When Do Kinsmen Really Help? Examination of Cohort and Parity-Specific Kin Effects on Fertility Behavior. The Case of the Bejsce Parish Register Reconstitution Study, 17th–20th Centuries, Poland

Abstract

The present study aims to investigate the parity specific effect of kin help on the transition between births among natural and controlled fertility birth cohorts of the Bejsce parish. The hypothesis states that kin help should be of particular importance in the case of higher order births. Thus, kin effects understood as reduction in the costs of childbearing (direct childcare, provision of the resources) or nutritional effects should be of particular importance at higher parities. The analyses are based on the multilevel hazard models of parity transition with kin effects represented by time-constant and time-varying covariates. The data used for the estimation of the models come from the reconstitution of the registers from Bejsce parish located in south-central Poland. The reconstitution covers the period between 1730 and 1968. The results suggest that there was a strong kin effect especially at higher parities. These effects were mostly associated with the presence of nongenerative relatives (grandparents). The analyses reveal only weak differences in the kin effect between natural and controlled fertility regimes.