Routine Infanticide by Married Couples? An Assessment of Baptismal Records from Seventeenth Century Parma

2011 ◽  
Vol 15 (6) ◽  
pp. 507-530 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Hynes

Abstract This study uses baptismal records from the Italian city of Parma from 1609 to 1637 to chart the sex ratio of male and female infants at baptism. This article measures the Parman sex ratio against the natural sex ratio at birth for live-born infants, as determined by Praven Visaria, and offers preliminary findings that indicate that married couples used infanticide as a means of controlling family size and sex in seventeenth-century Parma. The 28 years studied encompass both relatively strong economic and agricultural years as well as a variety of crises. By selecting a period with both good and bad economic years it is possible to see if parents behaved differently as their household conditions varied. Further, dividing the approximately 30,000 baptisms by rural and urban jurisdictions and familial socio-economic status makes visible parental recourse to infanticide through unnatural ratios of males and females within different segments of society.

2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 524-527 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristen J. Navara

Skews in the human sex ratio at birth have captivated scientists for over a century. The accepted average human natal sex ratio is slightly male biased, at 106 males per 100 females or 51.5 per cent males. Studies conducted on a localized scale show that sex ratios deviate from this average in response to a staggering number of social, economical and physiological variables. However, these patterns often prove inconsistent when expanded to other human populations, perhaps because the nature of the influences themselves exhibit substantial cultural variation. Here, data collected from 202 countries over a decade show that latitude is a primary factor influencing the ratio of males and females produced at birth; countries at tropical latitudes produced significantly fewer boys (51.1% males) annually than those at temperate and subarctic latitudes (51.3%). This pattern remained strong despite enormous continental variation in lifestyle and socio-economic status, suggesting that latitudinal variables may act as overarching cues on which sex ratio variation in humans is based.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 81-91
Author(s):  
Daniel Sinkala

Preeclampsia and eclampsia cases continue to rise in northern Zambia as people search for babies and continuity of clans’ survival. Due to the competitive nature of cultural demands/ myths on pregnancy and maternal socio-demographic factors (low-age, low socio-economic status, and poor health-seeking behaviour), women in rural prefer unprofessional primary health care services that are presumably affordable to them thereby, delaying in seeking for professional healthcare services. High levels of poverty in resource-limited areas have put many female adolescents at risk of falling pregnant. Thus, this study probed on the interaction between these maternal socio-demographic factors and disease distribution in both rural and urban areas with respect to various pregnancy outcomes. The study used retrospective quantitative methods in eliciting information from data sources (women, registers) in Mbala, Mpulungu, Senga, and Mungwi districts covering 3-year period (2017-2019). In all, 202 female respondents from Northern Zambia were interviewed through self-administered questionnaires. Thereafter, data were analysed using a statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS v16). Findings indicate severe; socio-economic status and low maternal age affect pre-eclampsia disease distribution coupled with adverse pregnancy outcomes more in rural than urban areas. The better the socio-demographic conditions, the lower the disease distribution with good pregnancy outcomes. However, worsening maternal socio-demographic conditions may increase the incidence of pre-eclampsia among pregnant women of northern Zambia. The study recommended interventions tarred towards public health programmes such as social behaviour change and communication (SBCC) towards adolescent women and socio-economic empowerment of pregnant women in resource-limited areas. Keywords: Average ANC timing, Preeclampsia, Residency, Socio-economic, Teenage pregnancy.


2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Purnima Awasthi ◽  
Ravi P. Pandey

Smoking is considered as one of the most common health impairing behaviors involving recreational drug use, in which tobacco is burned and the smoke is tasted or inhaled. Health professionals have identified cigarette smoking (in which the active drug is nicotine) as a most serious preventive health problem of youths worldwide. The study examines the role of socioeconomic status (SES) in smoking tendency of youths. The study was carried out with 75 male youths, who represented lower, middle, and high SES. The age of participants ranged from 19 to 25 years, and they resided in the rural and urban areas of Varanasi. Participants were given the measures of socio-economic status and smoking urges. Analysis revealed that youths of lower and higher SES, exhibited greater smoking tendencies as compared to those of middle SES. The findings are discussed and their implications are pointed out.


1971 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael S. Teitelbaum ◽  
Nathan Mantel

Using a large special study population and refined indicators of socio-economic status, the relationship of the live birth sex ratio to socio economic variables is examined. The analyses provide control for the possible confounding effects of race and birth order.The sex ratio is shown to be significantly and positively associated with socio-economic variables. The relationship is not linear, however, but instead is characterized by an apparent ‘diminishing returns’ curve. The major increase in sex ratio is detected as socio-economic status increases from low to moderate. No significant change occurs between moderate and higher socio-economic levels.Even after controlling for the significant socio-economic effect, the analyses detect a significant difference between the sex ratios of Whites on the one hand and Negroes and Puerto Ricans on the other.No significant association between birth order and the sex ratio can be detected in the study population.


2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiral Y Suthar ◽  
Dr. M. G Mansuri

The present investigation was undertaken to find the impact of Anxiety among women. The emotional competence scale was administered on 245 women of Vadodara district. Sinha’s Anxiety scale was used. Data were analysis by‘t’ test. Result show there is difference found in level of Anxiety among working male and female. Workings female have higher Anxiety compare with working male. There is difference found in level of Anxiety among working male and female of high and low Socio-Economic status. Male and female of high socio-economic status have lower Anxiety compare with male and female of low socio-economic status.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manas Geeta Arun ◽  
Tejinder Singh Chechi ◽  
Rakesh Meena ◽  
Shradha Dattaraya Bhosle ◽  
Srishti ◽  
...  

Divergence in the evolutionary interests of males and females leads to sexual conflict. Traditionally, sexual conflict has been classified into two types: inter-locus sexual conflict (IeSC) and intra-locus sexual conflict (IaSC). IeSC is modeled as a conflict over outcomes of intersexual reproductive interactions mediated by loci that are sex-limited in their effects. IaSC is thought to be a product of selection acting in opposite directions in males and females on traits with a common underlying genetic basis. While in their canonical formalisms IaSC and IeSC are mutually exclusive, there is growing support for the idea that the two may interact. Empirical evidence for such interactions, however, is limited. Here, we investigated the interaction between IeSC and IaSC in Drosophila melanogaster. Using hemiclonal analysis, we sampled 39 hemigenomes from a laboratory-adapted population of D. melanogaster. We measured the contribution of each hemigenome to adult male and female fitness at three different intensities of IeSC, obtained by varying the operational sex-ratio. Subsequently, we estimated the intensity of IaSC at each sex-ratio by calculating the intersexual genetic correlation for fitness and the proportion of sexually antagonistic fitness-variation. Our results indicate a statistically non-significant trend suggesting that increasing the strength of IeSC ameliorates IaSC in the population.


1959 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-39
Author(s):  
JAN Z. WILCZYNSKI

1. The percentages of males and females in naturally occurring chains of Crepidula fornicata L. were found to be 39% females, 6% ‘transients’ and 55% males. 2. Disconnected males kept in cages in sea water for 9 months re-established the normal sex ratio. 3. Disconnected males were kept for periods of 4-6 weeks at temperatures of 30° and 10° C. No significant tendency to change sex was observed. 4. Males were injected with extracts of females. No tendency to change sex was observed. 5. In animals of all sizes from small males to large females both male and female gametes are invariably present together. The gametes of both sexes are polymorphic.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document