Determinants of the Length of Birth Intervals in the Past and Possibilities for Their Study A Case Study of Jablonec nad Nisou (Czech Lands) from Seventeenth to Nineteenth Century

Abstract

Knowledge of the length of birth intervals in the past and factors influencing them could help us to reveal many aspects of reproductive behavior at that time. The aim of this article is to describe the reproductive behavior in families from Jablonec (Czech lands) before the onset of the fertility transition using survival analysis and Cox regression based on individual observations acquired from family reconstitution.

A usability description of these methods is the methodological aim of this article. The results show that birth intervals were affected, above all, by the survival of the previous child, birth order, and age of mother.

Keywords

• historical demography
• birth intervals
• survival analysis
• Cox regression
• individual observations
• fertility transition
• determinants
• length of birth intervals
• Czech lands
• seventeenth to nineteenth century