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Fertility
About: Fertility is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 29988 publications have been published within this topic receiving 681106 citations.
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TL;DR: Cox regression analysis showed that cancer survivors who married and were presumed to be at risk of pregnancy were less likely than their sibling controls to have ever begun a pregnancy.
Abstract: In a retrospective cohort study of survivors of cancer and of controls, we estimated the risk of infertility after treatment for cancer during childhood or adolescence. We interviewed 2283 long-term survivors of childhood or adolescent cancer diagnosed in the period from 1945 through 1975, who were identified at five cancer centers in the United States. Requirements for admission to the study were diagnosis before the age of 20, survival for at least five years, and attainment of the age of 21. In addition, 3270 controls selected from among the survivors' siblings were interviewed. Cox regression analysis showed that cancer survivors who married and were presumed to be at risk of pregnancy were less likely than their sibling controls to have ever begun a pregnancy (relative fertility, 0.85; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.78 to 0.92). Radiation therapy directed below the diaphragm depressed fertility in both sexes by about 25 percent. Chemotherapy with alkylating agents, with or without radiation to sites below the diaphragm, was associated with a fertility deficit of about 60 percent in the men. Among the women, there was no apparent effect of alkylating-agent therapy administered alone (relative fertility, 1.02) and only a moderate fertility deficit when alkylating-agent therapy was combined with radiation below the diaphragm (relative fertility, 0.81). Relative fertility in the survivors varied considerably according to sex, site of cancer, and type of treatment; these factors should be taken into consideration in counseling survivors about the long-term consequences of disease.
403 citations
TL;DR: This paper revisited the question of religion and fertility in the light of a generation of new theoretical and empirical work, and pointed out the importance of religious affiliation as a determinant of demographic behavior.
Abstract: Religious affiliation as a determinant of demographic behavior was once at the forefront of demographic research especially in studies of differential fertility. Particular attention was paid to the high fertility of Catholic populations in countries such as the United States. But with the changes that swept through Catholic communities in many industrialized societies in the wake of the Second Vatican Council Catholic fertility patterns came to resemble more closely those of other major religious denominations. Westoff and Jones succinctly captured this change in the title of their article on the end of Catholic fertility. Not surprisingly with the narrowing of fertility differences among religious groups came a withering of interest among demographers in understanding the sources of religious influence on demographic behavior. Several recent developments in the field would seem to justify renewed interest in this old question. The empirical findings of the Princeton studies of the decline of fertility in Europe helped touch off a wave of interest in ascertaining how cultural beliefs and practices including religious ones influenced the fertility transitions in Europe and elsewhere. More recently this concern has extended to attempts to account for variation in the pace of the second demographic transition. Another source of interest in religion centers on fertility patterns in the Muslim world. Countries with large Muslim populations have been generally slower to experience fertility decline and they figure prominently among the shrinking number of societies that continue to experience high rates of fertility. Yet considerable disagreement surrounds the role Islam plays in the fertility patterns of these societies reflecting in part the difficulty demographers have had in conceptualizing the influence of religion on demographic behavior. It thus seems opportune to revisit the question of religion and fertility in the light of a generation of new theoretical and empirical work. (excerpt)
403 citations
TL;DR: The authors found that the relative lack of importance of income and prices in determining the demand for children prior to or during early stages of fertility decline in Europe during the last century can be explained by a change in tastes or a decline in the cost of fertility regulation or some combination of the two factors.
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)
403 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined US household fertility and female labor supply over the life cycle using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and found that while parents cannot perfectly control conceptions variations in child care costs do affect life cycle spacing of births.
Abstract: This paper examines US household fertility and female labor supply over the life cycle using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. The authors investigate how maternal time inputs and market expenditures on offspring as well as the benefits they yield their parents vary with ages of offspring and influence female labor supply and contraceptive behavior. The econometric framework combines a female labor supply model and a contraceptive choice index function. It also accounts for the fact that conceptions are not perfectly controllable events. Using longitudinal data on married couples the authors estimate these equations and test alternative specifications of the technologies governing child care. The findings suggest that while parents cannot perfectly control conceptions variations in child care costs do affect life cycle spacing of births. Furthermore the results demonstrate the gains of modeling the linkages between female labor supply and fertility behavior at the household level. (authors modified)
401 citations
TL;DR: A simple model is described, in which functional fertility (the success of ejaculates in fertilizing eggs) covaries with male phenotype, which can explain the observed associations equally well and several alternative approaches are discussed which may allow their resolution.
Abstract: In field and laboratory studies of birds, positive associations between male phenotype and success at obtaining extra-pair copulations or extra-pair fertilizations are often interpreted as providing evidence that females are using extra-pair copulations to obtain indirect benefits for their offspring, either through genes for increased viability, or for a fisherian mating advantage I describe a simple model, in which functional fertility (the success of ejaculates in fertilizing eggs) covaries with male phenotype, which can explain the observed associations equally well Under such a model, females pursue extra-pair copulations as insurance against the functional infertility of their mate, and obtain only direct benefits for themselves in their current reproductive event Several studies of birds suggest that a relation between male phenotype and functional fertility is often likely to exist and that there are many potential causes of functional infertility Non-manipulative field studies are unlikely to produce results which distinguish between the two hypotheses, and I discuss several alternative approaches which may allow their resolution
401 citations