Religious Socialisation and Fertility: Transition to Third Birth in The Netherlands

Abstract

Although previous studies have demonstrated that religious people in Europe have larger families, the role played by religious socialisation in the context of contemporary fertility behaviour has not yet been analysed in detail. This contribution specifically looks at the interrelation between religious socialisation and current religiosity and their impact on the transition to the third child for Dutch women. It is based on data of the first wave of the Netherlands Kinship Panel Study (2002)(2003)(2004) and uses event history analysis. The transitions to first, second and third birth are modelled jointly with a control for unobserved heterogeneity. The findings provide evidence for an impact of women's current church attendance as well as religious socialisation measured by their fathers' religious affiliation, when they were teenagers. A religious family background remains influential even when a woman has stopped attending church. The effects of religious indicators strengthen over cohorts. Moreover, the combined religious make-up of the respondent's parents also significantly determines the progression to the third child.Keywords Religion Á Fertility Á Third child Á Netherlands Á Event history analysis Résumé S'il est bien établi que les croyants en Europe ont plus d'enfants que les autres, le rôle de la socialisation religieuse dans le contexte de la fécondité contemporaine n'a pas encore été analysé à ce jour. Cette étude s'intéresse au lien entre la socialisation religieuse et la religiosité actuelle, et à leur impact sur la probabilité d'agrandissement de deux à trois enfants de la descendance des femmes néer-landaises. Les données exploitées sont celles de la première vague du Panel Néerlandais d'Etude de la Parenté (the Netherlands Kinship Panel Study, 2002Study, -2004.

Religion and union formation in Italy: Catholic precepts, social pressure, and tradition

“…A large literature has established a connection between religion and family behavior (e.g., Thornton, Axinn, and Hill 1992;Lehrer 2000;Teachman 2002;McQuillan 2004;Adsera 2006;Frejka and Westoff 2008;Berghammer 2009Berghammer , 2012. Various dimensions of religiosity, including attendance, commitment, and the centrality of religion in people"s lives, have been shown to be associated with many dimensions of family life such as marriage, divorce, and family size.…”

“…Overall, macro and micro empirical research illustrate a correlation between family-related behaviors and religiosity (e.g., Tanfer 1987;Adsera 2006;Frejka and Westoff 2008;Philipov and Berghammer 2007;Berghammer 2009;Berghammer 2012). Studies that tested the relationship between religiosity and family patterns found a strong and positive association between religious affiliation and commitment, and conventional sexual values and behavior (e.g., in the U.S.: Thornton and Camburn 1987;Sweet and Bumpass 1990;Thornton, Axinn, and Hill 1992; in the Netherlands: Liefbroer and Gierveld 1993).…”

Sailing close to the wind? The effects of third birth policies in post-communist Hungary.

“…Finally, ethnicity and religiosity are also included in the control variables. It is expected that those of Roma ethnicity (Koycheva and Philipov, 2008) and those with religious beliefs will have a notably higher chance of a third child (Berghammer, 2009).…”

The Dutch Fertility Paradox: How the Netherlands Has Managed to Sustain Near-Replacement Fertility

“…Historically, the Dutch population consisted primarily of Christians who were geographically divided, with Protestants in the north and Catholics in the south, and with very limited intermarriage. In churches and religious schools, pro-natalist and pro-family Christian teaching was prevalent (Berghammer 2009). Regular social meetings and strong social networks among church members provided both instrumental and emotional support to parents raising children.…”

“…Beginning in the mid-1960s, the Netherlands has become a highly secularized, non-religious nation (Need and de Graaf 1996), with around 40 % of the population not affiliated to any religion-one of the highest proportions in Europe (Statistics Netherlands 2007, p. 116). There has also been a sharp drop in church attendance, even among those who claim a religious affiliation (Berghammer 2009;De Graaf and Te Grotenhuis 2008). Religion has largely lost prominence in daily life and is rarely used today as a reference for behavior (see De Graaf and Te Grotenhuis 2008).…”