Fertility, birth timing and marital breakdown: a reinterpretation of the evidence.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
SEARCH · Search PubMed
Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.
Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
The relationship is examined of child mortality in Ghana with six socioeconomic factors: mother's type of place of residence, education, occupation and work status, and current husband's education and occupation. Using data from the 1979-80 Ghana Fertility Survey, Trussell's marriage duration model was employed to estimate probabilities of dying at exact ages 2 and 5 in different population subgroups. The two education variables (mother's and husband's education) have the largest effect on child mortality, followed by husband's occupation and mother's occupation, in that order. In order to reduce child mortality to tolerable levels, expansion is urgently required of the medical and health services, balanced by an equal development of education, particularly of girls, help being given especially to the rural areas where the majority of the population live.
The focus of this work is the analysis of changes in completed family size and possible determinants of that size over time, in an attempt to characterize the evolution of reproductive patterns during the demographic transition. With this purpose in mind, time trends are studied in relation to the mean number of live births per family (as an indirect measure of fertility), using family reconstitution techniques to trace the reproductive history of each married woman. The population surveyed is a Spanish rural community called Lanciego, located at the southern end of the province of Alava (Basque Country). A total of 24,510 parish records of baptisms, marriages and burials made between 1800 and 1969 were examined to obtain the demographic data set. For each reconstituted family, the variables included in the study were the number of live births per family or family size (FAMS), year of marriage (YEAR), age at marriage of both partners (AMAN, AWOM), wife's age at the end of marriage (WEND), duration of marriage (MARD), age at first maternity (A1CH), length of reproductive span (REPS) and number of children dying before their first anniversary (MINF). Through a principal component analysis, three factors were found that explained more than 75% of the total variance. Association of variables in factors I and III was particularly useful in characterizing the variability of mean family size in pre-transitional, transitional and post-transitional cohorts. During demographic transition, a decreasing trend is observed in the variables FAMS, REPS and MINF, while variables AWOM, AMAN, WEND and A1CH show a tendency to increase over the 20th century. Results obtained by multiple regression analysis confirm that the best predictors of family size (dependent variable) were REPS and MINF, which between them explained over 85% of the total variation in FAMS (R2 = 0.853). In Lanciego, birth control seems to be present on the evidence of an increase in age at first maternity and a decrease in age at last parturition, indicating that the beginning of the reproductive span is delayed and its end is brought forward. Interaction between family size and infant mortality is discussed in the light of various hypotheses, including replacement of descendants, the so-called biological effect and the theory of r and k selection.
Data on family size by year of marriage, age at marriage, and duration of marriage, from the 1911 Fertility Census, are compared between Scotland, England and Wales, Irish county boroughs, and the rest of Ireland. While means show significant inter-country differences, from the 1880s marked similarities are found across all the countries in the pattern of fertility decline, strongly suggesting significant fertility limitation in rural Ireland well before 1911. Noting the implications for the use of rural Ireland as a natural fertility population, the data are instead compared with the Coale-Trussell and Hinde-Woods schedules. The former provides more plausible results, which imply strong period rather than cohort effects in the fertility decline. Except in rural Ireland, little evidence is found for significant fertility limitation early in marriage among younger marrying couples, but many older marrying couples appear to have stopped childbearing at very low parities from an early date.
"This study compares the fertility patterns of foreign-born and native-born women in Canada and examines whether [the] same set of social characteristics accounts for differential fertility among both the groups. The study also assesses the importance of social characteristics and assimilation on immigrant fertility behavior. Two generations of currently married/cohabiting women with spouse present are analyzed using multiple regressions. The results reveal similar effects on fertility of social characteristics for foreign-born and native-born, while in the case of younger generations the effects are stronger."
A cross-sectional study was carried out among 134 antenatal clinic attendees in a Nigerian tertiary hospital to assess pregnancy-related sexual beliefs and changes in sexual frequency and response. Information was collected through a semi-structured questionnaire, and analysed by SPSS. Only 15% of women believed that religious, social or cultural reasons prevented sexual intercourse in pregnancy. Frequency of sexual intercourse decreased in pregnancy in 37.4% of the respondents, remained unaltered in 46.1% and increased in 16.5%. Age, marriage duration and gestational age were not associated with change in the pattern of coital frequency in pregnancy, but education was significantly associated. Sexual responsiveness diminished in approximately half of our respondents in terms of arousal (54.5%), orgasm (48.5%), pleasure (43.7%) and satisfaction (51.4%). The changes were not associated with pregnancy duration. We concluded that sex in pregnancy is well accepted in our environment, and health workers should promote sexual health and well-being in pregnancy.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
This study is concerned with the negative effects of early marriage on marital stability. "The focus on this paper is an analysis of a path model which includes the estimated effects of antecedents of early marriage, early marriage and education on the probability of divorce. Findings using the [U.S.] General Social Surveys support research that suggests that early marriage is the most important varialbe influencing divorce. Further, little influence of the early marriage measure through education was found."
"The usual Markov model of marriage permits informative experiments on the effect of alterations in the transition rules. It can tell, for example, what difference it would make to the durability of marriage if there was no divorce and the other transitions were as observed. This is in addition to the capacity of the usual model to find the effect of small changes in the transition rates. Canadian data for 1970-1982 permit comparisons over time, and show among other things not only that married men live longer than single, but that the difference is increasing; the increase in the 'marriage bonus' over time also appears for women." (SUMMARY IN FRE)
"A method for generalizing the multistate, or increment-decrement, life table to include rates which depend upon duration of exposure to risk, as well as upon age, is proposed. The method is built upon the linear approximation, called the linear integration hypothesis, developed mainly by Rogers and his colleagues.... It is possible to derive several new summary indices of the life-table cohort's history, such as the mean and median time in current status, at any age. The method is illustrated using a simple four-state marital-status model which has appeared often in the literature; here, rates of divorce and widowhood vary by duration of marriage as well as age." An example is demonstrated using 1984 period data for women in Finland aged 15-50. (SUMMARY IN FRE)
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
The recent suggestion that typically masculinized sex ratios at birth in Micronesian populations may be related to a distinct "Micronesian pattern" of life-course coital behavior is applied to data on the sex ratio of livebirths on Butaritari Atoll in Kiribati. The data show that sex ratios on Butaritari are highly masculinized and do not vary significantly with changes in maternal age. However, there is a discernible relationship between the length of closed intervals preceding male and female births. The lack of age-related change in sex ratios in the Butaritari sample is inconsistent with ethnographic data regarding levels of marital coital activity in relation to increasing age and marriage duration. The Butaritari sex ratio data is argued to support the suggestion of a "Micronesian pattern," although it is posed that further tests of this association are required.
INTRODUCTION: Several co-morbid diseases have been shown to affect sexual functions in both genders. In the literature, sexual function status in men with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) has been studied; however, sexual functions in women with OSAS have not yet been studied. AIMS: In this prospective study, we aimed to determine sexual function status in women with OSAS and its relationship with the disease parameters of OSAS. METHODS: Women, who were diagnosed with OSAS with polysomnography performed in the sleep center of our university hospital, formed the study population. Women with any genital deformity, postmenopausal women, and women without a regular partner were excluded from the study. General demographic properties, medical histories, polysomnography parameters, and frequency of intercourse per month were noted for each patient. Patients completed the Sexual Function Questionnaire Version 2 (SFQ-V2) and Epworth Sleepiness Scale. The patients were grouped as mild, moderate, and severe OSAS according to the level of respiratory disturbance index (RDI). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Scores of sexual function domains were determined from SFQ, and their relationships with parameters of polysomnography and demographics were studied. RESULTS: Twenty-five patients were included in the study. Mean age was 48.1 +/- 2.7 years. All were married with a mean marriage duration of 25.6 +/- 3.3 years. Mean frequency of intercourse per month was 3.3 +/- 1.8. All domains of sexual functions except pain and enjoyment significantly decreased with increasing severity of OSAS. When we controlled for factors of age and co-morbid diseases, correlation analyses showed significant negative correlation between levels of RDI and all domains of sexual functions except pain and enjoyment (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome negatively impacts sexual function in women independent of age and associated co-morbid diseases.
"The present study involves a nonrandom sample of 351 [U.S.] couples who have been married 15 years or more. Differences were found in the reported reasons for staying together between happy, unhappy, and mixed (one partner happy and one unhappy) marriages. For happy couples, the most frequently mentioned reasons for staying together was the perceived nature of the relationship, then the belief in marriage as a long-term commitment. Among the mixed and unhappy marriages, the most frequently named reason was the belief that marriage is a long-term commitment. Nineteen percent of those in mixed marriages and 47% in unhappy marriages said the children kept the marriage together."
Explore the source record for details and available documents.