Multivariate Analysis of Marital Fertility in Japan

Abstract

Drawing on the data from the Seventh Japanese National Fertility Survey, held by the Institute of Population Problems, JMHW, in 1977, multiple classification analysis (MCA) was done for the number of children ever born (NCEB) of currently married women to identify the social determinants of marital fertility in the contemporary Japan. Major findings are as follows: (1) Among all the explanatory variables included in our MCA model, spouses' age at marriage has the largest explanatory power. The proportion of the total variance of NCEB explained by social variables is relatively small. (2) Although wife's work before marriage did not have any significant relation to NCEB, wife's work in early reproductive years has the largest negative effect on NCEB among social variables. This relationship holds even after controlling for fecundity status. (3) Such variables as wife's educaiton, the nature of place of residence and husband's occupation, have a small but systematic effect on NCEB even after MCA adjustment. Higher education, more urbanized place of residence and husband's status as an employee, are associated with lower NCEB. (4) Among such variables relevent to the family system as type of marriage, spouses' number of siblings and birth order, and locality type, only locality type is significantly associated with NCEB. Married couples who cohabit with their parents at marriage have higher fertility than those who do not. (5) wife's sex-role norms and the type of conjugal role relationship have been regarded by some scholars as an important determinant of fertility. This hypothesis does not hold for Japan: Highly segregated role relationship between husband and wife coexists with low fertility.