Effects of Conjugal Marriage on Fertility

Alexander Weinreb, University of Texas at Austin
Nicolette Manglos, University of Texas at Austin

Using multiple waves of data from Demographic and Health Surveys in Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, and Yemen, we compare how more and less conjugal types of marital relationships affect fertility across multiple births? In particular, we compare the length of different parity-specific birth intervals across two discrete types of marriage: marriages to patrilateral parallel cousins (PPCs) or first cousins in general versus marriages to unrelated husbands; and own-choice marriages versus those completely arranged by their families. Results show that birth intervals are significantly longer in first cousin marriages than in marriages where spouses are unrelated in Turkey, Egypt, and Jordan, but in Yemen, the average marriage to first birth interval is significantly shorter. This pattern does not hold for arranged marriages in Turkey. Here, birth intervals are not significantly different than those arranged primarily by the couple themselves.