Sibling loss and fertility desires in the high-mortality context of Peru

Abstract

Despite demographers’ long-standing preoccupation with the effects of child mortality on women’s fertility desires, scholars continue to know little about the consequences of other pervasive mortality exposures. We use nationally representative data from the high-mortality context of Peru to examine whether the desire to have a(nother) child varies as a function of sibling loss and to assess heterogeneity in this association by women’s current number of children and a range of conditions related to siblings’ deaths. Women who have experienced sibling bereavement and have two or more children report higher odds of desiring another child. These effects are not contingent on the age or sex of the deceased sibling but are only significant if the sibling died during the respondent’s lifetime (not before). These findings highlight the theoretical and empirical import of investigating the relationship between fertility desires and a wider range of familial mortality exposures beyond own child mortality.

Keywords:

• siblings
• mortality
• fertility desires
• fertility preferences
• Peru

Notes

1 Please direct all correspondence to Kathleen Broussard, Population Research Centre, University of Texas at Austin, 305 E 23rd St, RLP 2.602, Austin, TX 78712, USA; or by E-mail: [email protected].

2 We are grateful for feedback and support provided by Julia Behrman, Alexander Weinreb, Monica Caudillo, Kelly Raley, Kristen Burke, Aida Villanueva Montalvo, Carolina Aragão, and members of the FAMDEM working group at the University of Texas at Austin.

3 This research was supported by two grants—P2CHD042849, Population Research Center, and T32HD007081, Training Program in Population Studies—awarded to the Population Research Center at The University of Texas at Austin by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.