Showing papers on "Fertility published in 1991"

The politics of reproduction.

Abstract: PIP: The topic of human reproduction encompasses events throughout the human and especially female life-cycle as well as ideas and practices surrounding fertility, birth, and child care. Most of the scholarship on the subject, up through the 1960s, was based on cross-cultural surveys focused on the beliefs, norms, and values surrounding reproductive behaviors. Multiple methodologies and subspecialties, and fields like social history, human biology, and demography were utilized for the analysis. The concept of the politics of reproduction synthesizes local and global perspectives. The themes investigated include: the concept of reproduction, population control, and the internationalization of state and market interests (new reproductive technologies); social movements and contested domains; medicalization and its discontents; fertility and its control; adolescence and teen pregnancy; birth; birth attendants; the construction of infancy and the politics of child survival; rethinking the demographic transition; networks of nurturance; and meanings of menopause. The medicalization of reproduction is a central issue of studies of birth, midwifery, infertility, and reproductive technologies. Scholars have also analyzed different parts of the female life-cycle as medical problems. Other issues worth analysis include the internationalization of adoption and child care workers; the crisis of infertility of low-income and minority women who are not candidates for expensive reproductive technologies; the concerns of women at high risk for HIV whose cultural status depends on their fertility; questions of reproduction concerning, lesbians and gay men (artificial insemination and discrimination in child rearing); the study of menopause; and fatherhood. New discourse analysis is used to analyze state eugenic policies; conflicts over Western neocolonial influences in which women's status as childbearers represent nationalist interests; fundamentalist attacks on abortion rights; and the AIDS crisis.

The young adult years: diversity, structural change, and fertility.

Abstract: An understanding of fertility behavior is improved by consideration of roles and behavior by those of childbearing age. This perspective is consistent with the changes taking place in demography to expand the range of behavior under examination. The focus is on the young adult years (18-30 years) which represent a demographically dense period of multiple transitions which may occur as similarity or diversity staged in a mandated order or not or appear ambiguous or clear cut. The data used for discussion are from the US National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972 (senior year) with followup data from 1973747679 and 86 (NLS72). This population of baby boomers with separate family activities and work/school activities which impact on one another is diverse in many ways. The demographic density of the young adult years is characterized by fertility and migration which reaches a peak magnitude during these years; i.e. age specific fertility begins to decline after age 27 and 66% of all births in 1987 were to women 18-29 versus 76% in 1975. Mortality is the only core demographic variable which shows a trough unless one considers mortality specific causes such as motor vehicle accidents which peak during the young adult years. Other variables such as 1st marriage peak in the mid 20s for women and the late 20s for men and divorces and remarriage rates are also highest in the 20s. Leaving school and unemployment rates are also concentrated in these years to add to the density. The sparsity of activity in the midlife years may account for the crisis; young adults have the most positive view of life and provide the engines of social change with the least resources (28% of households with 8% of the assets) with relatively little power. The substantial number of demographic events for young adults is coupled with their diverse roles and activities. The sequencing of roles is examined with the NLS72 data and 75% of combinations of work school other are unique to 1 person and only 10% worked all 12 years. Gender differences reflect females experiencing more diversity. Across societies the US offers greater opportunity to drop in and out of education. In the work and family sphere there are consequences of the diverse and demographically dense years where order is the exception. A fixed set of reproductive norms and operating in a changing context. Little empirical work has been done to examine the extent to which transitions are blurred or crisp. American fertility trends may not follow the pattern of decline due to changes in the evolving relationships among the roles of father mother spouse worker student. With the changes in choices child rearing will be very different in the future.

The Socioeconomic Consequences of Teen Childbearing Reconsidered

Abstract: Teen childbearing is commonly viewed as an irrational behavior that leads to long-term socioeconomic disadvantage for mothers and their children Cross-sectional studies that estimate relationships between maternal age at first birth and socioeconomic indicators measured later in life form the empirical basis for this view However1 these studies have failed to account adequately for differences in family background among women who time their births at different ages We present new estimates of the consequences of teen childbearing that take into account observed and unobserved family background heterogeneity, comparing sisters who have timed their first births at different ages Sister comparisons suggest that previous estimates are biased by failure to control adequately for family background heterogeneity, and, as a result, have overstated the consequences of early fertility

Delaying childbearing: effect of age on fecundity and outcome of pregnancy.

Abstract: Objectives - To study the age of the start of the fall (critical age) in fecundity; the probability of a pregnancy leading to a healthy baby taking into account the age of the woman; and, combining these results, to determine the age dependent probability of getting a healthy baby. Design - Cohort study of all women who had entered a donor insemination programme. Setting - Two fertility clinics serving a large part of The Netherlands. Subjects - Of 1637 women attending for artificial insemination 751 fulfilled the selection criteria, being married to an azoospermic husband and nulliparous and never having received donor insemination before. Main ontcome measures - The number of cycles before pregnancy (a positive pregnancy test result) or stopping treatment; and result of the pregnancy (successful outcome). Results - Of the 751 women, 555 became pregnant and 461 had healthy babies. The fall in fecundity was estimated to start at around 31 years (critical age); after 12 cycles the probability of pregnancy in a woman aged >31 was 0.54 compared with 0.74 in a woman aged 20-31. After 24 cycles this difference had decreased (probability of conception 0.75 in women >31 and 0.85 in women 20-31). The probability of having a healthy baby also decreased - by 3.5% a year after the age of 30. Combining both these age effects, the chance of a woman aged 35 having a healthy baby was about half that of a woman aged 25. Conclusion - After the age of 31 the probability of conception falls rapidly, but this can be partly compensated for by continuing insemination for more cycles. In addition, the probability of an adverse pregnancy outcome starts to increase at about the same age. This study examined the age of the start of the fall (critical age) in fecundity, the probability of a pregnancy leading to a healthy baby taking into account the age of the women, and, by combining all of the results, the determination of the age-dependent probability of getting a healthy baby. 2 fertility clinics serving a large part of the Netherlands provided the 751 women who fulfilled the selection criteria. In this cohort study of all women who entered a donor insemination program, those who fulfilled the selection criteria were married to azoospermic husbands, were nulliparous, and never received donor insemination previously. Main outcome measures studied were the number of cycles prior to a pregnancy (positive pregnancy result) or the cessation of treatment and the result of the pregnancy (successful outcome). Of 751 women, 555 became pregnant and 461 had healthy babies. The drop in fecundity was estimated to begin at around age 31 (critical age); after 12 cycles, the probability of pregnancy in a woman age 31 was 0.54 compared with 0.74 in a woman age 20-31. After 24 cycles, this difference had decreased (probability of conception 0.75 in women 31 and 0.85 in women age 20-31). The probability of having a healthy baby also decreased, by 3.5% a year after the age of 30. Combining both of these age effects, the chance of a woman age 35 having a healthy baby was about 1.2 that of a woman age 25. After the age of 31, the probability of conception falls rapidly; however, this can be compensated for partly by continuing insemination for more cycles. In addition, the probability of an adverse pregnancy outcome begins to increase at about the same age.

Reproductive behavior and health in consanguineous marriages.

Abstract: In many regions of Asia and Africa, consanguineous marriages currently account for approximately 20 to 50% of all unions, and preliminary observations indicate that migrants from these areas continue to contract marriages with close relatives when resident in North America and Western Europe. Consanguinity is associated with increased gross fertility, due at least in part to younger maternal age at first livebirth. Morbidity and mortality also may be elevated, resulting in comparable numbers of surviving offspring in consanguineous and nonconsanguineous families. With advances in medicine and public health, genetic disorders will account for an increased proportion of disease worldwide. Predictably, this burden will fall more heavily on countries and communities in which consanguinity is strongly favored, as the result of the expression of deleterious recessive genes. However, studies conducted in such populations indicate that the adverse effects associated with inbreeding are experienced by a minority of families.

An Association between Fertility and Cuckoldry in the House Sparrow, Passer domesticus

Abstract: DNA fingerprinting of 183 broods of house sparrows and their attendant adults revealed that 136% of nestlings were unrelated to the attendant male The occurrence of cuckoldry was unaffected by male age and experience, pair bond duration or time within a breeding season However, cuckoldry was significantly more frequent in broods that included some infertile eggs This study suggests that sperm competition can be strongly influenced by the fertility of the cuckolded male, and that females may benefit from extra-pair copulation as an insurance against their mate9s infertility

The effects of child mortality changes on fertility choice and parental welfare.

Abstract: Empirical studies have overwhelmingly shown that a lower child mortality rate leads to lower fertility. Yet it has not been possible to satisfactorily analyze this relationship in even the simplest theoretical models. This paper attempts to bridge this gap between theory and the empirical literature. The paper also presents results on the effects of child mortality changes on parental welfare. The analysis captures the dynamic stochastic feature of fertility choice, subsumes other endogeneous choices (e.g., the quality of the children), and treats the number of children as a discrete variable (this added realism is important for the analysis).

Stress from infertility, marriage factors, and subjective well-being of wives and husbands.

Abstract: Stress associated with the inability to have a child is linked to four aspects of marriage and to five dimensions of life quality. Data come from 157 couples who met a standard medical definition for infertility. Wives and husbands were interviewed independently, and most of the following findings apply to both. A causal model suggests that fertility problem stress has direct effects that increase marital conflict and decrease sexual self-esteem, satisfaction with own sexual performance, and frequency of sexual intercourse. Also, fertility problem stress has both direct and indirect effects (via the marriage factors) that decrease evaluations of life-as-a-whole, self-efficacy, marriage, intimacy, and health. The negative effects on life quality are stronger for wives than for husbands. The model suggests that the life quality of couples with fertility problems could be improved if health care providers and couples themselves took steps to reduce such stresses and/or reduce their impact on the marriage factors.

Women's Schooling and Child Care in the Demographic Transition: A Mexican Case Study

Abstract: THE QUESTION OF HOW FEMALE SCHOOL ATTENDANCE influences fertility and child survival in developing countries has emerged as an important problem in the analysis of demographic change and the evaluation of health and population policies. An extensive research literature based on national surveys and censuses conducted in developing countries shows maternal schooling to be a highly consistent household-level predictor of reduced fertility and child mortality, even when other socioeconomic factors are controlled.' This has led to proposals for expanding female school enrollment as a means of facilitating future reductions in fertility and child mortality rates in those countries where they remain high-despite scant information on the processes through which these reductions would occur.2 Gender equality in access to schooling can be justified without reference to the consequences for health and population growth, let alone scientific analysis of the processes involved. But consideration of expanded opportunities for schooling as an instrument of health and population policy calls for a deeper understanding of how the formal education of women affects their reproductive and health behavior.3 The research reported in this article was designed to contribute to that understanding through community-level studies in Mexico. The robust and widespread associations found between women's schooling and demographic variables are at once extremely familiar and

Why Mated Songbirds Sing So Much: Mate Guarding and Male Announcement of Mate Fertility Status

Abstract: Fitness loss among males as a result of cuckoldry is often large, and a number of paternity guards have evolved in response to the presence of cuckoldry risks. Paternity guards such as mate guarding protect the paternity of males but also indirectly announce the fertility status of the guarded female. When such "involuntary" fertility cues have arisen, the negative effects of the cues can be ameliorated either by modifying the paternity guard or by direct announcement of female fertility. Male announcement is a reliabile indicator of male quality, if the degree of mate fertility announcement depends on male phenotypic quality and the quality of his resources, and if costs of announcement are relatively higher for low- than for high-quality males. Cuckolder males would then maximize their reproductive success by preferentially intruding during female fertility on sites with little announcement. Intensive announcement of female fertility will be a phenotype-limited evolutionarily stable strategy (ESS), sinc...

Impacts of Early Postpartum Metabolism on Follicular Development and Fertility

Abstract: High producing dairy cows often experience low rates of conception during the target breeding period of 60 to 120 d postpartum (Faust et al., 1988; Harrison et al., 1990). Low fertility is costly for dairy producers because of extra expenditures for semen and insemination and because of reduced income from excessive days open (Britt, 1985). Cows that fail to conceive to AI between 60 and 120 d postpartum often are bred to clean-up bulls of unknown genetic merit. This not only affects long-range potential income for producers, but it reduces the number of records available for AI progeny testing programs. Review of experimental data and careful study of published papers reveal that not all high producing healthy cows experience low fertility during the breeding period (Butler and Smith, 1989; Fonseca et al.,1983; Helmer and Britt, 1986; Staples et al.,1990). On a within-herd basis, the association between level of production and fertility is often weak (Fonseca et al., 1983). This leads one to suspect that factors other than high production per se are responsible for low fertility. It is with this concept in mind that we have begun to examine various biological pathways that might account for differences in fertility in otherwise healthy high-producing cows. This paper will focus on one potential pathway namely the latent effect of early postpartum metabolism on quality of follicles destined to ovulate during the breeding period. Such follicles influence fertility in two ways: 1) through the quality grade or viability of the ovulated oocytes, and 2) through the amount of progesterone secreted by corpora lutea (CL) formed from these follicles (Fonseca et al., 1983). This paper examines the possibility that quality of a follicle is dependent on the conditions under which it begins its initial development many weeks prior to ovulation.

Mountain gorilla reproduction and sexual behavior.

Abstract: Data on mountain gorilla reproductive behavior, demography, and sexual behavior are reviewed and compared with earlier reviews of reproduction by wild gorillas and with data on captive gorillas. Topics covered include maturation, female transfer patterns and reproductive histories, reproductive intervals, influences on fertility, infant mortality, sex ratios at birth, birth seasonality, copulatory behavior, and estrus cyclicity. Most of the results of the updated analyses presented here corroborate those from previous studies of the same population. Newer information shows that responsibility for the initiation of copulations varies in association with female fertility and sexual state; that infant mortality in the first year is higher than reported earlier; that the sex ratio at birth is 1:1; and that, on a population level, interbirth intervals following the birth of males are the same length as those after female births. Data on reproductive intervals, sexual cyclicity, and copulatory behavior are generally similar to data from many captive situations. Two findings are particularly relevant to the problem of cessation of reproduction by captive females. First, fertility does not obviously decline with age in the wild. Second, a high proportion of females have reproduced in their natal groups and some have had multiple births there.

Istanbul Households: Marriage, Family and Fertility, 1880-1940

Abstract: The authors combine the methods and approaches of social anthropology historical demography and social history to examine changes in marriage the family and fertility in Istanbul Turkey in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. "Istanbul was the first Muslim city to experience a systematic decline in fertility and major changes in family life and as such set the tone for many social and cultural changes in Turkey and the Muslim world. Istanbul was the major focal point for the forces of westernization of Turkish society processes which not only transformed political and economic institutions in that country but also had a profound and lasting impact on domestic life." A chapter is included on fertility and family planning. (EXCERPT)

The Fertility of Immigrant Women: Evidence from High-Fertility Source Countries

Abstract: Using data from the 1970 and 1980 Censuses, we examined the fertility of immigrant women from the Middle East, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean where fertility rates averaged in excess of 5.5 children per women during the period of immigration to the U.S. Perhaps the most interesting finding of this study is that immigrants from these on average high fertility source countries were found to have very similar unadjusted fertility to native-born women. The small immigrant-native differential appears to reflect the selectivity of immigrants as a low fertility group both relative to source country populations and to native-born women with similar personal characteristics (a relatively high fertility group in the U.S.). Immigrant fertility is also depressed relative to natives in the 1970 cross-section by the tendency of immigration to disrupt fertility. Tracking the relative fertility of synthetic cohorts of immigrants across the 1970 and 1980 Censuses, we found that immigrant fertility, especially of the most recent cohort of immigrants in 1970, increased relative to otherwise similar natives over the decade. Despite this increase in relative fertility, the fertility of these immigrants remained below that of natives with similar personal characteristics in 1980. One trend of interest is that recent arrivals had higher adjusted fertility relative to both natives and longer term immigrants in 1980 than in 1970. This in part represents the impact of declining birthrates in the U.S. over this period, while source country fertility rates remained on average fairly constant.

Late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century childlessness.

Abstract: In some northeastern states, levels of childlessness approached 30% for women born in the mid-19th century. Other states in the South and West had levels of 6%-8%. Nationally, childlessness increased across cohorts born in the latter part of the 19th century. Nonmarriage and delayed marriage account for some of this variability. But the argument here is that fertility control within marriage played a major role in producing these differentials. Both the intercohort and cross-sectional differentials in childlessness match differentials in higher parity births, suggesting that fertility control was practiced most in the times and places where childlessness was gratest. Furthermore, "own-children" methods are used to present evidence of fertility control among childless women early in marriage. The argument is not that young women born in the mid-19th century intended to be childless at young ages; it is instead that they were willing and able to postpone childbearing. With fertility delay came experience an...

Adolescent sexuality and fertility in Kenya: a survey of knowledge, perceptions, and practices.

Abstract: This article presents findings from a survey conducted in Kenya in 1985 of the reproductive health knowledge, attitudes, and practices among more than 3,000 unmarried Kenyan youth, students and nonstudents, between the ages of 12 and 19. The survey was designed to elicit information that would be useful in gauging the kinds of problems Kenyan adolescents face in order to design programs that meet their needs. The study shows that although a solid majority of adolescents appear to have received information on reproductive health, the quality of the information is generally low. Fewer than 8 percent could correctly identify the fertile period in a woman's menstrual cycle. A substantial proportion of the population surveyed, more than 50 percent, is sexually active, having initiated intercourse some time between 13 and 14 years of age, on average. In spite of a general disapproval of premarital sex (but approval of the use of contraceptives among the sexually active), most of the sexually active population--89 percent--have never used contraceptives. The many contradictions between attitudes and practices pose serious questions and demonstrate the need to reexamine the programs (and policies) that provide access to reproductive health services to adolescents in Kenya.

Fertility rates in 238 HIV-1-seropositive women in Zaire followed for 3 years post-partum.

Abstract: Birth control use and fertility rates were determined prospectively in 238 HIV-1-seropositive and 315 HIV-1-seronegative women in Kinshasa Zaire during the 36 month period following the delivery of their last liveborn child. No women delivered children during the 1st followup year. Birth control utilization rates (% use during total observation time) and fertility rates (annual number of livebirths/1000 women of childbearing age) in the 2nd year of followup were 19% (107.4/1000 for HIV-1-seropositive women and 16% (144.7/1000) for HIV-1-seronegative women. In the 3rd year of followup these rates were 26 (271.0/1000) and 16% (38.6/1000) for HIV-1-seropositive and HIV-1-seronegative women respectively (p<0.05 for the difference in birth control usage and fertility rates between seropositive and seronegative women in the 3rd year of followup). 7 (2.9%) of the 238 HIV-1-seropositive women initially included in the study brought their sex partners in for HIV-1 testing; 3 (43%) of these men were found to be HIV-1-seropositive. New HIV-1 infection did not have a dramatic effect on the fertility of seropositive women. The almost unanimous unwillingness of HIV-1-seropositive women to inform husbands or sexual partners of their HIV-1 serostatus accounted in large part for the disappointingly high fertility rates in seropositive women who had been provided with a comprehensive program of HIV counseling and birth control. Counseling services for seropositive women of childbearing age which do not also include the sexual partners of these women are unlikely to effect any impact on their high fertility rates. (authors)

Intergenerational transmission of school-age parenthood.

Abstract: A long-term follow-up of a group of black New Haven [United States] women who were young mothers in the late 1960s revealed that the majority of their offspring had not become parents by age 19. The offspring who experienced early parenthood were most likely to be female and to report significant depressive symptoms. Of those children--both male and female--who did become young parents many were the offspring of women who had moved out of their mothers homes within 26 months of the childs birth and of women who reported suffering from lifetime depression. The data indicate that emotional deprivation particularly at an early age may predispose adolescents to seek emotional closeness through sexual activity and early parenthood. (EXCERPT)

Reproduction following treatment for childhood leukemia : a population-based prospective cohort study of fertility and offspring

Abstract: Of all children diagnosed with leukemia in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, 981 had discontinued therapy before 1985 and had been followed up annually after cessation of therapy. Progeny was registered and fertility evaluated among survivors who passed age 18 years without a relapse (n = 299). By April 1989, 48 offspring were registered, one of whom had congenital anomalies. This was no more than expected from the incidence of birth defects in the general population. No childhood malignancies or genetic diseases have so far been diagnosed in the progeny, in the study group, none of the 19 female and 8 male survivors of myeloid leukemias had become parents, and only 4 fathers were reported among the 131 male survivors of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). However, 23 of the 149 females treated for ALL had delivered 41 children. Fertility was measured as cumulative rates of first birth by maternal age. In a Cox regression analysis, cases who had received prophylactic radiation of the central nervous system (CNS) had a lower first birth rate than those without radiation (rate ratio 0.39, 95% CI 0.15–1.00), indicating that doses of 18–24 Gy to the brain may possibly be a risk factor. By using the Norwegian birth cohort of 1966 as a control group, matching the median year of birth for the study subjects, the group of female ALL survivors as a whole was as likely as the general female population to have given birth up to the age of 23. The first generation of females successfully treated for childhood ALL seems to have a nearly normal reproductive pattern during young adulthood, without increased risk of congenital anomalies in the offspring. However, cranial radiation as CNS prophy laxis may possibly impair subsequent reproduction.

The decline of fertility in Europe from the French Revolution to World War II.

Abstract: Within the past 2 centuries practically every region in Europe has experienced substantial reduction in mortality and reduction in fertility of at least 50%. The remaining exception are Ireland some provinces in Spain and Portugal Albania and a few areas in Yugoslavia. The fertility decline occurred at different times and under different circumstances in each country. The 4 interrelated measures of fertility used in this research are explained and illustrated. Fertility at the start of this period was lower in most of Europe than i n the rest of the world due to abstinence from marriage. It was hypothesized by the researchers that birth control would first be used among high parity and older women in the population. Maps and charts are employed which illustrate marital and fertility trends in all the countries of Europe. Results of the study show that the decline began in France before the end of the eighteenth century. There are less diff erences between Eastern and Western European trends than expected. The proportion of married among the national populations began to rise in 1930 and continued to 1960. This coincides with the increasing ability of couples to control fertility are presented. It is shown that the process was more complex and diverse than expected.