Lisa McAllister|Michael Gurven|Hillard Kaplan|Jonathan Stieglitz
Why do women have more children than they want? Understanding differences in women's ideal and actual family size in a natural fertility population
University of California, Santa Barbara|University of California, Santa Barbara|University of New Mexico|University of New Mexico
abstract objectives develop test conceptual model factors influencing womens ideal family size ifs natural fertility population tsimane bolivia model posits affects socioecology reproductive history maternal condition mens ifs test three hypotheses women may exceed ifs despite experiencing socioeconomic development h 1 limited autonomy h 2 improved maternal condition h 3 low returns investments embodied capital methods womens reproductive histories prospective fertility data collected 2002 2008 n 305 women semistructured interviews conducted tsimane women study perceived value parental investment n 76 multiple regression tests analysis variance anova used test model predictions results womens ifs predicted socioecology reproductive history maternal condition husbands ifs hypotheses 2 3 supported couples residing near town smaller ifs women 375 164 men 387 264 less variance ifs however degree fertility exceeds ifs inversely correlated distance town partial r 0189 df 156 p 0018 women living near town greater maternal condition 64 value traditional skills formal schooling 88 believe living town unfeasible conclusions reduced ifs evident socioeconomic development fertility decline may immediately follow perceived benefits investment novel forms embodied capital low somatic wealth large kin networks persist important components fitness fertility may remain high increase maternal condition improves j hum biol 2012 2012 wiley periodicals inc