"The number and quality of children": Education and marital fertility in early twentieth-century Iowa

Journal of Social History

Volumn 30, Issue 2, 1996, Pages 367-392

  Smith, Daniel Scott ^a  

^a Department of History ^*  (United States)

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 0030527198     PISSN: 00224529     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1353/jsh/30.2.367     Document Type: Article

References (56)

1. Hornell Nords Hart, "Differential Fecundity in Iowa: A Study in Partial Correlation," University of Iowa Studies in Child Welfare, II, number 2, 1923 (New York, 1969).
2. Of course, it is vastly more complicated to isolate and assess the broader outcomes of a system of education on the views or behavior of the adults in a society, as the brief comments in Lawrence A. Cremin, American Education: The Metropolitan Experience, 1876-1980 (New York, 1988), 660-64, suggest.
3. Joel Perlmann, Ethnic Differences: Schooling and Social Structure among the Irish, Italians, Jews and Blacks in an American City, 1880-1935 (New York, 1988), x, cites the fourteen years of research involved in such a record-linkage project. Census questions and tabulations related to education through 1960 are conveniently compiled in John K. Folger and Charles B. Nam, Education of the American Population (Washington, 1967), 253-76.
4. Joel Perlmann, Ethnic Differences: Schooling and Social Structure among the Irish, Italians, Jews and Blacks in an American City, 1880-1935 (New York, 1988), x, cites the fourteen years of research involved in such a record-linkage project. Census questions and tabulations related to education through 1960 are conveniently compiled in John K. Folger and Charles B. Nam, Education of the American Population (Washington, 1967), 253-76.
5. Susan H. Cochrane, Fertility and Education: What Do We Really Know? (Baltimore, 1979). For a summary of results from the World Fertility Survey, see Susheela Singh and John Casterline, "The Socio-Economic Determinants of Fertility," in Reproductive Change in Developing Countries, eds. John Cleland and John Hobcraft (Oxford, 1985), 201-10. For a more cautious assessment about the strength of the education-fertility relationship, see Ronald Freedman, "Fertility Determinants," in The World Fertility Survey: An Assessment, eds. John Cleland and Chris Scott (Oxford, 1987), 783-87.
6. Susan H. Cochrane, Fertility and Education: What Do We Really Know? (Baltimore, 1979). For a summary of results from the World Fertility Survey, see Susheela Singh and John Casterline, "The Socio-Economic Determinants of Fertility," in Reproductive Change in Developing Countries, eds. John Cleland and John Hobcraft (Oxford, 1985), 201-10. For a more cautious assessment about the strength of the education-fertility relationship, see Ronald Freedman, "Fertility Determinants," in The World Fertility Survey: An Assessment, eds. John Cleland and Chris Scott (Oxford, 1987), 783-87.
7. Susan H. Cochrane, Fertility and Education: What Do We Really Know? (Baltimore, 1979). For a summary of results from the World Fertility Survey, see Susheela Singh and John Casterline, "The Socio-Economic Determinants of Fertility," in Reproductive Change in Developing Countries, eds. John Cleland and John Hobcraft (Oxford, 1985), 201-10. For a more cautious assessment about the strength of the education-fertility relationship, see Ronald Freedman, "Fertility Determinants," in The World Fertility Survey: An Assessment, eds. John Cleland and Chris Scott (Oxford, 1987), 783-87.
8. Susan H. Cochrane, "Effects of Education and Urbanization on Fertility," in Determinants of Fertility in Developing Countries, eds. Rodolfo A. Bulatao and Ronald D. Lee (New York, 1983), II, 587-626. Jee Peng Tan and Michael Haines, "Schooling and Demand for Children: Historical Perspectives," World Bank Staff Working Papers No. 697 (1984).
9. Susan H. Cochrane, "Effects of Education and Urbanization on Fertility," in Determinants of Fertility in Developing Countries, eds. Rodolfo A. Bulatao and Ronald D. Lee (New York, 1983), II, 587-626. Jee Peng Tan and Michael Haines, "Schooling and Demand for Children: Historical Perspectives," World Bank Staff Working Papers No. 697 (1984).
10. John C. Caldwell, "Mass Education as a Determinant of the Timing of Fertility Decline," Population and Development Review 6 (June 1980): 225-255.
11. "Program of Action of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development," chapter XI, reprinted in Population and Development Review, 21 (June 1995): 444-447.
12. Avery M. Guest and Stewart E. Tolnay, "Children's Roles and Fertility: Late Nineteenth-Century United States," Social Science History 7 (Fall 1983): Table 1, p. 366.
13. Women in populations in which fertility within marriage is not consciously controlled vary substantially in the rate of childbearing. Compared to the pattern of natural fertility, the pace of childbearing in populations practicing modern birth control is reduced more markedly at older than younger ages within the childbearing span; women bear their last child at earlier ages than 40 which is characteristic of natural fertility. Thus, demographers have found it useful to divide the curve of marital fertility by age into two components: its level, indexed by "M", and its shape, indexed by "m". In Iowa, M was .73, compared to .72 for the United States, while m was .47 and .54 respectively. Douglas Ewbank, "The Marital Fertility of American Whites before 1920," Historical Methods 24 (Fall 1991): Table 2, p. 144.
14. Women in populations in which fertility within marriage is not consciously controlled vary substantially in the rate of childbearing. Compared to the pattern of natural fertility, the pace of childbearing in populations practicing modern birth control is reduced more markedly at older than younger ages within the childbearing span; women bear their last child at earlier ages than 40 which is characteristic of natural fertility. Thus, demographers have found it useful to divide the curve of marital fertility by age into two components: its level, indexed by "M", and its shape, indexed by "m". In Iowa, M was .73, compared to .72 for the United States, while m was .47 and .54 respectively. Douglas Ewbank, "The Marital Fertility of American Whites before 1920," Historical Methods 24 (Fall 1991): Table 2, p. 144.
15. State of Iowa, Executive Council, Census of Iowa for the Year 1915 (Des Moines, 1916).
16. Ibid., xix, xlii.
17. David R. Reynolds, "What Price Community: Some Observations on the Political Economy and Geography of the Rural School Consolidation Movement in Iowa, 1895-1925" (Unpublished Paper Presented at the Newberry Library Seminar in Rural History, 1991).
18. Ibid; Richard Jensen and Mark Friedberger, "Education and Social Structure: An Historical Study of Iowa, 1870-1930," (Newberry Library, Chicago, Report to the National Institute of Education, 1976.)
19. Ibid; Richard Jensen and Mark Friedberger, "Education and Social Structure: An Historical Study of Iowa, 1870-1930," (Newberry Library, Chicago, Report to the National Institute of Education, 1976.)
20. As was the case generally in the Midwest. Wayne E. Fuller, The Old Country School: The Story of Rural Education in the Middle West (Chicago, 1982), 233-39.
21. Carroll Engelhardt, "Compulsory Education in Iowa, 1872-1919," Annals of Iowa 49 (Summer-Fall 1987): 58-76.
22. Reynolds, "What Price Community."
23. Hart, "Differential Fecundity in Iowa."
24. Bird T. Baldwin, "Foreword," University of Iowa Studies in Child Welfare, II, number 2, 1923 (New York, 1969), 5. On the reform impulse behind the work of Baldwin and colleagues, see Hamilton Cravens, "Child-Saving in the Age of Professionalism, 1915-1930," in American Childhood: A Research Guide and Historical Handbook, eds. Joseph M. Hawes and N. Ray Hiner (Westport, CT., 1987), 415-88.
25. Bird T. Baldwin, "Foreword," University of Iowa Studies in Child Welfare, II, number 2, 1923 (New York, 1969), 5. On the reform impulse behind the work of Baldwin and colleagues, see Hamilton Cravens, "Child-Saving in the Age of Professionalism, 1915-1930," in American Childhood: A Research Guide and Historical Handbook, eds. Joseph M. Hawes and N. Ray Hiner (Westport, CT., 1987), 415-88.
26. Carroll Engelhardt, "Schools and Character: Educational Reform and Industrial Virtue in Iowa, 1890-1930," Annals of Iowa 47 (Winter 1985): 618-36. Keach Johnson, "The State of Elementary and Secondary Education in Iowa in 1900," Annals of Iowa 49 (Summer-Fall 1987): 26-57. Idem., "Roots of Modernization: Educational Reform in Iowa at the Turn of the Century," Annals of Iowa 50 (Spring 1991): 892-918.
27. Carroll Engelhardt, "Schools and Character: Educational Reform and Industrial Virtue in Iowa, 1890-1930," Annals of Iowa 47 (Winter 1985): 618-36. Keach Johnson, "The State of Elementary and Secondary Education in Iowa in 1900," Annals of Iowa 49 (Summer-Fall 1987): 26-57. Idem., "Roots of Modernization: Educational Reform in Iowa at the Turn of the Century," Annals of Iowa 50 (Spring 1991): 892-918.
28. Carroll Engelhardt, "Schools and Character: Educational Reform and Industrial Virtue in Iowa, 1890-1930," Annals of Iowa 47 (Winter 1985): 618-36. Keach Johnson, "The State of Elementary and Secondary Education in Iowa in 1900," Annals of Iowa 49 (Summer-Fall 1987): 26-57. Idem., "Roots of Modernization: Educational Reform in Iowa at the Turn of the Century," Annals of Iowa 50 (Spring 1991): 892-918.
29. Baldwin, "Foreword," 5.
30. Already, by the period from World War I to the early 1920s, educational consolidators were disappointed by the limited (though usually present) advantage on knowledge tests that students in graded grammar schools had over pupils in rural one-room schools. See Fuller, Old Country School, 240-45. However, using current procedures, these limited results are probably exaggerated as family background of urban and rural students was not controlled. For a summary of evidence for the "almost nothing works" perspective in education, see Eric A. Hanushek, "The Economics of Schooling: Production and Efficiency in Public Schools," Journal of Economic Literature 24 (September 1986): 1141-77.
31. Already, by the period from World War I to the early 1920s, educational consolidators were disappointed by the limited (though usually present) advantage on knowledge tests that students in graded grammar schools had over pupils in rural one-room schools. See Fuller, Old Country School, 240-45. However, using current procedures, these limited results are probably exaggerated as family background of urban and rural students was not controlled. For a summary of evidence for the "almost nothing works" perspective in education, see Eric A. Hanushek, "The Economics of Schooling: Production and Efficiency in Public Schools," Journal of Economic Literature 24 (September 1986): 1141-77.
32. While Hart used the overall child-woman ratio as the dependent variable, an index of marriage was included as an important independent variable. Consequently, the other independent variables tapped variations in marital fertility. A separate analysis, not reported in this article, showed that educational indicators did not contribute to the statistical explanation of variation in the index of marriage among Iowa counties.
33. Ansley J. Coale, "How a Population Ages or Grows Younger," in Population: The Vital Revolution, ed. Ronald Freedman (New York, 1964), 47-58.
34. Hart, "Differential Fecundity in Iowa," 34-35.
35. John A. Agnew, Place and Politics: The Geographic Mediation of State and Society (Boston, 1987).
36. These religious variables were more effective predictors than the proportion foreign-born in 1915 or the proportion German-stock and foreign non-German stock in 1930.
37. Yasukichi Yasuba, Birth Rates of the White Population in the United States, 1800-1860: An Economic Study (Baltimore, 1961); Richard Easterlin, "Population Change and Farm Settlement in the Northern United States." Journal of Economic History 34 (March 1976): 45-65.
38. Yasukichi Yasuba, Birth Rates of the White Population in the United States, 1800-1860: An Economic Study (Baltimore, 1961); Richard Easterlin, "Population Change and Farm Settlement in the Northern United States." Journal of Economic History 34 (March 1976): 45-65.
39. Maris A. Vinovskis, "Socio-Economic Determinants of Interstate Fertility Differentials in the United States in 1850 and 1860," Journal of Interdisciplinary History 6 (Winter 1976): 375-96.
40. The 1920 data for attendance of 16-17 year-olds were used because Hart's denominator included the broad age group between 10 and 17. Since the slope of the age distribution captures the past history of fertility, and since school attendance declines within this age group, his indicator seemed too ambiguous to interpret. Using a more appropriate measure of the level of education - the proportion of adults with college, high school or eight years of grammar or common schooling - results, however, in only a slightly higher regression coefficient and barely increases the overall variance explained by the equation.
41. The first sample was drawn from the 1910 enumeration rather than from the 1915 census because the individual cards from the latter were filed and later microfilmed in alphabetical order by surname for each county and each city over 25,000.
42. In the decades preceding 1910, however, schooling was becoming somewhat more effective in the sense that fewer years were being spent to attain a given level of education. More than a fourth of women aged 55 and older who did not go to high school had attended nine or more years compared to 18 per cent of similarly educated women under age 25.
43. Congregationalists, Presbyterians, Unitarians, and Universalists are the denominations that are grouped into this category.
44. Bryan Boulier and Mark R. Rosenzweig, "Age, Biological Factors, and Socioeconomic Determinants of Fertility: A New Measure of Cumulative Fertility for Use in the Socioeconomic Analysis of Family Size," Demography 15 (November 1978): 487-97.
45. For example, the denominator of the fertility index for a 32-year old woman who had been married 11 years is 4.98 [(4.0 × 0.460) + (5.0 × 0.431) + (2.5 × .395)], taking into account respectively her years of experience in the 20-24, 25-29 and 30-34 age groups weighted by the rate of natural fertility. If she was the mother of three children, her CEB fertility index was 0.60 (3/4.98) times 11.05 or 6.63. For the "natural" marital fertility rates by age, see Ansley J. Coale and T. James Trussell, "Technical Note: Finding the two Parameters that Specify a Model Schedule of Marital Fertility," Population Index 44 (April 1978): 205.
46. However, it is possible, as will be noted below, for mothers married only one or two years to have artificially high values on the indicators. Extreme outliers were dampened by making a rate four times that of natural fertility (44.2 children) the maximum. Remaining extreme values, which can noticeably effect the average in a small group, can be suppressed by limiting the sample to women married five or more years or by weighting the sample to reflect the fertility-relevant duration of marriage (the number of years married converted to children expected on the basis of natural fertility) of each woman.
47. The implied total marital fertility based on the number of own-children under age five is substantially lower than the CEB index for four reasons. First, the former does not take into account children who have died or, presumably of lesser importance, who were not living with their mothers in 1910. Second, the CEB index incorporates the higher levels of fertility of the more distant past, in the experience of women over the age of 50. The own-child measure only uses the experience of women of childbearing age in the past five years and was not calculated for women over age 50 in 1910. Finally, for women under age 50 who had been married for more than five years, the implied number of children ever born is higher than that implied by fertility in the past five years because conscious family limitation concentrates births in the earlier years of marriage.
48. This contrast neglects the probable fact that better-educated women in Iowa married later than their less well-educated sisters. The larger Third World differentials in completed marital fertility between those with no schooling and those who finished secondary schooling are in the 2-3 child range. They are found in Latin America and the Caribbean, Jordan and Turkey, and Thailand, Malaysia and South Korea. In the remainder of Asia and in Africa, this difference tends to be under one child. Singh and Casterline, "Socio-Economic Determinants," 202.
49. Weighting by the fertility-relevant duration of marriage reduces the index for those with 16 or more years of schooling to 5.6, compared to 6.7 in overall sample and 5.4 for those with 12-15 years of education. Limiting the sample to those married five or more years produces estimates of 6.4, 7.1, and 5.5 children respectively.
50. Age should be regarded as only a control variable.
51. A result also found in recent studies of fertility in the Third World. Singh and Casterline, "Socio-Economic Determinants," 203-06.
52. An additional year of parental education lowered fertility by .041 children, while a year of husband's advantage increased it by 0.77. The former indicator was significant at .063 and the latter at .027. An alternate formulation that used the years of schooling for the wife as a variable as well as the difference between the schooling of the spouses also indicates that the advantage a husband had over his wife in years of schooling slightly increased her fertility. However, the difference in schooling was not statistically significant (F=0.89, sig.=0.345).
53. David Goldberg, "The Fertility of Two-Generation Urbanites," Population Studies 12 (March 1959): 214-22. Otis Dudley Duncan, "Farm Background and Differential Fertility," Demography 2 (1965): 240-49. P. Neal Ritchey and C. Shannon Stokes, "Residence Background, Socioeconomic Status, and Fertility," Demography 8 (August 1971): 369-77. Nancy J. McGirr and Charles Hirschman, "The Two Generation Urbanite Hypothesis Revisited," Demography 16 (February 1979): 27-35.
54. David Goldberg, "The Fertility of Two-Generation Urbanites," Population Studies 12 (March 1959): 214-22. Otis Dudley Duncan, "Farm Background and Differential Fertility," Demography 2 (1965): 240-49. P. Neal Ritchey and C. Shannon Stokes, "Residence Background, Socioeconomic Status, and Fertility," Demography 8 (August 1971): 369-77. Nancy J. McGirr and Charles Hirschman, "The Two Generation Urbanite Hypothesis Revisited," Demography 16 (February 1979): 27-35.
55. David Goldberg, "The Fertility of Two-Generation Urbanites," Population Studies 12 (March 1959): 214-22. Otis Dudley Duncan, "Farm Background and Differential Fertility," Demography 2 (1965): 240-49. P. Neal Ritchey and C. Shannon Stokes, "Residence Background, Socioeconomic Status, and Fertility," Demography 8 (August 1971): 369-77. Nancy J. McGirr and Charles Hirschman, "The Two Generation Urbanite Hypothesis Revisited," Demography 16 (February 1979): 27-35.
56. David Goldberg, "The Fertility of Two-Generation Urbanites," Population Studies 12 (March 1959): 214-22. Otis Dudley Duncan, "Farm Background and Differential Fertility," Demography 2 (1965): 240-49. P. Neal Ritchey and C. Shannon Stokes, "Residence Background, Socioeconomic Status, and Fertility," Demography 8 (August 1971): 369-77. Nancy J. McGirr and Charles Hirschman, "The Two Generation Urbanite Hypothesis Revisited," Demography 16 (February 1979): 27-35.