Gender and fertility within the free churches in the Sundsvall region, Sweden, 1860–1921

Abstract

PostprintThis is the accepted version of a paper published in The History of the Family. This paper has been peer-reviewed but does not include the final publisher proof-corrections or journal pagination. Citation for the original published paper (version of record):Junkka, J., Edvinsson, S. (2016) Gender and fertility within the free churches in the Sundsvall region, Sweden, 1860-1921.The History of the Family, 21(2): 243-266 http://dx. AbstractThe role of secularization in the European fertility decline has been of interest to demographers, who often explore the relationship on a macro-level or by identifying religious affiliation by proxy. However, the relationship has not been thoroughly studied on an individual level utilizing indicators of personal religious conviction and affiliation. The aim of the present article is to examine reproductive practices by religious affiliation in order to understand the impact of secularization on fertility decline. This is accomplished using event history analysis of longitudinal parish register data from Sundsvall (1860 -1921) where religious affiliation is identified on a family level. Reproductive practices are analysed using cohort TFR, descriptive statistics and Cox proportional hazard regressions. Free-church affiliates had, overall, a higher probability of having another child than did affiliates to the state church. However, these differences decreased over time, and as fertility dropped throughout society free-church affiliates showed the strongest significant reduction in probability of another birth. This indicates that over time, within the free churches, ideas about respectability and restraint came to mean that birth control, in the form of abstinence within marriage, became an important practice in the formation of gendered religious identities -leading to a relatively early decrease in fertility.

Spatial and Social Distance at the Onset of the Fertility Transition: Sweden, 1880–1900

“…This movement may have contributed to a delay in the adoption of fertility-controlling behavior. Previous research has shown that religiosity was a crucial determinant of fertility behavior in different parts of Sweden, both before and during the transition (Junkka and Edvinsson 2016; Larsson 1984). There may, however, be alternative explanations for this anomaly.…”

Spatial and social distance in the fertility transition: Sweden 1880-1900

“…This movement, which advocated a highly conservative world view (Jarlert 2005), may well have contributed to a delay in the adoption of new ideas on contraception and family limitation. Previous research has shown that religiosity and secularization were crucial determinants of fertility behavior in different parts of Sweden, both before and during the transition (Larsson 1984;Junkka and Edvinsson 2016).…”

Voluntary Associations and Net Fertility During the Swedish Demographic Transition

“…According to social network theory, which proposes that reproductive practices have always been performed within social networks and have always been affected by both the norms and the structure of the network (Bernardi and Klaerner 2014; Burt 1982; Keim 2011), voluntary associations could shape actors’ interests and their perceptions of family formation. Previous research using individual-level data has shown a relationship between free church affiliation and reproductive control (Junkka and Edvinsson 2016). If such findings are true, we would expect that voluntary associations had a negative effect on fertility and that the strength of the effect was dependent on the social network structure of the voluntary association types in terms of size, density, and homogeneity.…”

“…Because of the importance set on morality and the strong social pressure to conform to acceptable norms (Kennerberg 1996) the mechanisms for social learning and social pressure were strong. Junkka and Edvinsson (2016) found that the free church affiliates in the Sundsvall region had a relatively early decrease in fertility. As ideas about family limitation, respectability, and self-control became integrated into their gendered religious identities, the members used spacing of births through abstinence to conform to social pressures.…”

“…This suggests that the voluntary associations were important for the creation and diffusion of new ideals about gender, family, and reproduction. The link between respectability and low fertility has been argued to explain free-church members relatively early adoption of fertility limitation during the transition in a region of northern Sweden (Junkka and Edvinsson 2016). Another contribution of this study is thus to test if these patterns can be generalised across a larger population by modelling the possible effects of voluntary association activity on fertility on a national scale.…”