An empirical study of the relationships of Catholic practice and occupational mobility to fertility.

Abstract

MPIRICAL research in differential fertility as in other areas operates with two general types of independent variables: hypotheses variables and control variables. Interest is focused on the relationship of the hypothesis variable and the dependent variable, but a careful testing of the hypothesis demands that the influence of other relevant factors, the control variables, be eliminated or held constant. These variables have their origin in deductive theory and/or in empirical fact. Deductive theory usually contributes more heavily to hypotheses variables; empirical generalizations to control variables. Accordingly, this section presents a brief review of some of the literature on differential fertility as a source of control variables. Four topics are considered: the Catholic-non-Catholic fertility differential within the United States, the declining importance of this differential, fertility differentials within the Catholic population, and finally, fertility differentials within the general American population. The Catholic-non-Catholic Differential. In an early correlational analysis of the relationship of religion and fertility, Hornell Hart concluded from a study in Iowa that the "tendency for married Catholics to have more children than married non-Catholics is offset by the fact that Catholics in Iowa