Woman's Status and the Transitions to First, Second, and Third Births in Turkey

DeAnna L. Gore, University of South Carolina Aiken

Turkey is a unique setting in studying the relationship between women’s status and fertility. This study uses the 2003 Turkish Demographic and Health Survey to examine how status affects the risk of birth for the first three parity progressions. Status is measured through education, premarital work experience, age at first marriage, arrangement of marriage, and type of marriage ceremony. Childbearing is virtually universal in Turkey. However, women tend to have the first birth much quicker than the second or third birth. Education and age at first marriage were the most important status measures on fertility. They both had an inverted U-shaped relationship for the risk of first birth, while there was a negative relationship for the risk of second and third birth. Women with more traditional marriages had higher risks of birth than women with more modern marriages. Premarital work experience did not have a significant effect on fertility.