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In Guatemala, especially in rural areas, gender norms contribute to high fertility and closely spaced births by discouraging contraceptive use and constraining women from making decisions regarding the timing of their pregnancies and the size of their families. Community workshops for men, women and couples were conducted in 30 rural communities in Guatemala to test the hypothesis that the promotion of gender equity in the context of reproductive health will contribute to gender-equitable attitudes and strengthen the practice of family planning. Communities were randomly assigned to intervention and control groups. Pre/post surveys were conducted. Odds ratios estimated with mixed effect models to account for community-level randomization and repeated measures per participant were compared. The analyses showed statistically significant effects of the intervention on two of the three outcomes examined: gender attitudes and contraceptive knowledge. Findings regarding contraceptive use were suggestive but not significant. The results suggest that it is possible to influence both inequitable gender norms and reproductive health knowledge and, potentially, behaviours in a short span of time using appropriately designed communications interventions that engage communities in re-thinking the inequitable gender norms that act as barriers to health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A simple and inexpensive method for monitoring child mortality in association with birth registration was introduced into the Southern Highlands of Papua New Guinea. Eight thousand two hundred and one newborn infants were registered in 1988, approximately 77% of all children born in that year. The risk of death by age 2 was determined from reports given by the mother on the present status of a previously born child at the time of a recent delivery or during clinic registration of the current birth. This was 91 per 1000 for the province and corresponds to a risk of death by age 1 of 77/1000 by extrapolation using standard lifetables. This method was validated by comparison with a continuing demographic surveillance system covering 30,000 people in the western part of the province. The new birth certificate has been an incentive to increase supervised delivery rates and to generate a register that can be used to increase vaccination coverage. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Using individual birth history data from the Sudan Fertility Survey, 1979, parity-related differences in fertility are demonstrated, as well as differences between socioeconomic groups. Rural women, women with no education and those married to uneducated husbands show rapid parity progression and its cumulative effects on fertility which are consistent over all birth intervals. Urban women, women with some education and those married to educated husbands, however, go rapidly through their second and third birth intervals and then more slowly at higher parities. A limitation of the study was the inability to control fully for the effects of breast-feeding and contraception.There is evidence for a reduction in high parity births,' starting in the 1970s. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In Canadian society the influence of first birth timing on the subsequent birth interval has been eroded over time, as shown by the Canadian Fertility Survey of 1984. The influence of first birth timing is significant for second births among women married during the baby boom period, but not for those married thereafter. Religiosity, marital status, and place of residence are significant factors in second birth timing in Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Birth history data from women in the 1975–76 Bangladesh Fertility Survey were used to search for intentions to replace dead children. The median intervals between successive births of orders (i) and (i + 1) were not shorter when some siblings of orders below (i) had died. Nor was the median duration between the death of a child and the first posthumous birth shorter when the dead child was a boy or when it was survived by fewer than two brothers. The median intervals were generally shorter when the mother lived in an urban rather than a rural area but this difference was attributable only to the shorter duration of breast-feeding by urban women. These results disputed the notions that the timing of births was deliberately quicker to replace a dead child, that attempts at replacement were sex-selective, or that child replacement intentions were stronger in urban than in rural populations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Among a national sample of Canadian women in the Canadian National Fertility Survey of 1984, the excess cumulative fertility of those who started their families early over others has steadily decreased. A difference of approximately two births between early and late starters among older women is reduced to approximately half a child among the younger women. Except for those who start childbearing after age 25, there is little evidence of attempts to catch up after age 30, irrespective of starting age. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper considers how changes in women's socio-cultural characteristics have influenced recent patterns of differential fertility in the United States and whether the convergence of fertility differentials observed up to 1970 has continued. Analysis of data from the June 1980 United States Current Population Survey, suggests that there has been no change in differential fertility in recent years. Age at first birth, length of first birth interval, income and education were all negatively associated with fertility, among both older and younger women. When fertility expectations were examined, however, the association of the independent variables with expected completed fertility was weaker among younger women, indicating that there has been some convergence in expected completed fertility. Further narrowing of differentials in actual fertility depends on how successful the younger women are in preventing future unplanned births. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Two 10-year marriage cohorts from two surveys of married women in Melbourne were compared on their timing of the first and second births. The results showed that women who were married in the early 1970s were much more likely to delay their first birth until about the third or fourth year of marriage compared with women who married in the 1960s. However, there was no difference in the timing of their second birth in relation to the first birth between the two marriage cohorts. Women who delayed childbearing also preferred smaller families. Economic reasons were most frequently mentioned for delaying childbearing. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A summary of 298 male and 358 female respondents in the Lae urban area of Papua New Guinea in 1981 revealed a relatively high level of contraceptive awareness, but the level of contraceptive use is low. However, the overall current usages of non-traditional methods for the wives of the male and for the female respondents are 34–2% and 37% respectively. The male and the female respondents have the same views on the ideal family size—approximately three children. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Using data collected over a 12-month period (1977–78) from more than 15,000 hospital deliveries at a single maternity hospital in Tehran, Iran, we have examined the effects of previous pregnancy outcomes, breast-feeding and contraceptive use on birth spacing. The outcomes of previous pregnancies, particularly the most recent, significantly affect the length of the pregnancy interval, and so does breast-feeding. Pregnancy outcomes influence both breast-feeding and subsequent contraceptive behaviour, and breast-feeding adds to the degree of protection against pregnancy afforded by conventional contraception. Improved survivorship increases the length of pregnancy intervals most when it results in increased use of contraception and when breast-feeding is commonly practised for extended periods. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]