bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Social Factors in the Incidence of Spina Bifida and Anencephaly
Authors: Timson John 
Published: July 2008

The incidence of spina bifida and anencephaly, according to reports, has declined in some parts of the world but not in others. It is suggested that social factors, greater awareness of the familial nature of these disorders coupled with the increased availability of effective contraception, may account for part of the decline and that these factors are less operative in the areas where no decline in incidence has been observed.Data are presented for 65 families living in the Manchester area, each of which contained at least one affected child. Forty of these families appeared to have been ‘discontinued’ after the birth of the affected child.
International Variations in The Relative Ages of Brides and Grooms
Authors: Cox P. R. 
Published: July 2008

SummaryData showing the relative ages of husbands and wives at marriage in one post-war year are available for many countries, and show that the age distribution of wives for men of a given age varies appreciably from country to country. So also does the age distribution of husbands for a given age of bride. The range of the average ages of marriage partners, from country to country within Europe, is about 2 years for either sex.The first part of the paper investigates how far these variations are associated with the corresponding international differences in the supply of men and women available for marriage. There is some correlation—mostly positive at the younger and older marriage ages and negative at the central marriage ages. The results show an affinity with those of a similar study based on time trends in one country alone: England and Wales.In so far as age distributions at marriage are not directly associated with the supply of people available as partners, international variations may be regarded as the expression of differences in social custom, in economic history or in taste. In the second part of the paper such differences are exhibited and discussed. For a given age of one spouse, partners in most countries are older than in Britain but younger wives are found in some Communist countries and also in the Commonwealth.In the final section, the development of the marriage age experience in two countries—France, and England and Wales—is compared over the period 1911–61, and some interesting differences are revealed, especially in relation to the effects of world wars, of economic depressions and the history of contraceptives. In 1911, appreciably older husbands and younger wives were found in France than in Britain, but today the differences between the two countries are much smaller.
Some characteristics of a family
Authors: Pinsent R. J. F. H. 
Published: July 2008

SummaryA study was undertaken to examine routinely recorded information on the births, marriages and deaths occurring in an extended population sharing the feature of a common surname. The material was obtained in quote form from the General Registry.Simple manual analysis revealed a number of localities in which the ‘family’ was to be found and comparisons were made between vital events in each area over the period 1837–1960. An attempt was made to group bearers of the common surname by social class using the currently accepted convention.Causes of death were coded according to the main headings of the classification introduced by the Royal College of General Practitioners in 1963. Variations in frequency of recording of different causes of death in different localities were found.It is suggested that a more sophisticated study of populations composed of bearers of a shared surname might demonstrate a predictive value in terms of susceptibility or resistance to disease and thus become a recognized tool in the workshop of the geneticist.
Intelligence, family size and socio-economic status
Authors: Kennett K. F. , Cropley A. J. 
Published: July 2008

SummaryA sample of 170 Regina school children, divided into subgroups according to family size and socio-economic status, was tested on the Otis Beta Mental Ability Test. The results demonstrated the existence of a definite relationship between intelligence and socio-economic status, but no significant relationship between family size and IQ, except among low socio economic status males. These results, interpreted as reflecting the changing relationship between intelligence and family size, are possibly the outcome of a changing fertility pattern within the various socio-economic status groups.
Use of contraception by young mothers in Copenhagen
Authors: Braestrup Agnete 
Published: July 2008

This paper consists of an edited translation of the greater part of an article by Dr Braestrup published in Ugeskr. Læger, 1970, 132, 232, under the title ‘Unge modres t'iden oni og benyttelse af antikonception’. In view of the current interest in young mothers, especially unmarried ones, and of the importance of Dr Braestrup's contribution to the subject, it seemed desirable to make available as widely as possible the information contained in her paper. The Executive Editor is grateful to Dr Braestrup for permission to re-publish it in English and for providing the translation.Summary Information about mothers under the age of 21 years in Copenhagen, in 1959 and 1968, was collected, reviewed and compared. The age distribution of the mothers was similar in the two surveys, but the fathers were younger in 1968. In that year, 84% of the married mothers had been pregnant before marriage; 90% of the married mothers and 35% of the unmarried ones had their own flats.Knowledge and use of suitable methods of contraception showed a considerable increase during the period. In 1968, 90% of the married mothers and about 62% of the unmarried mothers had made use of contraception before pregnancy. The great majority seeking advice had done so from general practitioners while others, before or after pregnancy, had attended maternity welfare or family planning clinics.Motivation to employ contraception, however, was only slight and approximately two-thirds of these very young mothers stated that they did not wish to avoid pregnancy. Only 15% of the married and 21% of the unmarried mothers were in favour of free abortion.
The distribution of coitus within the human intermenstruum
Authors: James William H. 
Published: July 2008

Daily records are the only acceptable basis for determining human coital rates. A re-analysis of such data presented by earlier writers and a study of new data suggest that within the intermenstruum (viz. the days on which there is no bleeding) the rate of coitus is highest immediately after menstruation ceases, declines thereafter and is lowest (within the intermenstruum) just before menstruation recurs.It is not clear whether there is a minor peak around ovulation time, but such a correlation, if it exists, is certainly not very powerful.The major cause of the higher coital rate after menstruation could be abstinence during menstruation and a post-menstrual feeling of release on the part of the woman.The fact that coital rates are largely independent of the time of ovulation might be due to their being largely determined by the male. In any case, it provides evidence for Morris's view that human sexuality has important evolutionary functions other than reproduction.
Preference for Sex of the Child Among Pregnant Women
Authors: Uddenberg N. , Almgren P.-E. , Nilsson Å. 
Published: July 2008

One hundred and fifty-two randomly selected pregnant women were examined and followed up by interviews and psychological tests during pregnancy and after parturition. The present paper is focused upon factors which determine the woman's preference for the sex of her expected child. It was shown that women who already have one or more children generally wanted the expected child to be of the opposite sex to her youngest child. Thus, the main part of the study was limited to eighty-one nulliparous women.Associations were found between the woman's preference for the sex of the child and several factors such as the sex of her own siblings and her position among them, her education, intelligence and degree of field-dependence indicating immaturity and lack of autonomy.Several of the findings presented refute the common supposition that nulliparous women generally want to give birth to a son, and that the arrival of a son is more satisfactory. Women wishing for a son were found to be somewhat more field-dependent than other women and somewhat more often reported that they had experienced a range of mental symptoms before the current pregnancy. Women wishing for a boy also reported more mental symptoms during the post-partum period. Moreover, those women who gave birth to a son reperted more symptoms at this time than those who gave birth to a daughter, and paradoxically the most affected were those who had wished for a son and had had their wishes fulfilled. The arrival of a daughter therefore seems to be equally satisfactory to the mother, at least as measured by the criteria used in this investigation.
Pilot Study of Single Women Requesting a Legal Abortion
Authors: Pearson J. F. 
Published: July 2008

Eleven unmarried women, pregnat for the first time and requesting a legal abortion through the referral service at the Marie Stopes Clinic in London, volunteered for the study. Each woman was given a focused open-ended interview by the investigator after her consultation session with the clinic doctor. The subjects were middle working-class, including one schoolgirl and four students. All but one were within the age range 18–23. Four women were Roman Catholic and the remainder were Church of England denomination. The minimum length of the period between first meeting the putative father and becoming pregnant was 4 months. Three women were living in situations that enabled the couple to spend the night together whenever they wished. One case of rape was included in the sample. Eight subjects had used some form of contraception at least twice. Only one woman used a female clinical method of contraception. Three of the four cases in which contraception was used on the occasion of conception involved the male using withdrawal. Two of the subjects continued the pregnancy and married.Topics discussed in individual case histories and across all subjects were: attitudes to marriage, pregnancy and children before meeting the putative father; sources and extent of knowledge about conception and contraceptive; attitudes towards pregnancy and contraception; extent of contraceptive practice; reasons for not using contraception; relationship with the putative father in terms of the role of sexual intercourse, and discussion of marriage, the possibility of pregnancy and of preventing it; sexual behaviour of the couple; attitudes to sexual intercourse; role of responsibility for contraception; the woman's reactions to being pregnat and the reasons for whether or not she informed her parents about the pregnancy.The observations from the study indicated that knowledge and motivation were individual factors that could not account exclusively for the circumstances contributing to the woman becoming pregnant. Factors in addition to those within the control of the couple were observed and these influences appeared to be the result of conventional socio-cultural conditions and conditioning. The absence of a sanctioning social atmosphere and the presence of stigmas discouraged effective contraceptive practice; these also appeared to be factors in the decision between abortion and continuing the pregnancy.
The Unfinished Sexual Revolution
Authors: Taylor Laurie 
Published: July 2008

Editorial note. March 17th, 1971 was the fiftieth anniversary of the opening by Marie Stopes of her birth control clinic in Holloway, London, the first of its kind in the UK and possibly in the world. In recognition of this notable event, the Board of the Marie Stopes Memorial Foundation, in conjunction with the University of York, has established a Marie Stopes Memorial Lecture to be given annually for a term of years. The first of the series was delivered on 12th March in the Department of Sociology, University of York, by Mr Laurie Taylor of that department. In introducing the speaker, Dr G. C. L. Bertram, the Chairman, emphasized the great contribution made by Marie Stopes to human welfare and gave a brief history of the clinic, which was soon moved to Whitfield Street. On Marie Stopes' death in 1958 the Memorial Foundation was set up to manage the clinic, still in Whitfield Street, and as a working monument to a great women.Mr Taylor's script is printed below as delivered and it will be seen that the lecture was a notable one. Not only that, but it was delivered with the verve of a Shakespearean actor and the members of the large and appreciative audience will not readily forget the occasion.
A cohort approach to the study of population growth in Australia
Authors: Christabel M. Young 
Published: July 2008

The patterns of growth of various components in the populations of selected cohorts in Australia are compared with the corresponding information for selected calendar years. The use of three-dimensional diagrams demonstrates essential differences between the age structures for cohorts and those for the entire population and shows the way in which the two can be related.This study indicates that tracing of persons through their lifetimes in this way can lead to a greater understanding of trends in calendar year populations, as well as providing a closer link between the historical viewpoint and statistical analysis. This approach is of particular importance in Australia where the pattern and timing of demographic events have produced interesting differences between trends in cohort age structures and calendar year populations.
Seasonal variation in births in rural East Pakistan
Authors: Stoeckel John , Choudhury A. K. M. Alauddin 
Published: July 2008

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

The paper reports an attempt to use the Pickford-Nicolson anomaloscope on an unselected sample of all art students in 1 year's intake in a School of Art, and to compare their colour vision with that of an unselected control group of non-art students.There is evidence that male first year School of Art students match a yellow with a mixture of red and green containing slightly more green than the male control group of the same age. It would seem possible that there is an age effect for women matching green and blue with turquoise whereby the older women required more green in the match.Apart from these two points there appears to be no significant difference between the groups studied.
An investigation of the age at menopause
Authors: McKinlay Sonja , Jefferys Margot , Thompson Barbara 
Published: July 2008

Data from a representative sample of 736 women aged 45–54 living in or near London in 1965 were analysed with respect to menopausal status and median and mean age at menopause (final menses). The median age at the natural menopause was 50·78 years. The validity of the measures used and the reliability of the data in this and previous studies are discussed. The conclusions are reached that median age of menopause is a more valid measurement than mean age and that there is no conclusive evidence of an increase in the age at menopause over the last century. The data also indicate understatement of the age at the last menstrual period (LMP) by women, with increasing lapse of time.The menopause was found to occur markedly later in currently married women than in unmarried or previously married women. When marital status was controlled by considering currently married women only, increased parity was shown to be related to a late menopause among women of higher socio-economic status, but not among those of lower socio-economic status. There was no notable association between the menopause and early or late menarche and socio-economic status.
Secular changes in dizygotic twinning rates
Authors: James William H. 
Published: July 2008

In Australia, Belgium, Denmark, England and Wales, Holland, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Scotland, Sweden and Switzerland there was a substantial decline in dizygotic twinning rates during the 1960s. In Portugal, Spain and Japan there was a lesser decline and in the US there was little change. In many of the countries for which evidence is available, it seems that these declines all started at about the same time in the late 1950s. It has been suggested that the recent decline in Scotland occurred mainly in middle class women; in contrast it is suggested here that the earlier decline in the US during the years 1933–58 was more characteristic of lower class women. For England and Wales and for Scotland, the recent decline (unlike that in the US 1933–58) occurred about equally in young and older women, so that the causes of the declines in the US in 1933–58 and in other countries at present may be different. In the absence of hard evidence, it is speculated that the current declines may be due to hormonal or pesticidal substances widely used in agriculture.Monozygotic twinning rates have shown no similar trend so that pregnancy wastage does not seem to be implicated.
Social and Medical Factors in the use and Effectiveness of IUDs
Authors: Snowden Robert , Eckstein Peter , Hawkins Denis 
Published: July 2008

The possible influence of psycho-social factors on the use and effectiveness of the intrauterine contraceptive device (IUD) has not been seriously examined until recently. Inquiry into these factors has become feasible as large-scale projects—primarily designed to consider medical factors in IUD use—have been developed. Data obtained from a number of centres within and outside the United Kingdom indicate the existence of variation in the clinical efficacy of the same type of device. This variability suggests that success or failure of a given model does not necessarily depend on the device alone. Factors other than those generally considered ‘medical’ may play a significant role in IUD use and effectiveness.The procedures involved in organizing large-scale multi-clinic IUD trials and including efficient data-retrieval systems are described in detail.In addition, findings are reported on the trial of a stainless steel type of device, the M 213, which has been fitted in sufficient numbers in several UK clinics to permit analysis of variables associated with both the clinic and the doctor responsible for the IUD fitting. Evaluation of the data collected from two single-doctor clinics in two adjacent towns in the southwest of England using the M 213 and served by the same doctor, has revealed significant differences in the net cumulative pregnancy rate associated with the device. Age and parity of the IUD acceptors (and the interaction of age and parity) did not appear to be responsible for the difference. Although the general atmosphere and work load within the clinic setting may have differed it is not thought that this could fully account for the observed variations in the pregnancy rates between the two clinics.There appears to be sufficient evidence to suggest that the traditional purely ’medical’ approach to the examination of IUD use—effectiveness should be extended to include the study of social and psychological variables associated with both the providers and the acceptors of the IUD service.
A Demographic and social study of fertility in rural New Guinea
Authors: Ring Anne , Scragg Roy 
Published: July 2008

The commencement of demographic transition with rapid mortality decline and changing fertility patterns has been studied prospectively for 20 years among over 5000 persons in Buka and New Ireland—two pre-industrial societies of New Guinea. The demographic study has been complemented by a detailed social study of fertility variables in three societies.At the commencement of the study the New Ireland society had a high level of primary and secondary sterility of gonorrhoeal origin which disappeared among the younger women after mass penicillin therapy. The mean age at marriage is no longer immediately post-menarchal; the mean age of mother at birth of first child varied between 18·7 and 20·6 years; and the mean age of cessation of reproduction approached 44 years.The three societies each show differing degrees of demographic transition with social patterns in one hardly changed by culture contact through to occasional voluntary use of introduced contraceptive techniques. The most important changes in fertility variables over the 20-year survey were the decrease in duration of post-partum abstinence from intercourse, the increase in continuity of cohabitation in marriage and other pronatal effects.The demographic assessment of Buka showed age specific fertility rates for 1962–67 of over 300 per each 5-year age group between the ages of 20 and 39 with total fertility reaching a maximum of 8680 and with consequent changes in family size. The mean birth interval for births fell from 3·15 years for persons with first births between 1947 and 1953 to 2·13 years where the first birth was after 1961. There are several levels of reproduction with a mean birth interval for women for the most productive group of 2·00 years. The current mean interval for births of 2·16 years is consistent with a maximum biological level of reproduction for a society using breast feeding as the sole significant negative factor affecting fertility.The associated rapid mortality decline and improved health of the community were due to the control of malaria and available rural health services as part of authoritarian health measures. Fertility decline consistent with transition theory would require community participation in child spacing to re-establish the traditional family size of three to four surviving children. This would entail the introduction of biochemical and mechanical contraception to fill the role previously taken by post-partum abstinence from intercourse and high infant mortality.
Cranial measurements in patients with depressive illness
Authors: James Howard , Pollitt John 
Published: July 2008

SummaryCranial measurements and somatotype indices were compared in two groups of patients, one with recurrent depressive illness and the other suffering from a first solitary attack of depression. Certain statistically significant differences in stature, somatotype and cranial measurements emerged; the group with recurrent episodes of depression tended to be shorter and more brachycephalic than those with solitary episodes of depression.