An Analysis of Factors Related to Parity among the Amish in Northeast Ohio

Abstract

This paper examines fertility in terms of parity or number of children in a family among three Amish church affiliations in the Greater Holmes County Amish settlement in Northeast Ohio, USA. The church affiliations essentially constitute three religious groups with common cultural characteristics, as well as some different values and beliefs which set each one apart from the others. Moreover, family size among the three Amish affiliations (Andy Weaver, Old Order and New Order) can be placed and analyzed along a conservative-liberal continuum respectively, by whether or not husbands are engaged primarily in farm or non-farm occupations, and according to the status of husbands as church leaders. Findings from the logistic regression analyses are that family size or parity is highest among the conservative group (Andy Weaver) and lowest among the liberal (New Order) group. In each of the three groups, even after controlling for age of marriage and marriage duration, parity levels in households with husbands engaged in farming are higher than in households with husbands employed in non-farm work. Similarly, parity levels were higher among families in which husbands are church elders (i.e. bishops, deacons; and ministers). The results are discussed in terms of general social and cultural changes within Amish society and the adoption of modern family planning methods within Amish affiliations and church districts.