Polygyny and fertility in nineteenth-century America

Summary

Completed marital fertility in polygynous and monogamous unions in the nineteenth-century Mormon population is examined. Overall, women in polygynous unions show slightly lower completed marital fertility than do women in monogamous unions. In addition, patterns of differential fertility among wives of various positions in polygynous families are examined. Attempts to account for differential fertility in terms of differential childlessness, child spacing family limitation, age at marriage and occupational distribution are not successful. The hypothesis that wives in polygynous unions have lower coital frequency than wives in monogamous unions is contradicted by data on child spacing. Polygyny is probably more important as a pattern of selection than as a causal factor in determining fertility.