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When do kinsmen really help? Examination of the cohort and parity specific kin effects on fertility behaviour. Case of the Bejsce parish register reconstitution study, 18th-20th centuries, Poland

Krzysztof Tymicki, Warsaw School of Economics

Previous studies of historical European populations, have shown that there was a strong kin effect on the rates of reproduction. However these studies did not accounted for the parity specific mechanism of kin oriented help. In the present study I argue that parity might had a strong discriminating effect on the intensity of the kin effect. The hypothesis under investigation in the present paper states that kin help should be of particular importance at higher parities, both in case of natural and controlled fertility birth cohorts. The data come from the reconstitution of the registers from Bejsce parish located in the south central Poland (from 1730 to 1968). The results suggest that there was a strong kin effect especially at higher parities. These effects were mostly associated with the presence of non generative relatives (grandparents). I have found only weak differences in the kin effect between natural and controlled fertility regimes.

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Presented in Session 123: Evolutionary ecology, kinship and reproduction