Depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA) was approved as an investigational new drug for contraceptive use in the United States between 1967 and 1978. Patterns of contraceptive choice and changing methods were determined among 36,298 women attending a family planning clinic between 1967 and 1976. This population was the largest concentration of US women who had DMPA available as a contraceptive option. By 1974, women in the age group 35–49 were as likely to choose DMPA as either oral contraception or an intrauterine device. Coincidentally, use of the most popular choice, oral contraception, declined in older women and IUD use dropped sharply in all age groups. On average, users of DMPA were more likely to continue their method than were users of IUDs or barrier methods. Among women in the 35–49 age group, DMPA users were the group least likely to change methods.

Sexual experience is increasingly common among teenagers. Evidence suggests that while many teenage pregnancies are unintended, teenagers remain less than totally effective users of contraception. Among a sample of 102 teenage mothers, only two-thirds had ever used contraception, although only a quarter of the pregnancies were planned. About half of the teenagers were upset on hearing the initial news of the pregnancy; half of these had been using the pill, which in many cases had been given up without another form of contraception substituted. These girls present a formidable challenge to providers of contraceptive services, especially in view of the restricted opportunities available to working-class girls.

This paper discusses fertility trends in Singapore during the decade 1975–84. Fertility first dropped below the replacement level in 1975 when the gross reproduction rate reached 1·006, and fell further to the low of 0·772 in 1984. During the same period all of the three main races, Chinese, Malays and Indians, experienced fertility below replacement level. The shortfall in the number of births required to ensure replacement fertility increased during the decade until it approached one-quarter in 1984.

Relationships between migration and fertility are examined, using data from the OPCS Longitudinal Study of England and Wales, including linked information from the 1971 and 1981 Censuses and birth registration data for the period 1971–80. The results showed that the proportion moving between the 1971 Census and the first subsequent birth was higher among tenants than owner occupiers, particularly for women in shared accommodation in 1971. The association between tenure and moving was more consistent than the relationship between moving and the husband's social class. Differences in the proportions moving between the censuses were positively associated with fertility in the same period particularly for women in potentially crowded accommodation in 1971. Moving in 1970–71 was not associated with differences in parity progression ratios 1971–81. There were, however, differences in the timing of births, suggesting that long distance migration was associated with a postponement of the first or second child, probably because both longer distance migration and fertility behaviour are associated with other characteristics such as education.

In data from the Bangladesh Fertility Survey on 4998 live births, the mean duration of breast-feeding in Bangladesh was 27·3 months. Duration of breast-feeding was positively related with the age of women. Female children were breast-fed for periods about 5 months shorter than for male children. Children born to urban mothers of all age groups were breast-fed for shorter durations than children born to rural mothers of all age groups. The duration of breast-feeding decreased with the increase of education of mother.

This examination of the effect of birth spacing on infant and child mortality in rural Nepal is based on data from the Nepal Fertility Survey 1976 carried out by the Nepal Family Planning and Maternal Child Health Project in collaboration with the World Fertility Survey. The study confirms that the higher risk of infant death to first-born children is mainly due to the higher proportions of younger women having first births, rather than due to their being first order births per se. The effect of maternal age on infant and child mortality is largely associated with birth interval. Previous birth interval, therefore, stands out as the most important factor affecting infant mortality; the next most important factor is the survival of the preceding child.

In Matlab thana, a rural area of Bangladesh, there is a substantial deficit of males of reproductive age owing to urban migration of males who leave their families behind. These men nevertheless return to visit their families frequently. Thirty percent of the births in this area occur to families with migrant fathers: neonatal mortality rates in these families are nearly double those of families with non-migrant fathers. This high risk, in turn, interacts with educational attainment and maternal nutrition. Only those migrant families where mothers have no education or low body weight experience high neonatal mortality rates. Psychological stress during pregnancy, probably caused by fear and anxiety related to the husband's absence may in part be responsible for such differential risk of mortality during the neonatal period.

This study tests the proposition that the contribution of environmental factors to the reduction of infant mortality early in the twentieth century was greater than that made by the alleviation of poverty. The estimates were obtained from retrospective reports of women enumerated at the 1911 Census, and covered the period from approximately 1895 to 1910. Infant mortality by father's occupation underwent an average decline of 35% from a peak infant mortality rate (IMR) of 132, with wide variation. The removal of poor (usually urban) residential conditions was probably associated with the decline, but, except at the extremes, income did not explain the differences. In the 97 great towns, the subject of this study, where the average decline in IMR was also 35% from a peak of 146, the rate of urbanization over 20 years accounted for a significant proportion of the differential decline, and measures of poverty added little to the explanation. This conclusion survived multivariate analysis using urban development and poverty level as explanatory variables, and controlling for fertility decline and selective migration.

Seasonal variations in cause- and age-specific suicide rates in males and females were analysed in Osaka, Japan, for the years 1974–83, using profile analysis. Significant cause differences were found in males: (1) the rate for poisoning by domestic, car-exhaust or other gases was high in winter and spring and low in summer and autumn; (2) the rate for hanging, strangulation and suffocation was low in winter; (3) the rate for a variety of violent methods (chemicals, firearms, drowning, etc.) was high in summer. Similarly, there were sex differences in the variation for causes (2) and (3) and for ages 40–54. No significant age difference was found in either sex. Seasonal differences in the ease of suicidal methods and sex- and season-specific psychosocial factors were thought to be the major determinant of the seasonal variation.

Forty-two single women who want to be childless, eighteen who desire a one child family, and 42 who want two children responded to questions about the quality of their present lives, and nature of future marriages. The groups of women were closely matched for age and education, and on current quality of life there were few differences. They had similar levels of positive and negative affect, and described life as enjoyable, interesting and contented. Those wanting to be childless, however, rated life as less optimistic and less loving, and also as currently somewhat less satisfying, but life satisfaction was still quite high. These early deciders of childlessness, and those wanting only one child, wanted to be financially and socially more independent in future marriage-type relationships than women wanting at least two children. They also expected to follow interests and careers to their fullest, wanted more role innovative partners, and were somewhat less concerned about home ownership, living to a budget, and keeping contact with family and friends. All women placed considerable importance on the need for trust, self-disclosure and open communication in a relationship, although the voluntarily childless rated more highly the need for intellectual stimulation and for each partner to be happy about the success of their mate. Compared to women wanting two children, those wanting to be childless expected a partner to perform a wide range of non-traditional roles in the home.

Recent data do not demonstrate any trend away from consanguineous marriages in the urban Middle East. The continued observance of this preferential custom may correspond to the persistence of an archaic trait among urban dwellers; if this holds true, then one would expect consanguineous couples to conform more to the traditional family pattern than others. In order to test this hypothesis, 100 women married to a relative and 100 matched controls, selected from a hospital setting in Beirut, were interviewed with respect to their household type (nuclear/extended), residential pattern (proximity of parents and parents-in-law's residence to theirs), contacts with family and sex definitions. A substantial proportion of the respondents comply with the traditional norms prevalent in the Middle East (25–55%, according to the criterion), but no difference is detectable between cases and controls in this respect.

In all European countries for which data exist, there was a maternal-age-specific decline in dizygotic twinning rates during the 1960s. For most of these countries, this decline continued through the 1970s, but in a few it apparently ceased. The causes of the declines and of their abatement are unknown. However, there were declines in sperm quality during the 1960s and 1970s in some parts of the world, including parts of Europe, and it is speculated here that this decline in sperm quality may be related to the decline in dizygotic twinning.