Publication details
Explanations and individual covariates of the education-fertility link
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| Year of publication | 2015 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
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| Description | This research examines mechanisms of the education-fertility link by controlling the main mediating variables of this relationship. The notion of the negative association between education and fertility as a universal and direct relationship is questioned both by some recent research and this particular paper. Indicators of two theories that are commonly used for explanation of fertility behaviour in social sciences (the rational choice theory and the theory of value change) are employed to explain this association. Data from the fourth wave of European Values Study is utilized to bring more profound knowledge of this topic – men and women are analyzed separately. The bivariate association between education and fertility is generally negative for women and only slightly negative for men. Moreover, multiple regression modelling is used to control some explanatory variables of this relationship, such as socioeconomic status (indicator of the rational choice theory), a set of values (indicator of the theory of value change), marital status, age and country of residence. The values linked to the second demographic transition partly explain the education-fertility link for both sexes, while socioeconomic status has an explanatory power in this relationship only for women. If all selected characteristics of respondent are controlled, effects of education on fertility are much lower or insignificant. To sum up, the education-fertility link is not universal, but to a great degree mediated by characteristics connected to education – values, socioeconomic status or marital status. |