Fertility

About: Fertility is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 29988 publications have been published within this topic receiving 681106 citations.

A study on psychological strain in IVF patients.

Abstract: Purpose: The objectives of this study were to compare average stress levels in infertile women to fertile women, to determine the stress levels whether the patients was pregnant or not pregnant, and to examine for a cross-section of infertile patients in different stages of medical investigation for the infertility. Methods: One hundred thirty-eight women receiving medical treatment for infertility attended the program. The State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) ofperceived stress associated with the infertility was the outcome measure. Results: Infertile women showed significant increases in trait anxiety and depressive symptoms than the fertile women. Anxiety and depression in the in vitro fertilization (IVF)-failed women were significantly higher than the IVF-success women. According to the duration of infertility, STAI and BDI were moderately elevated in the first stage (< 3 year). There was a trend of a decreasing psychological stress with an advanced infertility duration. On depression scales, the intermediate and final duration of infertility patients showed less symptomatology than the first-stage patients. Contrary to the expectation, demographic factors such as religion and husband cooperation were not related to the experience of stress. Conclusions: We must pay an attention to the infertile patient, especially from the initial infertility workup. We recommend psychological counselling for IVF-failed patients.

Early childbearing and subsequent fertility.

Abstract: Data from the National Survey of Family Growth which was conducted by the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics in 1973-1974 were searched for the relationship between early childbearing and subsequent fertility. The data show that early age at 1st birth especially if the mother is a teenager correlates with more rapid and higher levels of subsequent fertility. Women who start their childbearing in their teen years tend to have more unwanted and out-of-wedlock births. This is true within racial educational and religious subgroups. Marital status at 1st birth had little effect on subsequent fertility. Previously observed fertility differences between blacks and whites are largely attributable to differences in age at 1st birth. Blacks in fact seem to have slowed the pace of their current childbearing perhaps due to the growth of federally subsidized family planning programs in recent years. There are still differences in subsequent fertility between Catholics and non-Catholics when age at 1st birth is controlled. Subsequent childbearing seems to have no relation to whether the 1st birth was considered wanted or unwanted. Education proves to be an important predictor of contraceptive use and success. The reasons for this are complex.

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)

Value of Children and the Framing of Fertility: Results from a Cross-cultural Comparative Survey in 10 Societies

Abstract: To overcome incomplete explanations of cross-cultural differences in fertility behaviour, three complementary approaches are systematically related to each other: the ‘demand’-based economic theory of fertility (ETF), a revised version of the ‘supply’-based ‘value-of-children’-approach (VOC) as a special theory of the general social theory of social production functions, and the framing theory of variable rationality. A comprehensive model is specified, which accounts both for the variable efficiency of having children for the optimization of physical well-being and of social esteem of (potential) parents, and for the variable rationality of fertility decisions. The model is tested with a data set, which comprises information on VOC and fertility of women within social settings of 10 societies (Peoples Republic of China, India, Indonesia, South Africa, Ghana, Israel, Palestine, Turkey, the Czech Republic, and Germany), using multivariate models with births of different parity as dependents. As empirical research both on ETF and VOC only exists for intra-societal comparisons, the simultaneous test in a cross-cultural context goes beyond the current state of fertility research. It provides evidence about the cross-cultural validity of the model, systematic effects of VOC on fertility, and changing rationality of fertility decisions in the demographic transition.