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The Influence of Neighbors' Family Size Preference on Progression to High Parity Births in Rural Nepal
Author(s) -
Jennings Elyse A.,
Barber Jennifer S.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
studies in family planning
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.529
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1728-4465
pISSN - 0039-3665
DOI - 10.1111/j.1728-4465.2013.00344.x
Subject(s) - fertility , parity (physics) , demography , preference , rural area , medicine , population , psychology , sociology , economics , microeconomics , physics , particle physics , pathology
Large families can have a negative impact on the health and well‐being of women, children, and their communities. Seventy‐three percent of the individuals in our rural Nepalese sample report that two children is their ideal number, yet about half of the married women continue childbearing after their second child. Using longitudinal data from the Chitwan Valley Family Study, we explore the influence of women's and neighbors' family size preferences on women's progression to high parity births, comparing this influence across two cohorts. We find that neighbors' family size preferences influence women's fertility, that older cohorts of women are more influenced by their neighbors' preferences than are younger cohorts of women, and that the influence of neighbors' preferences is independent of women's own preferences.