Influence of parental death on child mortality and the phenomenon of the stepfamily in western Bohemia in 1708–1834

Figures & data

Table 1. Recorded cases of parental deaths and remarriages.

Age of children when half-orphaned	Mother’s death			Father’s death
	Children whose mother died in a given year (total)	Children whose father remarried in a given year (total)	Rate of surviving children with stepmother	Children whose father died in a given year (total)	Children whose mother remarried in a given year (total)	Rate of surviving children with stepfather
0–1	51	19	50.0	77	16	22.4
1–2	31	17	60.9	62	10	18.3
2–3	45	25	59.7	51	24	30.5
3–4	49	29	59.2	56	15	31.0
4–5	24	18	62.0	55	15	30.2
Together	200	108	–	302	80	–

Table 2. Children who survived or died according to their age and caregiver.

Presence of caregiver	Surviving children		Dead children		Presence of caregiver	Surviving children		Dead children
	Total	%	Total	%		Total	%	Total	%
Age 0–1
Biological mother	4835	73.6	1732	26.4	Biological father	4805	73.4	1736	26.6
Stepmother	14	73.7	5	26.3	Stepfather	13	81.2	3	18.8
No mother	14	43.7	18	56.3	No father	45	73.8	16	26.2
Age 1–2
Biological mother	4347	90.5	457	9.5	Biological father	4289	90.4	454	9.6
Stepmother	28	90.3	3	9.7	Stepfather	19	82.6	4	17.4
No mother	18	64.3	10	35.7	No father	85	81.6	12	12.4
Age 2–3
Biological mother	4045	94.0	257	6.0	Biological father	3981	93.9	257	6.1
Stepmother	46	86.8	7	13.2	Stepfather	43	100.0	0	0.0
No mother	31	81.6	7	18.4	No father	98	85.9	14	14.1
Age 3–4
Biological mother	3831	95.9	165	4.1	Biological father	3764	95.9	161	4.1
Stepmother	71	97.3	2	2.7	Stepfather	58	100.0	0	0.0
No mother	49	92.5	4	7.5	No father	129	92.8	10	7.2
Age 4–5
Biological mother	3703	97.3	104	2.7	Biological father	3610	97.3	99	2.7
Stepmother	88	98.9	1	1.1	Stepfather	71	97.3	2	2.7
No mother	54	98.2	1	1.8	No father	164	97.0	5	3.0

Table 3. Mortality rate according to children’s age and presence of biological parent or stepparent.

Family structure	Age of children
	1 year	2 years	3 years	4 years	5 years
Total sample	0.265	0.336	0.377	0.403	0.419
Own mother	0.263	0.333	0.372	0.398	0.414
No mother	0.772	0.862	0.888	0.894	0.896
Stepmother	0.767	0.792	0.829	0.840	0.842
Own father	0.264	0.333	0.374	0.400	0.415
No father	0.527	0.630	0.672	0.702	0.712
Stepfather	0.409	0.544	0.544	0.544	0.558

Figure 1. Parental presence.

Kaplan-Meier plots with 95% pointwise confidence intervals showing expected survival of children who lost one of their parents in comparison with children raised by both parents.

Figure 2. Presence of mother.

Kaplan-Meier plots with 95% pointwise confidence intervals showing expected survival of children depending on paternal care and incidence of cases where biological father was not available.

Figure 3. Presence of father.

Kaplan-Meier plots with 95% pointwise confidence intervals showing expected survival of children depending on paternal care and incidence of cases where biological father was not available.

Table 4. Childhood mortality and maternal presence – hazards ratios.

Contrast	HR	CI	z value	p value
Simple model
Biological mother/No mother	0.24	0.17–0.34	−8.44	<0.001
Stepmother/No mother	0.53	0.30–0.91	−2.30	0.052
Stepmother/Biological mother	2.17	1.38–3.40	3.36	0.002
Accounting for possible confounds
Biological mother/No mother	0.26	0.19–0.36	−8.20	<0.001
Stepmother/No mother	0.53	0.31–0.92	−2.28	0.055
Stepmother/Biological mother	2.05	1.32–3.2	3.17	0.004

Tukey’s pair-wise contrasts are calculated to quantify all 3 differences and survival and control for multiple comparisons.

HR = Hazard ratio, CI = 95% confidence interval

Table 5. Childhood mortality and paternal presence – hazards ratios.

Contrast	HR	CI	z value	p value
Simple model
Biological father/No father	0.40	0.30–0.54	−6.13	<0.001
Stepfather/No father	0.44	0.21–0.90	−2.26	0.055
Stepfather/Biological father	1.08	0.56–2.10	0.24	0.967
Accounting for possible confounds
Biological father/No father	0.41	0.31–0.55	−6.04	0
Stepfather/No father	0.43	0.21–0.87	−2.35	0.0439
Stepfather/Biological father	1.03	0.53–1.99	0.09	0.9949

Tukey’s pair-wise contrasts are calculated to quantify all 3 differences and survival and control for multiple comparisons.

HR = Hazard ratio, CI = 95% confidence interval