Intelligence and childlessness.

doi:10.1016/J.SSRESEARCH.2014.06.003

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Intelligence and childlessness.

Journal Article•DOI•

Intelligence and childlessness.

Satoshi Kanazawa¹•Institutions (1)

London School of Economics and Political Science¹

01 Nov 2014-Social Science Research (Academic Press)-Vol. 48, pp 157-170

TL;DR: Analyses of the National Child Development Study show that more intelligent men and women express preference to remain childless early in their reproductive careers, but only more intelligent women are more likely to remainChildless by the end of their reproductive career.

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About: This article is published in Social Science Research.The article was published on 2014-11-01. It has received 46 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Childlessness & Population.

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Journal Article•

A Treatise on the Family

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Saul D. Hoffman

01 Aug 2000-Journal of Marriage and Family

TL;DR: A Treatise on the Family by G. S. Becker as discussed by the authors is one of the most famous and influential economists of the second half of the 20th century, a fervent contributor to and expounder of the University of Chicago free-market philosophy, and winner of the 1992 Nobel Prize in economics.

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Abstract: A Treatise on the Family. G. S. Becker. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 1981. Gary Becker is one of the most famous and influential economists of the second half of the 20th century, a fervent contributor to and expounder of the University of Chicago free-market philosophy, and winner of the 1992 Nobel Prize in economics. Although any book with the word "treatise" in its title is clearly intended to have an impact, one coming from someone as brilliant and controversial as Becker certainly had such a lofty goal. It has received many article-length reviews in several disciplines (Ben-Porath, 1982; Bergmann, 1995; Foster, 1993; Hannan, 1982), which is one measure of its scholarly importance, and yet its impact is, I think, less than it may have initially appeared, especially for scholars with substantive interests in the family. This book is, its title notwithstanding, more about economics and the economic approach to behavior than about the family. In the first sentence of the preface, Becker writes "In this book, I develop an economic or rational choice approach to the family." Lest anyone accuse him of focusing on traditional (i.e., material) economics topics, such as family income, poverty, and labor supply, he immediately emphasizes that those topics are not his focus. "My intent is more ambitious: to analyze marriage, births, divorce, division of labor in households, prestige, and other non-material behavior with the tools and framework developed for material behavior." Indeed, the book includes chapters on many of these issues. One chapter examines the principles of the efficient division of labor in households, three analyze marriage and divorce, three analyze various child-related issues (fertility and intergenerational mobility), and others focus on broader family issues, such as intrafamily resource allocation. His analysis is not, he believes, constrained by time or place. His intention is "to present a comprehensive analysis that is applicable, at least in part, to families in the past as well as the present, in primitive as well as modern societies, and in Eastern as well as Western cultures." His tone is profoundly conservative and utterly skeptical of any constructive role for government programs. There is a clear sense of how much better things were in the old days of a genderbased division of labor and low market-work rates for married women. Indeed, Becker is ready and able to show in Chapter 2 that such a state of affairs was efficient and induced not by market or societal discrimination (although he allows that it might exist) but by small underlying household productivity differences that arise primarily from what he refers to as "complementarities" between caring for young children while carrying another to term. Most family scholars would probably find that an unconvincingly simple explanation for a profound and complex phenomenon. What, then, is the salient contribution of Treatise on the Family? It is not literally the idea that economics could be applied to the nonmarket sector and to family life because Becker had already established that with considerable success and influence. At its core, microeconomics is simple, characterized by a belief in the importance of prices and markets, the role of self-interested or rational behavior, and, somewhat less centrally, the stability of preferences. It was Becker's singular and invaluable contribution to appreciate that the behaviors potentially amenable to the economic approach were not limited to phenomenon with explicit monetary prices and formal markets. Indeed, during the late 1950s and throughout the 1960s, he did undeniably important and pioneering work extending the domain of economics to such topics as labor market discrimination, fertility, crime, human capital, household production, and the allocation of time. Nor is Becker's contribution the detailed analyses themselves. Many of them are, frankly, odd, idiosyncratic, and off-putting. …

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4,817 citations

Journal Article•

Mental Retardation: A Family Study

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Richard Koch

01 Mar 1966-Pediatrics

TL;DR: This is a monumental study of the relatives of 289 persons who lived at Faribault Minnesota State Colony for the Retarded during the years 1911 to 1918—each retardate averaged 25 years of residential care within the institution.

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Abstract: This is a monumental study of the relatives of 289 persons who lived at Faribault Minnesota State Colony for the Retarded during the years 1911 to 1918. Information about 82,217 persons is analyzed in this volume—each retardate averaged 25 years of residential care within the institution. The original study was developed in 1910 and was reopened in 1949 by the present investigators. I find it difficult to assess the value of this book for pediatricians. It is undoubtedly a very meaningful report for geneticists, but I would not recommend its purchase by the practicing pediatrician.

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37 citations

Journal Article•DOI•

Personality and voluntary childlessness

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Margaret Avison¹, Adrian Furnham¹•Institutions (1)

University College London¹

11 Jan 2015-Journal of Population Research

TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the association between personality and childbearing motivation, with a focus on voluntary childlessness, and found that personality plays a considerable role in influencing individuals towards, or away from, parenthood.

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Abstract: This study examined the association between personality and childbearing motivation, with a focus on voluntary childlessness. 780 adults completed an online survey assessing the Big Five personality traits, the trait of Independence, desire for parenthood, motivations for choosing childlessness and various other socio-demographic characteristics. Compared to parents or those desiring children, childfree respondents scored significantly higher in Independence and significantly lower in Agreeableness and Extraversion. They were also less religious and more politically liberal. For non-parents, level of desire for parenthood was negatively correlated with Independence and positively correlated with Agreeableness and religiosity. The ideal number of children desired was positively correlated with Agreeableness and religiosity. Childfree respondents who decided early in life not to have children (‘early articulators’) were significantly higher in Independence and Openness to Experience than those who decided later in life. Motivations for childlessness loaded onto five factors, four of which correlated significantly with personality traits. The results suggest that personality plays a considerable role in influencing individuals towards, or away from, parenthood.

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32 citations

Journal Article•DOI•

By their words ye shall know them: Evidence of genetic selection against general intelligence and concurrent environmental enrichment in vocabulary usage since the mid 19th century

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Heitor B. F. Fernandes¹, Aurelio José Figueredo², Gerhard Meisenberg³•Institutions (3)

Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul¹, University of Arizona², Ross University³

21 Apr 2015-Frontiers in Psychology

TL;DR: It has been theorized that declines in general intelligence (g) due to genetic selection stemming from the inverse association between completed fertility and IQ and the Flynn effect co-occur, with the effects of the latter being concentrated on less heritable non-g sources of intelligence variance.

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Abstract: It has been theorized that declines in g due to negative selection stemming from the inverse association between completed fertility and IQ, and the Flynn effect co-occur, with the effects of the latter being concentrated on less-heritable non-g sources of intelligence variance. Evidence for this comes from the observation that 19th Century populations were more intellectually productive, and also exhibited faster simple reaction times than modern ones, suggesting higher g. This co-occurrence model is tested via examination of historical changes in the utilization frequencies of words from the highly g-loaded WORDSUM test across 5.9 million texts spanning 1850 to 2005. Consistent with predictions, words with higher difficulties (δ parameters from Item Response Theory) and stronger negative correlations between pass-rates and completed fertility presented a steeper decline in use over time, than less difficult and less negatively selected words, which increased in use over time, suggestive of a Flynn effect. These findings persisted when explicitly controlled for word age, literacy rates and temporal autocorrelation. These trends constitute compelling evidence that both producers and consumers of text have experienced declines in g since the mid-19th Century.

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30 citations

Cites background from "Intelligence and childlessness."

...ORIGINAL RESEARCH published: 21 April 2015 doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00361 Edited by: J. Michael Williams, Drexel University, USA Reviewed by: Lei Chang, The Hong Kong Institute of Education, China David Geary, University of Missouri, USA *Correspondence: Michael A. Woodley of Menie, Department of Psychology, Technische Universität Chemnitz, 09107 Chemnitz, Germany; Center Leo Apostel for Interdisciplinary Studies, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussels, Belgium michael.woodley@vub.ac.be Specialty section: This article was submitted to Evolutionary Psychology and Neuroscience, a section of the journal Frontiers in Psychology Received: 21 January 2015 Accepted: 14 March 2015 Published: 21 April 2015 Citation: Woodley of Menie MA, Fernandes HBF, Figueredo AJ and Meisenberg G (2015) By their words ye shall know them: Evidence of genetic selection against general intelligence and concurrent environmental enrichment in vocabulary usage since the mid 19th century....
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...…Center Leo Apostel for Interdisciplinary Studies, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussels, Belgium michael.woodley@vub.ac.be Specialty section: This article was submitted to Evolutionary Psychology and Neuroscience, a section of the journal Frontiers in Psychology Received: 21…...
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...…Galton’s (1869) predictions, asmost studies found that IQ was inversely related to fertility, suggesting directional genetic selection for lower intelligence (Lynn, 2011) – a trend that persists into the present (Lynn and van Court, 2004; Meisenberg, 2010; Reeve et al., 2013; Kanazawa, 2014)....
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Journal Article•DOI•

Iq and socioeconomic development across regions of the uk.

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Noah Carl¹•Institutions (1)

University of Oxford¹

01 May 2016-Journal of Biosocial Science

TL;DR: The paper provides evidence for the validity of the regional IQs by showing that IQ estimates for UK nations derived from the same data are strongly correlated with national PISA scores, and finds that regional IQ is positively related to income, longevity and technological accomplishment; and is negatively related to poverty, deprivation and unemployment.

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Abstract: Cross-regional correlations between average IQ and socioeconomic development have been documented in many different countries. This paper presents new IQ estimates for the twelve regions of the UK. These are weakly correlated (r=0.24) with the regional IQs assembled by Lynn (1979). Assuming the two sets of estimates are accurate and comparable, this finding suggests that the relative IQs of different UK regions have changed since the 1950s, most likely due to differentials in the magnitude of the Flynn effect, the selectivity of external migration, the selectivity of internal migration or the strength of the relationship between IQ and fertility. The paper provides evidence for the validity of the regional IQs by showing that IQ estimates for UK nations (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) derived from the same data are strongly correlated with national PISA scores (r=0.99). It finds that regional IQ is positively related to income, longevity and technological accomplishment; and is negatively related to poverty, deprivation and unemployment. A general factor of socioeconomic development is correlated with regional IQ at r=0.72.

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29 citations

Cites background from "Intelligence and childlessness."

...Fourth, cross-regional differentials in the strength of the relationship between IQ and fertility (see Lynn & Van Court, 2004; Meisenberg, 2010; Lynn, 2011; Chen et al., 2013; Reeve et al., 2013; Kanazawa, 2014; Hopcraft, 2014; Woodley, 2015): fertility might have had a more positive genetic effect in some regions than in others....
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...…in the strength of the relationship between IQ and fertility (see Lynn & Van Court, 2004; Meisenberg, 2010; Lynn, 2011; Chen et al., 2013; Reeve et al., 2013; Kanazawa, 2014; Hopcraft, 2014; Woodley, 2015): fertility might have had a more positive genetic effect in some regions than in others....
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Posted Content•

What are the Determinants of Delayed Childbearing and Permanent Childlessness in the United States

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David E. Bloom¹, David E. Bloom², James Trussell³, James Trussell¹•Institutions (3)

National Bureau of Economic Research¹, Harvard University², Princeton University³

01 Jun 1983-Social Science Research Network

TL;DR: In this paper, the Coale-McNeil marriage model is used to estimate delayed childbearing and permanent childlessness in the United States and the determinants of those phenomena are derived by fitting the coale-mcneil marriage model to survey data on age at first birth and by letting the parameters of the model depend on covariates.

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Abstract: This paper presents estimates of delayed childbearing and permanent childlessness in the United States and the determinants of those phenomena.The estimates are derived by fitting the Coale-McNeil marriage model to survey data on age at first birth and by letting the parameters of the model depend on covariates. Substantively, the results provide evidence that the low first birth fertility rates experienced in the 1970's were due to both delayed childbearing and to increasing levels of permanent childlessness. The results also indicate that (a) delayed childbearing is less prevalent among blackwomen than among non-black women, (b) education and labor force participation are important determinants of delayed childbearing, (c) the influence of education and labor force participation on delayed childbearing seems to beincreasing across cohorts, (d) education is positively associated with heterogeneity among women in their age at first birth, (d) the dispersion of age at first birth is increasing across cohorts, (f) race has an insignificant effecton childlessness, and (g) education is positively associated with childlessness, with the effect of education increasing and reaching strikingly highlevels for the most recent cohorts.

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60 citations

Journal Article•DOI•

The reproduction of intelligence

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Gerhard Meisenberg¹•Institutions (1)

Ross University¹

01 Mar 2010-Intelligence

TL;DR: The relationship between fertility and education has been described consistently in most countries of the world, but less is known about the relationship between intelligence and reproductive outcomes as discussed by the authors, and also the paths through which intelligence influences reproductive outcomes are uncertain.

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59 citations

"Intelligence and childlessness." refers methods in this paper

...…(Retherford and Sewell, 1988, 1989) measures intelligence with only one IQ test (Henmon–Nelson Test), the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (Meisenberg, 2010; Meisenberg and Kaul, 2010; Neiss et al., 2002) uses four subtests of the Armed Forces Qualification Test (arithmetic, word…...
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Journal Article•DOI•

Intergenerational Transmission of Neuropsychological Executive Functioning

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Jennifer M. Jester¹, Joel T. Nigg², Joel T. Nigg³, Leon I. Puttler⁴, Jeffrey C. Long⁴, Hiram E. Fitzgerald², Robert A. Zucker¹ - Show less +3 more•Institutions (4)

Addiction Research Center¹, Michigan State University², Oregon Health & Science University³, University of Michigan⁴

01 Jun 2009-Brain and Cognition

TL;DR: Findings clarify that key elements of the executive functioning construct are reliably differentiable from IQ, and are transmitted in families, and supports the utility of the construct of executive function in further study of the mechanisms and etiology of externalizing psychopathologies.

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58 citations

Journal Article•DOI•

Intelligence and family size reconsidered.

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Robert D. Retherford, William H. Sewell

01 Jan 1988-Biodemography and Social Biology

TL;DR: The IQ selection differential is considered, which provides an estimate of what the generational change in mean IQ would be if, hypothetically, each child in the birth histories had the same IQ as the mean of its parents’ IQ's.

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Abstract: The major purpose of this study is to examine the association between the measured intelligence and fertility of over 9,000 persons who graduated high school in Wisconsin in 1957. Various measures of association are considered, including the IQ selection differential, which provides an estimate of what the generational change in mean IQ would be if, hypothetically, each child in the birth histories had the same IQ as the mean of its parents’ IQ's. This is calculated not only for graduates but also, more realistically, for the complete cohort, including dropouts. The IQ selection differential for the complete cohort is estimated to be eight‐tenths of an IQ point decline in a generation. The contribution of females to this decline is estimated to be almost five times greater than the contribution of males. The value of eight‐tenths may be viewed as an upper bound of the generational decline in mean genotypic IQ for this cohort and its offspring. An educated guess, based partly on genetic models and...

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58 citations

"Intelligence and childlessness." refers background or methods or result in this paper

...Retherford and Sewell (1988, 1989), Meisenberg (2010; Meisenberg and Kaul, 2010), Reeve et al. (2013), and Chen et al. (2013) all show either that both intelligence and education have independent effects on fertility net of each other or that education entirely mediates the effect of intelligence…...
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...In their analysis of the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, Retherford and Sewell (1988, 1989) show that childhood intelligence, measured in 11th grade, decreases fertility, measured at 35....
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...For example, the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (Retherford and Sewell, 1988, 1989) measures intelligence with only one IQ test (Henmon–Nelson Test), the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (Meisenberg, 2010; Meisenberg and Kaul, 2010; Neiss et al., 2002) uses four subtests of the Armed Forces Qualification Test (arithmetic, word knowledge, paragraph comprehension, and mathematics knowledge), and the Middle-Aged Danish Twin survey (Rodgers et al., 2008) uses five (fluency, digit-span forward, digit-span backward, digit symbol substitution, and delayed recall)....
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...More importantly, contrary to the earlier findings by Retherford and Sewell (1988, 1989), Meisenberg (2010; Meisenberg and Kaul, 2010), Reeve et al. (2013), and Chen et al. (2013), education net of childhood general intelligence is not significantly associated with lifetime parenthood either for…...
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...For example, the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (Retherford and Sewell, 1988, 1989) measures intelligence with only one IQ test (Henmon–Nelson Test), the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (Meisenberg, 2010; Meisenberg and Kaul, 2010; Neiss et al., 2002) uses four subtests of the Armed Forces…...
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