ABSTRACT

This article explores the impact of parental loss and subsequent remarriage on child survival in the nineteenth century, by drawing on the example of post-emancipation rural Estonia. We utilize a novel, individual-level longitudinal dataset combining data from parish registers, poll-tax lists and migrant listings from 1826 to 1891, to examine: (1) how parental loss effects were differentiated by the gender of the parent; (2) if the loss of parents could be compensated by remarriage; (3) how parental loss effects were felt differently by the socioeconomic status of the household. Our results indicate that the effects of parental loss in this setting played in distinctive ways compared to those found in existing literature examining these processes in historical populations. Consistent with the literature, we find that parental loss effects were stronger when mothers died, but unlike other settings, these effects were felt longer in the Estonian setting and even among children aged 5–9 years. Also, paternal loss was associated with elevated mortality, especially among early childhood. We found no evidence to support the idea that remarriage for mothers improved survival prospects for children. However, there is clear support for improving prospects for children with the remarriage of fathers. When it comes to child health outcomes, stepmothers were not as ‘evil’ as they have been depicted in Estonian folklore, although the resources in families were generally limited and stepchildren might have been discriminated against in the resource allocation within the household.

摘要

本文以解放后的爱沙尼亚农村为例，探讨了 19 世纪失去父母和随后再婚对儿童生存的影响。我们利用一个新的、个人层面的纵向数据集，结合了 1826 年至 1891 年教区登记册、人头税名单和移民名单的数据，以检查：（1）父母的性别如何区分父母的损失影响；（二）如果失去父母可以通过再婚来弥补；(3) 家庭的社会经济地位对父母损失的影响如何不同。我们的结果表明，与在历史人群中研究这些过程的现有文献中发现的那些相比，在这种情况下失去父母的影响以独特的方式发挥作用。与文献一致，我们发现，当母亲去世时，失去父母的影响更大，但与其他环境不同的是，在爱沙尼亚环境中，甚至在 5-9 岁的儿童中，这些影响的感受时间更长。此外，失去父亲与死亡率升高有关，尤其是在儿童早期。我们没有发现任何证据支持母亲再婚可以改善儿童生存前景的观点。然而，人们明确支持改善父亲再婚的孩子的前景。就儿童健康结果而言，继母并不像爱沙尼亚民间传说中描述的那样“邪恶”，尽管家庭资源普遍有限，继子女可能在家庭资源分配中受到歧视。在爱沙尼亚环境中，甚至在 5-9 岁的儿童中，这些影响的感受时间更长。此外，失去父亲与死亡率升高有关，尤其是在儿童早期。我们没有发现任何证据支持母亲再婚可以改善儿童生存前景的观点。然而，人们明确支持改善父亲再婚的孩子的前景。就儿童健康结果而言，继母并不像爱沙尼亚民间传说中描述的那样“邪恶”，尽管家庭资源普遍有限，继子女可能在家庭资源分配中受到歧视。在爱沙尼亚环境中，甚至在 5-9 岁的儿童中，这些影响的感受时间更长。此外，失去父亲与死亡率升高有关，尤其是在儿童早期。我们没有发现任何证据支持母亲再婚可以改善儿童生存前景的观点。然而，人们明确支持改善父亲再婚的孩子的前景。就儿童健康结果而言，继母并不像爱沙尼亚民间传说中描述的那样“邪恶”，尽管家庭资源普遍有限，继子女可能在家庭资源分配中受到歧视。我们没有发现任何证据支持母亲再婚可以改善儿童生存前景的观点。然而，人们明确支持改善父亲再婚的孩子的前景。就儿童健康结果而言，继母并不像爱沙尼亚民间传说中描述的那样“邪恶”，尽管家庭资源普遍有限，继子女可能在家庭资源分配中受到歧视。我们没有发现任何证据支持母亲再婚可以改善儿童生存前景的观点。然而，人们明确支持改善父亲再婚子女的前景。就儿童健康结果而言，继母并不像爱沙尼亚民间传说中描述的那样“邪恶”，尽管家庭资源普遍有限，继子女可能在家庭资源分配中受到歧视。