Offspring

398 Pages·2003·3.57 MB·English

by  National Research Council, Panel for the Workshop on the Biodemography of Fertility and Family Behavior

OFFSPRING
HUMAN FERTILITY BEHAVIOR IN
BIODEMOGRAPHIC PERSPECTIVE
Panel for the Workshop on the Biodemography of
Fertility and Family Behavior
Kenneth W. Wachter and Rodolfo A. Bulatao, Editors
Committee on Population
Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education
THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS
Washington, D.C.
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This study was supported by Award No. NO1-OD-4-2139, TO #71 to the National Academies
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Workshop on the Biodemography of Fertility and Family Behavior.
Offspring : human fertility behavior in biodemographic perspective :
proceedings of a workshop / Kenneth W. Wachter, Rodolfo A. Bulatao,
editors.
p. cm.
“Panel for the Workshop on the Biodemography of Fertility and Family
Behavior.”
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-309-08718-X
1. Fertility, Human—Congresses. 2. Demography—Congresses. I.
Title: Human fertility behavior in biodemographic perspective. II.
Wachter, Kenneth W. III. Bulatao, Rodolfo A., 1944- IV. Title.
QP251.W665 2003
304.6’32—dc21
2003000077
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Copyright 2003 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
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Suggested citation: National Research Council. (2003). Offspring: Human Fertility Behav-
ior in Biodemographic Perspective. Panel for the Workshop on the Biodemography of Fertility
and Family Behavior. Kenneth W. Wachter and Rodolfo A. Bulatao, eds. Committeee on
Population, Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. Washington, DC: The
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PANEL FOR THE WORKSHOP ON
THE BIODEMOGRAPHY OF
FERTILITY AND FAMILY BEHAVIOR
KENNETH W. WACHTER (Chair), Department of Demography,
University of California, Berkeley
JOHN N. HOBCRAFT, Population Investigation Committee, London
School of Economics
JEROME KAGAN, Department of Psychology, Harvard University
HILLARD S. KAPLAN, Department of Anthropology, University of New
Mexico
HANS-PETER KOHLER, Research Group on Social Dynamics and
Fertility, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock,
Germany
DAVID LAM, Population Studies Center, University of Michigan, Ann
Arbor
JANE MENKEN, Institute of Behavioral Sciences, University of
Colorado, Boulder
GERALD P. SCHATTEN, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and
Reproductive Sciences and Department of Cell Biology and
Physiology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
RODOLFO A. BULATAO, Study Director
ANA-MARIA IGNAT, Senior Project Assistant
v
COMMITTEE ON POPULATION
(June 2000)
JANE MENKEN (Chair), Institute of Behavioral Sciences, University of
Colorado, Boulder
ELLEN BRENNAN-GALVIN, Woodrow Wilson Center for International
Scholars, Washington, DC
JANET CURRIE, Department of Economics, University of California,
Los Angeles
JOHN N. HOBCRAFT, Population Investigation Committee, London
School of Economics
CHARLES B. KEELY, Institute for the Study of International Migration,
Georgetown University
DAVID I. KERTZER, Department of Anthropology, Brown University
DAVID LAM, Population Studies Center, University of Michigan, Ann
Arbor
CYNTHIA B. LLOYD, Population Council, New York
W. HENRY MOSLEY, Department of Population and Family Health
Sciences, Johns Hopkins University
ALBERTO PALLONI, Center for Demography and Ecology, University
of Wisconsin, Madison
JAMES W. VAUPEL, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research,
Rostock, Germany
KENNETH W. WACHTER, Department of Demography, University of
California, Berkeley
LINDA J. WAITE, Population Research Center, University of Chicago
BARNEY COHEN, Director
vi
Preface
Having children is a biological imperative for the survival of a group,
and a wanted child can be a biological coup for a couple, a supreme
biological moment—of possible peril and triumph—for a woman. Yet de-
mographic interest in fertility has, for decades, been driven less by such
concerns than by the threat of rapid population growth and the issue, for
couples and women, of unplanned fertility. This volume seeks to encourage
more balance and depth in the treatment of fertility in population studies. It
suggests that many fertility behaviors that concern demographers may fol-
low biodemographic templates, are influenced by genetic endowment, are
triggered through hormonal pathways, and have been shaped in specific
directions in the course of human evolution.
Since the middle of the 20th century, the contrast between small fami-
lies in developed countries and large families and burgeoning populations
in developing countries has fueled concern about deepening poverty, global
inequality, and escalating environmental burdens. These concerns have not
disappeared, as global population continues to expand. Yet much of the
expansion is now effectively a hangover from the high-fertility decades, and
many countries, both developed and developing, have entered an era of
subreplacement fertility.
The confluence of the largely successful (though still incomplete) world-
wide effort to tame high fertility and the emergence of genetic approaches
to understanding human behavior provide a stimulus to review the focus of
demographic work on fertility, to enlarge its concerns with biological and
evolutionary questions. The Committee on Population took on this task
with the understanding that researchers in the area were pursuing a variety
vii
viii PREFACE
of independent approaches that required a common, unifying focus. Some
work in the area, such as studies of twins and adoptees, has also generated
controversy, despite being pursued aggressively. With advice from the Com-
mittee on Population, the Board on Life Sciences, and the Institute of
Medicine’s Board on Neuroscience and Behavioral Health, the National
Research Council (NRC) appointed a panel to organize a workshop on the
topic. This volume is the result.
The papers contained in this volume were presented at the Workshop
on the Biodemography of Fertility and Family Behavior, held at the Na-
tional Academies in Washington, D.C., in June 2002, building on a prelimi-
nary meeting in February 2002 at the Beckman Center in Irvine, California.
The workshop in a sense complemented an earlier workshop in April 1996
on biodemographic aspects of longevity (published as Between Zeus and
the Salmon: The Biodemography of Longevity). Both workshops brought
together demographers, evolutionary theorists, geneticists, and biologists to
consider questions at the interface between the social sciences and the life
sciences.
The papers were subsequently reviewed in draft form by individuals
chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance
with procedures approved by the NRC’s Report Review Committee. The
purpose of this independent review was to provide candid and critical
comments to assist the institution in making the published volume as sound
as possible and to ensure that the volume meets institutional standards for
objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge.
We thank the following individuals for contributing to the review: Nicho-
las G. Blurton Jones (University of California at Los Angeles), Sue Carter
(University of Illinois at Chicago), Peter T. Ellison (Harvard University), John
Haaga (Population Reference Bureau), Jennifer Harris (National Institute on
Aging), Kristin Hawkes (University of Utah), Jerome Kagan (Harvard Uni-
versity), John J. Lepri (University of North Carolina at Greensboro), Kimber
McKay (University of Montana), Monique Borgerhoff Mulder (University of
California, Davis), Gerald P. Schatten (University of Pittsburgh School of
Medicine), Barbara Smuts (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor), Kim Wallen
(Emory University), and Maxine Weinstein (Georgetown University). The
review of the entire volume was overseen by Michael Murphy of the London
School of Economics. Although these individuals provided constructive com-
ments and suggestions, responsibility for the content of this volume rests
entirely with the authors and the institution.
Work on this project was stimulated and encouraged by Christine
Bachrach of the National Institute for Child Health and Human Develop-
ment and was supported under a contract with the institute. We are grateful
for her continued attention to the core issues that the volume addresses and
PREFACE ix
to raising many questions that helped shape and enrich the volume. Addi-
tional funding was provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
We are especially grateful to Kenneth Wachter, who chaired the panel
that organized the workshop, providing the spark and vital judgments
about appropriate participants. The other members of the panel that orga-
nized the workshop each made important contributions in helping delineate
relevant topics, identify participants, and critique their contributions, and
in some cases writing papers themselves. We also wish to thank Randy
Bulatao who, as study director, enriched the workshop with broad perspec-
tives and guided the endeavor through many challenges. Ana-Maria Ignat
provided active staff support. Barbara Bodling O’Hare skillfully edited the
report and Yvonne Wise guided the manuscript through the publication
process.
Jane Menken, Chair
Committee on Population