bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Social Factors in the Incidence of Spina Bifida and Anencephaly
Authors: Timson John
Published: July 2008

The incidence of spina bifida and anencephaly, according to reports, has declined in some parts of the world but not in others. It is suggested that social factors, greater awareness of the familial nature of these disorders coupled with the increased availability of effective contraception, may account for part of the decline and that these factors are less operative in the areas where no decline in incidence has been observed.

Data are presented for 65 families living in the Manchester area, each of which contained at least one affected child. Forty of these families appeared to have been ‘discontinued’ after the birth of the affected child.
International Variations in The Relative Ages of Brides and Grooms
Authors: Cox P. R.
Published: July 2008

Data showing the relative ages of husbands and wives at marriage in one post-war year are available for many countries, and show that the age distribution of wives for men of a given age varies appreciably from country to country. So also does the age distribution of husbands for a given age of bride. The range of the average ages of marriage partners, from country to country within Europe, is about 2 years for either sex.

The first part of the paper investigates how far these variations are associated with the corresponding international differences in the supply of men and women available for marriage. There is some correlation—mostly positive at the younger and older marriage ages and negative at the central marriage ages. The results show an affinity with those of a similar study based on time trends in one country alone: England and Wales.

In so far as age distributions at marriage are not directly associated with the supply of people available as partners, international variations may be regarded as the expression of differences in social custom, in economic history or in taste. In the second part of the paper such differences are exhibited and discussed. For a given age of one spouse, partners in most countries are older than in Britain but younger wives are found in some Communist countries and also in the Commonwealth.

In the final section, the development of the marriage age experience in two countries—France, and England and Wales—is compared over the period 1911–61, and some interesting differences are revealed, especially in relation to the effects of world wars, of economic depressions and the history of contraceptives. In 1911, appreciably older husbands and younger wives were found in France than in Britain, but today the differences between the two countries are much smaller.
Some characteristics of a family
Authors: Pinsent R. J. F. H.
Published: July 2008

A study was undertaken to examine routinely recorded information on the births, marriages and deaths occurring in an extended population sharing the feature of a common surname. The material was obtained in quote form from the General Registry.

Simple manual analysis revealed a number of localities in which the ‘family’ was to be found and comparisons were made between vital events in each area over the period 1837–1960. An attempt was made to group bearers of the common surname by social class using the currently accepted convention.

Causes of death were coded according to the main headings of the classification introduced by the Royal College of General Practitioners in 1963. Variations in frequency of recording of different causes of death in different localities were found.

It is suggested that a more sophisticated study of populations composed of bearers of a shared surname might demonstrate a predictive value in terms of susceptibility or resistance to disease and thus become a recognized tool in the workshop of the geneticist.
Intelligence, family size and socio-economic status
Authors: Kennett K. F. , Cropley A. J.
Published: July 2008

A sample of 170 Regina school children, divided into subgroups according to family size and socio-economic status, was tested on the Otis Beta Mental Ability Test. The results demonstrated the existence of a definite relationship between intelligence and socio-economic status, but no significant relationship between family size and IQ, except among low socio economic status males. These results, interpreted as reflecting the changing relationship between intelligence and family size, are possibly the outcome of a changing fertility pattern within the various socio-economic status groups.
Skinfold measurements of obesity in British businessmen
Authors: Richardson J. F. , Pincherle G.
Published: July 2008

The results of measurements of triceps and subscapular skinfold thicknesses in over 7000 businessmenare presented. Mean subscapular skinfold thickness, taken just below the point of the right shoulder blade, increases, while mean triceps skinfold thickness, taken at the outer side of the upper arm, decreases with age. The evidence suggests that the increase in the subscapular skinfold thickness is a reflection of the increase in weight with age when adjusted for height; on the other hand, the fall in triceps skinfold thickness in the older age groups may be due to a cohort effect. The inference, that the subscapular measurement or perhaps the difference between the two measurements are better indications of obesity in middle-aged businessmen than the triceps measurement, is supported by other published data.
Use of contraception by young mothers in Copenhagen
Authors: Braestrup Agnete
Published: July 2008

This paper consists of an edited translation of the greater part of an article by Dr Braestrup published in Ugeskr. Læger, 1970, 132, 232, under the title ‘Unge modres t'iden oni og benyttelse af antikonception’. In view of the current interest in young mothers, especially unmarried ones, and of the importance of Dr Braestrup's contribution to the subject, it seemed desirable to make available as widely as possible the information contained in her paper. The Executive Editor is grateful to Dr Braestrup for permission to re-publish it in English and for providing the translation.

Summary Information about mothers under the age of 21 years in Copenhagen, in 1959 and 1968, was collected, reviewed and compared. The age distribution of the mothers was similar in the two surveys, but the fathers were younger in 1968. In that year, 84% of the married mothers had been pregnant before marriage; 90% of the married mothers and 35% of the unmarried ones had their own flats.

Knowledge and use of suitable methods of contraception showed a considerable increase during the period. In 1968, 90% of the married mothers and about 62% of the unmarried mothers had made use of contraception before pregnancy. The great majority seeking advice had done so from general practitioners while others, before or after pregnancy, had attended maternity welfare or family planning clinics.

Motivation to employ contraception, however, was only slight and approximately two-thirds of these very young mothers stated that they did not wish to avoid pregnancy. Only 15% of the married and 21% of the unmarried mothers were in favour of free abortion.
Bereavement and heart disease
Authors: Benjamin Bernard
Published: July 2008

Ever since the Registrar General began to give mortality rates for different marital condition groups, it has been observed that, in every age group and for both sexes, the widowed have higher mortality rates than the married. In his 1959 Annual Statistical Review, the Registrar General made some analysis of this differential in terms of causes of death. The excess mortality as compared with the married appeared to affect the diseases listed in Table 1. The Registrar General's commentary asked ‘Leaving aside the question of possibility of error (in statements of marital condition) is it possible that the effect of death of a spouse is such as to increase the likelihood of death in the surviving member of the partnership? Here the basis of discussion has little factual support but it seems right to suppose that in the period immediately following bereavement the general state of ‘shock’ indeed is such as to increase likelihood of death. In the majority of young and middle-age widowed persons, however, this period passes and adjustment takes place, often followed by remarriage. There will be some selection here similar in many respects to that affecting the decision whether single persons should marry. With the older person, however, adjustment is more difficult to attain, remarriage is less common and the surviving partner, particularly the man, may live under relatively unfavourable conditions.’
Attenders at a contraceptive clinic for single women
Authors: Wadsworth Michael , Loudon Nancy , Rankin Mary , Herbert Isabel
Published: July 2008

A study was made of 126 new attenders at the Edinburgh FPA clinic for single women during its first year of operation. Nulliparous patients were only half as likely to have been referred from a medical source as the parous patient. The higher the social class the greater the likelihood of discussion about contraception between patient and doctor before a visit to this FPA centre. The study population was geographically very mobile. Higher social classes and students were as likely to report experience of previous sexual intercourse than others. At least 24% of patients had a very limited knowledge of contraceptive methods. Forty per cent of patients returned for a follow-up visit and older women and nulliparous women were less likely to return than others. Although most returning patients had experienced regular sexual intercourse since their first visit, 15% had not found this entirely satisfactory, and 32% had had difficulties with the prescribed method of contraception, chiefly the oral contraceptive. When compared for the same period with the city's other clinic offering contraceptive advice to single women, 24% of all attenders at both clinics had been to the FPA. The proportion of parous women at the FPA was twice that at the Brook Clinic, but Brook patients were much more likely to have already received contraceptive advice from a doctor. Discussion centres on the social-class bias in the population of attenders.
The distribution of coitus within the human intermenstruum
Authors: James William H.
Published: July 2008

Daily records are the only acceptable basis for determining human coital rates. A re-analysis of such data presented by earlier writers and a study of new data suggest that within the intermenstruum (viz. the days on which there is no bleeding) the rate of coitus is highest immediately after menstruation ceases, declines thereafter and is lowest (within the intermenstruum) just before menstruation recurs.

It is not clear whether there is a minor peak around ovulation time, but such a correlation, if it exists, is certainly not very powerful.

The major cause of the higher coital rate after menstruation could be abstinence during menstruation and a post-menstrual feeling of release on the part of the woman.

The fact that coital rates are largely independent of the time of ovulation might be due to their being largely determined by the male. In any case, it provides evidence for Morris's view that human sexuality has important evolutionary functions other than reproduction.
Ideal Family Size in Five European Countries
Authors: Van Keep P. A.
Published: July 2008

From part of a survey conducted in five European countries, Belgium, France, Great Britain, Italy and West Germany, data are given on the opinions of 4207 fertile married women and their husbands on ideal family size and on whether their existing children were planned or not. Data are tabulated according to the respondents' ages and the number of children in their existing families. Differences and similarities between various countries are discussed.
Preference for Sex of the Child Among Pregnant Women
Authors: Uddenberg N. , Almgren P.-E. , Nilsson Å.
Published: July 2008

One hundred and fifty-two randomly selected pregnant women were examined and followed up by interviews and psychological tests during pregnancy and after parturition. The present paper is focused upon factors which determine the woman's preference for the sex of her expected child. It was shown that women who already have one or more children generally wanted the expected child to be of the opposite sex to her youngest child. Thus, the main part of the study was limited to eighty-one nulliparous women.

Associations were found between the woman's preference for the sex of the child and several factors such as the sex of her own siblings and her position among them, her education, intelligence and degree of field-dependence indicating immaturity and lack of autonomy.

Several of the findings presented refute the common supposition that nulliparous women generally want to give birth to a son, and that the arrival of a son is more satisfactory. Women wishing for a son were found to be somewhat more field-dependent than other women and somewhat more often reported that they had experienced a range of mental symptoms before the current pregnancy. Women wishing for a boy also reported more mental symptoms during the post-partum period. Moreover, those women who gave birth to a son reperted more symptoms at this time than those who gave birth to a daughter, and paradoxically the most affected were those who had wished for a son and had had their wishes fulfilled. The arrival of a daughter therefore seems to be equally satisfactory to the mother, at least as measured by the criteria used in this investigation.
Marriage and Family-Building Patterns of University Graduates
Authors: Kelsall R. Keith , Poole Anne , Kuhn Annette
Published: July 2008

The findings relating to marriage and fertility of the National Survey of 1960 Graduates show that highly-educated people are on the whole no exception to the generally observed principle of social and educational endogamy. Those from working-class homes, however, marry overwhelmingly into the middle class, so that marriage here constitutes a means of consolidating newly-won status. Respondents on the whole tended to delay marriage and family building while still engaged in full-time study, but more graduates are ultimately marrying and are doing so at younger ages than ever before. There are also certain consistent differences between the sexes, which indicate that women graduates are much more susceptible than men to the delaying influences on marriage and family building of the continued exposure to higher education.
Pilot Study of Single Women Requesting a Legal Abortion
Authors: Pearson J. F.
Published: July 2008

Eleven unmarried women, pregnat for the first time and requesting a legal abortion through the referral service at the Marie Stopes Clinic in London, volunteered for the study. Each woman was given a focused open-ended interview by the investigator after her consultation session with the clinic doctor. The subjects were middle working-class, including one schoolgirl and four students. All but one were within the age range 18–23. Four women were Roman Catholic and the remainder were Church of England denomination. The minimum length of the period between first meeting the putative father and becoming pregnant was 4 months. Three women were living in situations that enabled the couple to spend the night together whenever they wished. One case of rape was included in the sample. Eight subjects had used some form of contraception at least twice. Only one woman used a female clinical method of contraception. Three of the four cases in which contraception was used on the occasion of conception involved the male using withdrawal. Two of the subjects continued the pregnancy and married.

Topics discussed in individual case histories and across all subjects were: attitudes to marriage, pregnancy and children before meeting the putative father; sources and extent of knowledge about conception and contraceptive; attitudes towards pregnancy and contraception; extent of contraceptive practice; reasons for not using contraception; relationship with the putative father in terms of the role of sexual intercourse, and discussion of marriage, the possibility of pregnancy and of preventing it; sexual behaviour of the couple; attitudes to sexual intercourse; role of responsibility for contraception; the woman's reactions to being pregnat and the reasons for whether or not she informed her parents about the pregnancy.

The observations from the study indicated that knowledge and motivation were individual factors that could not account exclusively for the circumstances contributing to the woman becoming pregnant. Factors in addition to those within the control of the couple were observed and these influences appeared to be the result of conventional socio-cultural conditions and conditioning. The absence of a sanctioning social atmosphere and the presence of stigmas discouraged effective contraceptive practice; these also appeared to be factors in the decision between abortion and continuing the pregnancy.
Mental Illness in Immigrant Minorities in London
Authors: Bagley Christopher
Published: July 2008

An epidemiological study has been made of rates of mental illness in a number of ethnic minorities who are immigrants to Britain, and have settled in a defined area of South London. Of the groups considered, those from Africa, the Old Commonwealth, India and Pakistan have the highest rates. The lowest rates were found in those from Cyprus and Malta, native Britons, and those from the Caribbean. After controlling for the effects of age, sex and social class it was found that the pattern of illness in a number of the immigrant groups differed from the pattern found in the native born. Those from Africa, the Caribbean and India and Pakistan manifested an excess of schizophrenia, while those from Eire manifested a dearth of such illness when compared with matched, native-born controls. The combination of the following factors was used to try to predict the rank order of illness rates among the ethnic groups considered: community integration; status isolation; status striving in a climate of limited opportunity; and selective migration.
The Galton-Kőrösi Correspondence
Authors: Parkes Alan S.
Published: July 2008

In December last year I received a letter from Dr Egon Szabady, Director of the Demographic Research Institute in Budapest, Hungary, calling my attention to the publication by the Institute of the abstracts of papers given at the 9th Hungarian Congress of Biology held in May 1970. Dr Szabady also enclosed a copy of the script of his opening address at the Congress, Population Science and Human Biology, in which he referred to letters which passed between Francis Galton and Jozsef Kórösi between 1894 and 1897, and a reprint of his paper, published in Demographia 1970, which gives a full account, with some facsimiles, of this correspondence. On inquiry, I found that this contact between these two great men of science had attracted little attention—Pearson's massive biography of Galton contains only two references to Kórösi, one to isogens constructed by Galton from Kórösi's Budapest data and the other to Kórösi's death. I wrote, therefore, to Dr Szabady asking permission to use his material in a note in JBS. In reply, Dr Szabady not only gave me his permission and that of the library of the Hungarian Central Statistical Office which holds the originals, but also sent me photographs of two postcards and two short letters not included, either in print or facsimile, in his Demographia paper. Additionaly, he sent me photographs of the two letters from Kórösi to Galton, published in print in Demographia, explaining that the copies held by the library of the Central Statistical Office were Blurred Because of being made by Kórösi on very thin paper. However, they showed, what I had not previously realized, that Kórösi's letters were written in English. I am most grateful to Dr Szabady for this courtesy.
The Unfinished Sexual Revolution
Authors: Taylor Laurie
Published: July 2008

Editorial note. March 17th, 1971 was the fiftieth anniversary of the opening by Marie Stopes of her birth control clinic in Holloway, London, the first of its kind in the UK and possibly in the world. In recognition of this notable event, the Board of the Marie Stopes Memorial Foundation, in conjunction with the University of York, has established a Marie Stopes Memorial Lecture to be given annually for a term of years. The first of the series was delivered on 12th March in the Department of Sociology, University of York, by Mr Laurie Taylor of that department. In introducing the speaker, Dr G. C. L. Bertram, the Chairman, emphasized the great contribution made by Marie Stopes to human welfare and gave a brief history of the clinic, which was soon moved to Whitfield Street. On Marie Stopes' death in 1958 the Memorial Foundation was set up to manage the clinic, still in Whitfield Street, and as a working monument to a great women.

Mr Taylor's script is printed below as delivered and it will be seen that the lecture was a notable one. Not only that, but it was delivered with the verve of a Shakespearean actor and the members of the large and appreciative audience will not readily forget the occasion.
Clinical trial with continuous low dosage (0·5 mg) chlormadinone acetate
Authors: Shahani Shanti M. , Munsif Manjari K.
Published: July 2008

Chlormadinone acetate (0·5 mg) was given continuously to 200 patients for 1512 cycles in an investigation lasting a little over 2 years. Only a small number of the women stayed in the trial for the whole period. The women were in the reproductive age group and of proved fertility. Lack of cycle control was the chief drawback. However, the majority of the cycles were of normal duration, intensity and flow. Breakthrough bleeding occurred in 3·8% of the total cycles. Of the patients 49% had side effects in 18·6% of the cycles. They were common in the first 3 months but were mild. No pregnancy occurred due to method failure. Six pregnancies occurred due to tablet omission on 2 or more days. A heavy drop-out rate of 78·5% was found. The majority of the patients who dropped out did so for reasons not related to the drug; only 14% of the patients dropped out due to side effects. Vaginal cytohormonal study, premenstrual endometrial biopsies and postcoital tests were carried out during the trial to study the mode of action of the drug.
A note on the results of intelligence testing during a longitudinal survey
Authors: Barber C.Renate
Published: July 2008

In 1945 Professor Ryle, the first holder of the Chair of Social Medicine at Oxford, initiated a longitudinal study of child growth and development (Ryle, 1945), and in the course of this work various assessments of intelligence were gathered together. The interest of the data lies in the fact that the assessments were made in the same individuals at different times.
A cohort approach to the study of population growth in Australia
Authors: Christabel M. Young
Published: July 2008

The patterns of growth of various components in the populations of selected cohorts in Australia are compared with the corresponding information for selected calendar years. The use of three-dimensional diagrams demonstrates essential differences between the age structures for cohorts and those for the entire population and shows the way in which the two can be related.

This study indicates that tracing of persons through their lifetimes in this way can lead to a greater understanding of trends in calendar year populations, as well as providing a closer link between the historical viewpoint and statistical analysis. This approach is of particular importance in Australia where the pattern and timing of demographic events have produced interesting differences between trends in cohort age structures and calendar year populations.
Seasonal variation in births in rural East Pakistan
Authors: Stoeckel John , Choudhury A. K. M. Alauddin
Published: July 2008

An analysis of the monthly distribution of births in two areas of Matlab Thana, East Pakistan, indicates that there is a seasonal variation in births different from what would be expected by chance. The highest proportion of births occur in the last three months of a year and the lowest proportion between May and July. Investigation into some of the environmental and social factors which might contribute to the seasonal pattern revealed the following: mean minimum monthly temperature 9 months before birth was inversely related to the number of births; all occupations had seasonal patterns different from what would be expected by chance and the business and mill-and-office occupations had distributions significantly different from each other; the distribution of births for all pregnancy orders was different from chance and the distribution for first order pregnancies was significantly different from those for third and fourth or higher orders.
Age at marriage and family size: social causation and social selection hypotheses
Authors: Busfield Joan
Published: July 2008

The familiar and well-established negative association between a woman's age at marriage and family size has received somewhat less attention in recent years. No doubt this is because, with the reduction in fertility of the past century, the observed differentials appear less striking and seem less significant. Age at marriage is a less obvious determinant of family size than in the past. Glass & Grebenik (1954), commenting on the data produced by the 1946 Family Census, emphasized the decreasing importance of the association both absolutely and relatively. Contrasting the completed fertility of the 1900–09 and the 1925 marriage cohorts in Great Britain (Table 1), they argued that, though for all, married women the relative influence of age at marriage was unchanged, the figures for fertile marriages only (those where the wife had at least one child) appeared to indicate ‘that age at marriage and fertility were not quite so tightly linked for the more recent group’. And they added ‘this is the kind of development which would be expected with the increasing spread of family planning’.
A study of the normal colour vision of art students
Authors: Cobb Stephen R.
Published: July 2008

The paper reports an attempt to use the Pickford-Nicolson anomaloscope on an unselected sample of all art students in 1 year's intake in a School of Art, and to compare their colour vision with that of an unselected control group of non-art students.

There is evidence that male first year School of Art students match a yellow with a mixture of red and green containing slightly more green than the male control group of the same age. It would seem possible that there is an age effect for women matching green and blue with turquoise whereby the older women required more green in the match.

Apart from these two points there appears to be no significant difference between the groups studied.
An investigation of the age at menopause
Authors: McKinlay Sonja , Jefferys Margot , Thompson Barbara
Published: July 2008

Data from a representative sample of 736 women aged 45–54 living in or near London in 1965 were analysed with respect to menopausal status and median and mean age at menopause (final menses). The median age at the natural menopause was 50·78 years. The validity of the measures used and the reliability of the data in this and previous studies are discussed. The conclusions are reached that median age of menopause is a more valid measurement than mean age and that there is no conclusive evidence of an increase in the age at menopause over the last century. The data also indicate understatement of the age at the last menstrual period (LMP) by women, with increasing lapse of time.

The menopause was found to occur markedly later in currently married women than in unmarried or previously married women. When marital status was controlled by considering currently married women only, increased parity was shown to be related to a late menopause among women of higher socio-economic status, but not among those of lower socio-economic status. There was no notable association between the menopause and early or late menarche and socio-economic status.
Birth weight and sibship size
Authors: James William H.
Published: July 2008

It seems that women whose first-born children are very heavy (9 lb and more) or very light (less than 5 1b) have more subsequent children than other women. This finding does not appear to arise from any of the possible artifacts discussed, and it could have some bearing on the present secular increase in the height and weight of the population.
The rural ideal in American society and its influence on attitudes towards population limitation
Authors: Barnett Larry D.
Published: July 2008

A prevalent feature of American society is the strong desire to live in areas of low population density and close to nature, a phenomenon which can perhaps be most appropriately termed a ‘rural ideal’.* It is paradoxical that this phenomenon has been little studied and totally disregarded in quantitative research, for it apparently has a long-standing and central place in American history (Schmitt, 1969; White & White, 1962). The ideal, which some would argue conforms to a basic biological need of the human species (e.g. Iltis, Loucks & Andrews, 1970), may help to explain and predict such social phenomena as migration to the suburbs (Schmitt, 1969; Strauss, 1961), the growth and prevalence of recreational activities which bring the individual into closer contact with nature and/or into lesser contact with other people (e.g. camping, fishing, hunting, visits to national parks) (Schmitt, 1969), and rising rates of deviant behaviours such as neuroses and violence with increasing population density (Ehrlich & Ehrlich, 1970).
Psychosexual development in twins
Authors: Chilton Barbara
Published: July 2008

Using a small sample of monozygotic and same-sex dizygotic twins, estimates of the heritability of certain parameters of sexual development were obtained. In the majority of instances significant values of h2 were found, suggesting that genetic factors play an important role in psychosexual development. The significance of these results is discussed in the light of current pro-environmental attitudes.
A survey of contraceptive markets in four African countries
Authors: Black Timothy R. L.
Published: July 2008

For most people in the world the private sector has long been the principal source of contraceptive supplies. However, few attempts have been made to examine and quantify commercial contraceptive sales. This paper outlines the findings of a contraceptive market survey of Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda and Kenya. The sales statistics and marketing practices for various contraceptive products were obtained by interview from the principal distributors in each country. The sales figures were subsequently cross-checked with manufacturers' agents, and in some cases the overseas manufacturers. The clinic attendance records of local family planning organizations were also reviewed. The findings show that the commercial distribution of contraceptives exceeds public sector activities in Nigeria, Ghana and Uganda, but not in Kenya.
Economic Worth of preventing death at different ages in developing countries
Authors: Enke Stephen , Brown Richard A.
Published: July 2008

Public health programmes in less developed countries lack the resources to care for more than a very small fraction of their populations. Medical care is allocated almost by accident, with those living near a clinic usually obtaining the best care. Preferably, such care should be rationed among people according to a more explicit and justifiable criterion, and such a criterion could have an economic basis. Economically, it is more important to prevent the premature death of some persons than others, depending upon education, sex and age. Considering the age element only, preventing the death of a man of age 30 is ordinarily more worthwhile to his national economy than preventing the death of a young child of 5 years. In fact every living person, depending on age, typically has a present capitalized value to the economy. This is based on his expected marginal additions to national output and his expected average subtractions as a consumer from it. These expected production and consumption streams should be discounted at a rate comparable to the marginal productivity of capital in the economy. Sample calculations of such present values indicate that infants typically have negative values at time of birth. Hence a marginal reduction in births through limited birth control expenditures is economically desirable.
The Hull Family Survey II. Family planning in the first 5 Years of marriage
Authors: Peel John
Published: July 2008

This is the report of a 5-year follow-up survey of 350 couples married in Hull in 1965–66 and first interviewed shortly after marriage. It is based on the results of a second set of interviews conducted in 1970–71. The couples' initial intentions on family-building and birth-spacing are compared with their fertility experience during the first 5 years of marriage. Changes in patterns of contraceptive usage during the period are explored and both family-building and contraceptive practice are examined in relation to those variables which were found to influence the original intentions as expressed in the first interview.
A twin study of graphology
Authors: Faust Judith , Price John
Published: July 2008

The object of the study was to make an objective assessment of the validity of ascertaining personality from handwriting. The subjects chosen for the research were twenty-four pairs of identical and twenty-four pairs of non-identical twins. Personality scores were obtained from each subject, and each pair of twins was rated by their parent(s) on a questionnaire comparing their personality and development. These ratings were compared with ratings of within-pair personality differences based on the examination of samples of handwriting by a consultant graphologist and by a team of eight amateurs. The results showed that handwriting is not likely to be helpful in the study of neuroticism and is of no value in the determination of zygosity. In the case of extraversion, however, the correlations were low but in the expected direction and with reasonably good internal consistency.
Lactation patterns in Egyptian women I. Milk yield during the first year of lactation
Authors: Hefnawi F. , Badraoui M. H. H. , Younis N. , Hassib F.
Published: July 2008

The milk yield in a group of lactating Egyptian women was estimated during the first twelve post-partum months. It increased from the second to the seventh month, then dropped gradually in the last four months. The best milk yield was found in women aged 20–30 years, with a parity of two to four and an inter-delivery interval of 30–36 months. (Summary in Arabic, p. 401.)
Secular changes in dizygotic twinning rates
Authors: James William H.
Published: July 2008

In Australia, Belgium, Denmark, England and Wales, Holland, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Scotland, Sweden and Switzerland there was a substantial decline in dizygotic twinning rates during the 1960s. In Portugal, Spain and Japan there was a lesser decline and in the US there was little change. In many of the countries for which evidence is available, it seems that these declines all started at about the same time in the late 1950s. It has been suggested that the recent decline in Scotland occurred mainly in middle class women; in contrast it is suggested here that the earlier decline in the US during the years 1933–58 was more characteristic of lower class women. For England and Wales and for Scotland, the recent decline (unlike that in the US 1933–58) occurred about equally in young and older women, so that the causes of the declines in the US in 1933–58 and in other countries at present may be different. In the absence of hard evidence, it is speculated that the current declines may be due to hormonal or pesticidal substances widely used in agriculture.

Monozygotic twinning rates have shown no similar trend so that pregnancy wastage does not seem to be implicated.
The independence of the intervals between confinements
Authors: Pollard G. N.
Published: July 2008

The distribution of the interval between (say) first and third confinements is the product of the distributions of the intervals between first and second and second and third confinements provided these two confinement intervals are independent. In this paper we use some specially provided NSW data to consider the question of the independence of the intervals between various confinements. It is shown that there is some indication of a positive association between confinement intervals, but that this association is not very great.
Social and Medical Factors in the use and Effectiveness of IUDs
Authors: Snowden Robert , Eckstein Peter , Hawkins Denis
Published: July 2008

The possible influence of psycho-social factors on the use and effectiveness of the intrauterine contraceptive device (IUD) has not been seriously examined until recently. Inquiry into these factors has become feasible as large-scale projects—primarily designed to consider medical factors in IUD use—have been developed. Data obtained from a number of centres within and outside the United Kingdom indicate the existence of variation in the clinical efficacy of the same type of device. This variability suggests that success or failure of a given model does not necessarily depend on the device alone. Factors other than those generally considered ‘medical’ may play a significant role in IUD use and effectiveness.

The procedures involved in organizing large-scale multi-clinic IUD trials and including efficient data-retrieval systems are described in detail.

In addition, findings are reported on the trial of a stainless steel type of device, the M 213, which has been fitted in sufficient numbers in several UK clinics to permit analysis of variables associated with both the clinic and the doctor responsible for the IUD fitting. Evaluation of the data collected from two single-doctor clinics in two adjacent towns in the southwest of England using the M 213 and served by the same doctor, has revealed significant differences in the net cumulative pregnancy rate associated with the device. Age and parity of the IUD acceptors (and the interaction of age and parity) did not appear to be responsible for the difference. Although the general atmosphere and work load within the clinic setting may have differed it is not thought that this could fully account for the observed variations in the pregnancy rates between the two clinics.

There appears to be sufficient evidence to suggest that the traditional purely ’medical’ approach to the examination of IUD use—effectiveness should be extended to include the study of social and psychological variables associated with both the providers and the acceptors of the IUD service.
Family Size and Ordinal Position: Correlates of Academic Success
Authors: Poole Anne , Kuhn Annette
Published: July 2008

The National Survey of 1960 Graduates, which included every woman and every other man who graduated from British universities in 1960, provided a unique opportunity to further our knowledge of the correlates of academic success measured in terms of the gaining of a university degree. A relatively large family appeared to be no impediment to the educational achievements of middle-class children, but for those with less privileged home circumstances a small family was an essential ingredient for success. First-born children were over-represented among this sample, though only children were not particularly favoured. In general, the likelihood of graduation appeared to decrease with each later position in the birth order.
A Demographic and social study of fertility in rural New Guinea
Authors: Ring Anne , Scragg Roy
Published: July 2008

The commencement of demographic transition with rapid mortality decline and changing fertility patterns has been studied prospectively for 20 years among over 5000 persons in Buka and New Ireland—two pre-industrial societies of New Guinea. The demographic study has been complemented by a detailed social study of fertility variables in three societies.

At the commencement of the study the New Ireland society had a high level of primary and secondary sterility of gonorrhoeal origin which disappeared among the younger women after mass penicillin therapy. The mean age at marriage is no longer immediately post-menarchal; the mean age of mother at birth of first child varied between 18·7 and 20·6 years; and the mean age of cessation of reproduction approached 44 years.

The three societies each show differing degrees of demographic transition with social patterns in one hardly changed by culture contact through to occasional voluntary use of introduced contraceptive techniques. The most important changes in fertility variables over the 20-year survey were the decrease in duration of post-partum abstinence from intercourse, the increase in continuity of cohabitation in marriage and other pronatal effects.

The demographic assessment of Buka showed age specific fertility rates for 1962–67 of over 300 per each 5-year age group between the ages of 20 and 39 with total fertility reaching a maximum of 8680 and with consequent changes in family size. The mean birth interval for births fell from 3·15 years for persons with first births between 1947 and 1953 to 2·13 years where the first birth was after 1961. There are several levels of reproduction with a mean birth interval for women for the most productive group of 2·00 years. The current mean interval for births of 2·16 years is consistent with a maximum biological level of reproduction for a society using breast feeding as the sole significant negative factor affecting fertility.

The associated rapid mortality decline and improved health of the community were due to the control of malaria and available rural health services as part of authoritarian health measures. Fertility decline consistent with transition theory would require community participation in child spacing to re-establish the traditional family size of three to four surviving children. This would entail the introduction of biochemical and mechanical contraception to fill the role previously taken by post-partum abstinence from intercourse and high infant mortality.
Female Sexuality
Authors: Mitchell Juliet
Published: July 2008

When I was first invited to give this year's Marie Stopes Memorial Lecture I had to express my reservations, as my ignorance of Marie Stopes' work was, I'm afraid, profound. I was assured that the talk could simply be on any area relevant or only indirectly related to Marie Stopes' work. I assumed from this that the reason for my invitation was to associate Marie Stopes' achievements with the contemporary Women's Liberation Movement. Since those days of pristine ignorance two things have happened to me. First, I have now read a certain amount on and by Marie Stopes, and second, I have read the lecture that Laurie Taylor gave here last year entitled ‘Marie Stopes—The Unfinished Sexual Revolution—but also extremely annoying. Here was a man extraordinarily sensitive to the facile male chauvinism of his predecessors: those biographers who had let a stuffy nervousness about Marie Stopes' stress on her own life-long sexual needs mar their tale, often turning an adventurous and unconventional woman into a disturbed and frustrated eccentric: someone who was not a ‘fuffilled’ woman. In his talk Laurie Taylor more than righted the balance for he not only corrected the priggish sexism of others, and was himself unusually free from it, but, moreover, he managed to place Stopes' work in a context of serious theories of sexual revolution. In other words, on reading last year's lecture I found my task already done. It is a rare and pleasant occasion when one can defer to the anti-male chauvinism of a male critic, and I do so with great satisfaction. In fact I wish to do more than to defer to it; I wish to take advantage of it. For I want today to use Marie Stopes merely as a jumping-off point, only vaguely relating her preoccupations to those of the contemporary Women's Liberation Movement. I am afraid I even want to be critical of aspects of her great achievement in spreading birth control and gynaecological health in a way for which, goodness knows, we are all most grateful today. For an active member of the Women's Liberation Movement to come and speak in honour of one of the women who in this century has done so much for women and ignore that honour or even turn it to criticism, is, I'm afraid, a dishonourable act. I feel I've been asked here in double trust and I am, in a way, going to abuse both.
The Social Impact of Human Reproduction
Authors: Parkes Alan S.
Published: July 2008

Man is essentially a gregarious animal and is subject, therefore, to both biological and social pressures. As a result, almost everything hedoes has biosocial reper cussions. This is especially true of reproduction, which is a biological process with an overriding social impact. If human reproduction came to an end, so would the human race. By contrast the present unprecedented combination of a high repro ductive rate and a high survival rate is causing widespread concern. One may takethe view that mankind, by reason of its exploding numbers, is rushing to a Gadarene doom, or the opposite view that man has brains as well as gonads and will cope with his proliferation. In either case, one must admit that at the present time there is a population problem.
Cranial measurements in patients with depressive illness
Authors: James Howard , Pollitt John
Published: July 2008

Cranial measurements and somatotype indices were compared in two groups of patients, one with recurrent depressive illness and the other suffering from a first solitary attack of depression. Certain statistically significant differences in stature, somatotype and cranial measurements emerged; the group with recurrent episodes of depression tended to be shorter and more brachycephalic than those with solitary episodes of depression.
Evaluation of intra-uterine contraception in selected mission hospitals in India
Authors: Sadashivaiah K. , Rao M. S. Subba
Published: July 2008

Intra-uterine contraception is a useful method of fertility control, because of its applicability at all levels of socio-economic development and it has been the mainstay of the fertility control programme in many countries.

The present evaluation is based on the hospital follow-up records of 4067 IUD cases from randomly selected mission hospitals for the years 1967 and 1968. Of the insertions, 97·7% were non-post-partum, and 60% of the acceptors were from the age group 25–34 years with a median age of 29·8 years; nearly 70% had fewer than four living children. The pattern of distribution by religion is similar to that of the 1961 census figures.

The average number of women months (6·7) of IUD use is very low in a follow-up study of 24 months but is more or less consistent, both by age and parity.

The incidence of expulsion, removal and pregnancy was 8·2, 12·9 and 0·6 respectively for all ages and although these rates were higher with the 27½-mm loop than the 30-mm loop the differences are not statistically significant.

The rates of expulsion, removals and complaints were greatest during the first 6 months of use and decreased gradually with increase in duration of use.

Bleeding, or other symptoms associated with bleeding, were the main reasons for the removals.

Incidence of re-insertion was higher among those aged <25 years than among those aged ≥25 years and the difference in the proportion of re-insertions between the two age groups is statistically significant.

The size of the loop seems to have no bearing on the incidence of re-insertions.

Total termination rates at the end of 6, 12, 18 and 24 months were 9·9, 15·2, 25·0 and 55·9 per 100 first insertions respectively.