Increment-decrement tables for human reproduction

SummaryThis paper illustrates the application of increment—decrement life table methods to the study of family building patterns among women. Here age at the oocurrence of a specified birth is considered the principal duration variable. Data from a sample of currently married women from the 1965 US National Fertility Study were used to illustrate the method.

Fertility, Sex Role Attitudes, and Labor Force Participation

Data from the 1970 National Fertility Study were used to investigate the relationships between sex role attitudes and the childbearing and labor force participation of women. While several relevant dimensions of sex role attitudes were identified, it was found that the most crucial aspect for working and fertility was the extent to which the woman identified the female role as that of housewife and homemaker. Those having traditional definitions concerning this role were less likely to be working, and had fewer plans to work in the future. In addition, as expected, women with traditional sex role definitions had more children than others. While the orientation of the woman toward the home was the primary correlate of work and fertility, those who felt that women had little control over their lives had higher fertility than others—a relationship which could be explained partially, but not entirely, in terms of unplanned childbearing.

Spontaneous fetal loss: a note on rates and some implications

SummaryAfter reviewing recent work indicating that the level of spontaneous fetal loss (SFL) is much higher than estimates derived from traditional sources, this paper assesses some implications of differential rates of SFL by race and maternal health and challenges the common view that early SFL is largely a function of genetic abnormalities of the fetus and thus subject to little change over time. If, as is argued here, SFL changes over time in response to changing environmental conditions, fertility trends may be affected by environmental trends. An example of the possible impact of declining SFL on marital fertility rates over the period 1940–60 in the US is provided. The paper concludes with work that uses new estimates of SFL rates to measure the extent to which induced abortion may be unnecessary because the pregnancy would terminate spontaneously, and then estimates the extent to which contraceptive failure rates, as measured in the US National Fertility Study of 1965, may be deflated due to under-reporting of SFL.