Children Are Bridges to Heaven: The Effects of Fertility on Later-Life Mortality

Several competing theories in a number of disciplines point to a possible influence of fertility history on health and mortality. However, the direction of effects is theoretically a-priori unknown and the empirical evidence is also inconclusive. This paper examines the effects of fertility during midlife on later-life longevity using Social Security Administration death records linked with the full-count 1940 census. We tackle endogeneity and selection concerns in the longevity-fertility association by implementing an instrumental variable based on the sex composition of first two children. Our findings indicate that having an extra child is linked to a decrease in women’s longevity by approximately 5 months. Men, on the other hand, experience smaller and insignificant reductions in longevity of about 3.3 months. This divergence in effects suggests that biological factors may play a small role in the relationship between fertility and later-life longevity.