Reviving the Demographic Study of the Amish.
Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies
Colyer, Cory, Cory Anderson, Joseph Donnermeyer, Rachel Stein, and Samson Wasao. 2017.
5(1):96-119.
Birth Rates, Contraception Usage, and Demographic Data Relating to the Beachy Amish-Mennonite Churches
Working paper, updated in 2010. Original version: Harrisonburg, VA: James Madison University.
Anderson, Cory. 2005.
Research Points
- Calculates Beachy Amish-Mennonite’s annual sample crude birth rates since 1973; reaching a high of 41 in 1998, rates dropped steadily to a low of 26 in 2008, suggesting underlying societal changes
- Surveys of Beachy Amish-Mennonite adolescents and other qualitative resources are used to test Coale’s three preconditions for fertility decline: personal choice (vs fatalism), cost of children, and contraception access/mastery
- Results suggest that Beachys view (1) fertility as a personal choice but God can intervene; (2) children as valued (sibling interactions and pleasure of children) but ability to provide financially and emotionally checks pronatalism; and (3) contraception as a moral concern, especially if triggering abortion, but some forms for limiting children may be acceptable.
- Beachys have partly satisfied Coale’s three preconditions for fertility decline but more research is needed
Access Related Content From The Project: "Population Structure—Fertility, Mortality, Composition"
The Persistently High Fertility of a North American Population: A 25-Year Restudy of Parity among the Ohio Amish
Population Studies
Wasao, Samson, Cory Anderson, and Christian Mpody. 2021.
75(3):477-86.
Collecting and Analyzing Micro Data about the Amish, a Rapidly Growing Ethno-Religious North American Population.
Population Association of America annual conference. Virtual.
Anderson, Cory, and Samson Wasao. 2021.
Persistently High Fertility in a Low Fertility Context: How Do America’s Amish Heterogeneously Respond to Fertility-Reducing Structural Incentives?
Presented at the Population Association of America annual conference. Atlanta, GA.
Anderson, Cory, George Hayward, Shuai Zhou, Guangqing Chi, and Mary Shenk. 2022.
The Population Structure of the Amish: The Demographic Architecture of One of America’s Fastest Growing Groups
Presented at the Population Association of America annual conference. New Orleans, LA.
Anderson, Cory, and Stephanie Thiehoff. 2023.
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