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Abstract
Background: Several embedded religious minority populations in the US have experienced fertilities consistent with natural fertility populations. In 1996, Wenger Mennonite total fertility reached 8.31.
Aim: This study updates Wenger fertility through 2006, highlights regional differences in fertility and identifies factors that may contribute to continuing high fertility.
Subjects and methods: The Wengers are a religious minority who employ distinctive clothing, a rural farming lifestyle and limited use of technology. They publish a church directory every five years with detailed records of births, deaths and marriages. This directory was transformed into an SPSS database that allowed detailed analysis of fertility behaviour through 2006.
Results: Wenger total marital fertility continues to be high (8.01). Wenger women have almost no premarital conceptions, do not marry until their early 20s, but achieve very high fertility immediately after they marry. Sharp differences exist among various settlements, with the highest fertilities in the newer Midwestern settlements.
Conclusion: The Wengers continue to succeed in maintaining a distinct way of life and very high fertility in the midst of the larger US society. This fertility is tied to their high commitment to a rural farming way of life, strong community support and a pro-natalist ideology.
Acknowledgements
Stephen Goff aided in digitizing the church directory and creating the databases used in the analysis.
Declaration of interest: This research was completed with the support of a Bethel University Edgren grant and grants from the Bethel Alumni Association. The author reports no conflicts of interest. The author alone is responsible for the content and writing of the paper.
Notes
1. Meeting frequency varies according to church district. Most churches use coal or propane for heating. Some propane furnaces have thermostats that do not depend on electricity to operate. Within the past few years, some churchhouses have added an electric line, but only to run the blower on the furnace.
2. This group migrated from Canada to Mexico.
3. Statistical Package For the Social Sciences.
4. This population includes all heads of household and all their children less than 25 years of age. If a married child is a church member and has moved out of the home, he/she will have a separate household listing. Individuals 25 or over who are not listed as heads of household are probably not church members and oftentimes not living with their parents.
5. Attrition rates may have fluctuated somewhat over the years. See a discussion of earlier fertility rates in Hurd (Citation2006).
6. In 1996, 48.0% were under 15, 58.9% were under 20 and 3.8% were 65 or older.
7. Doubling rate from 1986 to 1996 was ∼19 years, with an average growth rate of 3.7% per year for that period.
8. It is possible that other premarital births occurred and that these do not appear in the data because the event resulted in the mother or the couple leaving the church. However, informants say that this is a rare or non-existent motive for leaving.
9. One set of triplets was born to a woman who was 42 years old.
10. 4 May 2005 interview with a Lancaster County midwife who works with Amish and Mennonite mothers.
11. Twenty-three premarital conceptions make a slight contribution to these short waiting times.
12. See Hurd (Citation2006).
13. Allowing that siblings or first cousins of the same surname do not marry, the high frequency of isonymy is even more significant.
14. Note that any member choosing to marry a non-church member would have left the church and would not appear in the directory.
15. These data come from a sample of one Wenger church district in Lancaster County (Martindale).
16. Pennsylvania averages about 41 inches of rainfall a year; Wisconsin, 31.