IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/dem/demres/v34y2016i17.html

Does grandparental help mediate the relationship between kin presence and fertility?

Author

Listed:
  • Kristin Snopkowski

    (Boise State University)

  • Rebecca Sear

    (Brunel University London)

Abstract

Background: Previous research suggests that kin availability may be correlated with reproductive outcomes, but it is not clear that a causal relationship underlies these findings. Further, there is substantial variation in how kin availability is measured. Objective: We attempt to identify whether different measures of kin availability influence how kin affect reproductive outcomes and whether the effect of kin on reproductive outcomes is driven by the help that they provide. Methods: Using data from the Indonesia Family Life Survey (1993, 1997, 2000, 2007), we compare the survival of parents and parents-in-law, their co-residence, geographic proximity, contact frequency, and helping behavior in predicting fertility outcomes, and test a hypothesized causal pathway linking kin availability to reproduction via helping behavior. Results: We find different results if we operationalize parental availability as survival or co-residence, suggesting that these measures cannot be used interchangeably. Receiving help from parents or parents-in-law has a positive effect on progression to birth when women have fewer than three living children. Path analyses show that geographic proximity is associated with contact frequency, which in turn influences helping behavior. Kin help has a positive effect on progression to giving birth for all parental categories, but the effects are strongest for mothers-in-law. Conclusions: In Indonesia, kin availability has a positive effect on fertility only when kin provide help, suggesting that there is a causal relationship between kin availability and fertility which is mediated via the provision of help.

Suggested Citation

  • Kristin Snopkowski & Rebecca Sear, 2016. "Does grandparental help mediate the relationship between kin presence and fertility?," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 34(17), pages 467-498.
    • Handle: RePEc:dem:demres:v:34:y:2016:i:17
    DOI: 10.4054/DemRes.2016.34.17
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol34/17/34-17.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.4054/DemRes.2016.34.17?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. G. William Skinner, 2004. "Grandparental effects on reproductive strategizing," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 11(5), pages 111-148.
    2. Snopkowski, Kristin & Sear, Rebecca, 2015. "Grandparental help in Indonesia is directed preferentially towards needier descendants: A potential confounder when exploring grandparental influences on child health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 105-114.
    3. Wen-Jen Tsay & C. Y. Cyrus Chu, 2005. "The pattern of birth spacing during Taiwan's demographic transition," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 18(2), pages 323-336, June.
    4. Rebecca Sear & David Coall, 2011. "How Much Does Family Matter? Cooperative Breeding and the Demographic Transition," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 37(Supplemen), pages 81-112, January.
    5. Arland Thornton & Ronald Freedman & Te-Hsiung Sun & Ming-Cheng Chang, 1986. "Intergenerational relations and reproductive behavior in Taiwan," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 23(2), pages 185-197, May.
    6. Jan Beise & Eckart Voland, 2002. "A multilevel event history analysis of the effects of grandmothers on child mortality in a historical German population (Krummhörn, Ostfriesland, 1720-1874)," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2002-023, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    7. Paul Gertler & Jack Molyneaux, 1994. "Erratum to: How Economic Development and Family Planning Programs Combined to Reduce Indonesian Fertility," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 31(2), pages 1-1, May.
    8. Paul Mathews & Rebecca Sear, 2013. "Family and Fertility: Kin Influence on the Progression to a Second Birth in the British Household Panel Study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(3), pages 1-10, March.
    9. Jan Beise & Eckart Voland, 2002. "A multilevel event history analysis of the effects of grandmothers on child mortality in a historical German population," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 7(13), pages 469-498.
    10. Anu Rammohan & Meliyanni Johar, 2009. "The Determinants of Married Women's Autonomy in Indonesia," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(4), pages 31-55.
    11. Sophia Rabe-Hesketh & Anders Skrondal & Andrew Pickles, 2004. "Generalized multilevel structural equation modeling," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 69(2), pages 167-190, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Laure Spake & Susan B. Schaffnit & Rebecca Sear & Mary K. Shenk & Richard Sosis & John H. Shaver, 2021. "Mother’s Partnership Status and Allomothering Networks in the United Kingdom and United States," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-25, May.
    2. Qian Liu & Haimin Pan & Yuanyuan Wu, 2020. "Migration Status, Internet Use, and Social Participation among Middle-Aged and Older Adults in China: Consequences for Depression," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(16), pages 1-13, August.
    3. Pei, Yaolin & Cong, Zhen & Wu, Bei, 2020. "Education, adult children's education, and depressive symptoms among older adults in rural China," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 253(C).
    4. Jing Zhang & Tom Emery, 2023. "Grandparental childcare and second births in China," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 18(6), pages 1-19, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Susan Schaffnit & Rebecca Sear, 2017. "Supportive families versus support from families: The decision to have a child in the Netherlands," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 37(14), pages 414-454.
    2. Simon Chapman & Mirkka Danielsbacka & Antti O Tanskanen & Mirkka Lahdenperä & Jenni Pettay & Virpi Lummaa, 2023. "Grandparental co-residence and grandchild survival: the role of resource competition in a pre-industrial population," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 34(3), pages 446-456.
    3. Kai Pierre Willführ & Johannes Johow & Eckart Voland, 2018. "When the mother-in-law is just as good—Differential mortality of reproductive females by family network composition," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(3), pages 1-22, March.
    4. Emma Zang & Cameron Campbell, 2018. "Males’ Later-Life Mortality Consequences of Coresidence With Paternal Grandparents: Evidence From Northeast China, 1789–1909," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(2), pages 435-457, April.
    5. Jan Havlíček & Petr Tureček & Alice Velková, 2021. "One but not two grandmothers increased child survival in poorer families in west Bohemian population, 1708–1834," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 32(6), pages 1138-1150.
    6. Qiang Li, 2005. "Subjective well-being and mortality in Chinese oldest old," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2005-011, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    7. Snopkowski, Kristin & Sear, Rebecca, 2015. "Grandparental help in Indonesia is directed preferentially towards needier descendants: A potential confounder when exploring grandparental influences on child health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 105-114.
    8. J. David Hacker & Evan Roberts, 2017. "The impact of kin availability, parental religiosity, and nativity on fertility differentials in the late 19th-century United States," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 37(34), pages 1049-1080.
    9. Li, Yunrong & Mora, Ricardo, 2016. "Re-assessing the Impact of the Grandparent’s Income on the Infant Mortality Rate: An Evaluation of the Old Age Allowance Program in Nepal," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 333-348.
    10. Krzysztof Tymicki, 2009. "The correlates of infant and childhood mortality," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 20(23), pages 559-594.
    11. Marcantonio Caltabiano, 2003. "Italian adolescents’ first romantic relationships: an explorative study," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2003-038, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    12. Samuel Lucas, 2014. "An inconvenient dataset: bias and inappropriate inference with the multilevel model," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 48(3), pages 1619-1649, May.
    13. Laure Spake & Susan B. Schaffnit & Rebecca Sear & Mary K. Shenk & Richard Sosis & John H. Shaver, 2021. "Mother’s Partnership Status and Allomothering Networks in the United Kingdom and United States," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-25, May.
    14. C. Chu & Seik Kim & Wen-Jen Tsay, 2014. "Coresidence With Husband’s Parents, Labor Supply, and Duration to First Birth," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 51(1), pages 185-204, February.
    15. Ravi Prakash & Abhishek Singh, 2014. "Who Marries Whom? Changing Mate Selection Preferences in Urban India and Emerging Implications on Social Institutions," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 33(2), pages 205-227, April.
    16. Steven Andrew Culpepper & Herman Aguinis & Justin L. Kern & Roger Millsap, 2019. "High-Stakes Testing Case Study: A Latent Variable Approach for Assessing Measurement and Prediction Invariance," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 84(1), pages 285-309, March.
    17. Ryan Mullins & Raj Agnihotri, 2022. "Digital selling: organizational and managerial influences for frontline readiness and effectiveness," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 50(4), pages 800-821, July.
    18. Portner, Claus C & Beegle, Kathleen & Christiaensen, Luc, 2011. "Family planning and fertility : estimating program effects using cross-sectional data," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5812, The World Bank.
    19. Javed, Rashid & Mughal, Mazhar, 2020. "Preference for boys and length of birth intervals in Pakistan," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(2), pages 140-152.
    20. Matthew Houser, 2022. "Does adopting a nitrogen best management practice reduce nitrogen fertilizer rates?," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 39(1), pages 79-94, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:dem:demres:v:34:y:2016:i:17. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Editorial Office (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.demogr.mpg.de/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.