Earlier studies have queried whether divorce was associated with childlessness. Evidence from surveys of broken marriages passing through the divorce courts of England and Wales indicates that infertility and divorce are not related in the way supposed. When the duration of de facto marriage is controlled, divorcing couples have a higher rate of fertility than that found within those who remain married. The former are also more likely to have a larger family size within the same period of time. Similar findings emerge from data relating to broken marriages resorting to the magistrates' courts. These results are partly a consequence of the trend whereby working-class marriages—with their earlier start of a family and larger completed family size—form an increasing proportion of all divorcing couples.

Survey results showed that within a divorcing population a shorter period of cohabitation resulted in a higher level of infertility. High infertility rates were also associated with later age at marriage and high social class. Current trends suggest that an increasing proportion of divorcing couples will be childless. It is concluded that there is need for a deeper knowledge of possible relationships, and their causes, in this and other areas of married life.

A time-dependent model of the probability of sexual intercourse, where the probability increases as the time from last intercourse increases, can produce waves in the expected frequency of sexual intercourse on the various dates of the menstrual cycle. These waves occur when the time-dependent model is linked with a period of abstinence, such as is usually found in most societies during the time of the menses. Previously, such waves have been attributed to cyclic hormonal changes in women without considering the full implication of a time-dependent model of sexual intercourse.

The recognition of which girls are at risk of becoming pregnant before the age of 16 years is of interest to legal, educational, social and medical services. In this paper a large amount of data, available for a total population of schoolgirls, has been used to show that prediction is indeed possible. It was found that compared to a group of girls matched on a number of sociodemographic characteristics, those who became pregnant during adolescence were more likely to have been academic underachievers at age 11, to have made an appearance in a juvenile court, and to have been referred to a child guidance or psychiatric clinic at an early age. Difficulties over matching also suggest that they are more likely to have five or more siblings, to be illegitimate and to have mothers who were themselves teenagers at the time of their daughter's birth.

This study examines the influence of religion on fertility among the Yoruba of Western Nigeria. There is a distinct differential in fertility by religion. Fertility is lower for Moslems than for Christians. The difference is attributed to the traditional characteristics of Moslems as opposed to the relatively modern characteristics of Christians. For example, Moslems have low education and low occupational status. Consequently, Moslems rather than Christians are more likely to observe longer periods of post-natal abstinence, and to experience higher pregnancy wastage and sterility rates.

This investigation traces the evolution of non-Maori fertility in New Zealand from 1860 to the mid-1970s. The fertility transition took place in four distinct stages, and socio-demographic factors of differing importance in fertility are suggested. During the period 1860–80, an initial decline in fertility was achieved by postponing the age of marriage. The second stage, of increasing control over fertility within marriage and postponement of marriage, ended gradually by the 1910s. Between the world wars and until the 1950s, fertility control within marriage became more universal. Finally, from the 1960s, fertility has declined as a result of many complex changes in social and economic spheres, the major social change with demographic implications being undoubtedly the new rolesof women.

This paper also deals with the changing pattern of fertility by using both the period and cohort rates of fertility.

This paper examines the current fertility (1971–72) of migrant women in Australia, in order to compare the fertility levels and patterns prevalent among migrants from nine selected countries with those of the Australian born women. Birth registration data have been mainly used in the analysis.

Three main points emerge. Among the married women there were few differences in fertility regardless of the country of birth. A major exception was the somewhat higher fertility levels among the southern European migrants. Extramarital fertility seemed to vary substantially between different migrant groups: New Zealanders had the highest and the Italians and Greeks had the lowest levels. There were major differences in the proportion of women married among the various migrant groups; again the southern Europeans had highest proportions married. Comparison of the reproductive behaviour of migrants with their counterparts in the countries of origin showed that the southern European migrants in Australia had higher fertility rates than those prevalent in their countries of origin.

Induced abortion has a long history in India. It occurs in village society, although the rate is relatively low. Socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of women having legal abortions are presented for a national, a West Bengal state, and a West Bengal local sample. A series of illegal abortions (1969) prior to the legalization of abortion in West Bengal is compared with more recent experience (1977–78) of legal abortion.

Clinical facilities for meeting the demand for abortion are still inadequate. Reasons are given for predicting that the demand for legal abortion will continue to rise. Currently only 6% of legal abortions are by vacuum aspiration and nearly one-quarter by hysterotomy and hysterectomy. Greater provision needs to be made for the safer early abortions.

Out of 197 Wessex women undergoing a legal abortion at the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) clinic at Brighton, 31 (15·7%) had already been refused a termination of pregnancy by at least one National Health Service doctor in Wessex. Almost all of these pregnancies were terminated for reasons covered by the social clause of the 1967 Abortion Act.

The principal reasons given for refusal of termination were that the women had insufficient grounds for termination under the Abortion Act, or that they were too late. Some were given misleading information. Refusal of an operation may have led to one woman having a second trimester rather a first trimester procedure when she went to BPAS. Some of these patients reported medical consultations which they had found to be upsetting or hurtful. It is suggested that the interests both of women seeking abortion and of doctors opposed to abortion would be best served if the Health Authorities were to provide alternative referral pathways to special abortion facilities.

Three hundred and eight Wessex women obtaining induced abortions in the National Health Service, or in a charitable clinic, were interviewed at the time of their operation. Information was obtained as to their sources of sexual knowledge, their use and experience of contraception and their intentions with regard to sterilization in the future.

Whilst there has apparently been an increase in the amount of sex education provided in schools over the last decade, its effectiveness must be in some doubt. There is still a failure to provide contraceptive services which reach younger patients, and it is suggested that family doctors may sometimes miss opportunities to offer their patients full advice as to the methods available.

The isonymic method has been applied in a study of temporal trends of inbreeding amongst the Ahmadiyyas of Kashmir valley. The results show a steady rise in total inbreeding and its random and non-random components over time. The validity of applying the method in a caste-structured population is examined, and it appears that while the complexity of the structure inhibits its application to many populations, there are others in whom the assumptions implicit in the method are met.

Mirpur is a small village of 320 individuals in coastal Midnapore district, West Bengal, the inhabitants of which claim partial Portuguese ancestry. The demographic data collected in Mirpur are reported here. The age structure of the population suggests a growing population trend, but a constriction at the base of the pyramid indicates a recent decline of fertility. The completed family size, net reproductive index and total fertility rate are also compatible with high growth rate, but the age-specific fertility rates are lower in the younger than in the older women. The infant mortality rate is low in general, and is lower in the offspring of the younger women. The Mirpurians suffer from protein-calorie malnutrition and heavy intestinal parasitic load. The possible relationships among high fertility, malnutrition and high parasitic load are discussed.