bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Socio-economic factors and the sex ratio at birth
Authors: Teitelbaum Michael S. , Mantel Nathan
Published: July 2008

Using a large special study population and refined indicators of socio-economic status, the relationship of the live birth sex ratio to socio economic variables is examined. The analyses provide control for the possible confounding effects of race and birth order.

The sex ratio is shown to be significantly and positively associated with socio-economic variables. The relationship is not linear, however, but instead is characterized by an apparent ‘diminishing returns’ curve. The major increase in sex ratio is detected as socio-economic status increases from low to moderate. No significant change occurs between moderate and higher socio-economic levels.

Even after controlling for the significant socio-economic effect, the analyses detect a significant difference between the sex ratios of Whites on the one hand and Negroes and Puerto Ricans on the other.

No significant association between birth order and the sex ratio can be detected in the study population.
Twinning in one area of New Britain
Authors: Scragg R. F. R. , Walsh R. J.
Published: July 2008

A high incidence of multiple births has been reported in an area of New Britain where there is no evidence that birth control is practised. Analysis failed to confirm Edwards' observation that the average size of the sibship after birth of twins varies with the sex of the twins. Repeated twinning occurred in 14% of women who had given birth to twins. No significant differences were found in birth intervals before and after twins but mothers of twins were more fertile, judged by the total number of pregnancies, than comparable women without twins. Mortality was greater among the twins than among the singletons and was greater among females than among males. The development of health services in the area has reduced mortality significantly.
Legal abortion in sweden: thirty years' experience
Authors: Ottosson Jan-Otto
Published: July 2008

Since 1939 Sweden has had legislation regulating the legal termination of pregnancy, and up to now more than 100,000 such operations have been performed in accordance with this legislation. Official statistics and investigations by individual researchers have provided a large amount of material, which implies a pragmatic approach to the difficult and many-sided problem of abortion, and which makes empirical evaluations of different aspects possible.
Prenatal mortality and genetic wastage in man
Authors: Kerr Melville G.
Published: July 2008

Human pregnancy wastage is probably of the order of 50%. It is greatest in the earliest weeks of conception when there is a close correlation with defective embryogenesis, approximating to 100% in the first 3 weeks.

Approximately 36% of all clinically recognized abortuses have a chromosome anomaly. This figure does not represent the primary incidence of heteroploidy at conception, because it excludes pre-implantation and early implanted losses which are not recognized clinically.

This heteroploidy is most common in early pregnancy at the time when pregnancy wastage is highest. It is not a homogeneous problem but involves a wider range of chromosome anomalies than those found in the adult, autosomal trisomies, XO monosomy and triploidy being the most common findings.

It follows that errors in gametogenesis, fertilization and early cleavage divisions are a major cause of prenatal mortality. Biological factors which predispose to these faults include maternal ageing, pre-ovulatory and post-ovulatory ageing of the oocyte and ageing of the spermatozoon. Parental chromosome rearrangements are of minor importance as a cause of chromosome anomalies in abortuses, although they may be of greater significance in recurrent abortions.
Endogamy in Egyptian Nubia
Authors: Hussien F. H
Published: July 2008

In a sample of 282 marriages in New Nubia in Egypt, 39% were between first cousins and 21% between less closely related kin. The average number of liveborn offspring in first-cousin marriages was higher than in marriages between more distant relations and unrelated spouses, but the number of deaths among children of first-cousin couples was also higher.
Why Do Family Planning Patients Drop Out?
Authors: Ward Audrey W. M.
Published: July 2008

In a sample of 165 FPA patients, 67% had stopped attending the clinic after 3 years. Half the loss could be accounted for by transfers, moves and ceasing to need contraception. The drop-out rate was not related to age, social class or number of children. Of the three methods generally pre scribed, the greatest attrition occurred amongst the cap patients. In a sample of twenty-seven LA patients, 48% had dropped out.
Social Class and Season of Birth
Authors: James W. H.
Published: July 2008

In all societies for which data exist, there is seasonality in the incidence of births, a major cause of which in the UK appears to be season ality in sexual activity.

In contrast to the findings of Cowgill for earlier periods in other places, there has recently been in Great Britain a greater degree of seasonality in legitimate than in illegitimate births and in upper-class than in lower-class births.

Part of the explanation of the change in illegitimate seasonality could be the recent increase in the numbers of illegitimate births. The greater seasonality of upper-class births could be due to longer and more mobile holidays.
Grain Prices and Vital Statistics in a Portuguese Rural Parish, 1671–1720
Authors: Cowgill U. M. , Johnson H. B.
Published: July 2008

The rural parish of Turcifal in Portuguese Estremadura in 1671 reflected its standard of living in an unexpected fashion. If the prices of grain grown by the people of this parish are used as an economic guide with high prices reflecting poor agricultural years and low ones representing successful harvests, and such data are then compared with the local statistics, interesting demographic facts result. The mean annual number of marriages and births did not differ significantly between good and bad harvest years. There were, however, a statistically significantly larger number of girls born in poor harvest years; whereas in good years boys were born in excess of the expected sex-ratio. It is suggested that poor nutrition during pregnancy, or possibly some other factor influencing both simultaneously, increased the incidence of unsuccessful gestations, which are more likely to be of males, resulting in a proportionately higher number of female live births.

Linear correlations between the price of wheat or barley and the mortality of females showed high significance when the grain is barley and a low significance when it is wheat, suggesting that there may have been a differential use of the food supply. No significance appears when the price of grain is compared with male mortality implying that the men had preferential access to scarce food. The sex-ratio at death, including all ages and all causes, shows an excess of females.
Motivational Factors in IUD Termination: Data from the Second Taiwan IUD Follow-Up Survey
Authors: Hermalin Albert I. , Chow Lien-Pin
Published: July 2008

The Second Taiwan IUD Follow-up Survey, reported on here, is a representative sample of all IUD acceptors in Taiwan up to the middle of 1966. The data show that 30 months after insertion, 36% of acceptors are continuing users, on a first segment basis, and that if reinsertions are taken into account, the proportion increases to 45%. Compared with extensive clinic data from the city of Taichung, the island-wide termination rates are about 5% higher at 30 months, for first segments, but the all segment rates show little difference at this duration.

Termination rates by social and demographic characteristics show that these rates decline with increasing age and parity, as expected. Sizable differentials in these rates were also found when acceptors were classified as to their purpose in using an IUD—for limiting or spacing—and as to their desire for more children. These effects were partially independent of age and parity. These ‘motivational’ variables were used in cross-tabulations to show how they might clarify the effect of age and parity, as well as to derive a number of other implications for the evaluation and operation of a family planning programme. The effects of education, urban-rural residence, and prior use of contraception, on IUD termination are studied in some detail by cross-classifying these characteristics with age and with one another.

Lastly, this study presents reinsertion rates in relation to a number of social and demographic factors. The rate of reinsertion is seen to depend on the type of termination and, taking this into account, to be generally inverse to the patterns of termination by social and demographic characteristics.
Male Attitudes to Family Planning Education in Santiago, Chile
Authors: Hall M.-Francoise
Published: July 2008

Editorial note. The material presented below was originally recorded in an article by Dr Hall in Cuadernos Medico-Sociales, 10, 1969. This Chilean medical journal is published in Spanish and is relatively inaccessible in Europe. In view of the interest and importance of the attitude of the male to family planning, especially perhaps of the South American male, it seemed desirable to bring Dr Hall's findings to the attention of a wider audience. The paper which follows is a revised version of the original English text from which the Spanish translation was prepared. I am much obliged to Dr Hall for her cooperation.

A survey of 584 men in Santiago and 217 men in an adjacent rural area showed that:

(1) Men were favourable to family planning, both in their own personal relationships and for other adults. In all socio-economic strata, more respondents favoured giving information to men than women. It is suggested that male support be enlisted in efforts to reduce induced abortions.

(2) Men favoured giving contraceptive information to youths of both sexes. The family planning programme, therefore, could provide information to adolescents at a time when attitudes toward sex are developing.

(3) There was wide agreement that family planning education be discussed in schools ‘in accordance with the age of the children.’ There is thus an opportunity for the schools to help children develop a system of values within the framework of widely available effective contraception.
Demographic factors in attitudes towards population growth and control
Authors: Barnett Larry D.
Published: July 2008

Using two Gallup polls, which together contained three questions on the attitudes of adult Americans towards population growth and control, a multivariate analysis was conducted of the relationship to each question of nine demographic factors: age, city size, education, family income, occupation of the household head, race, region, religion and sex. Only education and religion showed an intrinsic relationship with attitudes. Specifically, the extent of endorsement of the view that the world population growth rate is a serious problem, and of the view that population limitation will, at some time, be necessary, increased with education. Among those whose family income was at least $10,000 and those whose house-hold head was a professional or business executive, Protestants were more likely than Catholics to view US and world population growth rates as serious and to consider population limitation necessary.
Recent trends in mortality in Australia
Authors: McDonald P. F.
Published: July 2008

Before World War II, mortality in Australia had decreased progressively since 1860, the first year for which statistics are available. The present study shows that this decline in mortality, although interrupted by the war, continued again during the 1950s but appears to have halted around 1960. In some age groups, death rates have even increased during the 1960s.

The alteration in the trend of mortality has occurred mainly in the middle age group, 35–64, while death rates for persons aged over 64 have tended to remain constant and those for persons aged 15 and under have continued to decline. Death rates for males aged 15–34 declined throughout the period, tending to level off towards the end, whereas the rates for females aged 15–34 have increased during recent years.

The retardation of mortality decline appears to have resulted from a slight increase in death rates from arteriosclerotic and degenerative heart disease, together with rapid increases in death rates from lung cancer for males and motor vehicle accidents for females.
Knowledge, practice and effectiveness of contraception in Belgium
Authors: Cliquet R. L.
Published: July 2008

An investigation has been undertaken, within the framework of the 1966 national survey, of the knowledge, practice and effectiveness of contraception in Belgium. The basic findings are presented here.

Knowledge of contraceptive methods was rather slight. With the exception of oral contraception, it was the reproductively least effective and sexually most disturbing methods which were best known. Also, the data on the sources of knowledge of contraceptive methods showed a discrepancy between reality and what was considered desirable. Although contraceptive practice was very widespread, a great many of the women questioned felt inhibited about this problem. In general, a restricted number of methods was used and a large majority of the users exclusively practised non-appliance methods. According to shifts in use, a scale of relative acceptability of methods has been prepared.

On the basis of information for a subsample, the majority of the conceptions appeared to be unplanned and this phenomenon increased with parity.

The contraception data have been related to a limited number of sociocultural identification and performance variables, some of which are of considerable sociobiological importance. The relative effect of these variables on contraceptive behaviour has been examined. Interaction between several of them has been demonstrated.

The qualitative analysis of the questionnaires not only allowed answers to be checked and interpreted but also largely confirmed the statistical findings.
Skin pigmentation and assortative mating in Sikhs
Authors: Roberts D. F. , Kahlon D. P. S.
Published: July 2008

Analysis of skin pigmentation, by reflectance spectrophotometry at standard wavelengths, of husband/wife pairs of Sikhs living in Britain shows positive correlations between spouses in pigmentation of forehead, but not of inner upper arm. Several possible explanations are considered, the most likely appearing to be positive assortative mating in respect to exposed pigmentation.
Coital rates and dizygotic twinning
Authors: James William H.
Published: July 2008

There is some evidence, mostly of an epidemiological nature, that coital rates may be positively associated with dizygotic twinning. It is suggested that this link is causal, in which case an explanation becomes available for some curious—and hitherto unexplained—features of dizygotic twinning rates by maternal age and legitimacy.
The altered seasons of death in America
Authors: Lyster W. R.
Published: July 2008

The seasonal distribution of deaths in the United States has progressively altered since 1940. The proportion of deaths in the first half of the year has declined. During the 1940s there were 7·44% more deaths in the first half than in the second half of the year, but during the 1960s the difference was only 4·85%.

The continuous shift in the seasonal distribution of the crude death rates from all causes is in association with a similar movement in the monthly fertility rates of the United States.
An epidemiological study of schizophrenia
Authors: Dube K. C. , Kumar Narendra
Published: July 2008

This report is based on the findings of an epidemiological study of 29,468 rural, semi-rural and urban inhabitants of the Agra region of Uttar Pradesh. The survey was made in order to find out the prevalence of severe mental disorders and associated conditions in an Indian community. The sampling was purposive and areas selected were contiguous. Census methods were used. All inhabitants were investigated by a team consisting of a psychologist, a statistician, social workers and psychiatrists. After reconnaissance and initial contact by home visits, suspected cases were detected by a searching inquiry and the information so obtained was carefully documented. These cases were subjected to psychiatric examination and abnormal ones identified. Consultation with another psychiatrist was necessary to make a final diagnosis.

The lifetime prevalence rate of schizophrenia was 2·2 per thousand, about the same frequency as found in other parts of the world. The maximum number of cases occurred in males between the ages of 15 and 24 and in females between the ages of 35 and 44. Single people, that is, never married, widowed, divorced or separated suffered significantly much more from the disease than bachelors and married people. A significant relationship was found between schizophrenia and castes in Vaish and Brahmin males as compared with others. The highest rate of schizophrenia was found among people in unremunerative status. Intoxicants were used more by schizophrenics than by normal people. Caste group indulgents had their own preferences in drug use, cannabis indulgence being highest among Brahmins. No association of schizophrenia with residence, educational status or sex was found.
Sexual behaviour of Rhodesian Africans
Authors: Symington R. B.
Published: July 2008

A survey of sexual habits was conducted among Africans living in and around the Salisbury area of Rhodesia. With the exception of a high rate of venereal disease (overall occurrence 22%) the general health of the interviewees was good. Of men interviewed, 63% had heard of family planning but only 25% completely favoured its practice. Reasons against family planning included cost, religious or political beliefs and unwillingness to interfere with nature. The most commonly used contraceptive method was the pill.

Among married men, average frequency of intercourse was 2·1 times daily. Bachelors reported this parameter in terms of frequency per ‘date’ (2·8). The interval between dates varied from 2 to 9 days. Of married men, 90% had intercourse at night whereas the majority of bachelors had intercourse at an opportune time. Among married men, 22% had regular extra-marital intercourse.

Mean age of men at first intercourse was 18·0 years and that of their partner 16·8 years. Seventy-six per cent of men reported that intercourse normally lasted less than 5 min, and 57% always experienced orgasm during intercourse. The most favoured method for intercourse (66%) was the male superior-female supine position. Twice as many married men either used or had used aphrodisiacs as had bachelors (23%). Despite the widespread availability of beetles which contain twice as much cantharides as do Spanish fly, the most commonly used aphrodisiacs were of plant origin.
Family study in sickle Cell disease in Nigeria
Authors: Lesi F. E. A. , Bassey Ekpo E. E.
Published: July 2008

A pilot survey has been made of Nigerian families at risk of producing SS haemoglobin homozygotes. Genotypes of parents and off-spring were investigated in twenty-five families. There is a suggestion that more SS children are produced where the first born suffers from haemoglobin SS disease. Mortality among offspring was higher in the study population than in the general population.
Social class factors in special education
Authors: Broadhead Geoffrey D.
Published: July 2008

Questionnaire data were obtained from the homes of 467 boys and girls in special education classes for educable mentally retarded children and minimally brain injured children which allowed six social class factors to be assessed. For four variables the scores for the two disability groups were significantly different, indicating for the minimally brain injured children a more favourable parental occupation, parental education, and social position, and indicating for the educable mentally retarded children a larger number of children in the family. No differences were apparent between the groups when considering the birth order or the month of birth of the children in the project. The influence of sex as an independent variable was not significant in this research.
Use of FPA clinics in a London Borough
Authors: Clarke Michael
Published: July 2008

A study of first attendances at FPA clinics in the defined population of a London Borough showed that the population served was not dissimilar by social class from an appropriate sample of the population of the Borough. Almost two-thirds of the women were prescribed the contraceptive pill at first visit, and the other third were almost equally divided between the diaphragm and the intra-uterine device as a contraceptive method. Use of the pill was inversely proportional to age, whereas the use of the cap and IUD increased with age at first attendance. Women prescribed the pill or IUD tended to continue with the method, whereas 11% of women who initially used the diaphragm changed over to the pill in approximately a 1-year follow-up period. A large proportion of women, 21%, attended the clinics only once, but this was shown to be due, for the most part, to factors which were outside the control of the clinic.
Note on the Takahashi effect
Authors: James William H.
Published: July 2008

In England and Wales in 1938–68 the sex ratio of children liveborn or stillborn to women aged 45+ years was lower than the sex ratio among children born to women at any other age. This strengthens the suggestion that the high sex ratio reported by Takahashi among children born to elderly women in Japan is a spurious consequence of false registration.
Cycle day of ovulation
Authors: James William H.
Published: July 2008

The length of the post-ovulatory phase in a composite sample of menstrual cycles increases linearly with cycle length until cycle length reaches about 30 days, but thereafter it ceases to increase (Vollman, 1953; Bailey & Marshall, 1970). By contrast, plotted against the mean cycle length of the individual, the length of the post-ovulatory phase continues to increase roughly linearly with mean cycle length. It is concluded (a) that many long cycles are aberrant occurrences among cycles of normal length and are due to lengthening of the pre-ovulatory phase and (b) that where the mean cycle length is long, ovulation, as in shorter cycles, occurs just before the middle of the cycle, so that the post-ovulatory phase is longer than usual.

The most fertile day seems to be the one before mid-cycle. These conclusions are the basis for the following formula for calendar rhythm:

If x is the shortest and y the longest cycle in a woman's menstrual record, the ‘unsafe’ days start on Day (½x − 5) and last for (y − x + 8) days.
Lactation patterns in Egyptian women II. Chemical composition of milk during the first year of lactation
Authors: Kader M. M. Abdel , Bahgat R. , Aziz M. T. , Hefnawi F. , Badraoui M. H. H. , Younis N. , Hassib F.
Published: July 2008

The composition of human milk during the first year of lactation was studied. The effect of age, parity and the length of inter-delivery interval on the composition is described. Of the three parameters, the length of inter-delivery intervals was the most important, while the other two were weakly correlated. (Summary in Arabic, p. 409.)
Is there a relationship between childlessness and marriage breakdown?
Authors: Chester Robert
Published: July 2008

The common belief that childlessness is positively associated with instability of marriage derives from official statistics which appear to show higher divorce rates for childless than for fertile couples. The official findings are a procedural artifact, however, and the relationship shown is certainly exaggerated and possibly spurious.

The appropriate strategy in determining whether divorcees are relatively infertile is to find a population with disrupted marriages and measure its fertility experience. In doing so it is necessary to take note of the definition of fertility, the remarriage factor, and (most importantly) the duration of marriage. The official statistics use the conception of legal duration of marriage. Since this ignores separation before divorce, its use exaggerates the infertility of divorcees, as does failure to exclude remarriages. De facto duration of marriage (wedding to separation) is a superior statement of opportunity to conceive, and calculations on this basis eliminate or even reverse the fertility differential between divorcing and stable couples. Local figures are used to illustrate this effect, and the finding is supported by evidence from a sample of marriages ending in legal proceedings lesser than divorce. It is concluded that the alleged relationship between childlessness and instability of marriage is probably either non-existent or the reverse of that normally assumed, and that in any case measurement of the net overall effect of childlessness does not provide a helpful datum. An alternative strategy of research is suggested, which would seek patterns of effect rather than net overall effect, taking heed of relevant variables, and also considering all forms of marital breakdown including marriages in which cohabitation continues only with disharmony.
Multiple Influences on Deviant Behaviour in Children with Epilepsy
Authors: Bagley Christopher
Published: July 2008

Summary. A detailed parametric study has been made of data concerning epilepsy in 118 children. Thirty-nine items of behaviour disorder, and eighteen items of parental attitudes and behaviour have been subjected to separate principal components analyses. The resulting components, together with a number of neurological and environmental variables, have been correlated. A multiple regression analysis has been carried out using the chief component of behaviour disorder as a dependent variable. This exercise indicates that both social and neurological variables are correlated with aggressive behaviour, and are independent of one another. The usefulness of this kind of study for solving the problem of integrating the approaches of sociology, psychology and biology in the study of social behaviour is discussed.
Biological aspects of a high socio-economic group II. IQ Components and Social Mobility
Authors: Gibson John B. , Nicholas Mascie-Taylor C. G.
Published: July 2008

Data are presented on the verbal and performance (non-verbal) IQs of a sample of university scientists, their surviving fathers and male sibs.

Although mean IQs differ between scientific disciplines the disciplines do not differentially attract scientists from particular socio-economic classes.

The verbal IQs of both the scientists and their fathers are positively correlated with socio-economic class but only in the fathers' sample is the performance IQ/class correlation significant. The variance of both verbal and performance IQs increases from Class I to Class IIIM. The overall estimate of heritability for the verbal IQ is higher than that for the performance IQ.

Verbal and performance IQs are related to the distance the scientists have moved on the socio-economic scale. The effects of social mobility on the genetic and environmental components of the verbal and performance IQ phenotypic variances are discussed.
A Study of the Relationship Between Attitudes Towards World Population Growth and USA Population Growth
Authors: Barnett Larry D.
Published: July 2008

In the fall of 1965 and again in the fall of 1967, The Population Council sponsored nationwide public opinion polls in which questions were asked regarding whether the world and US population growth rates constituted serious problems. Both polls found the proportion of respondents viewing the world growth rate as serious (62% in 1965, 69% in 1967) to be higher than the proportion viewing the US rate as serious (54% in 1965 and 1967) (Kantner, 1968). Thus, attitudes towards world population growth and US population growth appear to be potentially independent of and not necessarily congruent with one another, but to date no examination has been made of their relationship. It is the purpose of the present study: (1) to determine the incidence of each possible combination of views towards the world and US population growth rates, and (2) to determine how individuals with a particular attitude towards one growth rate
distribute themselves in terms of attitudes towards the other rate.
Menopausal Age and Symptomatology in a General Practice
Authors: Thompson Barbara , Hart Shirley A. , Durno D.
Published: July 2008

Most women in Western society seem to reach the menopause in their early fifties; the median age in this Aberdeen series being 50.1 years. As far as symptoms were concerned, only the vasomotor disorders, flushing and night sweats, were definitely correlated with the menopause.
Urban-Rural Differences in the Relationship Between Women's Employment and Fertility: A Preliminary study
Authors: Bindary Aziz , Baxter Colin B. , Hollingsworth T. H.
Published: July 2008

Statistical study of data from the Egyptian census for 1960 shows that the child/woman ratio rises with the level of female employment in the rural areas, but falls as the level of employment rises in the urban areas. Subject to confirmation by more detailed methods, it seems that, in urban areas, provision of opportunities for women to work is of major importance in attempting to reduce national fertility levels, but this will have the opposite effect to what is intended in rural areas. Industrial or commercial work opportunities change a woman's pattern of living, and are essential to the permanent lowering of fertility to replacement levels. (Arabic summary, page 167.)
Motivational Factors and Socio-Economic Characteristics of Vasectomized Males
Authors: Kohli K. L.
Published: July 2008

The average age at the time of operation was 38 years for husbands and about 35 years for wives. Most of the men had, at least, thedesired number of living children before they underwent vasectomy. Theaverage number of living children at the time of operation was 3·3. About88 % of the men were white. About 38% were Catholics, 28 % Protestant and 18% Jewish. The men were highly educated; over 17% had apost-graduate degree. Nearly 60% were engaged in professional, managerial or technical occupations. This points to superiority of vasectomized men in their economic and educational position. Public media sources played the most important role in referring persons for vasectomy. About 57% of the men had learned through articles published in newspapers or magazines. Large family size and non-availability of an ideal contraceptive were the most important reasons for seeking vasectomy.
Family Planning in Yugoslavia With Special Reference to the Province of Vojvodina
Authors: Stanulović-Kapor Nila , Berić Berislav
Published: July 2008

Despite the great interest in family planning today, a gap exists between this interest and actual practice. There is approval of the concept of family planning and a desire for substantially smaller families than present fertility permits; there is also a need for timing, spacing out and limiting the number of children, and so it is clear that good family planning programmes are still urgently required.
Marital Status and Birth Order in a Sample of Dublin Males
Authors: Walsh Brendan M.
Published: July 2008

The association between birth order and marital status has been explored in a sample of 2500 adult males living in Dublin in 1968. Higher proportions ever-married were found among both eldest sons and eldest children than among the rest of the sample at each age below 46 years. In general, the lowest proportions ever-married were found among youngest sons and youngest children. Differences between the mean ages at marriage of the various birth orders were found among the married sub-sample that accorded with expectations based on the differentials in proportions ever- married. Hypotheses that might be supported bythese findings are discussed.
Offering bonuses for reduced fertility
Authors: Enke Stephen , Hickman Bryan D.
Published: July 2008

The performance of population programmes suggests that even the more successful ones have acceptance rates that are only a fifth or so of what is needed to reduce population growth rates to the 1% a year that permits significant improvements in income per head. It is also clear that no programmes use bonuses at anything approaching the monetary values per recipient that are justifiable. There is no guarantee that such bonuses will produce the number of acceptors that are needed, but it is fairly evident that without larger bonuses there will not be enough acceptors.

Briefly, if bonuses are to become an effective and acceptable feature of national family planning programmes, they must meet at least the following requirements:

(1) The various bonuses must be an integral part of an evolving and expanding system, and such bonuses must be evaluated in terms of the same criteria used to evaluate the overall family planning programme.

(2) Bonuses should be substantial, equal to perhaps one-half or more of the maximum that society, through government, can afford to pay for reduced fertility.

(3) Bonus qualification and administration should be reasonably cheat-proof, and the majority of couples using contraceptives should not be able to collect more than one kind of bonus.

(4) Selective discrimination among acceptors, at least by age, should be attempted by government to reduce payments of unnecessarily large bonuses to those who would practise effective contraception for a smaller bonus.

(5) Bonuses should be used to gain the acceptance of more cost-effective methods, or of more fertile couples, even during early stages when a family planning programme is generally supply constrained.

Finally, because in a real sense transfer payments are less costly than more customary activities incurring resource costs, bonuses should be used whenever their budget cost is no greater than more traditional expenditures that are equally effective in terms of reducing births. As such bonuses are really a form of compensation, paying for valuable services undertaken at some inconvenience and sacrifice, there is nothing morally reprehensible in paying them. Moreover, inasmuch as poorer people are most likely to respond, there is a favourable income redistribution effect and, of course, a prospect of higher average incomes because of the fertility reduction.
Homo docens
Authors: Barnett S. A.
Published: July 2008

The names we use for our own species represent general attitudes, many of which were adumbrated by the Greeks. Linnaeus called us Homo sapiens, or thinking man, and his image may be represented by Athene, the goddess of wisdom and my favourite deity. Equally justified is Homo faber, man the maker, represented by Vulcan or Hephaistos. Another aspect of man has been given confusing prominence recently; for man the warrior I have had to invent a name, Homo pugnax—Mars or Ares. Homo ludens has also been proposed (Huizinga, 1970); his counterpart was perhaps Hermes.
Selected studies of the Menopause
Authors: McKinlay Sonja M. , McKinlay John B.
Published: July 2008

Literature on the subject of the menopause, primarily from the past three decades, is selectively reviewed in the form of an annotated bibliography. In order to highlight particular methodological problems, the review is presented in three sections, each preceded by a brief discussion, as follows: (a) the general report of clinical observation or experience, (b) the survey, and (c) the clinical trial. Several recommendations are also made for further research in this field.
Birth Weight In Israel, 1968–70 I. Effects of Birth Order and Maternal Origin
Authors: Grossman S. , Handlesman Y. , Davies A. Michael
Published: July 2008

An analysis of 96% of Israeli live births, 1968–70, gives a mean birth weight of 3299 ± 543 g with 5·7% weighing less than 2500 g. The mean values increased from 3193 ± 510 g for first born to 3469 ± 604 g for tenth and subsequent births.

There were significant differences between the mean birth weights, adjusted for birth order, of the different ethnic-origin groups. Infants of Jewish immigrants from North African countries weighed 3356 g followed by Christian Arabs (3337 g), Israeli-born Jews (3310 g), immigrants from Western countries (3303 g), Moslem Arabs (3251 g), Druze (3244 g) and immigrants from countries of Asia (3223 g).

For the Jewish groups, the differences were diminished in the second generation of Israeli-born but those descended from Asian immigrants continued to be the lighter group.

In order to determine the extent to which these differences are truly ‘ethnic’ further analyses of more homogeneous groups will be necessary taking into account a number of other demographic and socio-economic variables. (Summary in Hebrew, p. 58.)
Components Of Period Fertility in England and Wales
Authors: Farid S. M.
Published: July 2008

The method of decomposition is applied to evaluate the role played by fertility and age composition of women at risk in annual fluctuations in the number of legitimate live births in England and Wales during the period 1956–70. The analysis shows that the upward trend in the numbers of births during the period 1956–64 was mainly due to a rise in the level of period fertility and that the downward trend thereafter has been due to a declining trend in fertility alone. The analysis also shows that the size and age distribution of women at risk have strongly affected the size of birth cohorts born since 1964. Such effects have been in the direction of increasing the numbers of births to women under 25 years of age in a period of falling fertility.
A Statistical Trap Associated with Family Size
Authors: Bytheway Bill
Published: July 2008

A recent paper published in this journal (Poole & Kuhn, 1973) has reported that ‘a relatively large family appeared to be no impediment to the educational achievements of middle-class children’. This finding, however, is based upon an analysis which fell into a relatively unknown statistical trap. Poole & Kuhn are only the latest in a long line of victims of this trap and some of their predecessors are reviewed below.
Bytheway's Statistical Trap
Authors: Poole Anne
Published: July 2008

In accordance with JBS policy, Mrs Poole was offered the opportunity of replying to Mr Bytheway, for simultaneous publication with his paper. Her comment, which has been seen by Mr Bytheway, appears below. So far as JBS is concerned, the discussion is now closed.
The Mothers' Clinic
Authors: Parkes Alan S. , King Dee
Published: July 2008

The Board of the Marie Stopes Memorial Foundation organized in 1971 the first of a series of Marie Stopes Memorial Lectures to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the opening of her first clinic in Holloway in 1921 (Taylor, 1971). A second lecture was arranged in 1972 (Mitchell, 1973). For 1973, the Board decided to vary the pattern and asked us to write an account of the clinic in the 1920s and 1930s, a neglected subject compared with the voluminous studies of Marie Stopes herself. In accepting this invitation, we realized that there was some factual material available, but that for the human touch we should have to rely largely on those still available who knew the clinic in its early days. It seemed therefore that the interview technique would be best suited to bringing out the highlights. In this we have been fortunate in having the most helpful co-operation.
Numbers of children planned, expected and preferred by women in Melbourne
Authors: Young C. M.
Published: July 2008

From data from the 1971 Melbourne Family Survey a comparison has been made of the number of children that respondents first planned to have, their expected family size, and their preferred family size, to determine factors associated with their ability to adhere to the original plans, and satisfaction with their ultimate family size. The data suggest that, after beginning their childbearing, some women change their minds about how many children they want, while others are unable to have as many children as they want or else have more than they really want. A substantial proportion of women would have preferred to have a family size different from the one they have attained, and more consistent with the number of children they had originally planned.
The effect of education and significant others upon the contraceptive behaviour of married men
Authors: Ryser Paul E. , Spillane William H.
Published: July 2008

A survey of married men living with their wives revealed that they had, on the average, been married for 14 years and had 2.8 children. The men in this survey were found to be positively oriented towards family planning. Seventy-nine per cent were using a contraceptive at the time of the survey. The analysis revealed that race and education explained differences in contraceptive practice. Black males reported using more effective methods, namely the pill, than white males. The examination of the effect of education revealed that as education increased, the racial differences persisted except for those men with education beyond high school.
A comparison of results obtained by men and women interviewers in a fertility survey
Authors: Cartwright Ann , Moffett Joanna
Published: July 2008

In a pilot survey about family size and the use of contraception for which the sample was the parents of legitimate babies the interviews with fathers were systematically divided between men and women interviewers. There was no difference in the response rate of the two groups and although there were some differences in the types of answers given to certain questions most of the differences might have occurred by chance. We could not see any clear pattern in the sorts of response that varied.

A hypothesis about the variation was put forward by some of our advisers and we collected some further information about this which did not support the hypothesis. On the basis of this study we do not feel it necessary to recruit and train men to interview the fathers on the main study but are using women interviewers for both mothers and fathers.
Pregnancy in girls under 17: a preliminary study in a hospital district in south London
Authors: Mcewan J. A. , Owens Carol , Newton J. R.
Published: July 2008

Pregnancy occurring in girls under the age of 17 is of particular interest to those providing obstetric care and family planning services, as well as to the social welfare services in the community. Childbirth in girls of this age carries greater risk to mother and child than in the immediately older age groups and a young mother having a baby, whether married or not, may face social and economic difficulties. This study is designed to find out basic facts about girls having terminations of pregnancy or continuing to have a baby in this young age group, relating to: parents and family of origin, housing, education, religion, knowledge of sex and fertility, use of contraception and nature of the relationship with the father of the child.

The findings suggest that there is an urgent need for improving the provision and effectiveness of sex education, that the provision of contraceptive advice to the very young should be reviewed and improved, and that the type of relationships between boys and girls leading to the pregnancies described in this study are neither casual nor ‘promiscuous’. The findings that those conceiving under the age of 15, and keeping the baby, made their first attendance at the antenatal clinic very late in the pregnancy suggests that these girls take an undue risk with their health, possibly due to the present state of the law regarding sexual intercourse in young people. The ideas of ‘wantedness’ and ‘planning’ in relation to conception are discussed.
An epidemiological study of hysteria
Authors: Dube K. C. , Kumar Narender
Published: July 2008

In a comprehensive epidemiological study conducted by a census survey in a population of 29,468 individuals in the Agra region of Uttar Pradesh, northern India, 261 cases of conversion symptoms in the form of hysterical fits were detected constituting a prevalence rate of 8.9 per thousand (Dube, 1970). The study population consisted of residents in urban, semi-rural and rural areas. The prevalence rate was significantly higher in urban than in rural areas. Females constituted 96.1% of all cases of hysteria. The highest incidence rate was in the age group 15–24 years. The role of caste, marital status and educational level, found to be associated with the occurrence of symptoms, has been discussed.
The unwanted birth and the family planning service
Authors: Brennan Mary E. , Opit L. J.
Published: July 2008

In a survey in Coventry of 1079 post-natal patients, 11% (104) of married women and 46% (32) of single women stated that this birth was unwanted and emotionally distressing. The married women with unwanted births were the same age as other married women, but had substantially larger families. The single women with unwanted births were younger and all had left school at 16 years or below. Ten per cent of married women and 28% of single women with unwanted births had no knowledge of contraception and 28% of married women and 78% of single women with unwanted births had not used any contraceptive methods. Seventy-six per cent of married women and 78% of single women with unwanted births would have liked further professional advice.
Introducing the age-profile: an index of survival
Authors: Young Christabel M.
Published: July 2008

This paper introduces the concept of the ‘age-profile’, which represents the proportions of cohort populations surviving from birth to a given year. Life tables for Australia and three-dimensional diagrams based on these data are used to illustrate the difference between the ‘age-profile’ values for a given year and the transverse survival values for the same year. The last part of the paper describes areas in which the ‘age-profile’ might be used with reference to its value in representing the experience of cohorts.
Fertility patterns of two New Guinea populations: Karkar and Lufa
Authors: Stanhope John M. , Hornabrook Richard W.
Published: July 2008

Fertility in New Guinea highlanders was lower than in the Karkar coastal population. Karkar fertility has been reduced in younger women and this appears to be associated with increased educational opportunity. Polygamy is common in the Highlands but unusual on the coast. Fertility appeared to be unrelated to religious affiliation or employment status. Both communities had some knowledge of contraception, abortion and fertility promotion, and on Karkar there was a knowledge of the advantages of medical advice concerning family planning. Mortality levels in the two communities were comparable, from the mid-trimester of pregnancy through early childhood. The estimated life expectancies at birth are within the accepted range for other areas of New Guinea.
Maternal characteristics of women having twin pregnancies
Authors: Campbell D. M. , Campbell A. J. , MacGillivray I.
Published: July 2008

A comparison was made between 1308 mothers delivered of twins in Aberdeen between 1950 and 1969 and mothers of singleton infants. There was a greater number of tall women amongst mothers of twins. This was more marked in primigravidae than in multiparae. The rate of twinning was less in thin women than in those who were obese or of normal build. The social class of the husband did not appear to influence the incidence of twins. The rate of weight gain in twin pregnancies, even in early pregnancy, was high compared with the rate in singleton pregnancies. The more frequent occurrence of twinning in heavier, taller women, suggests that nutrition might be responsible but this is not borne out by the findings about social class.