Showing papers on "Fertility published in 1995"
TL;DR: It is demonstrated that, in morphologically and developmentally normal human embryos, cleavage-stage aneuploidy significantly increases with maternal age, and the results suggest that implantation failure in older women largely could be due to aneuPLoidy.
676 citations
TL;DR: In this article, Kishor et al. investigated the relationship between economic and cultural worth and female child survival and found that female literacy had a negative and statistically significant effect on child mortality for both genders.
Abstract: The findings in this study are broadly consistent with findings of Kishor on the link between economic and cultural worth and female child survival. It is reported that prior literature is unclear about the precise mechanisms underlying the relationship between gender bias in survival and particular economic and social variables. This analysis which aims to clarify the nature of the relationship is based on a sample of 296 districts in India in 1981. The poverty variable had similar effects regardless of whether 1971-72 or 1987-88 data was used and was viewed as crucial in the analysis. Labor force (proportion of female "main workers") is treated as an exogenous variable. Female literacy had a negative and statistically significant effect on child mortality for both genders but the effect on female mortality was larger. Male literacy had a significant effect on the extent of gender bias in child survival. North versus South regional differences in impact of literacy were not apparent. Higher female labor force participation statistically significantly reduced the extent of gender bias in child survival. The relationship with absolute levels of child mortality is viewed as complex and dependent upon the inclusion of controls for level of poverty. Urbanization and medical facilities had a negative statistically significant effect on child mortality. Higher levels of poverty were associated with higher levels of child mortality and lower levels of female disadvantage. The southern region was found even after controlling for other variables to have lower levels of child mortality particularly for girls. The link between higher fertility and higher female mortality was statistically significant. Female literacy and medical facilities jointly were found to reduce child mortality. Child mortality was higher in districts with a lower juvenile sex ratio. Findings lend support to the view that gender bias is not reduced by higher economic development is not nonlinear and is still evident. Higher levels of male literacy and urbanization lower levels of poverty and improved medical access were all associated with larger female disadvantage.
607 citations
Posted Content•
TL;DR: This study concludes that such contextual factors as the overall level of socio-economic development and the situation of women in traditional kinship structures complicate the general assumptions about the interrelationships between education, fertility, and female autonomy.
Abstract: Women's access to education has been recognized as a fundamental right. At the national level, educating women results in improved productivity, income, and economic development, as well as a better quality of life, notably a healthier and better nourished population. It is important for all kinds of demographic behaviour, affecting mortality, health, fertility, and contraception, The personal benefits that women attach to education vary widely according to region, culture, and level of devlopment, but it is clear that educaiton empowers women, providing them with increased autonomy and resulting in almost every context in fewer children. Beyond these few general assertions, however, there is little consensus on such issues as how much education is required before changes in autonomy or reproductive behaviour occur; whether the education-autonomy relationship exists in all cultural contexts, at all times, and at all levels of development; and which aspects of autonomy are important in the relationship between education and fertility. It is in the need to address these fundamental issues that this book took shape. The author reviews the considerable evidence about education and fertility in the developing world that has emerged over the last twenty years, and then passes beyond the limits of previous studies to address three major questions: BL Does increased education always lead to a decrease in the number of children, or is there a threshold level of education that a woman must achieve before this inverse relationship becomes apparent? BL What are the critical pathways influencing the relationship of women's education to fertility? Is fertility affected because education leads to changes in the duration of breast-feeding? Because it raises the age at marriage? Because it increases the practice of contraception? Or because education reduces women's preferences for large numbers of children? BL Do improvements in education empower women in other areas of life, such as their improving exposure to information, decision-making, control of resources, or confidence in dealing with family and the outside world? Supported by full documentation of the available survey data, this study concludes that such contextual factors as the overall level of socio-economic development and the situation of women in traditional kinship structures complicate the general assumptions about the interrelationships between education, fertility, and female autonomy. It lays out the policy implications of these findings and fruitful directions for future research.
426 citations
TL;DR: In this article, an updated overview of the relationship between women's education and fertility is presented, which confirms that higher education is consistently associated with lower fertility, however, a considerable diversity exists in the magnitude of the gap between upper and lower educational strata and in the strength of the association.
Abstract: This article presents an updated overview of the relationship between women's education and fertility. Data from the Demographic and Health Surveys for 26 countries are examined. The analysis confirms that higher education is consistently associated with lower fertility. However, a considerable diversity exists in the magnitude of the gap between upper and lower educational strata and in the strength of the association. In some of the least-developed countries, education might have a positive impact on fertility at the lower end of the educational range. Yet, compared with patterns documented a decade ago, the fertility-enhancing impact of schooling has become increasingly rare. The study also examines the impact of female education on age at marriage, family-size preference, and contraceptive use. It confirms that education enhances women's ability to make reproductive choices.
395 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a new demographic phenomenon of a distorted sex ratio (number of males per 100 females) at birth is emerging at three levels: in the population at large, between families, and within families.
Abstract: A CENTRAL CONCERN of demographers and population planners has been the impact on family size of parental preferences for the sex of their children, especially in patriarchal developing societies in Asia. If parents continued to bear children until they reached their desired sex combination of children or their desired number of sons, sex preference would be a major barrier to fertility reduction. Sheps (1963) has shown theoretically that the expected average family size would be 3.88 children if couples continued childbearing until two sons were born. In fact, abundant empirical evidence shows a close relationship between sex preference and fertility.' In China and Korea (these designations refer to Mainland China and South Korea, respectively, throughout the article), fertility has recently declined precipitously to the replacement level or even below, in spite of their populations' strong adherence to son preference. In these countries, however, probably to accommodate both sex preference and a small-family norm, a new demographic phenomenon of a distorted sex ratio (number of males per 100 females) at birth is emerging at three levels: in the population at large, between families, and within families. At the population level, a rising trend has been recorded in the sex ratio. At the between-family level, large families have low sex ratios and small families high sex ratios. At the within-family level, a rapidly rising sex ratio is reported with rising birth order, and the sex ratio of last-born children is extremely high. In this article we present empirical evidence of these changes in the sex ratio at birth, focusing on Korea. Then we discuss possible demographic, social, health, and other implications of the changes. The principal means of altering the sex ratio at birth, also known as the secondary sex ratio, are
375 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1995
TL;DR: This long-awaited book presents a comprehensive, integrated and up-to-date overview of the major physiological and behavioral factors affecting human reproduction.
Abstract: Awarded the W. W. Howells Award for the Outstanding Book in Biological Anthropology, this volume presents a comprehensive, integrated, and up-to-date overview of the major physiological and behavioral factors affecting human reproduction. In attempting to identify the most important causes of variation in fertility within and among human populations, Wood summarizes data from a wide range of societies. Trained as an anthropologist as well as a demographer, he devotes special attention to so-called ""natural fertility"" populations, in which modern contraceptives and induced abortion are not used to limit reproductive output. Such an emphasis enables him to study the interaction of biology and behavior with particular clarity.The volume weaves together the physiological, demographic, and biometric approaches to human fertility in a way that will encourage future interdisciplinary research. Instead of offering a general overview, the focus is to answer one question: Why does fertility and the number of live births vary from couple to couple within any particular population, and from population to population across the human species as a whole?Topics covered include ovarian function, conception and pregnancy, intrauterine mortality, reproductive maturation and senescence, coital frequency and the waiting time to conception, marriage patterns and the initiation of reproduction, the fertility-reducing effects of breastfeeding, the impact of maternal nutrition on reproduction, and reproductive seasonality. This unique combination of comprehensive subject matter and an integrated analytical approach makes the book ideally suited both as a graduate-level textbook and as a reference work.
302 citations
TL;DR: Women with unwanted or mistimed pregnancies are at an increased risk for violence by their partners compared with women with intended pregnancies, and this association was weaker for women with few social advantages than for those with more advantages.
277 citations
TL;DR: Congenital malformations of the genitalia were reported three times as often by the diethylstilbestrol-exposed men as by the sons of the women in the placebo group.
Abstract: Background Prenatal exposure to diethylstilbestrol causes infertility in male mice and has been associated with malformations of the genital tract in men. However, little is known about the fertility of men who have been exposed prenatally to diethylstilbestrol. Methods In 1950 through 1952, 1646 pregnant women were enrolled in a randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial of diethylstilbestrol at Chicago Lying-in Hospital. We interviewed men who were born to the women during that study about their fertility. Results Four decades after their birth, we were able to trace 548 of the surviving sons (68 percent). Ninety percent consented to be interviewed (253 who had been exposed to diethylstilbestrol in utero and 241 who had not been exposed). Congenital malformations of the genitalia were reported three times as often by the diethylstilbestrol-exposed men as by the sons of the women in the placebo group. Within the exposed group, malformations were reported twice as often among those exposed to diethylst...
232 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the effects of the fertility desires of marital partners on subsequent fertility were examined and they identified the role played by disagreement between the spouses in pruning and fertility planning, respectively.
Abstract: This paper examines the effects of the fertility desires of marital partners on subsequent fertility. In particular, we attempt to identify the role played by disagreement between the spouses in pr...
222 citations
01 Jan 1995
TL;DR: The power of names: illegitimacy in a Muslim community in Cote d'Ivoire 6. Marginal members: the problem of children of previous unions in Mende households in Sierra Leone as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: 1. Anthropology theorizes reproduction: integrating practice, political economic, and feminist perspectives 2. Political economic and cultural explanations of demographic behavior 3. Agency and fertility: for an ethnography of practice 4. Invisible cultures: poor women's networks and reproductive strategies in nineteenth-century Paris 5. The power of names: illegitimacy in a Muslim community in Cote d'Ivoire 6. Marginal members: the problem of children of previous unions in Mende households in Sierra Leone 7. Women's empowerment and fertility decline in western Kenya 8. High fertility and poverty in Sicily: beyond the culture versus rationality debate 9. History, marriage politics, and demographic events in the central Himalaya 10. Economics 1, Culture 0: fertility change and differences in the northwest Balkans, 1700-1900.
218 citations
TL;DR: The results of a regression analysis indicate that cognitive economic and attitudinal assets mediate the influence of schooling upon reproductive behavior and partly explain the wide fertility gap between educational strata.
Abstract: Education influences womens childbearing patterns. Data from Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) for nine Latin American countries show that women with no education have large families of 6-7 children while better educated women have only 2-3 children. However despite this wide differential in actual fertility between the two groups of women women across the education level spectrum share a small family norm. A 20-50% gap in contraceptive prevalence exists between the least educated and best educated women. Better educated women have broader knowledge higher socioeconomic status and less fatalistic attitudes toward reproduction than do less educated women. The results of a regression analysis indicate that cognitive economic and attitudinal assets mediate the influence of schooling upon reproductive behavior and partly explain the wide fertility gap between educational strata.
TL;DR: This paper examined the relative importance of the marriage system and the means of active discrimination against women and women economic value in a patriarchal system in affecting the total fertility rate (TFR) for 358 districts in India.
Abstract: This study examines the relative importance of the marriage system the means of active discrimination against women and womens economic value in a patriarchal system in affecting the total fertility rate (TFR) for 358 districts in India. Data were obtained from the Development District Database from the 1981 Census of India. TFR was adjusted for undercounts based on the methods of Bhat Preston and Dyson. Regional diversity in fertility was expected to vary with levels of economic and social development and gender biases in kinship structure. Women in the south and to some extent in the east were better off and had greater female autonomy. Womens status measures reveal that female sex ratios of mortality exceeded 1.00 in over 60% of districts and that over 50% of girls were married at 15-19 years in over 50% of districts. Literacy and labor force participation approach equity in only 6% of districts. In general the north-south pattern of womens status and TFR held. However some hill districts of the north had lower female sex ratios of child mortality and some south districts had a prevalence of early marriage. Womens status was more favorable in coastal areas. The 6 indicators did not mesh exactly geographically. The best fitting models included measures of social development and gender discrimination. Because of multicollinearity problems only 2 patriarchy measures were found to be statistically significant. In the full model the sex ratio of child mortality and female labor force had the most significant effects on fertility. Social measures of child mortality and literacy also have strong impacts on fertility. The proportion landless was the only social stratification factor that was significant and negative. Residence in the south and east had a negative impact. Patriarchy had a major influence on TFR by district was multidimensional and overlapped with other structural factors. Some patriarchy measures were virtually substitutable and others were independent.
TL;DR: Analyses based on a sample of 2,795 women interviewed annually from 1979 through 1991 in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth show that early childbearing lowers the educational attainment of young women.
Abstract: then public policies that focus on reducing teenage pregnancy and childbearing may do little to improve the life chances of many disadvantaged young women. Proving, or disproving, the theory that teenage childbearing undermines a woman’s chances of social and economic success in adulthood is essential if policies to reduce poverty and welfare dependence are to be grounded in an appropriate conceptual framework. This article presents new estimates of the relationship between teenage childbearing and educational attainment, a central issue in the scholarly and public policy debates. Recognizing that adolescent fertility is endogenous with respect to educational attainment because it is likely to be related to the expected costs of and returns from investing in education, we take such endogeneity into account in our analyses. Because the relationship between fertility and education may vary by race and ethnicity, we conduct separate analyses for non-Hispanic whites, non-Hispanic blacks (hereafter referred to as “whites” and “blacks”) and Hispanics. Our analyses are based on data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY). Recent Research The ability of young mothers to support themselves and their children is affected by the employment opportunities available to them. These opportunities, in turn, are largely determined by the qualifications young mothers bring to the market. It seems reasonable to assume that caring for young children will conflict with and possibly reduce a woman’s investment of time and effort in high school completion, college attendance, postsecondary training and early work experience. If reduc
TL;DR: The sharing of resources within poor households in India is often unequal as men and boys usually get more than women and girls and women also carry a disproportionate burden in fertility choices as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The sharing of resources within poor households in India is often unequal as men and boys usually get more than women and girls. Women also carry a disproportionate burden in fertility choices. The total fertility rate is between 6 and 8 in Sub-Saharan Africa with nearly half of a womans life spent on pregnancies or breast-feeding. Pregnancy is the major source of maternal mortality: 1 woman dies for every 50 live births there compared to 1 per 200000 in Scandinavia. Data on the status of women in 79 developing countries indicates a pattern of high fertility high illiteracy rates low levels of paid employment and high levels of working at home for no pay. Poor households cannot take advantage of subsidized education either because cheap child labor is vital for the home. In parts of India children 10-15 years old have been observed to work 150% of the hours that adult males do. The need for many hands to perform household chores can lead to environmental destruction. Rural assets such as ponds water holes grazing fields and forests have been held in common in semiarid regions. But increasing development mobility and urbanization can erode traditional methods of control and overexploitation results. Recent findings by the World Bank on Sub-Saharan Africa demonstrated positive correlations among poverty fertility and deterioration of the local environment. The economic value of children induces higher procreation increased numbers deplete the communitys resources which in turn induces higher fertility to scavenge for diminished firewood and water. Thus a vicious cycle of growing population expanding poverty and environmental destruction begins. Breaking free from this cycle requires satisfying the unmet need for contraception improved civil liberties increased literacy for women and employment.
TL;DR: The roles of chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery on fertility potential are stressed and possible treatment modalities in such cases are discussed.
Abstract: Male cancer and infertility are linked in three different ways. First, in certain malignancies, such as Hodgkin's disease, testicular and endocrine cancers, infertility may precede the diagnosis of cancer. The cause of infertility in these cases is not always obvious, although endocrine and immune aetiologies are responsible in some of them. Therefore, during evaluation of an infertile male, the possibility of cancer should be borne in mind. Second, cryptorchidism causes, in a parallel course, infertility and cancer. Third, improved survival of childhood and adolescent cancer is the trend of modern medicine. However, infertility is an important major sequela of treatments. The roles of chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery on fertility potential are stressed and possible treatment modalities in such cases are discussed.
TL;DR: An optimality model of human fertility is tested to determine whether current behavior does maximize fitness and, if not, to use the specific nature of the behavioral deviations from fitness maximization towards the development of models of evolved proximate mechanisms that may have maximized fitness in the past but lead to deviations under present conditions.
Abstract: Our objective is to test an optimality model of human fertility that specifies the behavioral requirements for fitness maximization in order (a) to determine whether current behavior does maximize fitness and, if not, (b) to use the specific nature of the behavioral deviations from fitness maximization towards the development of models of evolved proximate mechanisms that may have maximized fitness in the past but lead to deviations under present conditions. To test the model we use data from a representative sample of 7,107 men living in Albuquerque, New Mexico, between 1990 and 1993. The model we test proposes that low fertility in modern settings maximizes number of grandchildren as a result of a trade-off between parental fertility and next generation fertility. Results do not show the optimization, although the data do reveal a trade-off between parental fertility and offspring education and income.
Journal Article•
TL;DR: The risk of long-term effects of 131I treatment of differentiated thyroid carcinoma is quite low and Iodine-131 may be safely used in treating cases with a high risk of recurrence.
Abstract: The aim of this study was to evaluate female fertility, carcinogenic, and genetic effects after treatment with {sup 131}I of differentiated thyroid carcinoma. A total of 814 females of child-bearing age were studied. The fertility of 627 females who received {sup 131}I therapy was compared to 187 untreated females. Birth histories of the children born from these women were registered. The carcinogenic effect was evaluated by comparing the incidence of tumors in 730 patients treated with {sup 131}I with an internal control group, as well as with local population incidence. There was no significant difference in the fertility rate, birth weight and prematurity between the two groups. Only one case of a ventricular septal defect was observed in a child born to a woman treated with {sup 131}I. The overall standardized incidence ratio (SIR) of second tumors was 1.19 (95% CI: 0.76-1.77) in patients treated with {sup 131}I. An elevated SIR was registered for salivary gland tumors and melanoma. No case of leukemia was registered. The risk of long-term effects of {sup 131}I treatment of differentiated thyroid carcinoma is quite low. Iodine-131 may be safely used in treating cases with a high risk of recurrence. 35 refs., 7 tabs.
TL;DR: Researchers investigate lifetime prevalence of infertility, the seeking of infertility treatment and outcomes of treatment, and the results show clear trends in male infertility and female infertility.
TL;DR: The male fertility effect accelerates the spread of the Wolbachia through the host population and expands the initial opportunity for hitch-hiking of host nuclear genes.
Abstract: The cytoplasmically inherited microorganism Wolbachia pipientis behaves like a sexually selected trait in its host, the flour beetle Tribolium confusum, enhancing male fertility at the expense of female fecundity. Here we show that infected females have fewer offspring than uninfected females but infected males have a large fertility advantage over uninfected males within multiply-inseminated infected or uninfected females. The male fertility effect accelerates the spread of the Wolbachia through the host population and expands the initial opportunity for hitch-hiking of host nuclear genes. Sperm competition in a host, mediated by endosymbionts, has not been previously described.
Posted Content•
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors use a broad sociological perspective to view demographic trends and other behavioral and attitudinal changes accompanying unification as separate, but related, threads in an overall process of assimilation.
Abstract: This investigation draws on detailed, longitudinal sample survey data to examine declining fertility in East Germany. Since the unification of Germany in 1990, the fertility rate in East Germany has been halved-falling well below that of West Germany, which was already among the lowest in the world. The authors assess the manner in which these changes in individual behavior can best be understood as responses to socioeconomic change. They advocate using a broad sociological perspective to view demographic trends-as well as other behavioral and attitudinal changes accompanying unification-as separate, but related, threads in an overall process of assimilation.
TL;DR: There is a male factor in infertility in half of the couples, and even after a thorough evaluation, the cause of a man's lack of normal fertility usually remains unknown.
Abstract: Fifteen percent of couples are subfertile — that is, they have less-than-normal fertility. In approximately 30 percent of the cases, an important abnormality is identified in only the man, and in another 20 percent abnormalities are detected in both partners. Thus, there is a male factor in infertility in half of the couples. The evaluation should begin with a complete history taking, physical examination, and appropriate laboratory tests. Unfortunately, even after a thorough evaluation, the cause of a man's lack of normal fertility usually remains unknown. Since it is very difficult to develop a rational treatment plan to correct a . . .
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that pre-transitional natural fertility was sometimes controlled through birth-spacing, and that coitus interruptus was probably an important means of such control.
Abstract: In this article I argue that pre-transitional natural fertility was sometimes controlled through birth-spacing, and that coitus interruptus was probably an important means of such control. First, the motivation for spacing was often strong, although not necessarily associated with a desire for family limitation; and control through spacing, although much harder to detect than a parity-dependent deceleration of the rate of childbearing, has been identified unequivocally in some pre-transitional and transitional populations. Secondly, coitus interruptus is reasonably effective and harmonizes with ancient and persistent notions of reproductive physiology; and evidence for its use comes both from statements of criticism and advocacy, and from a rich set of metaphors and euphemisms. The scenario of natural fertility controlled by means such as coitus interruptus is not offered as an alternative to the emergence of family limitation, which was probably the great innovation of the fertility transition. Rather, i...
TL;DR: In this article, the shadow price of fertility in Sweden has been developed using a neoclassical economic framework to summarize the effect of Sweden's economic and policy environment on the observed fertility patterns.
Abstract: In the literature the recent upsurge in period birth rates is seen as evidence of a pronatalist effect of Sweden's extensive social insurance programs. Yet, these explanations can not account for the downturn in birth rates in the 1970s, the delay in childbearing, and the constancy of cohort birth rates which characterize recent Swedish fertility behavior. To summarize the effect of Sweden's economic and policy environment on the observed fertility patterns, I use a neoclassical economic framework to develop the shadow price of fertility. Although strong simplifying assumptions are imposed, the estimated price series exhibit a negative relationship with period fertility rates and the change in the estimated relative prices of fertility over the life cycle lend modest support for the delayed childbearing.
TL;DR: It was found that female zebra finches paired to a vasectomized male, and hence receiving no sperm, were no more likely to seek an extra-pair copulation than females paired to an intact male.
Abstract: We tested the idea that female preference for relatively attractive extra-pair males arises because the morphological and behavioural features that females find attractive covary with ejaculate features: Sheldon's (Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 257 25-30 (1994)) phenotype-linked fertility insurance hypothesis. Two phenotypic traits that female zebra finches find attractive in males are song rate and symmetry of chest band plumage, but we found neither of these to be significantly related to any of the following ejaculate features: number of sperm, percentage of live sperm, absolute number of sperm, sperm length or sperm swimming velocity. Furthermore, and surprisingly, we did not find the predicted negative relationship between male song rate and fluctuating asymmetry of chest band plumage. Because most ejaculate features (except sperm numbers in rested males) show low levels of repeatability, it is unlikely that female zebra finches could reliably obtain a better quality ejaculate by choosing to copulate with a more attractive male. There was thus no evidence for the phenotype-linked fertility insurance hypothesis. Nor did we obtain evidence for the more general fertility insurance hypothesis: we found that female zebra finches paired to a vasectomized male, and hence receiving no sperm, were no more likely to seek an extrapair copulation than females paired to an intact male.
TL;DR: It is concluded that the determination of elaborate motility characteristics as obtained by CASA systems is of limited value to optimizing the evaluation of male fertility status.
Abstract: Semen analysis was performed by employing a comptuter-assisted semen analysis (CASA) system (SM-CMA), in comparison with visual estimation by microscope. There was a significant relationship between the values obtained by both methods, but a large range of differences in individual values was observed. Results of semen analysis in 407 men complaining of reduced fertility were investigated for their relationship to fertility outcome. The parameters obtained by the CASA system were analysed in relation to time to conception, applying the Cox proportional hazards model of regression. In univariate regression analysis, all examined CASA parameters were shown to have a significant effect on cumulative hazard function. However, applying a multivariate step forward approach, only percentage of motile spermatozoa and log-transformed values of sperm count remained significant predictors of later fertility due to the close intercorrelations among the examined covariates. We concluded that the determination of elaborate motility characteristics as obtained by CASA sytems is of limited value to optimizing the evaluation of male fertility status.
TL;DR: There was no significant difference in marital status between the two groups and a similar proportion were sexually active, yet women with CF were less likely to use contraception.
TL;DR: Son preference is found to be strong by world standards, but nevertheless, it has a minor effect on fertility; in its absence, the total fertility rate would fall by roughly 10 percent from the current level of about 3.2 children per woman of reproductive age.
Abstract: Vietnam has penalties for having children too soon or for having too many children. The penalties are not as severe as those in China and vary widely within the country. This study examines the impact of son preference on fertility behavior in Vietnam and establishes the existence of gender preferences. Hazard models are used to estimate the risk of having another child after the birth of a son and to determine whether families with a son are more likely to use contraceptives. Data are obtained from the Vietnam Living Standards Survey of 4800 households during 1992-93. The results of the application of four Cox proportional hazard models indicates that son preference is clear and strong for mothers who have 2-4 children. Women with 3 children are at greatest risk of having another child if the children are all daughters and at some risk if the children are all sons. The risk is the least for women with one child of each gender. The desire for gender balance does not appear for women with two children. More maternal education reduces the risk of more births. If womens educational level increased from 6.6 to 8.0 years the hazard rate would decline by about 9%. Risk of another birth is lowered by increased maternal age higher expenditure per capita and urban residence and residence in the Red River Delta. The contraceptive use rate is calculated to be 77% if there is no son preference according to Arnolds methods. Families with at least one son are about 15% more likely than those with none to be using contraception. The likelihood of contraceptive use declines among breastfeeding women and increases among better educated women and among working women. The same increase in contraceptive use is achieved by 5 years of education and by womens employment. Contraceptive use is highest in the Red River Delta a densely populated area. Contraceptive use is unaffected by age at first marriage duration of marriage gender of household head expenditure per capita cost of contraception urban residence and the age of the father. Estimates reveal that total fertility would be 10% lower if son preference declined in importance but this rate of decline is expected among countries experiencing demographic transition.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors evaluated the fertility and pregnancy rates after intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) in infertile couples with severe male infertility and found that fertility was achieved even in older women but were more readily established in younger women producing larger numbers of metaphase II oocytes.
TL;DR: This review emphasizes both the contingent nature of the Easterlin effect and the way in which conditions have changed in recent decades to reduce the salience of cohort size for social and demographic behavior.
Abstract: "The Easterlin effect posits cyclical changes in demographic and social behavior as the result of fluctuations in birth rates and cohort size during the post-World War II period.... The Easterlin effect has generated a large literature in the several decades since it was first proposed. Our review of the empirical studies notes the diversity of support across behaviors, time periods, and nations.... Our review emphasizes both the contingent nature of the Easterlin effect and the way in which conditions have changed in recent decades to reduce the salience of cohort size for social and demographic behavior."
TL;DR: Predictors of coital frequency that were stable across several analyses were male's and female's ages, the duration of the relationship, and the male partner's self-assessed health.
Abstract: Coital frequency is studied among couples as a function of marital or cohabiting status, relationship duration, number of children, religious affiliation, income, education, fertility intentions, age, race, self-assessed health, time spent in work, and perceived relationship quality. Data are from the 1987-88 National Survey of Families and Households. Predictors of coital frequency that were stable across several analyses were male's and female's ages, the duration of the relationship, and the male partner's self-assessed health. When the discrepancy in partners'reports was adjusted, cohabitation status, number of children, future fertility intentions, religious affiliation, and relationship quality as assessed by the female partner were significant. The results suggest a substantial idiosyncratic component to the determination of coital frequency in relationships