Young women's work and family formation in Sri Lanka

"Patterns of family formation in Sri Lanka resemble those of wealthier nations, with late marriage, delayed childbearing, and moderately low fertility. This article addresses two questions: How have these family formation patterns emerged in the absence of the normally expected levels of economic development? And what activities have occupied young women in the premarital, prechildbearing period? Answers are suggested by data from three sources: the 1981 census; a set of focus-group discussions on the rights, obligations, and aspirations of young women related to marriage, work, childbearing, and child care; and a sample survey of 1,535 women of ages 15-30 in Kalutara District. The article describes the interplay of socioeconomic and familial forces that have affected the status of young Sri Lankan women."     

American families: policy issues

"Increases in the number of children living in single-parent (usually female-headed) households and in the proportion of mothers who work outside their homes have raised concern in the United States about the effects of these trends on the well-being of children and the possible need for policy intervention. This paper discusses the arguments for and against policies that affect families. We review a number of such policies and what research suggests about their likely effects. The policies discussed...include those concerning child support, welfare, income taxes, child and dependent care, family leave, family planning, programs to improve parenting skills and family function, and economic growth."     

INTENSIFIERS IN BEHAVIORAL FREQUENCY QUESTIONS

Intensifiers, words such as "very" and "extremely", are usedto magnify the meaning of the phrases to which they are applied.In a series of studies we investigate how intensifiers in questionstems affect response patterns in social surveys. Our researchindicates that even apparently important differences in questionwording may in some situations have little or no impact; addingan intensifier to a root did not create a response shift forseveral intensifier/root combinations in large-scale surveys.Using both field and laboratory techniques we explore the situationsin which shifts do occur and go some lengths toward describingwhy this happens. Response shifts were observed for two situations.First, when "extreme" was applied to "physical pain" there wasa substantial and significant response shift. Second, when respondentswere asked a question without an intensifier and then had thequestion repeated immediately afterward with an intensifier,a response shift was produced. In addition to the practicalsignificance for survey methodologists, these results are importantto cognitive psychologists interested in word meaning.     

A rejoinder to David Lucas

Abstract In order to clarify the main points at issue, I shall pinpoint some of the major differences between my approach to the study of fertility differentials in Southern Nigeria and that of Lucas.     

Final report on position of female circumcision in Nigeria

Survey data reveal that female genital mutilation (FGM) is being practiced in most Nigerian states, usually on babies and young girls but occasionally during wedding preparations or 7 months into the first pregnancy. Among the few tribes that mutilate women after marriage, husbands carry out the deed. Usually, FGM is performed on a group of girls, but it can also be performed on one girl in her home. The mutilator, who is paid a token fee, uses a knife or a razor. Post-mutilation treatment includes application of a variety of traditional methods. The most usual immediate complication is bleeding but other complications include tearing, septicemia, fistula development, stenosis, delayed second-stage labor, tetanus, urinary obstruction, and dyspareunia. Reasons cited for FGM include tradition, the belief that FGM curbs female promiscuity, and the belief that a baby whose head touches a clitoris during delivery will die. A prominent 1981 newspaper article on the subject reported the view of a physician that the practice ought to be eradicated and the view of a mutilator that it is not likely to be stopped.     

On the transformation of raw time series data: A review

Effective time-series analysis is based on the assumption that the series under investigation is a realisation of a "stationary" stochastic process. In practice, such a stable series can generally only be obtained after some appropriate transformation of the raw data. Two types of non-stationarity can be removed by, respectively, linear and non-linear transformation. These are "homogeneous" non-stationarity and variance instability. The first can be dealt with by backshift operator methods, whilst the second is usually carried out by the approach of Box and Cox, though an easier way is given. The loss of optimal properties, on transforming back to the original situation, can be offset by suitably biasing the results.     

Population momentum: A wider definition

Summary Keyfitz has derived an elegant formula for estimating the ultimate size of an initially stable, growing population that abruptly reduces its fertility to replacement level. Reduction of fertility is achieved by the rather unrealistic device of dividing the original age schedule nffertility rates by the net reproduction rate. Only the inertia of the age distribution is thus accounted for, but not that of the fertility schedule. The key idea of an abrupt imposition of a fixed regimen capable in the long run of generating zero population growth may be retained, but the regimen made more realistic. By elaborating the population setting, such disparate ZPG regimens as reduction of marital fertility by contraception, delayed and/or less universal marriage, raised mortality risks, or permanent net out-migration may be formulated. Convergence of the populaton to stationarity becomes a two-phase process: a primary adjustment period of changing fertility rates followed by a period of age adjustment. The present paper treats what happens when a fixed ZPG sterilization regimen, defined by a minimum age of sterilization γ and constant continuous risk φ of sterilization among unsterilized wives aged γ to β, is imposed abruptly (or else progressively over an interval T) upon an initially stable, growing population. Additional sources of residual growth are: (1) the nine-month lag in sterilization effect owing to pregnancy: (2) the more youthful pattern of child-bearing under sterilization: (3) the extra adjustment period (of length β-γ-0.75) of changing fertility rates; and (4) any delays in exposing elements of the population to the sterilization regimen. Two questions are pursued. First, how important are the additional sources of residual growth? Secondly, how do their relative sizes vary as a function of the characteristics of the initial population?     

Comparative estimates of teenage illegitimacy in the United States, 1940–44 to 1970–74

Incompleteness in the reporting of illegitimate births in the U.S. vital registration system due to the consistent nonparticipation of a number of large States has left data published by the National Center for Health Statistics open to considerable criticism. Utilizing retrospective marriage and fertility data from the June 1978 Current Population Survey, a national probability sample of 54,000 interviewed households, a time series on teenage illegitimacy for first births is constructed that permits an evaluation of similar Vital Statistics data on teenage illegitimacy since the 1940s. Although there are some indications of a slight underreporting of white illegitimate first births by Vital Statistics during the 1940s and early 1950s, the overall comparison produces a general consensus between the two data sources on the incidence of illegitimacy among both white and nonwhite teenagers for the period 1940–44 to 1970–74.