Religion, Religiosity and Male and Female Fertility

Previous studies have demonstrated religion to be an important factor that differentiates women’s fertility. This chapter extends the examination to men’s fertility outcome and their religion. Besides examining religious affiliation and fertility, I also take religiosity into consideration, which is measured by the manner in which people practice their religion. I begin the chapter by reviewing four principle hypotheses proposed in the literature that explain fertility differentials among people with different religious affiliations. The chapter then sets forth a series of hypotheses on religious affiliation, religiosity and male and female fertility. These hypotheses are tested by analyzing male and female samples taken from the NSFG Cycle 6 data set. The results show that the fertility gap among religious groups is shrinking for both men and women, meaning religious denomination may not be an important indicator that differentiates fertility in future. However, religiosity turns to be a factor that demonstrates substantial importance when shaping religious people’s fertility outcomes. Through contrasting the effects of religion and religiosity on male and female fertility, the results of this research show that religion and religiosity do not seem to be factors that differentiate women’s than on men’s fertility.