Effects of Reproductive Behaviour on Infant Mortality of French-Canadians During the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries

Abstract

In this paper the effects of mother's age, birth order, sibship size breastfeeding habits of the mother and length of previous birth interval on infant mortality among the French-Canadian population during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries are considered. A U-shaped effect of mother's age and a J-shaped effect of birth order are observed. The relation with birth order is shown to hold, even after controlling for sibship size. Study of the effect of sibship size leads to a relation between the fates of siblings and definition of a familial component in infant mortality. A significant factor in that familial component is the breastfeeding habit of the mother. Finally, the effect of the length of the previous birth interval is scrutinized, but no single explanation is found that fully accounts for the observed inverse relation with infant mortality.

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