Intergenerational transmission of reproductive behavior in Saguenay at the end of the 19th century
Tremblay, M.
Cahiers Quebecois de Demographie 26(1): 129-144
1997
ISSN/ISBN: 0380-1721 PMID: 12293365 Document Number: 278715
Data from the BALSAC population register in Saguenay were used to examine intergenerational transmission of fertility behavior in the late 19th century. The BALSAC register developed by the Interuniversity Institute of Population Research reconstitutes the population of Saguenay from its origins by pairing marriage, baptism, and burial records. The average number of children per married woman in Saguenay exceeded 7 from the first colonization in the mid-1800s to the early 1930s. 3290 women born in Saguenay between 1850 and 1880, who married and had at least one child in Saguenay, were identified. They collectively gave birth in Saguenay to 29,895 children, of whom 16,618 also married in Saguenay. The analysis was conducted by comparing the number of live-born children of the original 3290 mothers and of their children, as well as their ages at first and last birth and their average age at the births of their children. The 16,618 children had 7.6 children on average, representing an average of 38.2 grandchildren for each of the 3290 original mothers. 100,074 grandchildren were counted in all. The comparison clearly showed a positive relation between the average number of children of mothers and of their children. The average number of children increased quite regularly as the number of married children of the original mothers increased, with a difference of around 2.4 children between the two extreme values. A positive and fairly strong relationship was also observed between the age of the original mothers at their first birth and the average age of their married sons and daughters at the births of their first children. The relationships between the ages at last birth and the average age at birth of a child were also positive, but less strong than in the case of the first birth.