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PubMed · 9545624

Explaining fertility transitions.

K O Mason
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Abstract

In this essay, I suggest that the crisis in our understanding of fertility transitions is more apparent than real. Although most existing theories of fertility transition have been partially or wholly discredited, this reflects a tendency to assume that all fertility transitions share one or two causes, to ignore mortality decline as a precondition for fertility decline, to assume that pretransitional fertility is wholly governed by social constraints rather than by individual decision-making, and to test ideas on a decadal time scale. I end the essay by suggesting a perceptual, interactive approach to explaining fertility transitions that is closely allied to existing theories but focuses on conditions that lead couples to switch from postnatal to prenatal controls on family size.

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Birth RateDemographyFamily CharacteristicsFemaleFertilityHumansInfantInfant MortalityInfant, NewbornMalePopulation DynamicsPregnancyJournal ArticleResearch Support, Non-U.S. Gov'tResearch Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.Review

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K O Mason. 1997. Explaining fertility transitions.. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9545624/

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