bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Factors responsible for childhood mortality variation in rural Ethiopia
Authors: Mammo Abate
Published: July 2008

This paper uses the 1981 National Rural Demographic Survey to document childhood mortality variations in rural areas of Ethiopia. Four significant findings are highlighted. (1) Health status of parents is identified as an important determinant of childhood mortality. (2) Religion, region of residence and ethnicity interact in their effects on childhood mortality and the effect of ethnicity varies in different regions for the same religion; in some areas ethnicity may serve as a proxy for economic and cultural differences. (3) Childhood mortality is inversely related to literacy status of parents, which may also reflect socioecomic status. (4) The data show a clear difference in childhood mortality between the famine-prone areas and the rest.
Diffusion of a particular 4.1(−) hereditary elliptocytosis allele in the French northern Alps
Authors: Brunet G. , Ducluzeau M. T. , Roda L. , Lefrancois P. , Baklouti F. , Delaunay J. , Robert J. M.
Published: July 2008

Heterozygous 4.1(−) hereditary elliptocytosis results from the absence of one haploid set of protein 4.1, a major component of the red cell skeleton. Two successive epidemiological investigations revealed fifteen probands in the French Northern Alps. The frequency of this disease seems to be very high in four small villages isolated in the Aravis mountains. The genealogical study shows that eleven probands share common ancestors who lived eight or ten generations ago in these villages. Thus there was probably a founder effect from one pair of ancestors, strengthened by endogamy. In contrast, four probands originate from another area and are not genealogically related. Recent results in molecular genetics support the present data.
Family background, cognitive abilities, and personality as predictors of education and occupational attainment across two generations
Authors: Nagoshi Craig T. , Johnson Ronald C. , Honbo Kelly Ann M.
Published: July 2008

This study reports on the relative influences of parental attainment and cognitive ability and subjects’ own cognitive ability, personality, and social attitudes on the educational and occupational attainments and incomes of 183 Generation 3 subjects of Caucasian ancestry and 186 of Japanese ancestry originally tested in 1972–76 in the Hawaii Family Study of Cognition (HFSC) and re-tested in 1987–88. In contrast to earlier reports of sex differences in the influence of Generation 2 attainment and on Generation 3 attainment when these offspring were younger, family background had a trivial influence and own cognitive ability had a substantial influence on educational attainment for both racial/ethnic groups and both sexes. For income, however, own cognitive ability was only a significant predictor for male subjects. Within-family correlational analyses also supported this sex difference in influences on attainment.
Factors influencing infant mortality in Vietnam
Authors: Swenson Ingrid E. , Thang Nguyen Minh , San Pham Bich , Nham Vu Qui , Man Vu Duy
Published: July 2008

Selected determinants of overall infant mortality in Vietnam were examined using data from the 1988 Vietnam Demographic and Health Survey, and factors underlying neonatal and post-neonatal mortality were also compared. Effects of community development characteristics, including health care, were studied by logistic regression analysis in a subsample of rural children from the 1990 Vietnam Accessibility of Contraceptives Survey.

Infant neonatal and post-neonatal mortality rates showed comparable distributions by birth order, maternal age, pregnancy intervals, mother's education and urban–rural residence. Rates were highest among first order births, births after an interval of less than 12 months, births to illiterate mothers and to those aged under 21 or over 35 years of age. Logistic regression analysis showed that the most significant predictor of infant mortality was residence in a province where overall infant mortality was over 40 per 1000 live births. In the rural subsample, availability of public transport was the most persistent community development predictor of infant mortality. Reasons for the low infant mortality rates in Vietnam compared to countries with similar levels of economic development are discussed.
Selected determinants of fertility in vietnam: age at marriage, marriage to first birth interval and age at first birth
Authors: Luc Nguyen , Thang Nguyen Minh , Swenson Ingrid , San Pham Bich
Published: July 2008

Data from the 4172 women aged 15–49 interviewed in the 1988 Vietnamese Demographic and Health Survey were used to examine age at marriage, marriage to first birth intervals and age at first birth. Differences between urban and rural areas, northern and southern provinces and by education of the women were analysed.

The majority of the women had their first birth before age 20, but women with secondary education had a significantly higher age at first birth than those with little or no education, and women from the north had a significantly higher age at first birth than women from the south. Rural women and those with little or no education married at significantly younger ages than urban women and those with secondary education; these education effects were confirmed in a rural subsample of women. Women from rural areas and from the north had significantly shorter marriage to first birth intervals than urban women and those from the south, but there were no significant effects related to education.
Survival in the perinatal period: a prospective analysis
Authors: Popkin Barry M. , Guilkey David K. , Schwartz J. Brad , Flieger Wilhelm
Published: July 2008

A prospective study of 3080 Filipino mothers and non-twin births in 33 communities is used to study the determinants of mortality in week 1 postpartum. The results show significant nonlinear birth weight effects and the importance of environmental contamination, particularly for infants born by traditional methods at home, and several other intermediate and underlying determinants of perinatal mortality. The pathways through which important sociodemographic factors affect perinatal mortality are also presented.
Teenage sexual activity in Zambia: the need for a sex education policy
Authors: Pillai Vijayan K. , Yates Donald L.
Published: July 2008

Data from a study of teenage sexual activity among secondary school girls show the need for a sex education policy as a first step in controlling teenage fertility in Zambia. A large proportion of teenage females enter into close relationships with males at young ages and a high proportion of young females have engaged in sexual intercourse. Most of these sexually active females do not use family planning methods even though a large proportion of them have heard of modern methods. The teenagers receive very little sex education from their parents and a modern institutional sex education programme is needed.
Secular changes in migration between birth and marriage
Authors: Brennan Ellen R.
Published: July 2008

Although recent historic studies have shown high rates of population turnover prior to, during and after the demographic transition, little is known about the causes and consequences of migration, particularly during late adolescence when migration rates are highest. This paper assesses the relationship (a) between socio-occupational mobility and premarital migration patterns and (b) between these measures of mobility and family formation. Linked vital data for ever-married cohorts born between 1855 and 1974 on Sanday, Orkney Islands, Scotland, provided an opportunity for evaluation of changes in (1) distance migrated between birth and marriage and (2) age at marriage in a small rural isolate characteristic of other populations undergoing modernization. Measures of socio-occupational mobility indicated a secular increase in upper social classes and in labour force participation, particularly in non-agricultural sectors of the economy. Migration distance between birth and marriage decreased over time, associated with a convergence in the pattern of spatial mobility between population subgroups. Whereas there was little relationship between age at marriage and measures of spatial and socio-occupational mobility, changes in migration were strongly influenced by opportunities which differed between social classes and between agricultural and non-agricultural sectors of the island economy.
Family type and fertility in rural India: a critical analysis
Authors: Vlassoff Carol , Vlassoff Michael
Published: July 2008

This paper, based on data from two independent but concurrent studies, seeks to show that the explanation for the inconclusive results concerning fertility and family type in India lies in the failure of previous researchers to take account of an important intervening variable, the family life cycle. Fertility levels are examined in nuclear and joint families in a village in Western India and changes in relationships at different stages in the family cycle are considered. The most important conclusion is that aggregate level observations which indicate that fertility varies according to family type are misleading. When other relevant factors such as age or stage in the family life cycle are controlled, there is little evidence of any intrinsic connection between fertility and family type.
Estimating voluntary and involuntary childlessness in the developing countries
Authors: Poston Dudley L. , Kramer Kathryn B. , Trent Katherine , Yu Mei-Yu
Published: July 2008

This paper examines rates of marital childlessness in the developing countries of the world and separates them into voluntary, involuntary and related components through a decision-tree model based on fecundity, contraceptive behaviour, pregnancy status, age, years married, and other variables. The principal data are taken from World Fertility Surveys. The conclusion is reached that virtually all of the permanent childlessness in the developing countries examined is involuntary.
Mortality of an urban population by period of residence in a rapidly industrialized city
Authors: Masaki Motofumi , Suzuki Tsuguyoshi
Published: July 2008

Mortality differentials among urban residents who were classified by period of residence in a rapidly industrialized city were analysed for those aged 20 and over dying between April 1974 and March 1978. The highest mortality in the male population appeared in the group with under 5 years of residence, and this was attributed to the high age-specific death rates at age 50 and over. In females, a mortality excess conspicuous in those under age 50 was observed in the group with over 20 years of residence. Age-adjusted death rates by leading causes of death differed among the groups by period of residence; the rates from malignant neoplasms and senility for the population with under 5 years of residence were greater in males, but smaller in females than those of the total population. The mortality for the male population with under 5 years of residence was considered to be related to the health of the aged when they migrated.
Personality and IQ score variation in a Cambridge undergraduate sample
Authors: Mascie-Taylor C. G. N. , Maclarnon A. M. , Lanigan P. M.
Published: July 2008

This study, using an undergraduate sample, examines the relationship between ten independent variables and their interactions, on two IQ components and sixteen personality factors. There was a highly significant relationship between both IQ components and subject studied at university, and between the verbal IQ component and birth order. A relationship between smoking habit and personality was also found.
Gender-related differences in the impact of tropical diseases on women: what do we know?
Authors: Vlassoff Carol , Bonilla Elssy
Published: July 2008

This paper explores the importance of gender differences in the impact of tropical diseases on women. Malaria and schistosomiasis are used as examples but most of the observations also apply to other diseases endemic to developing countries. The distinction between sex and gender is discussed and evidence of sex and gender differences in the determinants and consequences of malaria and schistosomiasis, particularly their economic, social and personal dimensions, is reviewed. Issues on which research and intervention studies are needed are identified.
Determinants of racial fertility differentials in some urban areas of South Africa
Authors: Chimere-Dan Orieji
Published: July 2008

Results of a survey of some urban areas in the Pretoria–Witwatersrand–Vereenining region show differential impacts of proximate and socioeconomic factors on the fertility of urban blacks and whites. Timing of starting and ending of childbearing and the reproductive behaviour of women who have never been married account for the major differences in fertility levels. White women confine their childbearing career to the 20–39 age range, while black women utilise the entire 15–49 age range. The fertility level is quite high among black women who have never been married (in contrast to never married white women). With the exception of breast-feeding, racial patterns in other proximate determinants of fertility do not suggest the observed racial differentials in fertility.
The intelligence of American children is still rising
Authors: Lynn Richard , Pagliari Claudia
Published: July 2008

Children's intelligence increased in the United States by approxi-mately 3 IQ points per decade over the period 1932–78. New evidence shows that these increases have been sustained during the last 20 years. Two recent studies indicate that the rates of increase for 1972–89 and 1978–89 were 3·3 and 3·5 IQ points per decade respectively.
Aspects of neonatal death in St Kilda, 1830–1930
Authors: Clegg E. J. , Cross J. F.
Published: July 2008

Neonatal death (mainly due to tetanus) was common in St Kilda until 1891. Two aspects of this phenomenon are studied; factors which pre-dicted death, and the impact of neonatal death on family building. Maternal age appeared to be a predictive factor for death of the first child, but only in children of high birth order were other factors, particularly the number of previous neonatal deaths, important. The first birth interval appeared to be determined mainly by the date of the first birth, independent of neonatal mortality levels. For later intervals, the neonatal death of the previous child appeared to be the main determining factor.
Breast-feeding and child survival in Matlab, Bangladesh
Authors: Shahidullah M.
Published: July 2008

This study investigates the effect of both total and unsupplemented breast-feeding in conjunction with birth interval on early childhood mortality, using longitudinal data from Matlab, Bangladesh. A discrete hazard model approach shows that it is not the duration of total breast-feeding but the duration of unsupplemented breast-feeding which increases child survival. Unsupplemented breast-feeding appears as such a crucial determinant of early childhood mortality that its effect could not be substantially attenuated even when important demographic and socioeconomic factors were controlled. Each of the covariates—supplementation, previous birth interval and onset of a subsequent conception—has an independent influence on early childhood mortality.
The role of breast-feeding beyond postpartum amenorrhoea on the return of fertility in India: a life table and hazards model analysis
Authors: Nath Dilip C. , Land Kenneth C. , Singh Kaushalendra K.
Published: July 2008

This paper investigates the effects of continued breast-feeding after resumption of menses on fertility, using data from two retrospective surveys in India and single decrement life table and multivariate time-dependent hazards analyses. Breast-feeding even after the return of menses is found to be associated with longer birth intervals. The interaction of breast-feeding duration after resumption of menses and postpartum amenorrhoea has a significant effect on the risk of conception after return of menses.
Recent evidence on trends and differentials in Bangladesh fertility: an update
Authors: Amin R. , Ahmed A. , Chowdhury J. , Kabir M. , Hill R.
Published: July 2008

A comparison of contraceptive and fertility data for 1985–91 with data for 1983 shows that fertility has continued to decline in Bangladesh, in all segments of society. The magnitude of decline varied according to educational level, region and urban–rural locality. The percentage decline in total marital fertility rate was somewhat higher among urban than rural residents; educated women showed greater declines than uneducated, increas-ing the overall educational differences in total fertility by 1991. Factors contributing to the recent decline in fertility are discussed.
Obstetrical outcome with increasing maternal age
Authors: Viegas O. A. C. , Leong W. P. , Ahmed S. , Ratnam S. S.
Published: July 2008

A retrospective study of 21,442 Singaporean women who gave birth at the National University Hospital, Singapore, between January 1986 and November 1991 is used to assess the effects of increasing age on obstetric performance. The results show that reproduction after the age of 35 years in Singapore is associated with a higher incidence of antenatal complications such as hypertension and diabetes and a higher rate of obstetric intervention. However, given the current level of obstetric and neonatal care in Singapore, these adverse features do not prejudice the obstetric and neonatal outcomes.
Factors affecting desired family size in Bangladesh
Authors: Kabir M. , Amin Ruhul , Ahmed Ashraf Uddin , Chowdhury Jamir
Published: July 2008

Factors affecting desired family size in rural Bangladesh are examined using data from contraceptive prevalence surveys conducted between 1983 and 1991. The analysis suggests that mothers having two sons and one daughter are more inclined to perceive their family as complete than those having three sons and no daughter. Logistic regression analysis indicates that important determinants of desire for more children are age of woman, current contraceptive use status, work status, and family planning worker's visit. The policy implications of these findings are discussed.
Gynaecologists and abortion in Northern Ireland
Authors: Francome Colin
Published: July 2008

The evidence from gynaecologists in Northern Ireland shows confusion in interpretation and practice of abortion law, with some women even being denied abortion after rape. Over two-thirds of gynaecologists supported a change in the law which would leave the abortion decision to the woman and her doctor, but less than half wanted the introduction of the British law.
Subsistence ecology and carrying capacity in two Papua New Guinea populations
Authors: Ohtsuka Ryutaro
Published: July 2008

This article examines the mechanisms of subsistence adaptation of two Papua New Guinea populations, the Metroxylon sago-depending lowland Gidra and the taro-monoculture Mountain Ok, surviving in low population densities of 0·5 and 1·4 persons per km2. Observation of the groups' land use systems strongly suggests that their population densities have not been far below the carrying capacity, although the territory of each population is markedly heterogeneous. Both groups have maintained their sustainable food production not only for resource management but also for survival at a population level, either expanding their territory or changing the sustainable level in tandem with changes of subsistence system.
Unintended pregnancy and sex education in Chile: a behavioural model
Authors: Herold Joan M. , Thompson Nancy J. , Valenzuela Maria Solange , Morris Leo
Published: July 2008

This study analysed factors associated with unintended pregnancy among adolescent and young adult women in Santiago, Chile. Three variations of a behavioural model were developed. Logistic regression showed that the effect of sex education on unintended pregnancy works through the use of contraception. Other significant effects were found for variables reflecting socioeconomic status and a woman's acceptance of her sexuality. The results also suggested that labelling affects measurement of ‘unintended’ pregnancy.
Assortative mating in a Spanish population: effects of social factors and cohabitation time
Authors: Sánchez-Andrés A. , Mesa M. S.
Published: July 2008

Assortative mating for 22 anthropometric and body composition characteristics and social indicators was studied in a Spanish sample of 114 married couples. Significant spousal similarity was found for occupation, educational level and number of siblings. Sex–age adjusted spouse correlations were significant for stature, ileospinal height, total arm length, and biacromial breadth. Spouse correlations were not altered after allowance for socioeconomic effects. When couples were grouped according to marriage duration, differences in mate correlations for fatness were detected, suggesting a cohabitational effect on spouse resemblance.
Ultradian behaviour cycles in a village community of Colombian Indians
Authors: Meier-Koll Alfred , Schardl Barbara
Published: July 2008

The daily activities observed in a Colombian village community of contemporary hunting and gathering people were analysed with respect to their time structure. Short term cycles of about 2 hours could be detected in both individual and common behavioural patterns. These behaviour cycles of individual group members appear to have been synchronised by social interaction. From temporal variations of individual activities a common ultradian time frame emerged.
Factors related to duration of postpartum amenorrhoea among USA women with prolonged lactation
Authors: Heinig M. Jane , Nommsen-Rivers Laurie A. , Peerson Janet M. , Dewey Kathryn G.
Published: July 2008

Duration of postpartum amenorrhoea (PPA) was compared among women who breast-fed For ≥ 6 months (breast-feeding group) Or ≤ 3 Months (formula-feeding group) and was found to be significantly shorter among the latter. associations between maternal factors and duration of PPA were examined. within the formula-feeding group, the only variable associated with duration of PPA was duration of breast-feeding. among breast-feeding mothers who resumed menstruation after 3 months postpartum, duration of PPA was positively associated with parity and negatively associated with maternal body mass index (bmi) at 3 months postpartum. Among breastfeeding mothers who resumed menstruation after 6 months, duration of PPA was positively associated with parity, pregnancy weight gain, number of night feeds and milk volume at 6 months, and negatively associated with maternal age and bmi at 6 months postpartum. These results indicate that maternal anthropometric status is related to duration of PPA, even in a relatively well-nourished population of lactating women.
Fertility decline in Tanzania
Authors: Mturi Akim J. , Hinde P. R. Andrew
Published: July 2008

According to the 1991/92 Tanzania Demographic and Health Survey, a Tanzanian woman has, on average, 6·1 births before she reaches age 50, a decline of about one birth per woman since the early 1980s. The major proximate determinant of fertility is universal and prolonged breastfeeding. An analysis of the social and demographic correlates of fertility shows that infant and child mortality, level of education and age at first marriage are among the factors which significantly influence fertility in Tanzania.
Variability in behavioural risk factors for heart disease in an Australian Aboriginal community
Authors: Hogg Robert S.
Published: July 2008

The variability of three behavioural risk factors for heart disease—heavy alcohol and tobacco consumption and physical inactivity—was assessed in an Australian Aboriginal community, where heart disease death rates were high. Prevalence levels were assessed by comparison with those experienced by all adult Australians and by evaluating whether Aboriginal rates were influenced by underlying sociodemographic conditions. Relative risk ratios, odds ratios and logistic regression analysis were used.

A total of 159 males and 114 females participated. Compared to all Australians, Aborigines are significantly more likely to drink five or more drinks on a drinking day, to be current smokers, and not to participate in vigorous exercise. In the Aboriginal community, univariate analysis indicates that: the odds of being a heavy drinker are significantly higher for those in unsatisfactory health; odds of being a current smoker are significantly higher for those in unsatisfactory health or unemployed; odds of not participating in vigorous exercise are significantly higher for those in unsatisfactory health, unemployed or without secondary education. Multivariate analysis shows that risk of being a heavy drinker is independently associated with sex, age, and health status; risk of being a current smoker is associated with health and employment status. The risk of not participating in vigorous exercise is significantly related to all sociodemographic variables examined. Reasons for these associations are discussed.
Attenuation of nursing-related ovarian suppression and high fertility in well-nourished, intensively breast-feeding Amele women of lowland Papua New Guinea
Authors: Worthman Carol M. , Jenkins Carol L. , Stallings Joy F. , Lai Daina
Published: July 2008

Intense, sustained nursing lengthens inter-birth intervals and is causally linked with low natural fertility. However, in traditional settings, the effects of such nursing on fertility are difficult to disentangle from those of nutrition. Results from an prospective, direct observational study of reproductive function in well-nourished Amele women who nurse intensively and persistently but who also have high fertility are here presented. Endocrine measures show that ovarian activity resumes by median 11·0 months postpartum. Median duration of postpartum amenorrhoea is 11·3 months, time to next conception is 19·0 months, and the inter-birth interval is 28·0 months. Average life time fertility is 6·8. High fertility in Amele women is due both to refractoriness of reproductive function to suckling stimuli, and to maintenance of equivalent age-specific fertility rates across the reproductive life span.
Does women's literacy affect desired fertility and contraceptive use in rural–urban Pakistan?
Authors: Zaki Khalida P. , Johnson Nan E.
Published: July 2008

The 1984–85 Pakistan Contraceptive Prevalence Survey showed that urban wives had more than twice the literacy rate of rural wives. The present study explored the relationship of the rural–urban gap in female literacy to differences in contraceptive use. In rural areas, literacy did not increase women's perceptions of having reached a ‘sufficient’ number of living children, although the opposite was true for urban areas. Yet rural women with an ‘insufficient’ number of living children were more likely to use contraception if they were literate, as did their urban counterparts. Thus, raising the literacy rate in rural Pakistan would not narrow the rural–urban gap in contraception to cease childbearing but would narrow the rural–urban gap in contraception used to space wanted births further apart. Recommendations for government policy are made.
Socioeconomic factors affecting marriage, divorce and birth rates in a Japanese population
Authors: Uchida Eiichi , Araki Shunichi , Murata Katsuyuki
Published: July 2008

The effects of low income, urbanisation and young age population on age-adjusted rates of first marriage, divorce and live birth among the Japanese population in 46 prefectures were analysed by stepwise regression for 1970 and for 1975. During this period, Japanese society experienced a drastic change from long-lasting economic growth to serious recession in 1973. In both 1970 and 1975, the first marriage rate for females was inversely related to low income and the divorce rates for both males and females were positively related to low income. The live birth rate was significantly related to low income, urbanisation and young age population only in 1975. The first marriage rate for females and the divorce rates for both sexes increased significantly but the first marriage rate for males and live birth rate significantly decreased between 1970 and 1975. These findings suggest that low income was the essential factor affecting first marriage for females and divorce for males and females.
Socioeconomic status: the prime indicator of premature death in Australia
Authors: Lawson James S. , Black Deborah
Published: July 2008

The link between socioeconomic status and health has long been recognised. This study of deaths among Australian men aged 15–59 years demonstrates that during the 20-year period, 1966–86 the number of premature deaths was dramatically reduced among all socioeconomic groups, primarily as a result of falls in death rates due to heart disease, stroke and trauma. However, the marked differences in death rates according to social class remain, to the extent that if men of all social classes had the same mortality experiences as professional and technical workers the overall death rates for Australian men would be reduced by 60%. Socioeconomic status is the most important indicator of health status among Australians.
Impact of migration, environment and socioeconomic conditions on the physique of Sikhs
Authors: Singh L. P. , Harrison G. A.
Published: July 2008

This study is based on a cross-sectional sample of 459 Sikh adults, male and female, from three castes representing three levels of socioeconomic affluence. The sedentes group stayed all their lives in the native state of Punjab, India; the migrant group completed their active physical growth in the Punjab and left for the UK at around 20 years of age. The pattern of stature, weight, BMI and skinfolds in both groups reflects their level of socioeconomic affluence in their native Punjab. In the migrants, the caste differences in the mass measures largely disappear, but the differences in the skeletal dimensions remain. Both male and female migrants are heavier than their sedente counterparts and the male migrants have substantially higher amounts of subcutaneous fat. The change in weight, BMI and skinfolds in the migrants is inversely proportional to the original values of these variables in the native settings. Male sedentes and migrants are not statistically significantly different in stature, but the female migrants are taller than their sedente peers in all three castes. In a multivariate analysis, caste remains the most significant factor in the skeletal variables; in the mass characters, both caste and migration are statistically significant factors; age explains very little of the variation.
Maternal education and family income as determinants of severe disease following acute diarrhoea in children: a case control study
Authors: Mahalanabis Dilip , Faruque Abu S. G. , Islam Asma , Hoque Syed S.
Published: July 2008

In a case-control study among the urban poor of Dhaka, Bangladesh, the association of maternal education and family income with severity of disease due to diarrhoea in children was examined. After adjusting for family income, 7 or more years of school education was associated with 54% reduced risk of severe disease as indicated by the presence of dehydration. Income in the uppermost quartile of this population, independently of maternal education, was associated with 41% reduced risk of severe disease compared to the lowest quartile. In the logistic regression model the effect of maternal education remained high after adjustment for several confounders. Based on the concept that socioeconomic variables operate through a set of proximate variables it is contended that maternal education, independently of economic power, through its impact on disease from acute diarrhoea, favourably influences child survival.
Variations in familial neonatal mortality risks in four countries
Authors: Curtis Siân L. , Steele Fiona
Published: July 2008

This paper investigates variations in the strength and structure of familial association in neonatal mortality risks in four populations; Bolivia, Kenya, Peru, and Tanzania. Exploratory analyses of the structure of the familial association are presented for each population. Random effects logistic models are then used to estimate the strength of familial association in neonatal mortality risks using a standard set of control variables. The results suggest that the strength of familial association in neonatal mortality risks is quite similar in these four populations which would be consistent with a biological explanation for the association. However, some differences were found, particularly in the form of the association in Peru, which may suggest at least a small role of other factors.
Fitness of professionals and skilled workers in Poland
Authors: Rogucka Elzbieta , Welon Zygmunt
Published: July 2008

Simple measures of the biological fitness of adult men aged 25–65 years, inhabitants of the city of Wroclaw, Poland, were studied in two well-defined social groups: professionals and skilled workers. It was found that the manual workers, compared to professionals, have higher systolic and diastolic blood pressure, lower relative vital capacity, inferior flexibility of spine, poorer eye-hand co-ordination, and poorer hearing acuity. These social differences appear consistently at each age level between 25 and 65 years and tend to increase with age to the disadvantage of skilled workers.
Relationship of people across an international border based on an isonymy analysis across the German–Danish frontier
Authors: Boldsen Jesper , Lasker Gabriel W.
Published: July 2008

Using lists of names of male personal telephone subscribers, isonymy was calculated within and between 29 contiguous areas in a north-to-south line extending 210 km south of Grindsted, Denmark. Each area shared some surname(s) with every other area. Isonymy was high across both the present and past borders of Denmark with Germany and was consistently lower in areas beyond 160 km south of Grindsted. Relative isonymy between areas was also smaller on average south of the present border than north of it, and smaller still for pairs of areas spanning the border. This is partly accounted for by decreases in isonymy with distance, but the slope of the logistic regression on distance is greater for the northern moiety than the southern one. Most of these findings can be traced to the influence of common surnames ending in ‘sen’, the distribution of which tends to correlate highly with isonymy. Such surnames tend to be of recent origin and to be very frequent and hence highly polygenic. Thus much of the heterogeneity is explained by surname history rather than genetic heterogeneity.
Intrauterine devices: learning from the past and looking to the future
Authors: Petta Carlos Alberto , McPheeters Melissa , Chi I-Cheng
Published: July 2008

This paper reviews the historical development of the IUD, describing the challenges and successes, and attempts to offer a balanced perspective for family planning service workers today. Modern IUDs are an important component of family planning services and an excellent contraceptive choice for properly screened women, providing contraception that is safe, effective, long lasting and cost effective. Potential research strategies for the future are also discussed.
Contributions of the proximate determinants to fertility change in Botswana
Authors: Letamo Gobopamang
Published: July 2008

This study uses Bongaarts' model to examine the relative contributions of three proximate determinants (non-marriage, contraceptive use and postpartum infecundability) to fertility change using data from the 1984 and 1988 Botswana Family and Health Surveys. Breast-feeding is shown to be the most important proximate determinant of fertility, followed by contraceptive use, and finally non-marriage, both in 1984 and 1988. However, contraceptive use increased between 1984 and 1988, leading to fertility decline over this period. Marriage is the least important proximate determinant of fertility, probably due to the high prevalence of premarital childbearing. Other factors such as induced abortion could have played a major role in the fertility decline but their effect could not be estimated due to lack of accurate data.
Social and economic factors related to breast-feeding durations in Tanzania
Authors: Hinde P. R. Andrew , Mturi Akim J.
Published: July 2008

Some social and economic factors related to breast-feeding durations in Tanzania are analysed using current status data taken from the 1991–92 Tanzanian Demographic and Health Survey. Proportional hazards and proportional odds models are estimated. The results show that breast-feeding durations vary according to the region of residence of the mother and child (and whether they are living in a rural or an urban area), the age of the mother at the time of the birth, the order of the birth, and the mother's religion.
Using a mixture model to detect son preference in Vietnam
Authors: Haughton Dominique , Haughton Jonathan
Published: July 2008

Son preference is strong in Vietnam, according to attitudinal surveys and studies of contraceptive prevalence and birth hazards. These techniques assume a single model is valid for all families, but it is more plausible that son preference is found for some, but not all, families. Heterogeneous preferences may be addressed with a mixture model. This paper specifies and estimates a two-Weibull regression model, applied to the interval between the second and third births. The data come from the Vietnam Living Standards Survey of 1992–93. Applying information criteria, graphs, and martingale-based residuals, the two-Weibull model is found to fit better than a one-Weibull model. Roughly half of parents have son preference and, curiously, a propensity for fewer children. The other group has more children, no son preference, and is colourless in the sense that the birth interval is difficult to predict on the basis of the regressors used.
The importance of intelligence in Western societies
Authors: Brand C. R.
Published: July 2008

There are many different questions about intelligence that easily become confused. They concern its measurement, its psychological basis (if any), its heritability and its relevance to human group differences. Even a discussion of the importance of intelligence could range widely. (1) The evolution of intelligence might consider what selection pressures generate and maintain the higher levels of intelligence that humans are generally thought to possess. (2) The persistence of individual differences in human intelligence could consider whether such differences serve some ‘group’ function in establishing clear bases for social hierarchy: individuals might differ just because intelligence is irrelevant to fertility under conditions of social hierarchy. Or the differences might be temporary, because Western social hierarchies depend on intelligence differences that they will soon undermine. (3) Is intelligence an explanatory concept in psychology? Or must attribution of scholastic or other successes to ‘intelligence’ always yield to further analyses that somehow break down intelligence into hypothetical ‘components’? (4) Educational relevance might be the issue: is it important to take intelligence differences into account when deciding on how to educate children? (5) Or the concern might be with democratic sentiment and the importance people attach to intelligence for themselves and in their spouses and children.
Reductionism and intelligence: the case of inspection time
Authors: Deary Ian J.
Published: July 2008

Successes in science tend to be successful attempts at reduction and causal interaction. The reduction of the interaction of bodies to the laws of motion and the reduction of chemical phenomena to elements and their interactions are good examples. In these cases reductionism leads to observed phenomena being explained by a relatively small number of basic concepts and the laws which govern the interaction of the concepts. The spectrum of inquiry that stretches from common sense to scientific psychology is infused with a tendency toward reductionism. Hippocrates and Galen originated and developed, respectively, the notion that temperamental differences might be reducible to the amounts of four bodily fluids, or humours (black bile, yellow bile, blood and phlegm), that a person produced. Astrologers reduced stable personality differences to the positions of the stars and planets at the time of birth. And differential psychologists have reduced the personality trait adjectives contained in the lexicon to about five major dimensions.
A healthy body and a healthy mind: the relationship between ill-health and cognitive function in school-age children
Authors: Nokes C.
Published: July 2008

Health of school age children and the Partnership for Child Development

Until recently, health programmes in developing countries have focused on infant survival and on the health of adolescents and, consequently, the health concerns of children of school age, falling between the ages of infancy and adolescence, have been neglected. The World Bank Development Report of 1993, stated a need to move beyond the focus on survival and to capture the concept that community health depends on the quality of life and opportunities for development. In response, the Partnership for Child Development was set up in 1992 to address the problem of ill-health among school-age children in the developing world.
The supply of glucose to the brain and cognitive functioning
Authors: Benton David , Parker Pearl Y. , Donohoe Rachael T.
Published: July 2008

Unlike other organs the energy requirement of the brain is met almost exclusively by aerobic glucose degradation (Siesjo, 1978). The energy requirement of the brain is 20–30% of the whole organism at rest, although its weight is only 2%. The energy stores in the brain are extremely small when compared with the high rate of glucose utilisation: thus the brain is reliant on a continuous glucose supply. Only about 30% of glucose is required for direct energy production; much of the remainder is used for the synthesis of amino acids, peptides, lipids and nucleic acids (Siebert, Gessner & Klasser, 1986). Thus a source of glucose is essential for the synthesis of physiologically active amines such as serotonin, noradrenaline and acetylcholine. Although it is well accepted that hypoglycaemia can result in the disruption of cognitive functioning, this is a rare phenomenon and it has usually been assumed that levels of blood glucose, within the normal range, do not influence intellectual functioning. This assumption is discussed in this paper.
The influence of early diet on later development
Authors: Morley Ruth
Published: July 2008

The possibility that early nutrition has long term consequences in man has been much debated. There have been limited opportunities to perform formal randomised studies on the effect of early nutrition in man and many studies have been flawed by problems with study design. Infants born preterm are a special group. At the start of this study in 1982 evidence on which to base choice of diet was inconsistent and related only to short term outcome, and diets available for such babies differed greatly in nutrient content. In this group it was both ethical and practical to conduct a formal, randomised trial of early diet and outcome and the results were clearly needed for management decisions.

A long term prospective outcome study was undertaken on 926 preterm infants randomly assigned to the diet received in the neonatal period. Surviving children have been followed at 9 months, 18 months and now 7½–8 years of age. The findings suggest that children fed a nutrient supplemented preterm formula perform better than those fed a standard formula milk, and also that human milk may contain factors which promote brain growth or development. Outcome data from the randomised trials show that a very brief period of dietary manipulation (on average for the first 4 weeks of life) influences later development.
Genetic influences on mild mental retardation: concepts, findings and research implications
Authors: Rutter Michael , Simonoff Emily , Plomin Robert
Published: July 2008

It has long been known that mild mental retardation (meaning that associated with an IQ in the 50–69 range) shows a strong tendency to run in families and that there is a much increased recurrence risk if either a parent or a sib has mental retardation. For example, Reed & Reed (1965) found that, having had one retarded child, the chance of a further retarded child was 6% if both parents and their sibs were ‘normal’, 13% if both parents were normal but one had a retarded sib, 20% if one parent was retarded, and 42% if both were retarded. A somewhat similar gradient was found in the more recent study by Bundey, Thake & Todd (1989). The appreciation that mild mental retardation was so strongly familial had led Lewis (1933) some years earlier to refer to it as ’subcultural‘ (meaning that it was a normal variation), in order to differentiate it from severe mental retardation, which was viewed as ‘pathological’. Penrose (1938, 1963) made the same classificatory distinction and the utility of a two-group approach became generally accepted (Burack, 1990).
Sex differences and IQ
Authors: Mackintosh N. J.
Published: July 2008

Of all the controversial issues surrounding IQ tests, few have generated more heat and less light than the question whether different groups in our society differ in average IQ. Those who study, and find evidence of, such differences believe that they are addressing a legitimate scientific issue and one whose implications, however unpalatable they may be, society ignores at its peril. Their critics insist that the question has no intrinsic scientific interest whatsoever, and conclude that those who study it are either naive, deceiving themselves or only too happy to find justification for their own comfortable position within an unjust and unequal society. In the case of sex differences in IQ scores, at least, one could argue that both sides have got it largely wrong. With one exception, there is relatively little social or political implication in such differences as there are. More importantly, however, arguments will be presented against the critics' view that such research is of no intrinsic scientific interest. On the contrary, it has already helped to answer some important scientific questions about the nature of IQ, and has the potential to answer more. Unfortunately, those who engage in such research have usually failed to see this.
Group differences: is the good society impossible?
Authors: Flynn James R.
Published: July 2008

‘From a black perspective…the notion that a black (who passes for white) might reclaim his ethnic identity to take advantage of preferential admissions can only trigger an almost inexpressible sense of outrage.’ (Livingston, 1979)

‘Turning an elephant loose in a crowd offers everyone, except the beast and his rider, equal opportunities of being trampled.’ (Tawney, 1931)
Demographic perspectives on China and India
Authors: Adlakha Arjun , Banister Judith
Published: July 2008

This paper compares levels and trends of population growth rates, age and sex composition, mortality, and fertility including family planning practices in the world's two most populous countries, China and India. Both countries are undergoing demographic transition but China is nearer than India to achieving a stationary population. Fertility in China has declined below replacement level while in India it is nearly one and a half children per woman above replacement level. Both countries have achieved large reductions in mortality but life expectancy at birth in China is currently about 10 years longer than in India. Both countries have young populations but China will precede India in the aging of population structure during the 21st century.