The persistently high fertility of a North American population: A 25-year restudy of parity among the Ohio Amish. (2nd September 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Wasao, Samson; Anderson, Cory; Mpody, Christian
• Is Part Of: Population studies. Volume 75:Number 3(2021)
• Page Start: 477
• Page End: 486
• Publication Date: 2021-09-02
• Subjects: demographic transition theory -- high fertility -- population change -- agrarianism -- Anabaptist -- New Order Amish -- Andy Weaver Amish -- religion and fertility -- ethnicity and fertility -- Christianity and fertility; Demography -- Periodicals; Population -- Periodicals; 304.605
• DOI: 10.1080/00324728.2021.1883725
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0032-4728

Abstract

Abstract : Why do the North American Amish maintain high fertility when surrounding populations have nearly all completed the demographic transition? Using the same theoretical predictors and methods as a 1996 Population Studies paper, we explore fertility changes, specifically changes in mean parity, between 1988 and 2015 among one sizeable Amish population in Ohio. Findings suggest that wealth flow shifts (as measured by a decline in farming families) and institutional changes (reflected in Amish denominational gradations) help to explain a decline in mean parity from 5.3 to 4.85, while ideological pronatalism (represented by higher fertility among church leaders) helps to explain why fertility has not been more responsive to structural incentives to limit family size. While this restudy confirms the trend of a slow decline in Amish fertility, it also invites a more methodologically expansive inquiry into Amish fertility patterns.