The International Planned Parenthood Federation was founded in 1952. In that year the Republic of Ireland hinted at resignation from the World Health Organization if WHO were to involve itself in family planning activities (Symonds & Carder, 1973). In 1973, as the IPPF marks its 21st Anniversary, a ban on the import of contraceptives has been upheld by the Irish courts after a mother of four appealed for help to prevent another pregnancy for health reasons. In October this year the Family Planning Association of Ireland will probably become the 80th member of the International Planned Parenthood Federation.

A survey conducted among a national random probability sampleof 2400 respondents aged 15 years and over throughout New Zealand shows that illegal abortion experiences may conservatively be estimated tohave exceeded 22,000 over the last 2 years, that there were an estimated 13,000 successful illegal abortions in this period, and that a majority of the population approve specified abortion law reforms.

Summary. A detailed parametric study has been made of data concerning epilepsy in 118 children. Thirty-nine items of behaviour disorder, and eighteen items of parental attitudes and behaviour have been subjected to separate principal components analyses. The resulting components, together with a number of neurological and environmental variables, have been correlated. A multiple regression analysis has been carried out using the chief component of behaviour disorder as a dependent variable. This exercise indicates that both social and neurological variables are correlated with aggressive behaviour, and are independent of one another. The usefulness of this kind of study for solving the problem of integrating the approaches of sociology, psychology and biology in the study of social behaviour is discussed.

The data in this paper are drawn from interviews with a probability sample of 2652 once-married women under the age of 60 currently living with their husbands in 1971 in metropolitan Melbourne. Although drawing from other material from the 2½ hr interviews the discussion concentrates upon the family size ideals of these wives. In addition to the customary measures of ideal family size, new measures of the upper and lower limits of acceptable family size are described, together with the reactions of the whole sample to a wide range of specified family sizes and the reasons for accepting or rejecting them. It is shown that the eventual achievement of zero population growth will almost certainly depend upon the two-child family becoming the norm for the great majority of couples, since childless or one-child marriages are desired by only 2% of couples. Currently, however, 20% of wives consider two-child families to be undesirably small. The marked religious, country of origin and educational differentials in acceptance of the two-child family are also discussed.

The performance of population programmes suggests that even the more successful ones have acceptance rates that are only a fifth or so of what is needed to reduce population growth rates to the 1% a year that permits significant improvements in income per head. It is also clear that no programmes use bonuses at anything approaching the monetary values per recipient that are justifiable. There is no guarantee that such bonuses will produce the number of acceptors that are needed, but it is fairly evident that without larger bonuses there will not be enough acceptors.

Briefly, if bonuses are to become an effective and acceptable feature of national family planning programmes, they must meet at least the following requirements:

(1) The various bonuses must be an integral part of an evolving and expanding system, and such bonuses must be evaluated in terms of the same criteria used to evaluate the overall family planning programme.

(2) Bonuses should be substantial, equal to perhaps one-half or more of the maximum that society, through government, can afford to pay for reduced fertility.

(3) Bonus qualification and administration should be reasonably cheat-proof, and the majority of couples using contraceptives should not be able to collect more than one kind of bonus.

(4) Selective discrimination among acceptors, at least by age, should be attempted by government to reduce payments of unnecessarily large bonuses to those who would practise effective contraception for a smaller bonus.

(5) Bonuses should be used to gain the acceptance of more cost-effective methods, or of more fertile couples, even during early stages when a family planning programme is generally supply constrained.

Finally, because in a real sense transfer payments are less costly than more customary activities incurring resource costs, bonuses should be used whenever their budget cost is no greater than more traditional expenditures that are equally effective in terms of reducing births. As such bonuses are really a form of compensation, paying for valuable services undertaken at some inconvenience and sacrifice, there is nothing morally reprehensible in paying them. Moreover, inasmuch as poorer people are most likely to respond, there is a favourable income redistribution effect and, of course, a prospect of higher average incomes because of the fertility reduction.

Data are presented on the verbal and performance (non-verbal) IQs of a sample of university scientists, their surviving fathers and male sibs.

Although mean IQs differ between scientific disciplines the disciplines do not differentially attract scientists from particular socio-economic classes.

The verbal IQs of both the scientists and their fathers are positively correlated with socio-economic class but only in the fathers' sample is the performance IQ/class correlation significant. The variance of both verbal and performance IQs increases from Class I to Class IIIM. The overall estimate of heritability for the verbal IQ is higher than that for the performance IQ.

Verbal and performance IQs are related to the distance the scientists have moved on the socio-economic scale. The effects of social mobility on the genetic and environmental components of the verbal and performance IQ phenotypic variances are discussed.

Statistical study of data from the Egyptian census for 1960 shows that the child/woman ratio rises with the level of female employment in the rural areas, but falls as the level of employment rises in the urban areas. Subject to confirmation by more detailed methods, it seems that, in urban areas, provision of opportunities for women to work is of major importance in attempting to reduce national fertility levels, but this will have the opposite effect to what is intended in rural areas. Industrial or commercial work opportunities change a woman's pattern of living, and are essential to the permanent lowering of fertility to replacement levels. (Arabic summary, page 167.)

One hundred and fifty-two women who failed to keep appointments for discussion or fitting of an IUD at a hospital clinic have been studied. Home visits were made by a social worker in an attempt to encourage the women to accept a new appointment, or make alternative plans for birth control. At the end of the study, 31 women had been fitted with an IUD, 16 had had a tubal tie, and 46 were successfully using other methods of contraception. The eventual acceptance of an IUD was found to be related to the reasons given by the women for not keeping the missed appointment.

This analysis was planned to produce an estimate of the effects of maternal ageing on the risk of stillbirth which would not be confounded by other biological and socio-economic factors. The basic comparison is between late fetal death ratios in second and third births for all women who experienced third single births in California in 1968. The analysis leads to the conclusion that women who experience late fetal deaths initiate more subsequent pregnancies and after shorter intervals than do women who have live births. A sharply lower risk of late fetal death for third birth than for second was found to mask age effects. It is suggested that this reduction in risk reflects the effects of successful diagnosis and treatment of conditions which produce high rates of pregnancy loss.

The possible influence of psycho-social factors on the use and effectiveness of the intrauterine contraceptive device (IUD) has not been seriously examined until recently. Inquiry into these factors has become feasible as large-scale projects—primarily designed to consider medical factors in IUD use—have been developed. Data obtained from a number of centres within and outside the United Kingdom indicate the existence of variation in the clinical efficacy of the same type of device. This variability suggests that success or failure of a given model does not necessarily depend on the device alone. Factors other than those generally considered ‘medical’ may play a significant role in IUD use and effectiveness.

The procedures involved in organizing large-scale multi-clinic IUD trials and including efficient data-retrieval systems are described in detail.

In addition, findings are reported on the trial of a stainless steel type of device, the M 213, which has been fitted in sufficient numbers in several UK clinics to permit analysis of variables associated with both the clinic and the doctor responsible for the IUD fitting. Evaluation of the data collected from two single-doctor clinics in two adjacent towns in the southwest of England using the M 213 and served by the same doctor, has revealed significant differences in the net cumulative pregnancy rate associated with the device. Age and parity of the IUD acceptors (and the interaction of age and parity) did not appear to be responsible for the difference. Although the general atmosphere and work load within the clinic setting may have differed it is not thought that this could fully account for the observed variations in the pregnancy rates between the two clinics.

There appears to be sufficient evidence to suggest that the traditional purely ’medical’ approach to the examination of IUD use—effectiveness should be extended to include the study of social and psychological variables associated with both the providers and the acceptors of the IUD service.

A matched group of women who conceived during a 2-month period in 1971 was used to trace some parameters involved in their decision to carry their pregnancies to term or to seek an abortion.

Several specific indices to the decision were considered: whether coitus was anticipated; whether the pregnancy was planned; whether birth control methods were used; and how the pregnancy ended. The effects of age, marital status, religion, reasons for the abortion or carrying the pregnancy to term, and attitude towards a possible delivery were also studied.

It was found that coitus was anticipated by the majority of women, but pregnancy was unplanned for. Two-thirds of the women who did not want to become pregnant were not using a contraceptive method; yet, regardless of whether pregnancy was planned or unplanned, one of three women chose to have an abortion.

Among the most common reasons for women indicating that contraceptive measures were not used were: ‘I didn't want sex to seem planned’ and ‘I thought I was in a safe period’. The decision to have an abortion usually depended upon the woman's marital status, age, religion, and previous use of birth control. Surprisingly, among women who had not planned to become pregnant, the percentage of women choosing abortion was the same from both subgroups of women who used or did not use contraception. It was also surprising that no strong relationship seemed to exist between the type of contraceptive technique used and the decision to have an abortion.

Women who planned ahead to have an abortion if they became pregnant were more often using contraception; thus for these women abortion was not a primary method of family planning but a back-up for failed contraception. Women who had their babies, infrequently considered abortion as an alternative.

It was predicted and found true that women who positively viewed the prospect of having a child chose to carry the pregnancy to term while those who expressed unhappiness at having a baby chose abortion. Unexpectedly, we found the overwhelming majority of women who claimed ‘I would be neither happy nor unhappy to have this baby’ chose to have an abortion. Thus a woman's so-called neutral statement regarding a desire was generally seen not to be neutral.

Our use of a pregnant population of women who conceived at the same time (conception cohort) for the analysis of the decision of whether to have an abortion or carry to term, when abortion is legal, thus seemed to be feasible and practical.

The average age at the time of operation was 38 years for husbands and about 35 years for wives. Most of the men had, at least, thedesired number of living children before they underwent vasectomy. Theaverage number of living children at the time of operation was 3·3. About88 % of the men were white. About 38% were Catholics, 28 % Protestant and 18% Jewish. The men were highly educated; over 17% had apost-graduate degree. Nearly 60% were engaged in professional, managerial or technical occupations. This points to superiority of vasectomized men in their economic and educational position. Public media sources played the most important role in referring persons for vasectomy. About 57% of the men had learned through articles published in newspapers or magazines. Large family size and non-availability of an ideal contraceptive were the most important reasons for seeking vasectomy.

The National Survey of 1960 Graduates, which included every woman and every other man who graduated from British universities in 1960, provided a unique opportunity to further our knowledge of the correlates of academic success measured in terms of the gaining of a university degree. A relatively large family appeared to be no impediment to the educational achievements of middle-class children, but for those with less privileged home circumstances a small family was an essential ingredient for success. First-born children were over-represented among this sample, though only children were not particularly favoured. In general, the likelihood of graduation appeared to decrease with each later position in the birth order.

A controlled comparison study was completed using interview data from 80 women each experiencing their first pregnancy whilst single. Half of the women continued their pregnancy, in some cases marrying the father. The other half obtained an abortion. Two interviewers, one male and the other female, each completed an equal number of interviews with both groups of women.

The women selected for the study had the following traits: (1) never married before this, their first conception; (2) aged 17–30 years; (3) white ethnic status; (4) had not delivered or terminated the pregnancy at the time of the interview. The sample consisted of volunteers from the ante-natal and gynaecology clinics at St Mary's Hospital Medical School and Samaritan Hospital for Women, London, W.2, and Kingston and Richmond Hospitals, Surrey.

Almost all topics examined in the pre-conception period turned out to be characteristic of women experiencing their first illegitimate conception, whether or not they continued the pregnancy. A detailed examination of contraceptive background revealed no significant differences between the two groups of women, with two exceptions. Women having abortions were more likely, at the time before they conceived, to have accepted the idea of using contraception. A small number of these women were also more likely to have made an effort to obtain a clinical contraceptive device.

The only other pre-conception factor found to be associated with abortion involved the relationship with the father up to the time of conception. If that relationship was uncertain, less meaningful than previous ones, or a social rather than a romantic one, the woman was more likely to terminate the pregnancy.

In contrast to the pre-conception period, almost all analyses of events subsequent to conception revealed differences between the two groups of women. Both concern over being discredited by other people and concealing information about the pregnancy were traits associated with having an abortion, but in a qualitative rather than an absolute sense. These aspects of social stigma were common to all women before the first pregnancy test, but became more evident amongst women having abortions once the pregnancy had been clinically confirmed. Both concern over being discredited and concealing the pregnancy were experienced in relation to particular persons. For women terminating their pregnancies these were usually their parents.

The degree of acceptability of abortion and unmarried motherhood differed between the groups, but they were similar in their views on the acceptability of marriage with pregnancy and adoption. These four alternatives were further examined in terms of the women's preferences and here the two groups differed.

Finally, there were differences between the groups in the effect of the pregnancy on the relationship with the putative father. Women having abortions were more likely to find themselves in a relationship that had either finished or was likely to finish after the father knew of the pregnancy. Some were pregnant by a social acquaintance which precluded either marriage or joint parenthood.

The findings are discussed in terms of the relationship between contraception and abortion for the single woman and consideration is given to the implications for fertility research and contraceptive and pregnancy services.

Despite the great interest in family planning today, a gap exists between this interest and actual practice. There is approval of the concept of family planning and a desire for substantially smaller families than present fertility permits; there is also a need for timing, spacing out and limiting the number of children, and so it is clear that good family planning programmes are still urgently required.

Cranial measurements and somatotype indices were compared in two groups of patients, one with recurrent depressive illness and the other suffering from a first solitary attack of depression. Certain statistically significant differences in stature, somatotype and cranial measurements emerged; the group with recurrent episodes of depression tended to be shorter and more brachycephalic than those with solitary episodes of depression.

In the fall of 1965 and again in the fall of 1967, The Population Council sponsored nationwide public opinion polls in which questions were asked regarding whether the world and US population growth rates constituted serious problems. Both polls found the proportion of respondents viewing the world growth rate as serious (62% in 1965, 69% in 1967) to be higher than the proportion viewing the US rate as serious (54% in 1965 and 1967) (Kantner, 1968). Thus, attitudes towards world population growth and US population growth appear to be potentially independent of and not necessarily congruent with one another, but to date no examination has been made of their relationship. It is the purpose of the present study: (1) to determine the incidence of each possible combination of views towards the world and US population growth rates, and (2) to determine how individuals with a particular attitude towards one growth ratedistribute themselves in terms of attitudes towards the other rate.

The association between birth order and marital status has been explored in a sample of 2500 adult males living in Dublin in 1968. Higher proportions ever-married were found among both eldest sons and eldest children than among the rest of the sample at each age below 46 years. In general, the lowest proportions ever-married were found among youngest sons and youngest children. Differences between the mean ages at marriage of the various birth orders were found among the married sub-sample that accorded with expectations based on the differentials in proportions ever- married. Hypotheses that might be supported bythese findings are discussed.

Marriage distance is an important variable in human genetics. The distribution of marriage distance has been studied among the Santals, a large agricultural tribe of eastern India, in the neighbourhood of Giridih, Bihar. A Type III Pearsonian curve was fitted to the observed distribution; the fit was found to be good. Possible explanations have been suggested for the distribution pattern among the Santals and for the difference with respect to this pattern between the Santals and other populations.

This paper describes the first study of vasectomized men in Latin America; it is based on personal interviews with 172 men who had undergone the operation at least 3 months previously.

The majority of the men chose to have the operation relatively late in life (38·9 years), after they had had a large number of children (5·9 living). Men from all education and occupation levels were represented in the sample; about 25% were practising Catholics. Many cited the effectiveness of vasectomy as a major factor in their decision. More than one-half reported at least one failure with other methods. Principal original sources of information about vasectomy for the majority were the mass media. Most reported that their sexual activity had remained unchanged or had improved since the operation and expressed satisfaction with the results of the operation.

(Summary in Spanish, p. 505.)