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Biomedical subjects

C F Westoff

Publications and source records attributed to C F Westoff.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1966

Use of oral contraception in the United States, 1965. In only 5 years oral contraception has become a major means of regulating fertility.

This is the first report from the Na-tional Fertility Study, 1965, a survey of the reproductive behavior of a national sample of married women, under the age of 55, living with their husbands. The report presents basic data on the use of oral contraception by women under the age of 45, in relation to age, parity, education, race, and religion. The study leads to certain conclusions, as follows. Present, past, and prospective use vary inversely with the age of the woman and directly with the number of years of schooling; the majority of young women with college training have already used the oral contraceptive. Use by Negroes is somewhat less extensive than use by whites, particularly for ages below 25; some of this difference is explainable by concomitant racial differences in educational level. Negroes seem less likely than whites to use oral contraception for timing early births, and more likely, when they do use it, to be attempting to terminate their fertility. The same observation holds for white Catholics in relation to white non-Catholics. Although the extent of use may be lower among Catholics than non-Catholics, the proportion of Catholics who report use is substantial indeed in view of the persisting theological controversy. The prospects for increased use of oral contraception seem very good at present, but they may be limited by further developments in the technology of fertility regulation. Meanwhile the birth rate has declined substantially. Although much sophisticated analysis of other data from the survey will be required to determine the extent of the contribution of oral contraception to this decline, the findings presented here suggest that the contribution is substantial for young married couples. The major effect on the couple's eventual number of children may be less than the effect on the time pattern of childbearing; in any event, both lower eventual parity and delayed fertility contribute to a decline in the numbers of births from year to year. Whatever the intent may be, it is apparent that young American couples have adopted a new means for achieving their reproductive goals.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[A comparison of complete and truncated birth histories to measure fertility and child mortality].

"During the latter part of 1986, national probability sample surveys of women of reproductive ages were carried out in... Peru and the Dominican Republic. These surveys were made as part of the Demographic Health Surveys project (DHS). In each country, one survey was conducted with the standard core questionnaire developed for DHS; the other survey was based on an experimental questionnaire. The major difference between the two questionnaires is the inclusion in the experimental one of a monthly calendar, which records pregnancies, contraceptive use, reasons for contraceptive discontinuation, breastfeeding, post-partum amenorrhea, post-partum abstinence, women's employment and place of residence for the period 1981-1986. This paper presents results from the first stage of the analysis of the Peruvian data: a comparison of basic characteristics of the two samples and an assessment of the completeness of reporting of recent births and infant and child deaths, i.e., a comparison of information in the truncated and full birth histories." (SUMMARY IN ENG)

Americas↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Collection of survey data on contraception: an evaluation of an experiment in Peru.

The objective of this analysis is to compare two different approaches to the collection of information on contraceptive use. The data for this comparison are derived from the 1986 Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) in Peru. Approximately 7,500 women were interviewed with the standard DHS questionnaire, whereas about 5,000 women received an "experimental questionnaire." The major difference between the questionnaires is the inclusion of a six-year monthly calendar in the experimental questionnaire that records pregnancies, contraceptive use, and postpartum information, in contrast to the more common tabular format of the standard questionnaire. The analysis demonstrates that although reports of contraceptive knowledge, ever-use, and current use are relatively robust to the variations in questionnaire design, estimates of past use are dependent on the survey instrument. Several different comparisons indicate that reporting of information on contraceptive histories in the experimental questionnaire is superior to that in the standard one.

Contraception Behavior↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Unintended pregnancy in America and abroad.

U.S. women under age 25 are far more likely to become pregnant than are comparable young women in other developed countries; however, there is no such differential among older women. Young American women appear to be no more likely than their European contemporaries to marry or to engage in intercourse at a young age, but they do seem less likely to practice contraception. Why should this be so? There are grounds to argue that young American women have more limited access to effective contraceptives than do comparable Europeans, but the problem undoubtedly has social and economic aspects as well: No other Western nation has the ethnic and socioeconomic diversity of the United States--a diversity that includes the existence of an underclass alienated from middle-class values. Limited evidence also suggests that young Americans, regardless of social class, may be more prone to risk-taking than young people in other countries. Finally, another attribute of American society that undoubtedly contributes to the problem of high pregnancy rates is our ambivalence toward sexuality: Sex saturates American life--in television programs, movies and advertisements--yet the media generally fail to communicate responsible attitudes toward sex, with birth control remaining a taboo subject. In addition, a deep-seated ambivalence toward sexuality has prevented Americans from responding to the problems of unintended pregnancy as rationally as have other Western nations.

Abortion, Legal↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Contraceptive paths toward the reduction of unintended pregnancy and abortion.

Based on data from the 1982 National Survey of Family Growth, exposure to the risk of unintended pregnancy is classified by use of specific contraceptive methods and by nonuse, and average rates of unintended pregnancy are estimated for each type of exposure. Three hypothetical models of improved contraceptive practice are then applied to the data for all women and for age, race and marital-status subgroups. The first two models assume increases in the use of some existing contraceptive methods, but only the second model additionally assumes the introduction of new methods. The third model assumes the complete elimination of nonuse of contraception. These models yield different estimates of the reduction in unintended pregnancy rates which are illustrated for various age-groups, for whites and blacks and for married and unmarried women. Among all women aged 15-44, the changes assumed by Model I imply a 32 percent reduction in unintended pregnancy; Model II implies a 56 percent reduction; and Model III implies a 57 percent reduction. The implied reductions in abortion are in a similar range.

Abortion, Induced↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Estimation of fecundability from survey data.

The estimation of fecundability from survey data is plagued by methodological problems such as misreporting of dates of birth and marriage and the occurrence of premarital exposure to the risk of conception. Nevertheless, estimates of fecundability from World Fertility Survey data for women married in recent years appear to be plausible for most of the surveys analyzed here and are quite consistent with estimates reported in earlier studies. The estimates presented in this article are all derived from the first interval, the interval between marriage or consensual union and the first live birth conception.

Actuarial Analysis↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Sterilization in the United States.

Had no U.S. married couples obtained contraceptive sterilizations, there would have been about 800,000 unwanted births during 1971-1973 in addition to the 8.7 million births that actually occurred. More than half of U.S. couples elect sterilization within 10 years after their last wanted birth, and more than six in 10 are sterilized within 15 years.

Actuarial Analysis↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The unmet need for birth control in five Asian countries.

The unmet need for family planning services is remarkably constant across all five countries because of the interaction of fertility intentions and fertility control: as more women use contraception, more of them want fewer children.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Pill and IUD discontinuation in the United States, 1970-1975: the influence of the media.

Analysis of the 1975 National Fertility Study data on pill and IUD discontinuation shows an upward trend in discontinuation rates for both methods between 1970 and 1975, with particularly sharp increases in pill discontinuation starting in 1972. Almost 40 percent of pill discontinuation was attributable to problems of use; three-fifths of these problems were physical. About one-quarter of pill discontinuation was for reasons other than problems of use. The single most common of these was that the woman wanted to become pregnant. Almost 40 percent of IUD discontinuation was due to method-related problems; only 13 percent was due to the women's desire to become pregnant, a finding which suggests that women do not use this method for childspacing. Examination of the relationship between pill and IUD discontinuation and unfavorable news stories about these two methods reveals that after specific news events, discontinuation rates for both methods tend to increase. Rates climb for 5-6 months following specific unfavorable news stories, with peaks in the rate of change in discontinuation reached 3-5 months after a pill-related story and 2-4 months after an IUD-related story. General media coverage of the adverse effects of pill use in particular (where general coverage is defined as the cumulative number of pill articles appearing between 1970 and 1975) accounts for 34 percent of the variance in pill discontinuation rates. This correlation is strongly suggestive of a causal relationship between general mass media coverage of the adverse effects of the pill and discontinuation rates for this method.

Contraceptives, Oral↗