THE INFLUENCE OF DEVELOPMENTAL IDEALISM ON FERTILITY

Keera Allendorf, Indiana University, Bloomington
Arland Thornton, University of Michigan
Linda Young-DeMarco, University of Michigan
Colter Mitchell, University of Michigan

Developmental idealism theory poses a collection of schemas, known as developmental idealism (DI), as an important influence on demographic behavior and change. We test this proposition for fertility behavior – examining if individuals’ endorsement of DI influences their subsequent progression to a birth. The assessed DI schemas include beliefs that low fertility is a cause and effect of societal development and a positive attitude towards fertility decline. We use panel data from the Chitwan Valley Family Study (CVFS) collected from 2008 to 2014 in Nepal – a period when fertility declined from about three to nearly two children per woman. Nepali policy emphasized a two-child ideal for achieving national development. Thus, we also examine if DI endorsement is more influential for limiting the number of children, rather than spacing births. Women’s endorsement of DI beliefs did influence their fertility behavior, but only among limiters. DI endorsement did not affect women’s progression to first and second births. By contrast, high DI endorsement reduced the probability of another birth by over half among women with two or more children. This finding suggests the spread of DI culture may well have contributed to fertility decline by motivating many to limit their family size.

Keywords: Fertility, Population and Development, Population Policies

See paper.