Showing papers on "Fertility published in 1979"

Education as a factor in mortality decline: an examination of Nigerian data

Abstract: The debate between those who see economic development and those who regard advances in medical technology as bearing major responsibility for mortality decline usually gives little attention to different stages of social change when economic or medical conditions are fixed. However Nigerian statistics analyzed here show that very different levels of child survivorship result from different levels of maternal education in an otherwise similar socioeconomic context and when there is equal access to the use of medical facilities. Indeed maternal education in Nigeria appears to be the single most powerful determinant of the level of child mortality. The statistics come from 2 surveys undertaken in 1973: one of 6606 women in Ibadan city and the other of 1499 women in a large area of southwest Nigeria. Proportions of children surviving are compounded into an index of child mortality to increase the frequencies in individual cells and standardize maternal age when child survivorship is correlated with a range of factors and 2 component indices are also constructed to detect change over time. It is concluded that womens education in societies like that of the Yoruba in Nigeria can produce profound changes in family structure and relationships which in turn may influence both mortality and fertility levels. Education may well play a major role in the demographic transition and this role may help to explain the close timing of mortality and fertility transitions. (Authors)

Fertility and Education: What Do We Really Know?

Abstract: Current research on the relationship between education and fertility is reviewed, and a model relating intervening variables to fertility is developed. The evidence indicates that education may increase or decrease individual fertility. The decrease is greater for the education of women than of men and is greater in urban than in rural areas. However, education is more likely to increase fertility in countries with the lowest level of female literacy. Probably, this increase occurs as a result of improved health, better nutrition, and the abandonment of traditional patterns of lactation and postpartum abstinence, education increases the ability to have live births. In societies with higher average levels of female literacy, education lowers the demand for children by altering perceptions of costs and benefits. In addition, once the biological supply of children exceeds the demand for them, high levels of education enable couples to limit their fertility more efficiently through access to contraceptive knowledge and improved ability to communicate with each other. Several issues require further research. Statistical tables and figues are provided.

Lessons from the past: policy implications of historical fertility studies.

Abstract: Drawing on data compiled during the Princeton European Fertility Project the authors find that "the historical record suggests the relative lack of importance of income and prices in determining the demand for children prior to or during early stages of the fertility decline [in Europe during the last century]." They assert that some early features of the European transition from high to low fertility "can only be explained by a change in tastes or a decline in the cost of fertility regulation or some combination of the two." Among the features of Europes demographic transition that the authors note are "the variety of social economic and demographic conditions under which the decline of fertility occurred; its remarkable concentration over time; the apparent coincidence of the decline with the sudden adoption of family limitation practices; the rapid generalization of such practices once they appeared; the resultant drastic change of reproductive regimes; and finally the importance of cultural factors among those that appeared to influence the onset and the spread of the fertility decline." An innovation-diffusion dimension to the change in reproductive patterns is observed and implications for family planning programs in developing countries are considered. (EXCERPT)

The end of “Catholic” fertility

Abstract: Catholic and non-Catholic fertility during the post-World War II period are compared in this paper. Evidence accumulated across five sample surveys of fertility in the United States, which were conducted at five-year intervals from 1955 through 1975, forms the basis for the analysis; both cohort and period measures are employed. Starting from a situation where Catholic fertility was very little higher than that of non-Catholics, it is shown that the differential increased markedly during the baby boom and then declined to a point where the two trends nearly come together in the mid1970s. Interpretation of the recent convergence in the light of various theories that have been put forward to explain the differential suggests that it will be an enduring phenomenon.

Early childbearing and later economic well-being.

Abstract: In a study of 1268 women aged 20-24 in 1968 who were surveyed in 1968 and reinterviewed in 1973 and 1975 as part of the National Longitudinal Surveys of the Labor Market Experience of Young Women the economic situation of the women at age 27 was compared for those who had given birth to a child during their teen years with those who did not bear a child until after age 18. The effects on economic status of early childbearing were primarily negative and operated indirectly through intervening variables such as decreased educational levels and higher fertility rates. For each year a birth was postponed annual earnings at age 27 were increased by $197. Surprisingly women who had a child at age 15 or 16 experienced fewer negative economic effects at age 27 than those who had a child at age 17 or 18; perhaps the younger girls continued to live with their parental family and remained in school while the slightly older girls left the parental family and dropped out of school. The negative economic effects at age 27 for black women who bore a child at an early age were less pronounced than for white women. Policy makers should be aware of these long-term negative economic effects of early childbirth and efforts should be made 1) to increase child care programs which enable young mothers to continue their schooling; 2) to provide family planning services to young mothers who are at greater risk of subsequently having large families; 3) to encourage young mothers to remain living with their parental family; and 4) to provide additional training and job counseling for young mothers. Tables depict 1) mean and standard deviations for 50 sociodemographic variables for women who were less than 19 at first birth and for women who were 19 or older at first birth; 2) estimated structural equations for the total sample for whites only for blacks only for those 19 years or older at first birth and for those less than 19 years of age at first birth; and 3) effect on economic well-being at age 27 of delaying birth by one year by age at first birth and by race.

Prenatal stress reduces fertility and fecundity in female offspring

Abstract: Female rats subjected to prenatal stress later experienced fewer conceptions, more spontaneous abortions and vaginal hemorrhaging, longer pregnancies, and fewer viable young than nonstressed rats. The offspring of the prenatally stressed rats were lighter in weight and less likely to survive the neonatal period. Prenatal stress may influence the balance of adrenal and gonadal hormones during a critical stage of fetal hypothalamic differentiation, thereby producing a variety of reproductive dysfunctions in adulthood.

Theories of Fertility Decline: A Reappraisal

Abstract: Demographic transition theory and its implicit assumptions are reexamined and questions are raised concerning its pertinence for fertility decline in the West. It is hypothesized that subsets of objective development change considerably smaller than those that characterized the West can provide motivations for lower fertility at this time; and that under modern conditions ideas and aspirations for a different way of life transcending what is actually available are also important in motivating lower fertility. Once motivation is present the concept and means of family limitations have an additional independent effect. Country examples are presented for the countries of Sri Lanka Kerala and the Peoples Republic of China in order to illustrate the idea that there are multiple pathways to fertility decline and that fertility decline is taking place in situations not envisaged in the classical demographic transition theory. In terms of what is necessary to change both the demand for children and the adoption of the concept and means for family limitation social systems that involve the masses of the population are essential in order to provide the actual minimum changes in life conditions to change aspirations and perceptions that the future can be different and to distribute the means of fertility limitation in acceptable ways.

The Value of Children in the United States: A New Approach to the Study of Fertility.

Abstract: National sample data are analyzed to understand the psychological satisfactions of having children and how these relate to fertility attitudes. Responses about advantages of having children are reported for black, white, and Hispanic couples. Multiple-classification analysis is used to investigate the relationship between these responses and desired family size. Responses indicating that children provide "something usefiul to do, " make you feel like "a better person, " and have economic-utility are positively related to family size, whereas responses indicating that children are seen as functional for the marriage are negatively related. Satisfactions that are positively related are less common in America but cited more by subgroups with higher fertility desires. Thus, satisfactions may be a link between demographic variables and fertility attitudes.

Age at menarche, at first intercourse, and at first pregnancy.

Abstract: Data from an urban sample of American women of reproductive ages demonstrate that age at menarche is correlated with age at first intercourse, that age at first intercourse is correlated with age at first pregnancy, and that age at menarche is therefore correlated with age at first pregnancy. This applies to both blacks and whites when examined for the early years of the reproductive cycle. Girls with early menarche, compared to those with late menarche, are more than twice as likely to have had intercourse by age 16, and almost twice as likely to have given birth or had a pregnancy terminated by age 18. It is therefore useful to think of the timing of meanarche as an indicator of the probability of early intercourse and early childbearing.

Prediction of the Fertility Potential of Broiler Breeder Males

Abstract: In both naturally mated and artificially inseminated flocks, the fertility of the male is of greater importance than that of the female because the male is responsible for fertilizing the eggs from...

Reasons for nonuse of contraception by sexually active women aged 15--19.

Abstract: Findings from 2 US national probability household sample surveys (1971 and 1976) of women aged 15-19 indicate a rapid increase in premarital sexual activity and a definite shift toward use of more effective modern contraceptive methods Although this shift has been dramatic a significant proportion of sexually active adolescent women have never used contraceptives or have used them sporadically The findings indicate that few teenagers fail to use contraception in order to become pregnant There is evidence that many are sexually active for up to a year before beginning contraceptive use Based on the 1976 survey information reasons are explored that premaritally sexually active teenage women give for failing to use contraception Information on the nonuse of contraception was elicited for the last reported unprotected premarital intercourse and in the case of respondents premaritally pregnant at interview for the time at which that conception occurred Results definitely indicate that sexually active young women engage in a substantial amount of unprotected intercourse Most believe they are protected by their youth infrequent sex or time of month or say sex was unexpected The data dramatize the need among young people for greater knowledge of the facts about pregnancy including the risks of conception when contraception is not used and it is concluded that people providing contraceptive services to adolescent women must initiate new approaches which take account of ignorance about risk of pregnancy sporadic sexual encounters and earlier

Methotrexate and fertility in men

Abstract: The possible deleterious effects of folic acid antagonist methotrexate on the fertility potential have been investigated in 26 male psoriatic patients. Examination for semen, testicular histology, and spermatogenic function using radioactive phosphorus revealed that methotrexate had no unfavorable effect on male fertility. A long follow up of the patients and their offspring is needed to exclude the possible teratogenic effect of the drug.

Inbreeding effects on fertility and sterility in southern India

Abstract: The effects of consanguineous marriages on couples9 fertility and sterility were explored through an interview survey of 20 626 women, chosen randomly from the rural and urban areas of the North Arcot District of Tamil Nadu State. Qualified women investigators obtained relevant information about reproductive performances of all married women resident in well defined rural and urban samples chosen randomly from North Arcot District. For each marriage, a family pedigree was drawn, extending upwards to two earlier generations on both sides of each spouse, in order to determine the existence and type of consanguinity involved. Of marriages in rural areas, 46·9% were consanguineous, and in urban areas, 29·1%. In more than 80% of the consanguineous marriages, the spouses were first cousins or more closely related. The extent of primary and secondary sterility and the level of fertility were examined in relation to each type of consanguineous marriage with the duration of the marriage and the age of the woman. The frequency of primary sterility appeared to be lower in the consanguineous marriages compared to that in the non-consanguineous marriages. However, the differences were only marginal and only occasionally attained statistical significance. No trends were seen in the degree of consanguineous relationship, and there did not appear to be any association with the duration of marriage or the age of the woman. The frequencies of secondary sterility did not differ significantly in consanguineous marriages in either the rural or the urban areas. No consistent associations were observed with degree of relationship. There were no specific associations in terms of the duration of marriage or the age of the woman observed in the frequencies of secondary sterility. The mean levels of fertility were slightly raised among the consanguineous marriages and attained significance merely because of the large sample sizes involved. These findings are discussed and compared with relevant published work. Comparisons are made difficult because of paucity of data based on community studies, and also because great differences exist in the methodology adopted by various investigators. The findings from the present study seem to show that long-term inbreeding results in only marginal or non-significant effects on fertility of inbred populations.

Fertility and infertility in domestic animals

Abstract: We may not be able to make you love reading, but fertility and infertility in domestic animals will lead you to love reading starting from now. Book is the window to open the new world. The world that you want is in the better stage and level. World will always guide you to even the prestige stage of the life. You know, this is some of how reading will give you the kindness. In this case, more books you read more knowledge you know, but it can mean also the bore is full.

Are parthenogenetic and related bisexual insects equal in fertility

Abstract: CARSON, H. L., AND K. Y KANESHIRO. 1976. Drosophila of Hawaii: Systematics and ecological genetics. Ann. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 7:311-345. CRADDOCK, E. M. 1974. Reproductive relationships between homosequential species of Hawaiian Drosophila. Evolution 28:593-606. KANESHIRO, K. Y. 1976. Ethological isolation and phylogeny in the planitibia subgroup of Hawaiian Drosophila. Evolution 30:740-745. KANESHIRO, K. Y., AND F. C. VAL. 1977. Natural hybridization between a sympatric pair of Hawaiian Drosophila. Amer. Natur. 11:897902.

Fertility womens wage rates and labor supply.

Abstract: A theoretical model is presented whereby the relationships among fertility child quality womens wage rates and labor supply can be studied. The model utilizes a disaggregate multivariate household approach. The theoretical underpinnings of the multiple equation model are described. The data base and variables that were used are discussed. The focus of the model is a wifes lifetime labor supply as influenced by fertility decisions price and income variables instead of current labor force participation. The model shows that the number of children desired responds negatively to their cost and positively to family income. Desired family size feeds back negatively to mothers market earning power. Contrasting to previous model evaluations this model shows a negligible influence on the labor force participation of married women by the number of children in the family. Future research should focus on exogenous forces impinging on the decision to have children.

Factors affecting the age at menopause.

Abstract: A postal questionnaire was sent out in September 1977 to all women aged between 40 and 60 years in Ede, the Netherlands. The design of the study was similar to that used by Jaszmann et al. in 1967 in the same locality. The response rate was 66·6%. Data were analysed using theprobit analysis, a segmentation analysis and by applying chi-squared tests to cross tabulations. The median age at menopause was 51·7 years, 3 months later than in 1967. When, however, women who were taking oral contraceptives at the time of the survey were excluded the median age at menopause was found to be virtually the same as 10 years previously. The effect of factors associated with early or late menopause was studied. The results are discussed. The concept of a secular trend is briefly commented upon.

Determining the impact of sex preferences on fertility: A consideration of parity progression ratio, dominance, and stopping rule measures

Abstract: The two methods commonly used to assess the effect of sex preferences on fertility are inadequate to the task. Parity progression ratio analyses suffer from logical problems stemming from the heterogeneity of sex preferences and the riskiness of fertility decisions. While conjoint measurement-dominance procedures overcome these logical problems, they cannot yield quantitative estimates of the impact of sex preferences on fertility. A stopping rule measure which overcomes these limitations is proposed and described and its potential for determining the effect of sex predetermination methods on population is discussed.

Pregnancy in chronic active hepatitis.

Abstract: The outcome of pregnancy in chronic active hepatitis (CAH) was studied retrospectively, together with a survival analysis of patients and a comparison of fertility with that expected from controls drawn from the normal Australian population. Clinical records of 73 cases of CAH included 37 women who were potentially fertile (aged 15–45 years) and there were 30 pregnancies among 16 of these women. Hepatic and obstetric complications and the outcome for the foetus and the mother were compared with the results from 36 reports accumulated from the literature. The results showed an incremental increase in survival of patients with CAH according to decade of diagnosis from 1950 and similar severity of liver disease in those who did, or did not, become pregnant. Fertility was reduced in patients with CAH. Relapse of CAH occurred during pregnancy in only two patients, hepatic complications were minimal, and there was no consistent pattern of alteration in liver function; 12 of 16 mothers are alive for a mean period of eight years after pregnancy. Obstetric complications Included urinary tract Infections (six), toxaemia of pregnancy (nine) and prematurity (seven); of the 30 pregnancies, four were terminated on medical advice in the early years of the study, three ended in spontaneous abortion, and there were four perinatal deaths giving a foetal loss rate of 33 per cent. Despite the maternal disease and use of prednisolone and azathioprine during pregnancy, the single congenital abnormality was pyloric stenosis. We conclude that in CAH fertility is reduced but pregnancies which occur can proceed without detriment to the mother provided that prednisolone treatment is maintained; that a higher than normal foetal loss can be expected; and that babies may be born prematurely but will be normal.

The relevance of the Easterlin hypothesis and the new home economics to fertility movements in Great Britain.

Abstract: Summary The hypothesis that a family's economic status relative to its aspirations (relative economic status) is an important determinant of its fertility behaviour has been developed and applied to the explanation of swings in American fertility by R. A. Easterlin. However, a recent application by Butz and Ward of a model derived from the ‘new home economics’ (pioneered by Becker and Mincer) strongly suggests that relative economic status is not the dominant factor in explaining fertility movements in the U.S.A. Rather, both current men's and women's wages operate independently in explaining the movement in fertility, and in particular the decline in fertility is attributed to rising women's wages. In this paper we explore the relevance of both the Easterlin hypothesis and the hypotheses derived from the ‘new home economics’ to the 1955–75 fertility swing in Great Britain. We find that we must reject the Easterlin hypothesis on the basis of the measures of relative economic status suggested by Easterlin ...

A History of Italian Fertility during the Last Two Centuries

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