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Sociocultural correlates of fertility among tribal, rural, and urban populations in Iran Ali A. Paydarfar

a

a

Carolina Population Center , University of North Carolina , Chapel Hill, North Carolina Published online: 23 Aug 2010.

To cite this article: Ali A. Paydarfar (1975) Sociocultural correlates of fertility among tribal, rural, and urban populations in Iran, Biodemography and Social Biology, 22:2, 151-166, DOI: 10.1080/19485565.1975.9988160 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19485565.1975.9988160

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Sociocultural Correlates of Fertility Among Tribal, Rural, and Urban Populations in Iran

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Ali A. Paydarfar Carolina Population Center University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, North Carolina

The fertility differences among women are determined by a variety of reasons, not all of which have been identified. Despite extensive studies, differential fertility has yet to be fully, explained. It is imperative that explanations be found if fertility is to be controlled, and control seems to be essential to improve socioeconomic conditions. In a recent work, Karen 0 . Mason and her associates (1971) reviewed and analyzed more than a hundred studies on differential fertility in the developed and developing countries. In this work, the authors present the major studies undertaken to measure the effect of sodoeconomic variables on family fertility. The major variables included in the studies were: income, occupation, social and geographic mobility, education, family structure, female labor-force partidpation, egalitarian maternal relationship, religion and religiosity, value orientation, and family planning. After a careful examination of the results of these studies, the authors have found very little evidence of uniformity and consistency in the findings of the studies.

However, a general notion that many studies support is that traditional values and beliefs and low socioeconomic status generally encourage high fertility; on the other hand, modern values and opinions and high sodoeconomic status modify the high fertility norms and subsequently lead to the fertility reduction. With this general idea as a basis, survey data have been analyzed to study relationships between various facets of life styles and fertility norms and practices of urban, rural, and tribal populations of a southern province of Iran. The paper spedfically aims to report and discuss the findings concerning the following areas: (1) differential fertility among urban, rural, and tribal groups; (2) correlates of fertility differences within each of the three groups; and (3) relative effects of fertility correlates within each of the three groups. MATERIALS AND METHODS

The data used in this report are part of 1,384 interview cases collected from the household heads in a sample survey of social, economic, cultural, and demographic characteristics and attitudes of the urban,

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rural, and tribal subpopulations of Fars Province. The survey was conducted in 1968 (Paydarfar, 1974). The city of Shiraz, the capital of Fars Province, was the urban site. With a population of over three hundred thousand, Shiraz ranks as the sixth largest city in Iran after Tehran, Isfahan, Mashhad, Tabriz, and Adaban. In many respects, Shiraz resembles a medium-sized Western university city and functions as a medical, administrative, and military center for the province and a market place for the nearby tribal and rural population. The urban information in the study was collected from 1,062 household heads who were residing in 59 randomly selected blocks in the eight social units in Shiraz. Four villages located in a rural area within the Shiraz district and approximately thirty to sixty miles northwest of Shiraz were chosen as the rural site. These four villages were selected from a group of forty villages located in the rural area after the villages had been ranked according to their degree of modernization. The four represent various degrees of modernity. The rural information in this report was obtained from 176 household heads in the four villages. Twelve per cent of the household heads were not accessible and 9 per cent of the interview cases were omitted because of incompleteness. Finally, information related to tribal samples were collected from 146 household heads of Qashghae Tribe of Fars Province. The Qashghae is the major nomadic tribe in Fars Ostan. According to the 1966 census data, this tribe had a population over one hundred thousand. VARIABLES OF STUDY

Most of the studies on differential fertility undertaken in the developing coun-

Social Biology

tries have explained fertility differences in terms of social stratification variables. In our analysis, in addition to the respondent's socioeconomic status, various aspects of his life style have been hypothesized as affecting his opinion toward family size and his fertility behavior. Related to these variables, response items were selected from the interview schedule for scale and index construction measuring various facets of the life styles and fertility values and behavior of the respondents in the three subpopulations. These items are shown in Table 1. Dependent and independent variables were constructed from these response items. DEPENDENT VARIABLES

Demographic items (see Table 1) were used to construct two measures of actual fertility performance: (1) the number of children ever born, and (2) the number of children living. Clearly, the two are highly related to each other. In this study, we have used both of them to overcome the effect of recall lapse on the reported number of children ever born. In addition, five more dependent variables related to fertility norms are included in the analysis. They are (1) the number of children desired by the respondent for himself, (2) number desired for his son, and (3) number desired for his daughter, (4) age at which a boy should marry, and (5) age at which a girl should marry. The purpose of including these variables is to examine whether there is an emergence of new values in relation to age at marriage and ideal number of children and, if so, to identify the factors associated with them. The traditional values associated with these variables (i.e., low age at marriage and large desired number of children) support a high level of fertility. Therefore, even if there is no change in the actual fertility, we may

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TABLE 1 '

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SCALE AND INDEX VARIABLES SCALE VABIABLES wife and they live well together, is this a good life? 1. Familism . i. If the children of a family turn out bad a. What do you think about interfamily marand become ruffians, is it the will of God? riages of your children? ;'. If parents put their children in school and b. Would you prefer to do business mostly if they are studious and make a good life with relatives? for themselves, is this a good life? c. Which group do you prefer your son's k. If a boy becomes a murderer, why is he friends to be from? this way? d. In this place how many families are reI. Some people believe that for two persons' lated to you? marriage to happen, their stars must be e. Do you prefer to live with your whole in agreement. family in one place? m. When a person is bom, his good luck and 2. Personal Religiosity bad are predetermined. a. If Moslem, how often do you pray? 8. Possession of Modern Appliances b. If Moslem, how often do you fast? a. Do you have a fan (electric) ? 3. General Religious Practice b. Do you have a kerosene heater? a. If you are a Moslem, which of the folc. Do you have electricity? lowing actions do you perform? d. Do you have a clock? 1) Group prayers 9. Possession of Modern Furniture 2) Reading the prayer or listening to a. Number of chairs komeil pray b. Number of tables 3) Individual prayers in the Mosque c. Number of beds 4) Periodic prayer 5) Participation in Koran reading and 10. Economic and Material Satisfaction listening to religious discussions a. Are you satisfied with your family's food 6) Visiting public cemeteries situation? b. Are you satisfied with your job? 4. Personal Health c. Are you satisfied with your income? a. How is your general health most of the time? INDEX VAEIABI.ES b. Presently, have you any physical ailments? 1. Number of children ever born c. Do you have any stomach pains or head2. Number of living children aches? 3. Number of children that died before one d. Do you feel pains in different parts of your year body? 4. Number of miscarriages 5. Social Stress 5. Ideal family size for himself a. Do you often become angry quickly? 6. Ideal family size for son b. Do you suffer from insomnia? 7. Ideal family size for daughter c. Are you afraid for no reason? 8. Ideal age son should marry d. Do you ever argue with others for no 9. Ideal age daughter should marry reason? And then regret it? 10. Attitude toward family planning e. Have you ever disliked someone for no 11. Education of husband, number of years of reason? schooling 12. Education of wife, number of years of school6. Neighborhood Satisfaction ing a. Are you satisfied with your neighborhood? 13. Education of husband and wife, number of b. Are you satisfied with your neighbors? years of schooling 7. Fatalism 14. Educational aspirations for son, number of a. If, God forbid, a 2-year-old of your neighyears of schooling borhood sickened and died, what would 15. Educational aspirations for daughter, number be the reason? of years of schooling b. If a 40-year old inhabitant sickened and 16. Occupational status of husband died, what would the reason be? 17. Employment status of wife c. If the ceiling of a house fell in and killed 18. Occupational aspirations for son a number of people, what would the 19. Occupational aspirations for daughter reason be? 20. Respondent's job aspirations d. If a fanner lost his crops one year, the 21. Communication Exposure reasons would be what? a. If you have a radio, how often do you e. Can a man increase his income by effort or listen to it? will he get whatever Fate allows? b. Does anyone in your home read the news/. If one of your friends divorced his wife, paper? what would the reason be? c. Have you ever been to the movies? g. If a father got a wife for his son without 22. Comparison of economic position of responconsulting him, and the son didn't like dent with his parents the wife and divorced her, what would the 23. Respondent's fortune ladder* reason be? 24. Respondent's father's fortune ladder A. If a husband behaves well towards his •A picture of a ten-step ladder was shown to the respondents. Step 10 represents the highest degree of happiness and Step 1 the lowest The respondent was asked at what step he thinks he Is and at what step his father Is or was.

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look at the norms and values to see whether any change is in the offing.

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INDEPENDENT VARIABLES

Social Biology

group represents the traditional sector; and the rural respondents fall between these two groups. 2. The modern life style and value orientation encourage fertility reduction, smaller family size, and the postponement of age at marriage; the traditional life style and value orientation operate in the opposite direction. With these two assumptions as a basis, the following three main questions are formulated for answers and discussion in this section:

Using the sociocultural and economic response items (see Table 1), ten ordinal scales and thirteen simple indices were constructed as explanatory variables. Occupation, education, educational and occupational aspirations, indices of modernization, and traditional values (fatalism, familism, etc.) are included among 1. Do Iranian urban groups have the smallthe independent variables. Factor analytic est and the tribal group have the largest family size? technique was used to construct the scales. 2. Do Iranian urban groups wish the smallThe items with high validity and reliaest family size and the tribal group the bility and those with low invalidity were largest family size for themselves and their children? selected for scale construction. A scale or 3. Do Iranian urban groups prefer their index score for each of the variables was children to marry at an older age comcomputed and assigned to each of the pared to the tribal group who wish a younger age at marriage for their chilrespondents. dren? Since the data were collected for a large The responses to these questions are sumcross-section of people, we have a wide marized in Tables 2-4. variation in the respondents' age and the Table 2 presents the percentage distriduration of marriage. Taking the effect of bution of number of children desired by these two factors into consideration, these tribal, rural, and urban respondents. variables have been used as control variAccording to the table, a clear difference ables in the analysis of fertility perappears among the tribal, rural, and urban formance. subpopulations with respect to the number of desired children. The urban responRESULTS dents desire fewer children and are least The findings of this study are reported likely to feel that "the more children, the in three sections: (1) differential fertility better" or that the number of children one among tribal, rural, and urban responhad was controlled by the will of God. On dents; (2) correlates of fertility within the other hand, more than one-fourth of each of the three groups; and (3) relative the tribal respondents attribute the numeffect of fertility correlates within each of ber of children to God's will. Almost 12 the three groups. per cent feel the more children, the better life would be, and more than 14 per cent DIFFERENTIAL FERTILITY AMONG TRIBAL, desire six children or more. RURAL, AND URBAN GROUPS Table 3 reports the percentage distriBased on studies of modernization and fertility, two assumptions have been for- bution of number of children desired by mulated as principles to guide and orga- tribal, rural, and urban respondents for their children. nize the findings of this section. As the findings clearly indicate, a large 1. The urban respondents in this study represent the modem sector; the tribal proportion of urban respondents wish their

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Tribal, Rural, and Urban Fertility in Iran TABLE 2

PER CENT DISTRIBUTION OF NUMBER OP CHILDREN DESIRED BY TRIBAI,, RURAL, AND URBAN RESPONDENTS

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Children Desired

Ttjbal (iV = H6)

Rural (ff=l76)

Urban W = 1,062)

2.1 2.7 10.3 11.6 14.4 11.0 11.6 25.3 11.0

1.1 1.7 13.1 15.3 15.9 17.0 5.7 24.4 5.7

2.6 18.9 27.9 10.0 5.5 17.7 3.0 9.7 6.7

None 1-2 children 3-4 children 5-6 children More than 6 children As many as he now has The more the better As God wills No response and not applicable*

• The respondents who were single, divorced, or widowed did not generally answer this question, which accounts for the relatively large "no response and not applicable" category. TABLE 3 PER CENT DISTRIBUTION or NUMBER OF CHILDREN DESIRED BY TRIBAL, RURAL, AND URBAN RESPONDENTS FOR THEIR CHILDREN DESIRED FAMILY SIZE TOK His DAUOHTEK

CHTDKEN DESIRED

None 1-3 children 4-5 children 6-7 children More than 7 As God wills The more the better According to economic standing and his wish . . No response and not applicable*

DESIRED FAMILY SIZE IOSL HIS SON

Trjbal W = 146)

Rural OV=176)

Urban W = 1,062)

0.7 6.8 13.7 5.5 8.9 42.4 6.2

1.1 4.0 36.4 14.8 8.0 27.8 2.8

4.1 39.9 13.2 0.9 1.0 16.2 2.5

2.7

0

12.3

5.1

Tijbal W=146)

Rural W=176)

Urban W = 1,062)

0 6.8 11.6 6.2 8.9 43.2 7.5

1.1 4.5 33.5 14.2 10.8 28.4 3.4

4.5 40.5 13.4 1.7 1.3 15.6 2.5

6.7

1.4

0

6.3

15.5

14.4

4.0

14.1

* The respondents who were single, divorced, or widowed did not generally answer this question, which accounts for the relatively large "no response and not applicable" category.

son or daughter to have a family size of rising in the Arab countries (Goode, one to three children. On the other hand, 1969), marriages still take place at an a large proportion of the rural and tribal earlier age in Iran than in many Western respondents leave the control of family nations. Table 4 shows that tribal and size for their children to God's will. The rural respondents preferred their children findings in Table 3 clearly indicate that to marry at a much younger age than urthe attitudes and value orientation of ban respondents did. Rural respondents tribal and rural populations must substan- desired marriage at even a younger age tially be changed toward small family size than did tribal respondents, before a family planning program can Almost half the urban respondents proceed successfully among the rural and wanted their sons to be at least 24 years tribal populations. of age before marriage, compared with Although the age at marriage has been one-fourth of the tribal and 13 per cent dropping in most Western countries and of the rural respondents. More than 31

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Paydarfar

Social Biology

TABLE 4 PER CENT DISTRIBUTION- OF TRIBAL, R T O A I , AND URBAN RESPONDENTS BY THEIR PREFERENCE OF MARITAL AGE FOR THEIR CHILDREN

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Children Desired

Marital age for son Up to 19 years old 19-23 years old 24-28 years old After 28 years old According to his destiny When he can manage his life No response and not applicable* Marital age for daughter 9yearsold 10-15 years old 16-19 years old 20-24 years old After 25 years old According to her destiny No response and not applicable*

Tijbal (N = 146)

Rural (N = l 76)

Urban OV = 1,062)

30.8 36.3 24.0 2.1 2.7 0.7 3.4

26.7 S9.1 9.7 2.8 0 0.S 1.0

7.3 22.0 35.3 14.6 1.3 9.3 12.2

0.7 45.2 38.4 8.2 1.4 1.4 4.8

1.1 48.9 45.5 2.8 0.5 ... 1.1

'

0.4 16.3 36.1 24.4 6.8 1.8 14.2

* The respondents who were single, divorced, or widowed did not generally answer, this question, which accounts for the relatively large "no response and not applicable" category.

per cent of the urban respondents wanted their daughters to reach 20 before marriage, compared with 10 per cent of the tribal and 3 per cent of the rural. Respondents in all three residential areas preferred their daughters to marry younger than their sons. The ideal age at marriage reported by the respondents was compared with the actual age at marriage of the married children of the respondents. The results suggest certain discrepancies. The children of the tribal and rural respondents tended to marry later than the age that was considered ideal; 40 per cent of the tribal and IS per cent of the rural married sons reached age 25 before marriage. A similar trend existed for married daughters. Onethird of the tribal daughters were at least age 20 when they married, compared with 13 per cent of the rural. The urban discrepancies between preferred and actual ages of children at time of marriage were the reverse. Children tended to marry earlier than the stated preferred ages. Only 28 per cent of the urban sons were 25 or

older, and only 14 per cent of the daughters were 20 or older when married. Finally, the indices of fertility among the tribal, rural, and urban groups were compared to find out if they were statistically different. The null hypothesis was that the three groups are the same in regard to various indices of fertility. To test this hypothesis, the mean scores of fertility indices were computed for the three groups, and the differences between mean scores were measured by a Z test. The result of these operations are shown in Table 5. The table shows the ideal family size is highest among the tribal groups, lowest among the urban, with the rural group in-between. In regard to the age of marriage, the urban group has the highest score for both sexes, meaning that the urban respondents prefer their children to get married at an older age than do the tribal and rural parents. In regard to the indices of fertility practice, the tribal families had the largest number of children ever born per household; urban families, the smallest. The high tribal

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Tribal, Rural, and Urban Fertility in Iran TABLES

COMPARISON OF INDICES OP FERTILITY BEHAVIOR AND ATTITUDES AMONG TRIBAL, RURAL, AND URBAN RESPONDENTS ZSCOXE

MEAN SCOBE*

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FEBITLITY BEHAVIOR AND ATTITUDES

Respondent's desired no. children for himself Respondent's desired no. children for his son Respondent's desired no. children for daughter Respondent's desired age marriage for son Respondent's desired age

marriage for daughter

Tribal

Rural

Urban

UrbanTribal

UrbanRural

RuralTribal

4.99

4.96

3.88

8.7f

9.8f

0.2

5.04

4.36

3.66

9.7f

5.6t

4.1f

6.2f

4.4t

of of of

, 4.98

4.23

3.4S

10.4f

2.09

1.91

3.04

lO.OOt

15.9f

1.7

2.52

3.31

8.3t

14.lt

1.8

of of

Respondent's children ever born Respondent's living children

2.67

5.6 4.1

4.9 3.4

4.3 3.7

3.6t 1.5

1.9 1.5

1.6 2.3§

• The mean score for children ever bom and living children should not be compared with the mean score of respondents' desired number of children for himself and his children because the earlier mean is the actual average of children ever born or living children. The latter score is the mean score assigned to the actual responses. t Significant at 0.001 level or less. t Significant at 0.01 level or less. 5 Significant at 0.0S level or less.

death rate, however, reduced tribal, rural, and urban differences 'with respect to living children. The birth and death rates in all three groups resulted in almost equal numbers of living children per household. The Z score values in Table 5 indicate that in most cases the three groups are significantly different. Thus, the null hypothesis can be safely rejected. CORRELATE OP FERTILITY WITHIN TRIBAL, RURAL, AND URBAN GROUPS

The above findings clearly indicate that the tribal, rural, and urban groups are significantly different in regard to most indices of fertility attitude and behavior. The objective of this section is to find out if the selected 23 independent variables significantly explain all or some of the differential fertility within each of the three groups. This section is divided into two parts. The first part reports the relationship between respondent's general attitude toward fertility and various aspects of his life style; the second part reports the asso-

ciation between respondents' fertility behavior and life style differences. Fertility Attitudes.—As we indicated before, fertility attitudes are expressed in terms of the respondent's desired family size for himself and his children and also desired age of marriage for his children. In order to measure the association and the statistical significance of the association between indices of fertility and the 23 independent variables, we cross-tabulated them by controlling for age of respondents. The independent variables were categorized into three groups—high, medium, and low scores—for the purpose of cross-tabulation. Similarly, the dependent variables were also grouped. The statistical significance of the association in each case was assessed by testing the value of the chi-square, and the nature of association between dependent and independent variables was determined by Gamma coefficient. The results of these two statistical values are presented in Table 6. An examination of Table 6 reveals that several

M

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en 00

TABLE 6 NATURE OF RELATIONSHIP AND LEVEL OF SIGNIFICANCE BETWEEN FERTILITY-RELATED ATTITUDES AND LIFE STYLE INDICES MEASURED BY CHI-SQUARE TECHNIQUE AND GAMMA CORRELATION PROCEDURES* IDEAL FAMILY SIZE FOR HIMSELF LIFE STYLE INDICES

Respondents less than age 35 Poss. modem appliances Poss. modern furniture Familisxn ••••• *•• Commun. exposure Social stress Mater, satis. Neighbor, satis Father fort. lad Respon. fort, ladder Fatalism Religiosity Respon. educ. status Wife's educ. status ., Resp. occup. status , Occup. aspir. son ... Occup. aspir. dtr. Educ. aspir. son Educ. aspir. dtr. Respon. job aspir. .. Educ. of father . . . . Educ. of mother . . . Respon. health cond.

Trjbal

Rural

Urban

IDEAL FAMILY SIZE FOS SON

Tribal

S.N. S.N.

... S.N.

S.N.

Rural

Urban

S.P.

S.N. S.N. S.P.

IDEAL FAMILY SIZE FOR DAUCHTER

Tijbal

Rural

SJtf.

Urban

IDEAL AGE SON SHOULD MASSY

Trjbal

Rural

S.N. S.N. S.P. SJST.

S.N.

S.P. S.P.

S.N.

...

...

IDEAL AGE DAUGHTER SHOULD MASSY

Urban

Tribal

Rural

S.P. S.P.

Urban

S.P. S.P. S.N. S.P.

S.P.

... S.N S.P

S.N.

... S.N. S.N. S.N.

S.N. S.N. S.N.

S.P

S.P. S.N. S.P.

S.N. S.N. S.N.

S.P.

S.P.

S.P. S.P. S.N.

S.N. S.N.

S.P. S.N. S.N. S.P. S.P. S.P.

S.N. S.N. S.N. S.N.

...

S.P. S.P. S.P. S.P.

...

S.N,

S.P. S.P. S.P. S.P.

5*

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f

TABLE 6 (continued) IDEAL FAMILY SIZE TOR HIMSELF LITE STYLE INDICES

Respondents more than age 35 Poss. modern appliances Poss. modern furniture Familism • Commun. exposure Social stress Mater, satis Neighbor, satis Father fort, lad Respon. fort, ladder Fatalism Religiosity Respon. educ. status Wife's educ. status ...'. Resp. occup. status Occup. aspir. son Occup. aspir. dtr Educ. aspir. for son . . . . . Educ. aspir. for dtr Respon. job aspir Educ. of father Educ. of mother Respon. health cond.

Tribal

.,

Rural

Urban

IDEAL FAMILY SIZE FOX SON

Tribal

Rural

Urban

IDEAL FAMILY SIZE FOB DAUGHTER

Tribal

S.N. S.N. S.P. S.N.

S.N. S.N. S.P. S.N.

Rural

Urban

SJST. SJST. S.P. SJST.

IDEAL AGE SON SHOULD MARRY

Tribal

Rural

Urban

S.P.

S.P. S.P. S.N. S.P.

IDEAL DAUOHTER SHOULD MARRY

Tribal

Rural

Urban

S.P. S.P. S.N. S.P. S.N.

S.P.

S.P

S.N. S.N. S.P.

S .N. S.P. S.N. S.N. S.N.

S.N. S.N. S.N. S.N. S.N. S.P. S.N. S.N. S.N.

S.P S.N. S.N. S.N.

S.N. S.N. S.N.

S.P. S.N.

S.N. S.N. S.P. S.N. S.N. S.N. S.N. S.N. S.P. S.N. S.N. S.N.

S.P.

SP.

S.P. S.N. S.N. S.P. S.P. S.P. S.P.

S.P.

S.P. S.P. S.N. S!P. S.P. S.P. S!P.

S.P. S.P. S.P. S.P.

S.P. S.P. S.P. S.P.

• S = significant at 0.0S level. P = positively related. N = negatively related.

en O

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independent variables are significantly associated with the number of children desired by the head of the household among the urban group, especially when the respondents are 35 or more years old. Modern material possessions, communication exposure, fatalism, education of respondent, his wife, and his parents, and his occupation are among the variables which show significant influence on the desired number of children. On the other hand, very few of the 23 variables significantly explain the variation of tribal and rural respondents' desired number of children. One may argue that the response to the question on desired number of children may be influenced by the past experience of the respondent, in that his response may more closely reflect the number he has than it does the number he desires. The response to the question on the desired number of children for son and daughter should be free from this bias. Only the independent variables explaining the variation of desired family size for urban respondents seem to be significantly responsible for differential attitudes of the urban respondent toward the family size for their children. We can see from Table 6 that only very few of the independent variables have any impact on the desired number of children for son or daughter within the tribal and rural groups. We examined the relationship between the respondent's opinion on desired marital age for his children and the 23 independent variables (Table 6). Here again, we see significant relationships only within the urban group. Occupation, education, communication exposure, fatalism, familism, and indices of modernization are found to be significantly associated with the age at which the father desires girls and boys to marry.

Social Biology

Finally, it is significant to note that the 23 independent variables in most cases are not significantly associated with the indices of fertility attitudes within tribal and rural groups. In some cases they are related, but the nature of the relationship is inconsistent with the cases among urban respondents. For example, within the tribal group, there is an inverse relationship between the respondent's degree of fatalism and his desired family size for his daughter and also an inverse relationship between the respondent's degree of communication exposure and desired marital age for his son; but the opposite pattern is found among the urban respondents. I t is also surprising that so many rural respondents with a high degree of fatalism desire an older marital age for their daughters. Fertility Behavior.—Fertility behavior is measured in terms of the respondent's reported number of living children and number of children ever born as related to the couples. Simple correlation technique was applied to examine the association between fertility behavior and various indices of life styles among the three groups. The results are shown in Table 7. Both indices of the fertility behavior are significantly related to most independent; variables among urban respondents. The urban respondents' score on modern appliances, familism, communication exposure, personal health, fatalism, respondent's fortune ladder, educational status of respondent, his wife, and his parent, occupational status of respondent, and duration of marriage seem to be among the major significant variables differentiating both indices of the fertility behavior. Within the tribal and rural respondents, particularly rural, only very few of the 23 independent variables explain the differential fertility. Furthermore, the effect of

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Tribal, Rural, and Urban Fertility in Iran

161

TABLE 7 ZERO-ORDER CORRELATIONS BETWEEN FERTILITY BEHAVIOR AND LIFE STYLE INDICES No. OF CHILDREN EVEE BOEN1

No. o? LIVING CHIIDEEN

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Lira STYLE INDICES

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23.

Possession of modern appliances . . Possession of modern furniture . . . Familism Communication exposure Social stress Material satisfaction Neighborhood satisfaction Father's fortune ladder Respondent's fortune ladder . . . . Fatalism Religiosity Respondent's educational status . . Wife's educational status Respondent's occupational status Occupational aspiration for son . . Occupational aspiration for dtr . . Educational aspiration for son . . Educational aspiration for dtr . . Respondent's job aspirations . . . . Education of father Education of mother Respondent's health condition . . . Duration of marriage

Tribal

Rural

Urban

Trjbal

Rural

Urban

0.17* 0.23 0.09 0.22f —0.00 —0.09 — 0.15 —0.00 0.05 —0.11 0.27$ —0.01 —0.00

0.12 0.07 0.0S 0.10 0.0S 0.02 —0.09 0.00 0.03 —0.15* 0.17* 0.02 0.01

—0.14$ —0.05 0.08t —0.13$ 0.03 — 0.12$ 0.03 —0.04 —0.08f O.lOf 0.05 —0.21$ —0.31$

O.23f 0.26$ 0.11 0.26$ 0.0S —0.06 —0.03 0.10 0.06 —0.06 0.28$ 0.01 —0.05

0.12 0.08 0.02 0.07 —0.11 0.02 —0.06 —0.01 0.03 —0.11 0.19t —0.03 —0.09

—0.17$ —0.09t 0.13 —0.19$ 0.04 —0.15$ 0.0S —0.05 —0.09t 0.13* 0.04 —0.25$ —0.37$

0.21t 0.07 0.11 0.07 0.02 0.09 0.20f 0.12 —0.16* 0.59

0.07 —0.07 0.04 0.04 —0.09 0.10 0.14 —0.06 —0.06 0.61$

—0.11$ —0.05 —0.03 —0.05 —0.03 —0.13$ —0.07* —0.07f —0.17$ 0.56$

0.17* —0.06 0.11 0.04 0.04 0.07 O.23t 0.19* —0.20t 0.63$

0.08 —0.07 0.08 0.03 —0.05 —0.13 0.10 —0.03 —0.12 0.70$

—0.13$ 0.07* 0.05 —0.08t —0.06* 0.14$ —O.lOt —0.09t —0.22$ 0.65$

* Significant at 0.05 level or less, t Significant at 0.01 level or less. t Significant at 0.001 level or less.

significant variables on tribal and rural fertility behavior seem to be inconsistent when compared to their effect on the urban sample. For example, possession of modern materials, exposure to modern communication media, and educational-occupational status are positively related to the number of living children and children ever born among tribal respondents. But exactly the opposite association is found between related variables among the urban respondents. Although our tribal sample is not large enough to have our full confidence, these observations challenge the generality and universality of the conventional propositions postulating ah inverse relationship between fertility and socioeconomic status among different population sectors, at least within a country. One explanation may be that in the transitional period

among developing populations, the relationship between fertility and socioeconomic indices is curvilinear. In other words, with the rise of socioeconomic conditions, fertility increases, but as socioeconomic conditions continue rising, fertility declines. To substantiate this observation, we require more detailed historical data on fertility and socioeconomic conditions. Finally, as Table 7 shows, religiosity and duration of marriage commonly have a positive significant effect on both indices of fertility behavior of tribal and rural respondents. But the religiosity loses its effect to differentiate fertility among urban population. RELATIVE EFFECTS OF FERTILITY

CORRELATES

As we stated briefly above, the available evidence in the field of fertility studies clearly substantiates the fact that the dif-

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TABLE 8 ferences and change in human fertility norms and behaviors are the function of SQUARE OF MULTIPLE CORRELATION BETWEEN INDICES OP FERTILITY WITH 23 SELECTED multiple variables. No doubt the identifiINDEPENDENT VARIABLES cation and the understanding of these INDICTS OF FEKTMTY variables and their relative effects on fertility must be the main objective of any SOTPOPOTATION Living Children Chidren Ever Bom fertility study. In our study of fertility Tribal Q.SS* 0.62* correlates, we are limited to the analysis Rural 0.56* 0.60* 0.39* 0.48* of 23 independent variables. Although Urban these variables express the most significant • Significant at 0.001 level or less. features of life style, value orientation, and socioeconomic status of the Iranian tribal, indices of fertility. According to the table, rural, and urban groups under study, the the 23 independent variables acting toselected variables do not explain all the gether explain more than 55 per cent of variance of fertility norms and behavior the variation in the number of living chilwithin each of the three groups. Further- dren of the tribal and rural respondents. more, the effect of the 23 variables on fer- The corresponding percentage for urban tility differences within the three groups groups is roughly 40 per cent. The amount are not to be equally weighed. At any of explanation increases when the number rate, the findings in the last section clearly of children ever born is used as an index indicated that most of the variables indi- of fertility within each of the three groups. vidually have significant relationships with For example, more than 60 per cent of the most of the indices of fertility norms and fertility variation within tribal and rural behavior within the three groups. groups and more than 48 per cent within In this section, the data are analyzed to the urban groups is explained by the 23 measure: (1) the joint effect of all the independent variables. This increase might independent variables on fertility behav- be due to the fact that the first index is ior; (2) the joint effect of the theoreti- also influenced by differential mortality. cally interrelated blocks of the variables A cursory glance at the list of 23 indeon the fertility behaviors; and (3) the pendent variables shows that several of relative effect of the independent vari- them are theoretically interrelated. Thereables on the fertility behavior. Only two fore, it would be of great interest to examof the fertility indices—number of living ine the effect of those variables taken tochildren and number of children ever bom gether on the dependent variables. For —were used in the analysis of data in this example, educational aspirations for the section. This decision was based on the son and for the daughter are indicators of fact that interval scale could be used only the same concept, namely, the responfor those two variables, making them dent's view on education. Similarly, the appropriate for the kind of statistical anal- respondent's degree of familism, fatalism, ysis used here. Multiple and partial cor- and religiosity are indicative of the tradirelation techniques have been used to mea- tional value orientation, namely, the resure the association between dependent spondent's score on traditionalism. The and independent variables. same conceptualization is true in relation The results of this analysis are reported to a number of other variables. Thus, in Tables 8-11. Table 8 shows the joint meaningful categories were made, and the effect of all independent variables on two effect of these blocks of variables were

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Tribal, Rural, and Urban Fertility in Iran

measured by calculating multiple partial correlation of the blocks of variables •with indices of fertility behavior controlling the duration of marriage in all cases. The results (see Table 9) seem to indicate that

plains a relatively insignificant amount of the variation of urban fertility. Further attempt has been made to determine the relative effect of the ten main blocks of independent variables on the in-

TABLE 9 MTTLTTPLE AND PARTIAL CORRELATION BETWEEN FERTILITY AND LIFE STYLE INDICES CONTROLLING DOTATION OP MARRIAGE

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INDICES OT FEBTIUTY Number of Living Children INDEPENDENT VARIABLES

Poss. modern furniture and appliances (Var. 1,2) Economic satisfaction (Var. 6) Occup. status of respon. (Var. 14) . . . . Occup. aspir., son, dtr., respon. (Var. 15,16,19) Occup. status and aspir. (Var. 14,15,16,19) Educ, husb., wife, fath., moth. (Var. 12,13,20,21) Educ. aspir. son, daughter (Var. 17,18) Educ. status and aspir. (Var. 12,13,20,21,17,18) Familism (Var. 3) Religiosity (Var. 11) Fatalism (Var. 10) Familism, fatalism, and religiosity (Var. 3,11,10) Social stress and health cond. (Var. 5,22) Satis, and fortune ladder,'respon. (Var. 7,8,9) Communication exposure (Var. 4) . . . . Economic factors (Var. 1,2,6,14,15,16,19) Sociocultural factors (Var. 12,13,20,21, 17,18,3,11,10,4,7,8,9,5,22)

Number of Children Ever Born

Tribal

Rural

Urban

Tribal

Rural

Urban

0.24 —0.08 +0.2S*

0.12 +0.04 +0.14

0.06 —0.08t —0.09*

0.33* —0.07 0.20f

0.13 +0.03 0.16

0.10* —O.llf 0.12f

0.25

0.11

0.09

O.26f

0.15

O.lOf

0.33

0.15

O.llf

0.31f

0.19

0.13*

0.27

0.26

0.15*

0.37*

0.24

0.20*

0.13

0.13

0.00

0.10

0.12

0.04

0.16* +0.03 +0.00 +0.00

O.37f +0.12 +O.22f -0.10

0.29 +0.09 +0.21t -0.16

0.27 +0.10 +0.10 —0.13

O.27t

0.19

0.03

0.26

0.14

0.08

0.04

0.20

0.03

0.03

0.08

0.06

0.14 +0.07

0.09 —0.03

0.12 +0.20f

0.25 +0.06 +0.12 —0.06

0.21$ +0.08f +0.02 +0.04

0.13 +0.24f

0.13 +0.01

0.11* —0.01

0.40f

0.3St

0.29*

0.43f

0.32

O.27J

0.43

0.40

0.20*

0.46f

0.33

O.23J

* Significant at 0.01 level or less, t Significant at 0.0S level or less. t Significant at 0.001 level or less.

the educational dimension (achievement of aspirations) consistently explains most of the fertility variation. Within each of the three groups, occupational status and aspirations are next to education. I t is interesting to note that while traditional value orientation (fatalism, familism, and religiosity) accounts for relatively significant portions of the fertility variation among tribal and rural population, it ex-

dices of fertility behavior within the three groups. In this effort, multiple partial correlation technique was also used to measure the effect of one set of variables controlling the duration of marriage and nine other blocks of variables. The results of this analysis are in Table 10. It seems that very few of the blocks individually have significant relationships with the indices of fertility behavior.

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TABLE 10 MULTIPLE PARTIAL CORRELATION or THE INDICTS OP FERTILITY WITH EACH BLOCK or VARIABLES CONTROLLING TOR ALL OTHER BLOCKS AND DURATION OF MARRIAGE INDICES or FEBULIT* Number of Children Ever Bom

Number, of Living Children

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INDEPENDENT VABIABLES (1)

Poss. modern furniture and appliances (Var. 1,2) Econ. satisfaction (Var. 6) Occup. status of respon. (Var. 14) . . . . Occup. aspir., son, dtr., respon. (Var. 15,16,19) Educ, husb., wife, fath., moth. (Var. 12,13,20,21) Educ. aspir., son, daughter (Var. 17,18) Familism, fatalism, and religiosity (Var. 3,11,10) Social stress and health cond. (Var. 5,22) Satis, and fortune ladder, respon. (Var. 7,8,9) Communication exposure (Var. 4)

Trjbal (2)

Rural (3)

Urban (4)

0.10 —0.10 +0.21f

0.13 +0.03 +0-13

0.07 —0.06 —0.04

0.21

0.03

OJlf

Trjbal (S)

Rural (6)

Urban (7)

0.13

+0.15

+0.06 +0.13

0.04 —0.08 —0.03

0.06

0.26

0.09

0.06

O.26t

0.14J

0.23*

0.14

0.12$

0.07

0.04

0.04

0.01

0.11

0.03

0.23

0.18

0.02

0.16

0.16

0.06

0.09

O.23t

0.04

0.08

0.11

0.04

0.04 —0.10*

+0.26f

0.12 +0.2 If

0.17 +0.06

0.17* —0.13

0.14

0.14

+0.05

0.06

—0.07*

* Significant at 0.10 level or less, t Significant at 0.15 level or less. t Significant at 0.01 level or less.

Within the urban group, only three blocks of the variables show significant association. This is particularly true when the number of children ever born is used as an indicator among the urban respondents. These three blocks are (1) economic satisfaction, (2) educational status of respondent, his wife, and his parents, and (3) communication exposure. Among the tribal group, almost the same block of variables has a significant relationship with the indices of fertility behavior. But we must bear in mind that the effect of these variables within the tribal group is the opposite of that for the urban group. Table 10 generally indicates that the respondent's score in each group on two sets of variables (educational background of the respondent, his wife, and parents, and communication exposure) more than the other eight sets of variables individ-

ually differentiate fertility behavior. Thus, these two sets of variables plus duration of marriage seem to be the principle variables, at least among the three independent variables, which determine differential fertility. Finally, the 23 independent variables were grouped in three relatively distinct categories, and the net effect of the other two categories on fertility indices were measured controlling the effect of the other two categories. The result of this analysis is reported in Table 11. While the sociocultural category significantly explains the variances in the fertility experience within tribal, rural, and urban groups, the economic category by itself seems to have an insignificant effect in differentiating the fertility behavior within each group. As the table indicates, the duration of marriage within each group explains a substantial proportion of the variance. This finding means that regardless of the socio-

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165

TABLE 11 MULTIPLE AND MULTIPLE-PARTIAL CORRELATION BETWEEN FERTUJTTT AND L I F E STYLE INDICES o r TRIBAL, RURAL, AND URBAN GROUPS IKDICES OF FERTILITY

Number, of Living Children

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INDICES OF LITE STYLES*

Number of Children Ever Born

Tribal

Rural

Urban

Tribal

Rural

Urban

All 23 variables Joint effect

0.74t

O.75t

O.62t

O.79t

O.77f

O.69t

Economic variables Net effect

0.35

0.20

0.12

0.39

0.20

0.11

Sociocultural variables Net effect

0.43t

0.44t

0.18t

0.48f

0.34J

0.21f

Duration of marriage

O.S7t

O.62f

O.47t

0.64f

O.69f

O.S7t

* Economic variables include: Possession of modem appliances, possession of modern furniture, economic satisfaction, occupation of husband, occupation aspirations for son, occupation aspirations for daughter, and respondent's job aspirations. Sociocultural variables include: familism, communication exposure, social stress, neighborhood satisfaction, father's fortune ladder, respondent's fortune ladder, fatalism, religiosity, education of husband, education of wife, educational aspirations for son, educational aspirations for daughter,, education of father, education of mother, and personal health. Net effect means the explained variance of relevant set of independent variable (variables) controlling the effect of the other three sets of variables. t Significant at 0.001 level or less. t Significant at O.OS level or less.

cultural and economic conditions of the groups, the duration of marriage is the main determinant of the differential fertility. However, the sociocultural variables rank second in terms of importance. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

Based on 1,384 household survey cases collected in a southern province of Iran, this study attempts to examine the fertility attitudes and behaviors among tribal, rural, and urban groups and to measure the effects of various facets of the three groups' life styles on their fertility differences. The findings clearly indicate that the three groups are significantly different in regard to fertility attitudes and practices. Among the three groups, the tribe has the highest and the urban the lowest fertility pattern. In terms of fertility attitudes, most of the urban respondents, 28 per cent, wish for 3-4 children, but a large proportion of the tribal and rural respondents, 25 per cent, leave the decision of family size to God's will. The attitudes of the urban

respondents about the ideal family size for their children are remarkably different from the nonurban respondents. Forty per cent of the urban respondents' desire a family size of 3 for their children, but most of the tribal and rural respondents, 4 0

^

3Q

p e rc e n t

respective

l y j f e e l God's

will decides family size for their children, When the relationship between 23 selected independent variables and fertility practices was examined within each of the three groups, most of the variables were significantly associated with fertility. This pattern was consistent among the three groups. But when the variables were controlled by the duration of marriage, the effect of several of the independent variables disappeared. The 23 variables jointly explain more than 60 per cent of the variation in the mean number of children ever born within tribal and rural groups and almost SO per cent of the variation within urban group. Among the 23 variables, the duration of marriage is the first and the sociocultural category is the second significant factor having net effect on differ-

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ential fertility. Within the sodocultural category the respondent's score on educational background (the respondent's own education and that of his wife and his parents) and communication exposure are the main determinants of differential fertility within the three groups in Fars Ostan. Finally, while modern value orientation and high socioeconomic mobility reduce the high fertility norms and practices among the urban Shirazi, these factors seem to have a positive effect on the fertility pattern of the tribal population. The direction of the relationship within the rural group in regard to fertility and life style is not quite clear. One plausible hypothesis being established in fertilityrelated studies is that the improvement of socioeconomic conditions among nonurban sectors of developing countries will improve the nutritional conditions of the rural population and this will reduce child mortality and raise the mean number of living children. The evidence in our study not only supports this hypothesis, but also demonstrates that the socioeconomic im-

Social Biology

provement among tribes raises the number of children ever bom. This finding may be surprising, but it is quite possible that at the early stage of modernization, this phenomenon may occur, particularly among rural and tribal respondents with high socioeconomic status who feel having a large family is further strength to their social and economic power. We need further evidence to prove this opinion about the tribal and rural respondents of Iran. In conclusion, the findings in this study clearly indicate that the sodocultural characteristics of respondents (husbands) affect the fertility behavior of thdr wives regardless of their duration of marriage. Surprisingly, the economic characteristics of the respondents by themselves do not affect the fertility differences within tribal, rural and urban groups in the Fars Province. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The field work of this research was financially supported by Pahlavi University, Shiraz, Iran, and the World Health Organization. This paper was prepared under National Science Foundation Grant No. GS-271S9.

REFERENCES of the evidence. Research Triangle Institute, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. PAYDARFAR, ALI A. 1974. Social change in a southern province of Iran. Institute for ReMASON, KAREN O., A. S. DAVID, E. GERSTEL, Q. search in Social Science, Univ. of North CaroLINDSEY, and M. Rulison. 1971. Social and ecolina, Chapel Hill. nomic correlates of family fertility: A survey GOODE, WILLIAM J. 1969. The family and change.

Alfred A. Knopf, New York.