Particular attention should be paid to reproductive behaviour leading to early fertility. It has been observed that children are highly likely to repeat the reproductive patterns of their parents, and in the poorest families these patterns involve early fertility and more children than the average for all households. It has been suggested that there is a vicious circle whereby poverty is linked to higher and earlier fertility and a heavy child-rearing burden for households that leads back to greater poverty (Carrasco, Martinez and Vial 1997, Paz and others, 2004, Rodriguez, 2006).