Premarital Conceptions with Married Couples According to Socio- Professional Status.

This paper contains some results of a study about differential fertility according to profession in two Belgian cities. A differential procreation pattern has been observed with laborers, mere chants, employees, and leading classes. On an average, laborers are younger when marrying; they have a smaller-sized family; with them there is a greater proportion of premarital conceptions and less efficient birth control than in whatever other social group. With the leading classes the largest families are found together with higher efficient birth-control. Based on data of birth-registers and using the method of L. Henry, the present paper analyzes premarital conceptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]