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“Fewer Children of Greater Spiritual Quality”: Religion and the Decline of Fertility in Nineteenth-Century America

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 January 2016

Donald H. Parkerson  and
Jo Ann Parkerson
Donald H. Parkerson
Affiliation:
East Carolina University, Greenville, NC 27858
Jo Ann Parkerson
Affiliation:
East Carolina University, Greenville, NC 27858
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Extract

Over six decades ago, A. M. Carr-Sanders first identified the dramatic shift from a population regime of high mortality and high fertility before 1750 to one of low mortality and low fertility after 1900 (Carr-Sanders, 1925). Carr-Sanders had a simple explanation for these changes. Improved sanitation and advances in medicine had lowered mortality while an increase in the standard of living had triggered a temporary increase in fertility. As technological innovations reduced the economic utility of children, however, individuals responded by limiting their fertility.

Type
Research Article
Information
Social Science History , Volume 12 , Issue 1 , Spring 1988 , pp. 49 - 70
Copyright
Copyright © Social Science History Association 1988 

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