Selected determinants of overall infant mortality in Vietnam were examined using data from the 1988 Vietnam Demographic and Health Survey, and factors underlying neonatal and post-neonatal mortality were also compared. Effects of community development characteristics, including health care, were studied by logistic regression analysis in a subsample of rural children from the 1990 Vietnam Accessibility of Contraceptives Survey.

Infant neonatal and post-neonatal mortality rates showed comparable distributions by birth order, maternal age, pregnancy intervals, mother's education and urban–rural residence. Rates were highest among first order births, births after an interval of less than 12 months, births to illiterate mothers and to those aged under 21 or over 35 years of age. Logistic regression analysis showed that the most significant predictor of infant mortality was residence in a province where overall infant mortality was over 40 per 1000 live births. In the rural subsample, availability of public transport was the most persistent community development predictor of infant mortality. Reasons for the low infant mortality rates in Vietnam compared to countries with similar levels of economic development are discussed.

Attenuation of Nursing-Related Ovarian Suppression and High Fertility in Well-Nourished, Intensively Breast-Feeding Amele Women of Lowland Papua New Guinea

Carol M. Worthman, Carol L. Jenkins, Joy F. Stallings and Daina Lai

Journal of Biosocial Science (1993) 25, 425–443

By error, an incorrect version of Fig. 2 was published in this article, on p. 433. It should be replaced by the correct diagram, as given below.

A sample of 842 rural women from Morocco (Amizmiz, Marrakech) was used to examine the relationship between a number of biosocial variables and fertility patterns. For women still in their reproductive years there were significant correlations between family size and woman's age, age at marriage and years of marriage. Among women with completed families, those with early age at marriage ceased childbearing about 10 years before reaching menopause, while women who married later continued to bear children until the end of their fertile life.

Life tables of birth intervals and median birth intervals in two Indian states, Uttar Pradesh and Kerala, were computed for several subgroups of the study population. Multivariate hazards modelling technique was used to examine the net effect of each of the variables studied. The results show a substantial effect of socioeconomic variables in child-spacing after controlling for the major intermediate variables.

This paper examines the sociodemographic factors which influence familiarity with methods of family planning among 85 males holding low paying jobs in the University of Zambia, Lusaka. The results showed that wife's education had a significant and positive effect on husband's familiarity with family planning methods. In the longer term, female education is likely to emerge as an important factor in the onset of fertility decline in Zambia.

Data from the 4172 women aged 15–49 interviewed in the 1988 Vietnamese Demographic and Health Survey were used to examine age at marriage, marriage to first birth intervals and age at first birth. Differences between urban and rural areas, northern and southern provinces and by education of the women were analysed.

The majority of the women had their first birth before age 20, but women with secondary education had a significantly higher age at first birth than those with little or no education, and women from the north had a significantly higher age at first birth than women from the south. Rural women and those with little or no education married at significantly younger ages than urban women and those with secondary education; these education effects were confirmed in a rural subsample of women. Women from rural areas and from the north had significantly shorter marriage to first birth intervals than urban women and those from the south, but there were no significant effects related to education.

This study used data from the 1984 Family History Survey conducted by Statistics Canada to examine recent trends and patterns of child-spacing among currently married women. Life table and proportional hazards estimates show that Canadian women, particularly those in younger age groups with higher education and longer work experience, start having children late, but have subsequent children rather quickly. This suggests that such women tend to complete childbearing within a compressed time period.

Intense, sustained nursing lengthens inter-birth intervals and is causally linked with low natural fertility. However, in traditional settings, the effects of such nursing on fertility are difficult to disentangle from those of nutrition. Results from an prospective, direct observational study of reproductive function in well-nourished Amele women who nurse intensively and persistently but who also have high fertility are here presented. Endocrine measures show that ovarian activity resumes by median 11·0 months postpartum. Median duration of postpartum amenorrhoea is 11·3 months, time to next conception is 19·0 months, and the inter-birth interval is 28·0 months. Average life time fertility is 6·8. High fertility in Amele women is due both to refractoriness of reproductive function to suckling stimuli, and to maintenance of equivalent age-specific fertility rates across the reproductive life span.

Adult mortality in Burundi during the 1970s and 1980s is estimated using data from the 1987 Demographic and Health Survey (DHS). Estimates from traditional indirect methods are compared with those from the inter-survey method using data on the number of years since the respondent's parent died. Life expectancy at birth was estimated as 48.55 years for males and 51·23 years for females.

Sixty-eight engaged couples, 113 newly weds, and 222 couples married for over 5 years, were studied for a number of physical, psychological and socioeconomic traits. The measurements were repeated a year later. Correlations were highest for age (r = 0·454, 0·903 and 0·888 respectively). They were also high for height (but not weight), neuroticism (but not extroversion), occupation, education, religion and smoking. Similarities were already present about the time of marriage, with little convergence or divergence. Thus, men do not grow to resemble their wives, nor vice versa.

Differentials in child survival in Bangladesh have been examined using a number of socioeconomic and environmental factors on data from the 1989 Bangladesh Fertility Survey. Multivariate analysis reveals that both wife's and husband's education and household electricity show a significant positive association with child survival. The respondent's working status exerts a significant negative influence. Wife's education has a greater influence on child survival in Bangladesh than that of husband's education.

The 1984–85 Pakistan Contraceptive Prevalence Survey showed that urban wives had more than twice the literacy rate of rural wives. The present study explored the relationship of the rural–urban gap in female literacy to differences in contraceptive use. In rural areas, literacy did not increase women's perceptions of having reached a ‘sufficient’ number of living children, although the opposite was true for urban areas. Yet rural women with an ‘insufficient’ number of living children were more likely to use contraception if they were literate, as did their urban counterparts. Thus, raising the literacy rate in rural Pakistan would not narrow the rural–urban gap in contraception to cease childbearing but would narrow the rural–urban gap in contraception used to space wanted births further apart. Recommendations for government policy are made.

The effects of family sex composition on fertility preferences and behaviour during the period 1977–88 are examined using longitudinal data from Matlab, Bangladesh. The sex composition of living children was found to be systematically related to fertility preferences and behaviour, with a higher number of sons at each family size associated with a higher percentage of women wanting no more children, a higher percentage currently using contraception, and lower subsequent fertility. However, the highest percentage wanting no more children, using contraception and having lowest subsequent fertility was found among women who already had one daughter as well as at least one son. The effects of sex preference on fertility preferences and behaviour were measured using an index developed by Arnold (1985). The results suggest that while sex preference remained largely unchanged during the study period, its effect on contraceptive use declined and its impact on actual fertility remained modest and fairly stable.

This paper evaluates the influence of breast-feeding on infectious and allergic diseases in infants and children through an analysis of data from a large national sample of US children. It controls for a large number of maternal and child health, demographic, and socioeconomic variables which have been shown to affect feeding patterns, and it includes several aspects of the feeding pattern in addition to breast-feeding. The results suggest that breast-feeding provides some protection against pneumonia and otitis media in the United States while early introduction of formula may have a separate and negative effect.

This study examined the variation in weight, height and body mass index of 1048 mothers living in a rural area of Bangladesh in relation to age, education, number of previous pregnancies, number of dead children, religion, family type, family size, and amount of land owned by the household. Multiple regression analysis revealed a positive relationship of education with all three variables. Moslem mothers were on average in better condition than Hindus. The number of dead children showed a negative relationship with height, weight and body mass index.

The effect of moderate son preference on family size is analysed using data from the 1982 Sri Lanka Contraceptive Prevalence Survey whose respondents were followed-up in the 1985 Sri Lanka Contraceptive Survey. Reported reproductive intentions on desire for additional children were not always reflected in overall contraceptive use. Complicating factors were the use of modern and traditional methods and the role of induced abortion. Longitudinal observations of the 1982–85 period relating women's individual reproductive behaviour to their intentions show no consistent behavioural difference between those with and without sons. However, at any given parity, the proportion reporting at least one additional child born during the intersurvey period was higher among those women who intended to have at least one additional child than among those who wanted to stop childbearing. This analysis suggests that son preference finds expression more through reproductive intentions than through actual fertility behaviour in the follow-up period.

The associations of social and behavioural factors on preterm birth in Singapore were studied using hospital maternity records of 20,723 consecutive singleton births between January 1986 and November 1991. The overall proportion of preterm births was 3·6%, the rates for the Chinese, Malay and Indian groups being 3·2%, 3·8% and 4·9% respectively. Teenage mothers were at a higher risk of preterm labour compared to women aged 20–29 years. The incidence of preterm labour decreased with increasing educational status. Preterm births were six times more likely in women who had no antenatal care. Women who had three or more previous births were at a higher risk, while those who had one or two previous births were at a lower risk compared to women who had none.

Measures of partner availability introduced by Goldman, Westoff & Hammerslough (1984) and by Veevers (1988) are described and a new measure of partner availability, the Iterated Availability Ratio, is introduced. The three measures are applied to 1981 Census data for England and Wales and their abilities to predict regional variations in age-specific marriage rates are compared.

Using data from the Demographic Health Survey for Ghana and Senegal, the influences of education and rural versus urban residence, and the difference between the two states on proportions married by various ages and on singulate mean age at marriage are investigated.

This study examines effects and interactions of socioeconomic status, access to water supply and sanitation, and breast-feeding practices in relation to child growth in two provincial cities in the Philippines. Multivariate analysis identified food expenditure per head, education of the household head and gender of the child as significant predictors of nutritional status. The duration of partial and full breast-feeding was negatively (though non-significantly) associated with growth. Sanitation facilities and breast-feeding are, however, important determinants during the first year of life. Among children over 1 year of age, socioeconomic variables and gender are the most important predictors. Breast-feeding is shown to provide more important health benefits for children in lower income households. The need for further studies on the causes of gender differences in nutritional status was apparent.