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Abstract
This research is a comparative analysis of the marital fertility of older women in Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. The main purpose of the study is to evaluate the evidence for existence of a social custom which is believed to influence the fertility of older women, especially in traditional societies. According to the custom (called the "grandmother custom" in this study), it is considered improper for a woman to continue sexual relations once she becomes a mother-in-law or potential grandmother. Thus, the hypothesis of this thesis is that a reduction in marital fertility is occasioned by that change in a woman's familial status.
World Fertility Survey data for the three countries of interest were used to test the hypothesis. The methodology employed included bivariate analysis and logit regression analysis, which compared the recent fertility of women with at least one married child to that of women without any married children. Empirical findings indicate strong support for existence of the "grandmother custom" in Nepal and somewhat weaker support for its existence in Bangladesh. As for Sri Lanka, the strongest conclusion that can be drawn is that such a custom may exist.
The demographic impact of the "grandmother custom" was quantified in terms of reduction in the total fertility rate. This reduction is positively correlated with the proportion of women who attain grandmaternal status while still biologically capable of reproduction, and the proportion among these which subscribes to the proscription on sexual relations. In Nepal and Bangladesh, where both these proportions are high, the reduction in the total fertility rate due to the "grandmother custom" is about one-third of a child. On the other hand, the reduction is insignificant in Sri Lanka.
The effect of abstinence among grandmothers on the age pattern of natural fertility was examined using WFS data for Nepal. It was shown that the "grandmother custom" causes the value of the Coale-Trussell index m to vary considerably, thus indicating that adherence to this custom is an important explanation for deviations from the Coale-Trussell standard of natural fertility.
