JOURNAL OF BIOSOCIAL SCIENCE

United Kingdom (Cambridge) 55

JANUARY 1998 - VOLUME 30, NUMBER 1

98.55.9 - English - Gayle KAUFMAN, Carolina Population Center, University Square, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27516-3997 (U.S.A.)

Sterilisation of married couples: Husband versus wife sterilisation (p. 1-14)

Sterilisation has been increasing in the United States in recent decades. Using the National Survey of Families and Households, this paper examines sterilisation among married couples using event history techniques, viewing husband and wife sterilisation as competing risks. Wives are more likely to experience sterilisation and at shorter durations of marriage. Number of children has a curvilinear effect on sterilisation, increasing and then decreasing its likelihood. Wives who are older than their husbands are more likely to get sterilised themselves. Black and Hispanic husbands are more likely to undergo sterilisation. (UNITED STATES, FEMALE STERILIZATION, MALE STERILIZATION, COUPLE)

98.55.10 - English - Susan SCOTT, School of Biological Sciences, University of Liverpool, PO Box 147, Liverpool L69 3BX (U.K.), S. R. DUNCAN, Control Systems Centre, Department of Electrical Engineering and Electronics, UMIST, PO Box 88, Manchester, M60 1QD (U.K.), and C. J. DUNCAN, School of Biological Sciences, University of Liverpool, PO Box 147, Liverpool L69 3BX (U.K.)

The interacting effects of prices and weather on population cycles in a preindustrial community (p. 15-32)

The exogenous cycles and population dynamics of the community at Penrith, Cumbria, England, have been studied (1557-1812) using aggregative analysis, family reconstitution and time series analysis. This community was living under marginal conditions for the first 200 years and the evidence presented is of a homeostatic regime where famine, malnutrition and epidemic disease acted to regulate the balance between resources and population size. This provides an ideal historic population for an investigation of the direct and indirect effects of malnutrition. Throughout the period studied, a short wavelength oscillation in grain prices was apparently the major external factor that drove exogenous cycles in mortality, birth rate, and migration. In particular, the different responses of children to variations in food supply are emphasised; fluctuations in poor nutrition correlated significantly with the variations in mortality rates for infants (probably indirectly during pregnancy and directly during the first year of life) and for young children (via susceptibility to lethal infectious diseases). Migratory movements contributed to the maintenance of homeostasis in the population dynamics. A medium wavelength cycle in low winter temperatures was associated with a rise in adult mortality which, in turn, promoted an influx of migrants into this saturated habitat. A model incorporating these interacting associations between vital events and exogenous cycles is presented: grain prices were an important density-dependent factor and constituted the major component of the negative feedback of this population and drove the exogenous, short wavelength mortality cycles. Cycles of births and immigration provide a positive feedback for the build-up of susceptibles and the initiation of smallpox epidemics and increased population size. (ENGLAND, HISTORICAL DEMOGRAPHY, POPULATION DYNAMICS, ECONOMIC DEMOGRAPHY, FEEDING, CLIMATE)

98.55.11 - English - Uche C. ISIUGO-ABANIHE, Department of Sociology, University of Ibadan (Nigeria)

Stability of marital unions and fertility in Nigeria (p. 33-41)

Using nationally representative data, it is shown that marital unions are relatively stable in Nigeria. Remarriage rates are high so little time is lost between unions. Consequently, the fertility of women who have experienced marital disruption is only slightly lower than for those in stable unions. Their slightly lower parity may be a function of a high incidence of reproductive impairment, which is a major reason for divorce and separation in Nigeria. (NIGERIA, DIFFERENTIAL FERTILITY, MARRIED WOMEN, REMARRIAGE)

98.55.12 - English - E. J. CLEGG, Department of Biomedical Sciences, T. J. RINGROSE, Department of Mathematical Sciences, and J. F. CROSS, Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB9 1AS (U.K.)

Some factors affecting marital distance in the Outer Hebrides (p. 43-62)

Some factors affecting marital distances have been studied in two Outer Hebridean islands, Harris (843 marriages) and Barra (444 marriages), over the period 1855-1990. In each island marital distances fell before 1900, but then rose to their greatest values after the 1950s. Fishermen generally married at the shortest distances and men in land-based occupations at the longest. The depression in the fishing industry during the 1880s and early 1890s was associated with reductions in marital distances, especially among fishermen. When the association between marital frequencies and inter-settlement distances was studied, it was found that for Harris there was, overall, a trend to endogamous and short-distance marriage. However, this trend was only slight during 1955-90. For Barra a similar trend was found before 1955, but thereafter there appeared to be virtually no connection between marital frequency and inter-settlement distance. Thus the only constraint on marriage was the spatial distribution of settlements. In this situation the chances of random mating with respect to distance are maximised. (SCOTLAND, HISTORY, MATE SELECTION, SPATIAL DISTANCE)

98.55.13 - English - Melissa PARKER, Department of Human Sciences, Brunel University, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UB8 3PH (U.K.), Helen WARD and Sophie DAY, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, University of London, London (U.K.)

Sexual networks and the transmission of HIV in London (p. 63-83)

This paper discusses ways in which empirical research investigating sexual networks can further understanding of the transmission of HIV in London, using information from a 24-month period of participant observation and 53 open-ended, in-depth interviews with eighteen men and one woman who have direct and indirect sexual links with each other. These interviews enabled the identification of a wider sexual network between 154 participants and contacts during the year August 1994-July 1995. The linked network data help to identify pathways of transmission between individuals who are HIV + and those who are HIV -, as well as sexual links between 'older' and 'younger' men, and with male prostitutes. There appears to be considerable on-going transmission of HIV in London. The majority of participants reported having had unprotected anal and/or vaginal sex within a variety of relationships. The implications of these findings for policies designed to prevent the transmission of HIV are discussed. (ENGLAND, CAPITAL CITY, AIDS, SEXUAL BEHAVIOUR, COMMUNICABLE DISEASES, EPIDEMIOLOGY)

98.55.14 - English - Shinya MATSUDA, Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health, Mizuho FURUTA, Division of Physical Education, School of Nursing and Medical Technology, and Hiroaki KAHYO, Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, Yahatanishi, Kitakyushu 807 (Japan)

An ecologic study of the relationship between mean birth weight, temperature and calorie consumption level in Japan (p. 85-93)

This study reports an ecologic analysis of the relationship between mean birth weight (MBW) and nutritional, medical and social variables, using 1982 data for 47 prefectures in Japan. Correlation analysis showed that variables that correlated significantly with MBW were mean temperature (r=0.63), total calorie intake (r=0.56), and body mass index of women (r=0.60). It is concluded that the MBW level in a given community represents the long and short term nutritional condition of mothers, and that the level may follow Bergman's law: 'In the same species, the body size of an animal increases along with latitude; that is, the lower the temperature, the larger the body size'. (JAPAN, BIRTH WEIGHT, CLIMATE, FEEDING)

98.55.15 - English - P. SACHDEV, School of Social Work, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Saint-Jean, Terre-Neuve (Canada)

Sex on campus: A preliminary study of knowledge, attitudes and behaviour of university students in Delhi, India (p. 95-105)

Eight hundred and eighty-seven students from two major universities in Delhi, India, were surveyed, using a self-administered questionnaire, about their sexual knowledge, attitudes and behaviour. The data show that female students seem to be rejecting traditional Indian repressive sexual standards of premarital and non-procreative sex and the gender differences are beginning to narrow. Despite their sexual awareness, the students were highly ignorant of the facts of life. Being male and married did not make them more knowledgeable. (INDIA, STUDENTS, KAP SURVEYS, SEXUALITY, SEX DIFFERENTIALS)

98.55.16 - English - Renata FORSTE, Department of Sociology, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602 (U.S.A.)

Infant feeding practices and child health in Bolivia (p. 107-125)

The effects of breast-feeding and supplementation practices on recent diarrhoea occurrence and stunted growth are modelled using logistic regression techniques. Data from the Demographic and Health Survey of Bolivia, 1989, show that, among children aged 3-36 months at the date of interview, the benefits of breast-feeding to child health were most pronounced among children living in rural poverty. Reduced breast-feeding among these children increased the likelihood of diarrhoea and stunted growth. In addition, the introduction of solid foods to currently lactating infants negatively influenced child health. (BOLIVIA, BREAST FEEDING, INFANT FEEDING, MATERNAL AND CHILD HEALTH)

APRIL 1998 - VOLUME 30, NUMBER 2

98.55.17 - English - L. ROSERO-BIXBY, Office of Population Research, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ (U.S.A.)

Assessing and interpreting birth spacing goals in Costa Rica (p. 181-191)

A procedure for assessing birth spacing goals, an important component of fertility preferences, is proposed and applied to 1993 Costa Rican data. Based on a reverse or backward survival analysis, preferred birth intervals are estimated to range between 3.5 and 4-5 years (1.5 years for the interval union to first birth). These intervals are 2 or 3 years shorter than crude estimates from data on open or last closed intervals, which are upwardly biased by selection and left censoring effects. To achieve these spacing preferences, a cohort must spend about two-thirds of the time using contraception (one-third in the interval union to first birth). An inverse association between desired family size and desired birth interval is evident only in parity-specific analyses. (COSTA RICA, BIRTH SPACING, BIRTH INTERVALS, MEASUREMENT)

98.55.18 - English - Deborah E. BENDER, Department of Health Policy and Administration, Erin DUSCH, Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, and Margaret F. McCANN, Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599 (U.S.A.)

From efficacy to effectiveness: Selecting indicators for a community-based lactational amenorrhoea method promotion programme (p. 193-225)

This paper reviews the results of clinical trials and community studies of lactational amenorrhoea and its role as a contraceptive method (LAM). Indicators which are used in efficacy trials and effectiveness interventions are compared and sets of indicators of effectiveness appropriate to community-based LAM programmes are recommended. A five-tiered ecological framework is used to facilitate selection of indicators which range from individual to policy level outcomes. The indicator framework is intended as a tool for health practitioners in family planning and maternal and child health service delivery settings who are interested in designing programmatic interventions for the promotion of LAM, particularly among less well-educated women of lower socioeconomic communities. (AMENORRHOEA, BREAST FEEDING, CONTRACEPTIVE METHODS, FAMILY PLANNING PROGRAMMES, METHODOLOGY)

98.55.19 - English - K. N. S. YADAVA, Department of Statistics, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi (India), and S. K. JAIN, National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, Australian National University, Canberra (Australia)

Postpartum amenorrhoea in rural Eastern Uttar Pradesh, India (p. 227-243)

This paper calculates the mean duration of the postpartum amenorrhoea (PPA) and examines its demographic, and socioeconomic correlates in rural north India. using data collected through 'retrospective' (last but one child) as well as 'current status' (last child) reporting of the duration of PPA. The mean duration of PPA was higher in the current status than in the retrospective data; the difference being statistically significant. However, for the same mothers who gave PPA information in both the data sets, the difference in mean duration of PPA was not statistically significant. The correlates were identical in both the data sets. The current status data were more complete in terms of the coverage. and perhaps less distorted by reporting errors caused by recall lapse. A positive relationship of the mean duration of PPA was found with longer breast-feeding, higher parity and age of mother at the birth of the child, and the survival status of the child. An inverse relationship was found with higher education of a woman, higher education of her husband and higher socioeconomic status of her household, these variables possibly acting as proxies for women's better nutritional status. (INDIA, RURAL ENVIRONMENT, POST-PARTUM AMENORRHOEA)

98.55.20 - English - R. HUSSAIN, Aga Khan University, Karachi (Pakistan), and A. H. BITTLES, Edith Cowan University, Perth (Australia)

The prevalence and demographic characteristics of consanguineous marriages in Pakistan (p. 261-275)

Consanguineous marriages are strongly preferred in much of West and South Asia. This paper examines the prevalence and sociodemographic correlates of consanguineous unions in Pakistan using local and national data. Information from 1011 ever-married women living in four multi-ethnic and multi-lingual squatter settlements of Karachi, the main commercial centre of the country, are compared with data from the national 1990/91 Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey (PDHS), based on information provided by 6611 women. Both sets of results indicate that approximately 60% of marriages were consanguineous, over 80% of which were between first cousins. The mean coefficients of inbreeding (F) in the present generation were 0.0316 and 0.0331 for the Karachi and PDHS data respectively. In both surveys the prevalence of consanguineous unions appeared to be unchanged over the past three to four decades. Consanguineous unions were more common among women who were illiterate or had only primary level education, were first or second generation migrants from rural areas of Pakistan or, in the PDHS, lived in rural areas, and whose parents were also consanguineously married. (PAKISTAN, CONSANGUINEOUS MARRIAGE)

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