Document Type
Book Chapter
Editor
Ellen R. Brennan
Publication Title
Mortality Patterns in Anthropological Populations
Publisher
Wayne State University Press
Publication Date
1983
Publisher location
Detroit, Michigan
Abstract/ Summary
The purpose of this paper is to provide a descriptive analysis of infant mortality patterns in a pre-industrial North American population, the Madawaska French of the upper St. John Valley. A synchronic approach was taken in examining a series of 320 infant deaths identified through family reconstitution. The infant mortality rate for the series is 132 per 1000, low compared to other pre-industrial populations. The large average completed family size of 11.34 is associated with short birth intervals ranging 21.9 months. Women who experience infant mortality were found to have significantly larger completed families than those who did not. Infant mortality risk was positively associated with larger ultimate family size, but was unrelated to birth order. Patterns of high fertility and low infant mortality are attributed to the process of colonization and population expansion in a relatively isolated are.
Repository Citation
Sorg, Marcella H. and Craig, Beatrice C., "Patterns of Infant Mortality in the Upper St. John Valley French Population: 1791-1838" (1983). Anthropology Faculty Scholarship. 23.
https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/ant_facpub/23
Version
publisher's version of the published document