Suchergebnisse

"In the course of the nineteenth century, millions of migrants moved to and settled permanently in western European urban centers. This large influx of immigrants, originating from various regions with different demographic backgrounds, affected the level and pace of the local fertility transition. In this study the authors sampled and analyzed 747 couples consisting of natives and immigrants in the city of Antwerp during the early fertility transition. Stopping behavior of both native, immigrant and mixed couples is analyzed. The authors found that adult migrants display stopping behavior that resembles that at their origin while individuals that immigrated during childhood adapt more often to the dominant local fertility pattern. While the migratory status of the mother was more decisive than that of the father, couples consisting of both immigrants were the last to implement more efficient reproductive strategies. By focusing on individual behavioral patterns, new light is shed on the diffusion of reproductive behavior during the Western European fertility decline." (author's abstract)

Economic, social, political, and demographic processes changed Western European cities strongly during the nineteenth century. Especially during this time, the northern part of Belgium (Flanders) became highly urbanized. Investigating the long-term development of the marriage pattern in the cities of Antwerp, Aalst, and Ghent gives a detailed picture of the evolution of the urban marriage pattern. In this article, specific emphasis is on gender, social, and migration distinctions. The results confirm that there is a male—female difference and variation among various social and migrant groups in the age at first marriage during the period 1800—1906. Moreover, regional differences are also visible. In the port city of Antwerp, massive immigration caused a unique evolution in the age at first marriage during the last decades of the nineteenth century, which did not appear in the textile cities of Aalst and Ghent during this time.