Marriage process and household formation in Bolivia and Argentina: the impact of migration in a peasant society
Dandler, J.; Balan, J.
Fertility Determinants Research Notes 1988(21): 10-12
1988
PMID: 12315485 Document Number: 498728
The impact of migration on family formation and fertility in peasant societies in Bolivia and Argentina was the focus of a large-scale research project. The project, conducted throughout 1984 and 1985, examined marriage patterns among peasants from rural communities in Bolivia who had settled in 3 locations: a lowland agricultural area; a provincial capital; and Buenos Aires, Argentina. The study sought to discover the interrelationship between economic diversification, land shortage, urban migration, and the onset of fertility decline, by comparing behavior patterns of younger and older (above age 30) respondents. The household is the basic structural unit of the Andean peasant region. Land is given to adult children after marriage, thereby maintaining the size of landholdings. There were significant differences, however, between mountain and valley communities. Age at marriage was 3 years younger in the mountain village, a pattern maintained when mountain peasants migrated to agricultural areas. In both communities, generational independence was achieved through access to the land. In valley communities, young females provide a source of labor and cash income for their families, while young males leave home, if only temporarily, to find work. Both these factors contribute to raise the age of marriage and delay household formation. But, young men who have migrated and then return follow the marriage patterns of the village mountain area. This is not true of those who migrate to the city, where contraceptive use is increasing and a fertility decline is evident. Migration to cities engenders a change in family formation, household autonomy, and a wage-earning rather than a land-based economic structure. In mountains and frontier communities, no contraception is practiced, nor is it available as it is in the cities and Buenos Aires. Family planning programs need to address the need for local contraceptive information and services.