CONTEXT Use of unmet need for family planning to identify prospective clients may misrepresent the actual family planning needs of a population, given that a large proportion of women have ambivalent fertility desires. METHODS Survey data for 1998 and 2003 from Burkina Faso, Ghana and Kenya were used to examine the fertility desires and motivations of women who said they wanted to delay or li...

In a continent where most countries exhibit low or “lowest-low” fertility, the experience of Sweden and its Nordic neighbors has become of interest to social scientists and policy makers concerned with the causes and consequences of low fertility. Nordic fertility can be labeled as “highest-low”: the fertility of Sweden and its neighbors is below the replacement level of 2.1 children per woman ...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Teenage childbearing may have childhood origins and can be viewed as the outcome of a coherent reproductive strategy associated with early environmental conditions. Life-history theory would predict that where futures are uncertain fitness can be maximized through diverting effort from somatic development into reproduction. Even before the childbearing years, future te...

This paper continues research on female labor supply, in particular the literature on the costs of childbearing to a woman’s later labor market and marital outcomes. Hotz, Mullin, and Sanders (1997) use miscarriage as an instrument for birth, concluding that delaying birth might actually worsen outcomes for pregnant teenage girls. I demonstrate that while miscarriages might be randomly assigned...

In a Congressionally mandated study carried out under the aegis of the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) and summarized in this article, the authors have provided estimates of the numbers of American women of childbearing age and the numbers of American pregnant women whose lead exposure is sufficiently elevated to pose an intrauterine toxicity risk. Exposures associ...

INTRODUCTION African women of childbearing age are increasingly being exposed to risk factors for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), most particularly obesity. A differentiating feature of diabetes in women of childbearing age is that the disease may affect the mother and the developing fetus. Apart from mapping the extent of the problem, understanding the prevalence of T2DM in African women of c...

Childbearing within unmarried cohabitation has increased significantly over past decades. Earlier studies have linked non-marital childbearing to low educational attainment. In this study, we address non-marital childbearing from a couple’s perspective, taking into account both his and her human capital. We examine the link between educational assortative mating and family formation within and ...

BACKGROUND Dietary intake and nutritional status are important for pregnancy and pregnancy outcomes. Dietary advice on folate, targeted to women of childbearing age, aims at preventing neural tube defects in the offspring. AIM To describe food and nutrient intake and nutritional status among women of childbearing age in Sweden in relation to current nutrition recommendations. METHODS Dietar...

OBJECTIVES Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type I (CMT1) is a hereditary sensorimotor neuropathy causing variable degrees of handicap. The risk for relevant disability in respect to genetic counselling is unknown. An attempt was made to define it. METHODS Disability and ambulation of 50 patients with CMT1 were scored by the Hauser ambulation index score and the Rankin scale. Rankin score 2 was su...

The increase in births within cohabitation in the United States and across Europe suggests that cohabitation and marriage have become more similar with respect to childbearing. However, little is known about additional childbearing after first birth. Using harmonized union and fertility histories from surveys in 15 countries, this study examines second conception risks leading to a live birth f...