Discussion and decision-making amongst Wessex women who obtained an induced abortion at two centres are studied. The most important discussants were family doctors, boy-friends, girl-friends, husbands, mothers and pregnancy counsellors. In the majority of key discussions which occurred the patient had been able to discuss the pregnancy fully, had a sympathetic reception and met a discussant who was favourable to her having a termination. However, younger patients were less likely to have such an experience and were later in arriving at their abortion decision and were more prone to uncertainty. It is argued that alternative counselling and referral systems need to be developed for younger patients with unplanned pregnancies who may request abortion.

A study of the factors involved in delay amongst a group of Wessex women obtaining induced abortions is reported and the importance of age is stressed. Only 47% of women aged 17–18 years obtained their operation before 12 weeks gestation compared with more than 70% of women of other age groups. The implications of this for the health of these women is discussed and the case stated for the development of adequate sex education, birth control and early abortion services orientated towards late teenagers.

This examination of the effects of marital status on repeat abortion assesses, by multiple classification analysis, the importance of a set of predictors of repeat abortion (age, education, occupation, residence, religion, social support for the abortion, attitudes towards abortion, ambivalence to the abortion, source of idea of the abortion, referral source, contraceptive use) in a clinic sample of 984 single, married and divorced women. The different results for the three categories of women demonstrate the centrality of man–woman relations for an understanding of repeat abortion behaviour, and the need to orient future work on repeat abortion away from a predominant concern with contraception. Abortion can be understood only in terms of the cultural values and social practices which regulate different couple relations.

Intentional childlessness in Britain has been investigated by means of a postal questionnaire survey of married women who to date had never had a child. These wives were categorized according to their fertility intentions. As a group the wives were well-educated, likely to be employed and to be married to men in professional or managerial occupations, although there were some with husbands in manual occupations. The main reason perceived by the wives for their decision not to have children was the value they placed on the freedom they consequently gained. A majority of the wives felt there were no disadvantages in remaining childless. The remainder who felt that there were disadvantages identified these as: missing the positive features of children; possible loneliness and lack of support in old age; feelings of deviancy; and economic and social discrimination resulting from their childlessness.

In a sample of 260 married men in Shiraz, the relationship is studied of fertility to demographic, socioeconomic and psychosocial variables, the last measuring the perceived economic value of children. The number of children ever born is closely associated with duration of marriage, but socioeconomic variables also exert a significant influence, especially the wife's educational level. Recent fertility is more closely associated with age of wife, but also with ownership of modern goods which is also the major factor in current contraceptive use. The perceived value of children appears unimportant, negligible in recent fertility and contraceptive use, and only showing a slight positive relationship between expected reliance on children for support in old age and the number of children ever born.

This study examines the relationship between family size, birth order and IQ components. No significant associations were found in either non-manual or manual social groups between IQ scores and family size. The correlation coefficient between verbal IQ and family size in the non-manual group was positive and differed significantly from the negative manual group value. Birth order effects were noted; the association differed significantly between non-manual IQ components and between social groups.

A group of 239 mothers breast-feeding on leaving hospital were followed up 6 months later by a postal questionnaire; 216 (90%) responded and, of these, 41% had discontinued breast-feeding before the end of the 12th week, the greatest decline occurring within the first 6 weeks. Duration of breast-feeding was significantly influenced by social class and, for parous mothers, previous breast-feeding success. Seventy-two per cent of the mothers who stopped breast-feeding within the first 12 weeks gave inadequacy of the milk supply or an unsettled baby as contributory reasons. Maternal fatigue and painful nipples were the other two most frequent contributory problems. Only 6% of all the mothers admitted to not having enjoyed breast-feeding. The person most commonly consulted about breast-feeding problems was the health visitor. Regardless of how long they had breast-fed, 43% of the mothers would have liked more help.

The incidence of child abuse and neglect resulting in validated case reports to the American Humane Association in 1976 was determined in relation to household composition, family income and age of the victim. Abuse and neglect were both maximal in father-only homes and minimal in two-natural-parent homes. Mother-only households exceed those with one natural and one step-parent in neglect incidence, but the reverse is true for abuse incidence. Poverty is more strongly associated with neglect risk than with abuse risk, and probably cannot account for the high risks of abuse and neglect in father-only and step-parent families. Evidence that the presence of an unrelated adult filling a parental role exacerbates the risk of physical abuse is presented and discussed.

By regression analysis, the mortality from prostate cancer in England and Wales in the period 1951–70 is analysed as a function of age, date of birth and date of death. The peak mortality occurred for the cohort of men born around 1886. Age and date of birth are the most important factors and date of death does not appear to be significant.

Urine was collected at weekly intervals for 3 months from 254 menstruant women aged 15–39 years, all of whom were 4 or more years from the menarche. Menstrual cycles were classed as ovulatory if the 24-hr pregnanediol output was 5 μmol or over on a single occasion, or if the total excreted on 2 days, 1 week apart, was 7 μmol or over. Of the 108 women aged 20–24 years, only 62% ovulated in every cycle compared with 88% for the 58 women aged 25–29 years, and 91% for the 44 women aged 30 or over. Unfailing ovulation occurred more often in non-students (99 women, of whom 83·5% ovulated in every cycle) than in age-matched students (111, 59·5%), and more often in women who lived with relatives (127, 83·5%) than in those living in flats and hostels (72, 51·4%).

The rise in Caesarian section rates has been much greater in the United States than in Britain. This article analyses the reasons for these trends and finds they are not clearly related to good medical practice. It is concluded that it should be a cause for concern if rates rise above 6% of live births. In this case operations must be shown to be in the best interests of the mothers and their babies.