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Marital, Reproductive, and Educational Behaviors Covary with Life Expectancy

Abstract  

Theories of “life history evolution” suggest that individuals might adjust the timing of marriage and reproduction, as well
as their propensity to terminate a marriage or pregnancy and invest in skill development, in response to indicators of the
locally prevailing level of life expectancy. In particular, such theories generate the hypothesis that foreshortened time
horizons lead to hastened reproduction and marriage whereas lengthier time horizons increase the likelihood of reproductive
and marital termination and lead to greater investment in education. Here, I show that the scheduling and occurrence of marital
and reproductive behavior (including both initiation and termination), as well as levels of educational attainment and investment,
covary with life expectancy, even after controlling for the effects of affluence. In analyses of variation in marital, reproductive,
and educational behaviors at two jurisdictional levels in Canada, life expectancy was positively correlated with patterns
of age-specific fertility, age at first marriage, divorce, abortion, conferral of high school and higher education degrees
(with the exception of the trades) and mean number of years of schooling. The large and highly consistent relationships observed
between life expectancy and the behaviors under investigation suggest that these associations may be mediated by individual
“perceptions” of life expectancy, though more research is needed before conclusions can be firmly reached.

  • Content Type Journal Article
  • Category Original Paper
  • Pages 1-6
  • DOI 10.1007/s10508-012-9949-z
  • Authors
    • Daniel Brian Krupp, Department of Mathematics & Statistics, Queen’s University, Jeffery Hall, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6, Canada
    • Journal Archives of Sexual Behavior
    • Online ISSN 1573-2800
    • Print ISSN 0004-0002
Posted in: Journal Article Abstracts on 05/09/2012 | Link to this post on IFP |
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