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Sex, Breastfeeding, and Marital Fertility in Pretransition China

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  • William Lavely

Abstract

Coital frequency is at the heart of the debate over low marital fertility in pretransition China. This study argues that coital frequency in contemporary China is indicative of sexual behavior in an earlier era. Frequency of intercourse is low in China relative to Europe, a natural outgrowth of a traditional family system and related sexual culture only partially transformed by a century of family revolution. Customary sexual behaviors and breastfeeding practices together shaped the Chinese historical fertility regime as they did the European. As explanations for China's low marital fertility, these proximate determinants leave little scope for the operation of fecundity‐reducing malnutrition on the one hand, or deliberate fertility control on the other. The fertility regimes of other pretransition agrarian societies more closely resemble China's than Europe's, seeming to confirm a pattern of European demographic exceptionalism.

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  • William Lavely, 2007. "Sex, Breastfeeding, and Marital Fertility in Pretransition China," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 33(2), pages 289-320, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:popdev:v:33:y:2007:i:2:p:289-320
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1728-4457.2007.00170.x
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    Cited by:

    1. Carol H. Shiue, 2017. "Human capital and fertility in Chinese clans before modern growth," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 351-396, December.
    2. Emily Smith-Greenaway, 2015. "Educational attainment and adult literacy," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 33(35), pages 1015-1034.
    3. Smith-Greenaway, Emily, 2015. "Are literacy skills associated with young adults' health in Africa? Evidence from Malawi," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 124-133.
    4. Chae, Minhee & Cai, Yong & Kim, Jun Hyung & Lavely, William, 2023. "Unintended Consequences of Family Planning Policies on the Breastfeeding Gap between Sons and Daughters," IZA Discussion Papers 16190, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Fabian Drixler, 2015. "Conjuring the Ghosts of Missing Children: A Monte Carlo Simulation of Reproductive Restraint in Tokugawa Japan," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 52(2), pages 667-703, April.

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