Intergenerational transmission of fertility, review of up to date research and some new evidence from Bejsce parish register reconstitution study, 18th – 20th centuries, Poland

Krzysztof Tymicki, Warsaw School of Economics

Paper aims at the review of up to date research concerning intergenerational transmission of fertility. It compares results obtained from various databases, periods, population and analytical methods in order to assess the differences and changes in magnitude of interrelation between fertility of generations within this same lineage. The paper contains the analysis of fertility transmission patterns in historical population of Bejsce parish. For individuals born between 1740 and 1968 we have reconstructed the genealogies for three successive generations using the data based on the parish registers. Results reveal major differences in fertility transmission of fathers vs. sons and mothers vs. daughters. The relation between fertility of women from this same lineage is much stronger than for males. There is also important cohort effect: the fertility of relatives from the two consecutive generations born after the fertility transition (beginning of the 20th century) reveals stronger interrelation than for the earlier cohorts.