Presence of grandmothers in the pre-industrial families and their possible influence on fertility of their daughters: the example of the Šťáhlavy estate at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries
2017
Abstract
The aim of this article is to verify whether it is meanigful to test the so-called grandmother hypothesis on historical populations. To positively influence the fertility of her daughters (or daughters-in-law) and survival of grandchildren, a woman had to meet two conditions: live long enough to see her daughter enter reproductive age and live in the place where the daughter settles after getting married.
The present study, carried out in four communities in the Šťáhlavy estate for the generation born in 1771-1790, tries to find out to what extent these two conditions were met and whether at all the benefits of the grandmother taking care of the grandchildren could be taken advantage of by the women in the said generation.