Many analyses of changes in levels of Puerto Rican fertility have been done and provided valuable insights into Puerto Rican fertility behavior. However, these analyses are all based on period measures. This paper will utilize the 1982 Puerto Rican fertility survey data and conduct cohort analysis to show that more recent birth cohorts have different fertility patterns from the earlier birth cohorts. Such analyses usually are not possible because census data generally lack sufficient historical detail on past characteristics and because--until recently--the few surveys conducted in Puerto Rico have also contained incomplete histories on pertinent sociodemographic variables such as marriage, education, residence, labor force participation and fertility. / The findings of this study show that cohort differences in terms of mean age at first marriage are not significant for different age groups except the 20-24 age group. On the other hand, the earlier cohorts do have higher proportion ever married than the later cohorts at the younger age group levels. Cohort differences are significant for compositional variables such as education, labor force participation and occupation scores. After controlling for the effects of compositional variables and period effects, the fertility differentials are still significant among different cohorts. / The study suggests that with rapid economic development on the island, changes in compositional variables such as education, female labor force participation and occupation, will lead to changes in fertility behavior. Different life experiences for different cohorts also influence their fertility behavior via their value system. As modernization does not have uniform influence on different cohorts, one would expect that cohort differential in fertility is greater among women with more exposure to modernization than otherwise. The study also suggests that other factors in addition to modernization should be explored to explain the fertility decline in Puerto Rico. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 50-08, Section: A, page: 2661. / Major Professor: Robert H. Weller. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1989.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_78037 |
| Contributors | Chen, Yen., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 160 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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