Some Remarks on the Paper by Julia Ericksen et al., 'Fertility Patterns and Trends among the Old Order Amish'.

The article comments on the study conducted by economist Julia Erickson regarding the non-usage of contraception among few population groups and availability of accurate data on marriage and fertility for the same. Ericksen and colleagues studied the fertility patterns and trends among the old order Amish. Some of the concepts of the study have been criticized. Most demographers hold the concept that a woman cannot give birth to a live child within the first eight months of her marriage in the absence of pre-nuptial conceptions and hence suggested the calculation of conception rates rather than birth rates. As against the concept that fertility decreases with the duration of marriage, the author suggests that some kind of family limitation is practiced which reduces fertility. Also the hypothesis that natural fertility decreases with age is not always true. In some populations fertility declines at a faster rate. Practice of family limitations may be held responsible for this. It is almost impossible to show the beginnings of family limitation from a simple comparison of figures between different populations.