Social strategies of family formation: some comparative data for Scandinavia, the British Isles, and North America.

A procedure for inferring the extent to which female cohorts are characterized by ‘control’ or ‘non-control’ of fertility is reviewed. This procedure uses census-type data giving women classified by age at marriage and number of children ever born to yield estimates of numbers or percentages ever controlling or attempting to control fertility. It is suggested that comparative analysis of ‘social strategies of family formation’ of cohorts be carried out in terms of cohorts' joint distribution by age at marriage and fertility control characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]