Network Effects on Fertility: The Social Contagion of Childbearing in Three Interaction Domains
Final Report Abstract
This project aimed at advancing the understanding fertility contagion by extending fertility contagion to other family formation behaviors and networks and improving the identification and quantification of network effects on fertility. First, concerning network effects on other family formation behaviors, we showed that marital behavior also spread among siblings. Moreover, we showed that network effects on demographic behavior emerge not only within behavioral domains - fertility on fertility and marriage on marriage but also across behavioral domains - fertility on marriage. A sibling’s transition to parenthood also increased an individual’s transition rate to marriage. Later, we considered family formation trajectories as sequences comprising cohabitation, union formation/dissolution, and fertility rather than focusing on isolated events. Our findings indicated that the adult role models in a neighborhood was associated with adolescent family formation trajectories. Second, concerning the identification and quantification of network effects on fertility, we showed a sibling’s fertility influenced a colleague’s fertility and, conversely, a colleague’s fertility influenced a sibling’s fertility. These findings indicated direct colleague effects and sibling effects on fertility as a sibling’s fertility is expected to influence a colleague only through the focal person and a colleague’s fertility is expected to influence a sibling also only through the focal person. Furthermore, our results suggested that the estimated pregnancies would drop by 5.8 percent in the absence of colleague effects and by 1.5 percent in the absence of sibling effects. Third, concerning extending the social contagion on fertility to other network domains, we investigated whether former spouses influence each other’s fertility and marital behavior following a divorce. The idea that former spouses influence each other’s family formation was based on the social comparison mechanism: Individuals may perceive their ex-partners as closer individuals for self-evaluation in terms of family formation transitions, and a formerly married person can be a reference point for family formation behavior. Indeed, our findings showed that an individual’s likelihood of childbearing increased when a former spouse had a baby. Similarly, the risk of remarrying increased when a former spouse alsogot remarried.
Publications
- (2020) Family, Firms, and Fertility: A Study of Social Interaction Effects. Demography 57 (1) 243–266
Buyukkececi, Zafer; Leopold, Thomas; van Gaalen, Ruben; Engelhardt, Henriette
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1007/s13524-019-00841-y)
