Poll of the Day > Why do so many SOUTHERN STATES have such BIG FAMILIES???

(+) Yeah! (+)

No offense to anybody living in the south but why is it so many people have BIG FAMILIES there?

I mean you've got families as big as TEN to FIFTEEN rabbits running around....

Is it common in the south to marry young and have many kids early on??

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/07/20/article-2176564-14254296000005DC-165_634x332.jpg
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OK, seriously? I was expecting some article either trying to prove or debunk this, and instead it's just your random opinion. Even by your standards, this is lazy.
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You see it in the midwest as well, along with any region with widespread religious upbringings

Golden Road posted...

OK, seriously? I was expecting some article either trying to prove or debunk this, and instead it's just your random opinion. Even by your standards, this is lazy.

He stopped posting articles months ago. Now he reads an article and makes a topic about it and links to images from dailymail. Sometimes if you find the article you find that the things he posts directly conflict with the actual story.
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I think it goes back to the time of needing so many people to work on farms.
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Golden Road posted...

OK, seriously? I was expecting some article either trying to prove or debunk this, and instead it's just your random opinion. Even by your standards, this is lazy.

It's ducky's schtick now. Odds are that it's based on nothing but his perception.
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gguirao posted...

I think it goes back to the time of needing so many people to work on farms.

Pretty much this. Also, the more educated tend to have less kids.
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So they'll have half a brain between them.
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Those with lower incomes tend to have more children (this is pretty much a global trend). The southern U.S. has more lower class and impoverished people per capita than the northern U.S.

Okay, first of all, the claim that Southern states have bigger families doesn't even seem to be true:
https://www.indexmundi.com/facts/united-states/quick-facts/all-states/average-household-size#map

The state with the largest family size is Utah (zero surprise), which is in the... well, the west or mid-west. In fact, NY is right around (or higher) than most Southern states, with the exception of Texas and Georgia. The second-highest in the nation is California, so really the states with the biggest families *tend* to be Western ones. In the case of Utah you have religion to blame. For California, it's mostly immigrants (non-US-born Latinos average the largest families) and their generous welfare programs.

AverageBoss posted...

Those with lower incomes tend to have more children (this is pretty much a global trend). The southern U.S. has more lower class and impoverished people per capita than the northern U.S.

It's also racial. Latinos and blacks tend to have more children than whites
http://www.pewhispanic.org/2016/04/19/statistical-portrait-of-hispanics-in-the-united-states/ph_2015-03_statistical-portrait-of-hispanics-in-the-united-states-2013_current-40/

The difference in birth rate is why whites may become the largest minority before long.
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AverageBoss posted...

Those with lower incomes tend to have more children (this is pretty much a global trend). The southern U.S. has more lower class and impoverished people per capita than the northern U.S.

The problem with that idea is that Mississippi is the poorest state in the country and has a bad education system but its family sizes are only slightly bigger than NY which is a wealthy, more educated state.

Plus you seem to have conflated correlation with causation, since poverty doesn't create the kids but often it's more that the kids create the poverty since having kids at a young age makes you less likely to be successful. Not to mention that it's a little misleading to compare world rates to US rates since the things which drive up population in other countries are often a reliance on children for the family's welfare (particularly for industries like farming, since the less educated nations tend to be the less developed nations which consequently still largely rely on agriculture) and lack of access to basic contraceptives.
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Cousins make dozens
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