The influence of values in age at first marriage and marital fertility: an analysis in rural Spain at micro level (1880-2009)

Abstract

This paper analyzing the way some group values and individual values affected age at first marriage (both of men and women) and marital fertility during the First and Second Demographic Transition. For that purpose, three statistical regressions from microdata of individuals have been realized in nine rural localities of Aragon. Analyzed values are political environment at local level (in terms of electoral results of the polarized 1936 and 1982 elections), political tendency of individuals (political participation), religious values (church assistance) and family values (demographic transmission of behavior). Results show a change of tendency, from the predominance of group values to individual’s, and prove that conservative environments fostered an older age at first marriage and a higher fertility.