Measures of partner availability introduced by Goldman, Westoff & Hammerslough (1984) and by Veevers (1988) are described and a new measure of partner availability, the Iterated Availability Ratio, is introduced. The three measures are applied to 1981 Census data for England and Wales and their abilities to predict regional variations in age-specific marriage rates are compared.

Birth records in Birmingham were examined for evidence of reproductive compensation following a fetal or infant death. Mothers with a stillbirth, a neonatal death, or a post-neonatal death in 1964 were identified, controls were selected, and subsequent reproductive patterns up to 1969 were compared. There was substantial reproductive compensation following the post-neonatal deaths and a lesser degree after neonatal deaths. Stillbirths were followed by compensation in the first year but this was not maintained and there was a net reduction of effective fertility over the whole 5-year period. Within this pattern, the extent of compensation varied according to the number of older surviving children. Both fetal and neonatal deaths tended to recur. There is evidence that reproductive compensation is partly attributable to pre-existing fertility differentials, but also to eventdetermined modifications of reproductive behaviour. With respect to haemolytic disease of the newborn the data provide some evidence in support of the theory that gene frequency stability depends upon reproductive compensation, but the interpretation of the data in this respect is not completely reliable.

A study was made of the return of spontaneous menstruation and fertility in 121 Thai women who had received contraceptive injections of medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA) at intervals of 3 or 6 months with supplements of oral oestrogen at monthly intervals and who, for various reasons, had discontinued medication after 6 months or more.

Spontanecous menstruation returned in 113 of the women within 6 months, but no direct relation was found between the number of injections, period of usage or total dose of DMPA and the time required for the return of menstruation.

Of the 121 women who discontinued medication, only seventeen stated that they did so because they wished to conceive. Of these, twelve became pregnant within 10 months and three more within 27 months. The 104 women who discontinued medication for other reasons had a much lower pregnancy rate and must be supposed to have used, at least to some extent, other methods of contraception.

This paper explores the hypothesis that the level of education of children and their parents plays a major role in reducing child labour. Data were generated from a sample survey of 3809 children aged 10–14 years living in 150 villages in two rural districts of Bangladesh. A significant inverse relationship was found between child labour and years of schooling. Age and education of children, parental education, land ownership of household and fathers' occupation were the determinants of child labour force participation. Child's years of schooling is the variable that has most influence on the probability of participation in the labour force, followed by father's and mother's education.

Consanguineous marriage – marriage between relatives – has received a great deal of attention as a potential risk factor for many adverse health outcomes. The present cross-sectional study was done in order to illustrate the prevalence and types of consanguineous marriages among Iranian Georgians living in Frydoonshahr (Isfahan province, central Iran). Data on consanguineous marriages were collected using a simple questionnaire. The total number of couples in this study was 646. Consanguineous marriage was classified by the degree of relationship between couples. First cousin marriages (14.2%) were the most common type of consanguineous marriages, followed by second cousin (7.0%), beyond second cousin (1.5%) and first cousin once removed (0.6%). The mean inbreeding coefficient (α) was calculated as 0.0104 for the population. The present study shows that the study population, as other Iranian populations, has a high level of consanguinity.

This paper examines data on fertility levels in 33 Moslem countries between 1960 and 1980. Fertility measures include crude birth rate, total fertility rate and age-specific birth rate, and the percentage change in them between 1960 and 1980.

The analysis focuses on: (1) the current status of Moslem fertility in comparison to non-Moslem countries in the same region; (2) the emerging fertility differentials among Moslem countries; (3) how much of the recent fertility declines in some Moslem countries is associated with modernization variables and with family planning efforts.

The results indicate that: (1) Moslem fertility remains universally high and is generally higher than in non-Moslem countries in the same region; (2) very few Moslem countries have succeeded in bringing down their level of fertility to justify a search for the predictors of Moslem fertility levels; (3) in spite of a sufficient range of variations in the economic and social correlates of fertility, the corresponding fertility variables in these countries do not suggest that the reproductive behaviour of Moslem women has reacted to such variations; (4) efforts directed towards stronger family planning programmes are clearly related to fertility decline.

Within seven years after the end of the Nicaraguan civil war in 1990, forced migrants, whose lives had been most disrupted by the conflict, were self-settled in a squatter community in the capital city of Managua and lived in extreme poverty with minimal health, education, security and social service supports. Compared with voluntary migrant neighbours, whose lives had been less affected by the conflict, forced migrants exhibited equal clinically significant symptoms of physical and mental health and psychosocial maladaptation. These findings run counter to generally held theory and assumptions about the negative long-lasting effects of the trauma and stress of war, forced migration and resettlement. Explanations are offered to explain the discrepancies between theory and the study findings as well as the dominance of poverty and socioeconomic status. Implications are also drawn for increasing social support and other durable forms of assistance that emerge from the study as important to meeting the needs of equally poor and unhealthy forced and voluntary migrants in proliferating squatter communities throughout the Third World.

This paper explores the factors that influence the practice of induced abortion in a very low fertility society, with particular emphasis on son preference and three distinct religions: Confucianism, Buddhism and Christianity. Using multivariate logistic regression models fitted by the generalized estimating equation (GEE) method, this paper analysed the data collected by the 2000 Korea National Fertility and Family Health Survey of 6348 married women aged 15–49 years with a total of 1217 pregnancy outcomes. The results showed that the likelihood of induced abortions in women with two or more children, compared with those with one child, was significantly influenced by the sex composition of the previous children: odds ratio (OR)=12·71 (95% CI=5·49, 29·42) for women with only son(s), and OR=3·91 (95% CI=1·67, 9·14) for women with only daughter(s). At parity two, women with two sons were much more likely to have induced abortions than women with two daughters (OR=5·88, 95% CI=2·70, 12·85). Although Buddhist women were not significantly different from Confucian women in induced abortion practice, Christian women were much less likely than Confucian women to have an induced abortion (OR=0·39, 95% CI=0·18, 0·88 for women with only sons and OR=0·44, 95% CI=0·24, 0·81 for women with two children). This suggests that even in this very low fertility society, son preference and religious affiliation are significant predictors of women’s practice of induced abortion.

This study examines factors associated with satisfaction with oral pills and injectables among past users in Kenya based on a baseline survey for the 2-year prospective longitudinal study Improving Measurement of Unintended Pregnancy and Unmet Need for Family Planning conducted in 2016. Married women aged 15–39 years were interviewed using a structured questionnaire that captured information on reproduction, contraceptive knowledge and beliefs and attitudes towards contraception in general and towards specific methods. A multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to examine factors that influenced satisfaction with oral pills and injectables among past users in one urban site (Nairobi slums) and one predominantly rural site (Homa Bay in western Kenya). Results showed that dissatisfaction with pills and injectables is common among past users in both rural and urban Kenya (ranging from 39% to 56%). The distinctive contribution of the study lies in its ability to relate method-specific beliefs to overall satisfaction. Perception of effectiveness, ease of use and safety for long-term use had statistically significant influences on satisfaction with pills in both urban and rural sites while partner’s approval was only important in Nairobi. For injectables, the perception of safety for long-term use was significant in the urban but not the rural site. Unlike pills, the belief that members of a woman’s social network had used a method and found it satisfactory was a particularly powerful influence on satisfaction (AOR=2.8 in rural and 3.2 in urban). Perception of accessibility and fears about infertility were not found to be statistically associated with satisfaction for either pills or injectables. Surprisingly, the effects of all perceived contraceptive attributes were the same for major socio-demographic strata of the populations. The findings underscore the need for targeted counselling and community-based communication interventions to address negative and erroneous perceptions about family planning methods.

An awareness of fertility and the factors affecting it is crucial to dealing with infertility, though little research has been conducted in the context of rural India. This study assessed Indian women’s perceived causes of, and strategies for coping with, infertility and the associations with levels of reproductive health knowledge in rural areas. Primary data were collected through mapping and listing in high infertility prevalence districts of West Bengal in 2014–15. A total of 159 women aged 20–49 years who had ever experienced infertility were interviewed. A Reproductive Health Knowledge Index (RHKI) was computed to indicate respondent’s level of reproductive health knowledge, and to show its association with perceived causes of infertility and coping with infertility. The highest mean RHKI score was observed among women in the lowest age group (RHKI=5.75, p<0.001), those with a higher level of education (RHKI=9.39, p<0.001) and those who had exposure to any media (RHKI=5.88, p<0.001). Women with a poor wealth index (RHKI=2.11, p<0.01) and those from Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and Other Backward Class communities (RHKI=4.20, p<0.05) had lower RHKI scores than richer women and those from General Caste communities. Women with a higher RHKI score were more likely to give biology (98.0%, p<0.001), old age (94.1%, p<0.01) and repeated abortions/accident/injury (92.2%, p<0.001) as reasons for infertility, whereas women with a low RHKI were more likely to give religious (73.2%, p<0.001) and old-age-related causes (75.0%, p<0.01) of infertility. Women with a high RHKI score were more likely to opt for modern allopathic treatments (RHKI=7.04, p<0.001), whereas those with a low RHKI score were more likely to seek treatment from religious and superstitious practitioners, use home remedies or receive no treatment at all (RHKI=1.66, p<0.001). Appropriate reproductive health knowledge is crucial if rural Indian women are to correctly assess their infertility problems and choose effective coping strategies.

A total of 3961 married couples from six major geographical areas representing the South Sinai governorates in Egypt were studied to assess the rate of consanguineous marriage. The population of six selected areas (St Catherines, Nuweiba, Abu Rudeis, Ras Sudr, El Tor and Abu Zenima) were subdivided into Bedouin, urban and mixed populations. A questionnaire-based interview was conducted showing that the consanguinity rate in this region is 37.5%, with the highest rate recorded in Abu Rudeis (52.3%) and lowest rate in Nuweiba (24.1%). Consanguinity was significantly higher among the Bedouin population compared with the urban population in Abu Rudeis, Ras Sudr, El Tor and Abu Zenima, while in St Catherines and Nuweiba there was no statistically significant difference. Among consanguineous couples, 5%, 60% and 35% were double first cousins, first cousins and second cousins respectively. The mean inbreeding coefficient α of the studied population was 0.01845.

Perinatal mortality among hospital deliveries in Lucknow city in 1976–77 is compared with the results of earlier studies. The effect of biological and socioeconomic factors is considered. High risk cases, for which special care should be provided, are noted.

This study tests the proposition that the contribution of environmental factors to the reduction of infant mortality early in the twentieth century was greater than that made by the alleviation of poverty. The estimates were obtained from retrospective reports of women enumerated at the 1911 Census, and covered the period from approximately 1895 to 1910. Infant mortality by father's occupation underwent an average decline of 35% from a peak infant mortality rate (IMR) of 132, with wide variation. The removal of poor (usually urban) residential conditions was probably associated with the decline, but, except at the extremes, income did not explain the differences. In the 97 great towns, the subject of this study, where the average decline in IMR was also 35% from a peak of 146, the rate of urbanization over 20 years accounted for a significant proportion of the differential decline, and measures of poverty added little to the explanation. This conclusion survived multivariate analysis using urban development and poverty level as explanatory variables, and controlling for fertility decline and selective migration.

The natural region of the Jara, with an area of 2500 km2 occupies much of the south west of the province of Toledo, and extends into the provinces of Caceres and Ciudad Real. It is situated between the Tajo and Guadiana rivers, south of the town of Talavera de la Reina, the centre of the economic life in this region. Its highlands are covered with xerophytic vegetation, of which the most common plant is the jara (Cistus ladaniferus), from which this zone takes it name, (Fig. 1). It has been occupied from the neolithic period onwards by peoples of different origins, e.g. Romans, Muslims, Jews, Mozarabs (Jimenez de Gregorio, 1959) but the present population derives from settlement from the north of the Tajo river beginning in the 14th century following the upheavals of the Moslem–Christian wars.

In this paper, non-marital pregnancies are defined as the sum of ex-nuptial confinements and the first nuptial confinements delivered within the first 8 months of marriage. Analysis is based on the annual statistics of live births, marriages and female non-married population as enumerated in the 1947–71 censuses. The incidence of non-marital pregnancies increased significantly in Australia between 1947 and 1971. This was found to be mainly due to rising ex-nuptial fertility rates, and, to a much lesser extent, to increased frequency of pre-marital pregnancies. A lesser proportion of pregnant non-married women were married before delivery in 1971 than in 1947. Some of the social implications are discussed.

Since 1939 Sweden has had legislation regulating the legal termination of pregnancy, and up to now more than 100,000 such operations have been performed in accordance with this legislation. Official statistics and investigations by individual researchers have provided a large amount of material, which implies a pragmatic approach to the difficult and many-sided problem of abortion, and which makes empirical evaluations of different aspects possible.

Menopause (cessation of menstruction) and the period surrounding it (climacterium) are often defined retrospectively by asking a woman the date of her last menstrual period (LMP). Based on a survey of 2000 women aged 45–64 in 1989 in Finland, this study examines (1) the relation between these definitions and women's own definitions of their climacteric status and of the cessation of menstruction and (2) the effect of menopausal and postmeno pausal hormone therapy and hysterectomy on the definition of menopause and climacterium. Agreement of the woman's own definition of her climacteric status and interval since LMP was 25% among current hormone users, 41% among hysterectomised women and 64% among those who were neither currently using hormones nor had been hysterectomised. Current hormone users defined the climacteric phase as longer than their LMP suggested. Current hormone use and hysterectomy had little effect on reported final cessation of menstrual periods. It is concluded that hysterectomy and hormone therapy shape women's thinking about the end of reproductive life, blur the concepts of menopause and postmenopause and confuse the measurement of age at menopause.

Short sleep duration is associated with obesity in young children. This study develops the hypothesis that parental rules play a role in this association. Participants were 3-year-old children and their parents, recruited at nursery schools in socioeconomically deprived and non-deprived areas of a North-East England town. Parents were interviewed to assess their use of sleep, television-viewing and dietary rules, and given diaries to document their child's sleep for 4 days/5 nights. Children were measured for height, weight, waist circumference and triceps and subscapular skinfold thicknesses. One-hundred and eight families participated (84 with complete sleep data and 96 with complete body composition data). Parental rules were significantly associated together, were associated with longer night-time sleep and were more prevalent in the non-deprived-area compared with the deprived-area group. Television-viewing and dietary rules were associated with leaner body composition. Parental rules may in part confound the association between night-time sleep duration and obesity in young children, as rules cluster together across behavioural domains and are associated with both sleep duration and body composition. This hypothesis should be tested rigorously in large representative samples.

The data in this paper are drawn from interviews with a stratified probability sample of 2996 Yoruba men and women aged 17 or above living in Lagos and Western States in June–July 1973. Although drawing upon other material from the 1 ½-hour interviews the discussion concentrates upon the family size ideals of these individuals. In addition to the customary measures of ideal family size, new measures of the limits of acceptable family size are described, together with the reactions of the whole sample to a wide range of statements relating to family size and the value of children. It is shown that the smallest family which would be acceptable to any appreciable proportion of the population is four children, which would be acceptable to 18% of all respondents. Comparative data from elsewhere in the developing world are presented to show that African family size ideals are amongst the highest in the world. Age, educational and occupational differentials in perceptions of different family sizes are also discussed.

The results of a comprehensive daily fertility clinic are presented for the years 1970–72, together with a 2-month schedule of investigation for the couples. Twenty-seven per cent had ovulation problems, 18% fallopian tube blockage or adhesions, 25% oligo- or aspermia and 27% were normal to investigation. The treatment of these conditions is discussed; the highest pregnancy rate was seen in those with no treatment (45%) indicating the use of reassurance after complete investigation.