacity to work, influence, power or active help (Granovetter 1973; Bourdieu 1986; Coleman 1988)....
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...Building on previous sociological applications (Granovetter 1973; Bourdieu 1986; Lin et al. 2001; Flap and Völker 2004), some demographic studies have demonstrated how social capital (or the lack thereof), next to economic and cultural resources, shapes fertility decision-making (e.g., Schoen et…...
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Book•
01 Jan 1990
TL;DR: In this paper, Esping-Andersen distinguishes three major types of welfare state, connecting these with variations in the historical development of different Western countries, and argues that current economic processes such as those moving toward a post-industrial order are shaped not by autonomous market forces but by the nature of states and state differences.
Abstract: Few discussions in modern social science have occupied as much attention as the changing nature of welfare states in Western societies. Gosta Esping-Andersen, one of the foremost contributors to current debates on this issue, here provides a new analysis of the character and role of welfare states in the functioning of contemporary advanced Western societies. Esping-Andersen distinguishes three major types of welfare state, connecting these with variations in the historical development of different Western countries. He argues that current economic processes, such as those moving toward a postindustrial order, are shaped not by autonomous market forces but by the nature of states and state differences. Fully informed by comparative materials, this book will have great appeal to all those working on issues of economic development and postindustrialism. Its audience will include students of sociology, economics, and politics."
16,883 citations
"Fertility in Advanced Societies: A ..." refers background in this paper
...4.4 Welfare Regimes Building on the work of Esping-Andersen (1990, 1999), numerous scholars have explained cross-country differences in fertility and life course patterns by linking them to different institutional constellations (e.g., Mills and Blossfeld 2005; see also Neyer 2003 for a feminist…...
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