In a continent where most countries exhibit low or “lowest-low” fertility, the experience of Sweden and its Nordic neighbors has become of interest to social scientists and policy makers concerned with the causes and consequences of low fertility. Nordic fertility can be labeled as “highest-low”: the fertility of Sweden and its neighbors is below the replacement level of 2.1 children per woman ...

Is fertility relevant to evolutionary analyses conducted in modern industrial societies? This question has been the subject of a highly contentious debate, beginning in the late 1980s and continuing to this day. Researchers in both evolutionary and social sciences have argued that the measurement of fitness-related traits (e.g., fertility) offers little insight into evolutionary processes, on t...

OBJECTIVE To discuss issues and concerns in the application of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to the decision to have a child. METHOD We review the basic structure of the TPB, its principles, and its assumptions as they apply to fertility decisions. Among other issues we consider attitudes, subjective norms, and perceptions of control as antecedents to the decision to have a child; the ex...

Women's reproductive fertility peaks for a few days in the middle of their cycle around ovulation. Because conception is most likely to occur inside this brief fertile window, evolutionary theories suggest that men possess adaptations designed to maximize their reproductive success by mating with women during their peak period of fertility. In this article, we provide evidence from 3 studies th...

BACKGROUND An important question for population research is whether fertility decline transforms gender systems. OBJECTIVE This paper contributes to answering this broad question by examining how fertility decline may change the relative value and roles of daughters and sons in families. First, I outline theoretical pathways, suggesting that a key factor is the gender composition of families....

Based on observational studies comparing social organization and reproductive behavior of equids breeding under feral, semi-feral, and domestic conditions, a series of comparisons and findings on reproductive physiology and behavior are presented. Simple changes in management and handling of mares and stallions that can improve reproductive efficiency and fertility or that can overcome specific...

This paper explores the existence of son preference and gender-based fertility behavior among Southeast Asian mothers. Using census data ten countries (Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam) over years 1970-2014 a sample 18 million observations, I show that having first-born girl is associated with 0.16 more children in household, equivalent...