Cycles of Infertility: Intergenerational Transmission and the Role of Assisted Reproduction
中文摘要
本研究考察了同一家庭内生育相关健康问题的跨代持续性，以及辅助生殖技术（ART）的利用情况。利用全面的瑞典登记数据，我们记录了女儿和儿子均存在生育困难的统计显著代际传递，且独立于父母的社会经济地位。父母报告此类问题的女儿，自身经历生育问题的可能性高出2.6个百分点，即19.4%。父母报告生育困难的儿子，其可能性增加1.7个百分点，即13.5%。这些关联在不同测量指标和样本中均持续存在。通过比较在同一家庭中成长的亲生子女与收养子女，我们发现该现象不太可能由家庭对生育问题的意识所驱动，而是指向亲生子女与父母共享但收养子女不具备的生物学及其他因素。医疗技术对使用者同等有效，我们发现先进生育治疗的成功率与父母背景之间无显著关联。然而，过去几代的生育困难既与更高的医疗费用相关，也与诸如离婚可能性增加等社会成本相关。
Abstract
This study examines the persistence of fertility-related health problems across generations within the same family, and the utilization of assisted reproductive technologies (ART). Using comprehensive Swedish registry data, we document significant intergenerational transmission of fertility difficulties for both daughters and sons, independent of parental socioeconomic status. Daughters whose parents reported such problems are 2.6 percentage points, or 19.4 percent, more likely to experience fertility problems themselves. Sons whose parents reported fertility difficulties experience a 1.7 percentage point, or 13.5 percent, increase. These associations persist across alternative measures and samples. Comparing biological and adopted children raised in the same households, we find that this phenomenon is unlikely to be driven by family awareness of fertility issues, pointing to biological and other factors that biological children share with their parents but adopted children do not. Medical technology works equally well for those who use it, and we find no significant association between the success of advanced fertility treatments and parental backgrounds. However, past generations’ fertility difficulties are associated both with higher medical expenses and with social costs such as increased likelihood of divorce.