Suchergebnisse

I greatly appreciate this opportunity to reflect on my career. Looking back over five decades of involvement in demographic and sociological scholarship, I have tried to say a bit about my personal life and my work—from developing mathematical models of fertility early on, to applying lessons from those models to empirical work in the United States, Bangladesh, and elsewhere in the developing world, to involvement in evaluations of health and population interventions. Equally important to me have been the building of research capacity and involvement in program and policy development. So much remains for new generations of scholars to do, but my hope is that, in choosing their own directions, they—and sociology as a whole—will take as their mission examining issues of societal importance around the world.

The Matlab subdistrict of Bangladesh is unique in the developing world in the extent of demographic data available over a long time period, during which a serious famine occurred and a family planning program that employed village women as home visitors was introduced within the context of maternal and child health services. These data demonstrate that fertility in this population is well below the maximum biologically feasible, primarily due to the long and intense breast-feeding practiced, that seasonality of births is pronounced, and that fertility drops in response to drastic food shortage. Sex differences in mortality favor males, but during famine the disparity was reduced. Despite arguments that family planning programs are ineffective and use resources that could be applied in areas more relevant to development, the Matlab family planning program has led to both reduced fertility and reduced mortality and may be changing the status and roles of women.

A study of the Matlab subdistrict of Bangladesh using detailed published data to analyze birth, death, migration, & growth trends since the late 1960s. Factors influencing fertility & mortality are also examined. Several patterns emerge: despite poverty & extreme adversity, mortality declines have been notable, especially from 1950-1965; despite lack of family planning, fertility is below maximum biologically feasible levels; there is a marked seasonality of births with a yearly peak in Nov; & a maternity child health & family planning program has resulted in fertility reduction. Lessons for development policy are considered. 6 Figures, 39 References. C. Grindle

Effects of childbearing on women's mortality and the implications of family planning programs in reducing these effects are examined in a 20‐year prospective study of more than 2,000 women in Matlab, Bangladesh. Maternal mortality is defined as a death occurring in the six weeks after childbirth. But childbearing may affect women's survival beyond this brief period. Additional hypotheses considered relate to 1) cumulative exposure to childbearing, whether measured by parity or pace of childbearing, 2) age at first birth, and 3) effects beyond the reproductive ages. The results offer no support to cumulative exposure hypotheses, showing no link between parity or pace of childbearing and mortality risk. Instead, we identify an extended period of heightened mortality risk associated with each birth—the year of the birth and the two subsequent years. Family planning programs, by reducing the number of children and therefore a woman's exposure to extended maternal mortality risk, potentially increase survival. Research is needed to identify and address the specific causes of extended maternal mortality risk so that appropriate ameliorative programs may be developed.

Examining the social consequences of teenage childbearing, the editors explain the effects on adolescent parents themselves, their offspring, and their families, and discuss ways of preventing or tempering those effects. Why have Americans suddenly become troubled about teenage sexuality, pregnancy, and childbearing? These are not new problems, certainly, and the birthrate among teenagers--even the youngest of them--has been declining for some years. What has aroused public concern, according to the editors of these essays, is the increased visibility of the problem. The pregnant teenager is no longer expelled from school and forced to marry or discreetly bear a child out of wedlock. She has the option of abortion, and even if she decides to have the child, she is even more likely not to marry. Thus, the sensitivity of Americans to the issues of abortion and illegitimacy is inexorably linked to their concern about adolescent sexuality and pregnancy. The attention focused on the problem has resulted in a considerable amount of research on the causes and consequences of teenage pregnancy, and on the means of preventing it. Over the past decade, Family Planning Perspectives has published much, if not most, of the research on the causes, consequences, and means of coping with problems associated with teenage pregnancy and childbearing. From about 100 articles, the editors have selected 28 key reports that illuminate the issue for scholars, students, and professionals who work with young people in various settings. The contributors to the first section examine historical trends in regard to teenage sexual activity, use of contraception and abortion, pregnancy, and childbirth in and out of wedlock in the context of other changes in social structure and mores. The second section assesses the serious adverse consequences of early childbearing on the young people involved, on their children, and on society. The third section looks into what courses of action are practicable to help teenagers avert the pregnancies and births they do not wish to have, and to cope with problems resulting from early childbearing. The final section evaluates current programs and materials designed to help teenagers prevent unwanted pregnancies or deal with pregnancy when it occurs; it also reviews the state of the law involving contraception, abortion, and pregnancy among teenagers. The book includes an overview and section introductions by the editors, which draw together the implicati ...

Résumé La première table de mortalité, celle de Halley, supposait la population de Breslau stationnaire ; la démographie recourt donc aux modèles depuis ses débuts. Louis Henry définissait ceux-ci « comme l'étude de relations numériques en vue de déceler les causes, de s'y retrouver dans la complexité d'un ensemble de données non indépendantes, de justifier des méthodes de mesures ou des procédés de corrections d'erreurs... Ils remplacent dans bien des cas des expériences impossibles ou des observations inaccessibles... Ils éclairent l'enchaînement des phénomènes dans des conditions bien déterminées et facilitent la recherche des causes. » Mais si l'on excepte la théorie de Lotka, élaborée dans l'entre-deux-guerres, les modèles ne prennent leur essor et une certaine autonomie qu'au cours de ce demi-siècle. Jane Menken, Ansley J. Coale et Patrick Heuveline retracent ici l'histoire des modèles démographiques en replaçant les articles de Population dans l'ensemble de la production sur ce sujet.