FAMILY SIZE AND SEX PREFERENCES AND EVENTUAL FERTILITY IN BOTSWANA

1997 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
EUGENE K. CAMPBELL ◽  
PUNI G. CAMPBELL

Botswana is one of the sub-Saharan countries where actual fertility has declined. This study examines the fertility preferences of both men and women and shows that fertility intentions have a significant influence on future fertility behaviour. Fertility preferences are relatively low and there is no significant difference between those of men and women. Men's preference for sons influences desired family size and eventual fertility. For women as well as men, child survival is an important factor. Women's income is also influential.

1994 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 273-277 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eugene K. Campbell

SummaryThis paper examines the current fertility of men and women in the Western area of Sierra Leone and the prospects for future fertility behaviour. Probably due to the effect of rapid economic decline in Sierra Leone since 1980, the desired family size has fallen. But indications are that the preferred completed family size is lower than the desired family size


1977 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel D. Haskell

Some single Caucasian undergraduates of Protestant religious preference, 115 men and 105 women, were tested to find correlates of, and to compare social-psychological to demographic variables in predicting, subjects' desired family sizes. Men had a mean desired family size of 2.04 children and women, 1.91 children. Women seem more accepting of childless families than men, perhaps perceiving new attractiveness in careers. Men and women wanting small families are less religious and are from smaller families. These men are more anxious and lower in need achievement, and the women have a less traditional sex-role self-concept. Women may see larger families as confirming a traditional sex-role, while men may see them confirming an achievement-oriented, possibly traditional, male role. Demographic variables, which best predict desired family size, may represent the continued influence of subjects' family backgrounds. However, social-psychological variables may also become important desired family-size influences as women enter their early twenties.


Genus ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 76 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
John Bongaarts

Abstract A common explanation for the high fertility prevailing in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is a widespread desire for large families. This situation poses a challenge to population policy-makers in the continent. If the desired family size is high, then presumably family planning programs can only have a limited effect on fertility because these programs aim to assist women in achieving their reproductive goals. But this conclusion is based on the assumption that family planning programs do not affect the desired family size, which is questionable and is investigated here. This study examines the determinants of trends wanted and unwanted fertility in SSA using fixed-effects regressions of country-level data. The dependent variables include the total fertility rate, and its wanted and unwanted components. Explanatory variables include a family planning program score and four socioeconomic variables (women’s educational attainment, child mortality, GNI per capita, and percent urban). Data come from 103 DHS surveys in 25 countries in SSA with at least two DHS surveys between 1989 and 2019. Women’s education and family planning programs are found to be the dominant determinants of fertility decline and their effects operate by reducing both wanted and unwanted fertility. The effects of education are not surprising but the finding that family planning programs can reduce wanted fertility implies that their impact can be larger than conventional wisdom suggests. Indeed, in a few poor countries, the implementation of high-quality programs has been associated with substantial declines in wanted fertility (e.g., Ethiopia, Malawi, Rwanda). The mechanism through which this effect operates is unclear but likely involves media programs that diffuse knowledge about the benefits of smaller families.


2020 ◽  
Vol 66 (2) ◽  
pp. 149-163
Author(s):  
Nitin Kumar Mishra ◽  

Fertility preferences in India, expressed in terms of ideal family size and the desire to have additional children, can predict future fertility, with women who have attained or surpassed their ideal family size, or who have explicitly expressed a desire to stop childbearing, less likely than other women to give birth in the future. women will have an unwanted birth is much higher if they have a son than otherwise and as son preference declines, the value of the indicators in predicting the future fertility behaviour of women improves. This paper an attempt to analyze the preferences for family size, sex and the ideal number of the children in population and to suggest some remedial measures to reduce the fertility in general and to enhance human welfare in particular. This study is based on primary data collected through personal survey with the help of a semi-structured questionnaire and interview schedule. The mean ideal number of children varies across the demographic, socio-economic and cultural groups. The mean ideal number of children for the women of 15-19 years is 2 children (1.97 per cent) while it is 3 children (3.05 per cent) for 40-44 years of age. The preference of sons against the daughters is higher in each age group.


1991 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 337-342 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eugene K. Campbell

SummaryThis study reveals evidence of a significant sex preference among men. Programmes aimed at changing men's views on the importance of the sex of a child must be implemented in order to reduce the desired family size and eventual fertility.


Demography ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 57 (6) ◽  
pp. 1975-2001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalie Nitsche ◽  
Sarah R. Hayford

AbstractIn the United States, underachieving fertility desires is more common among women with higher levels of education and those who delay first marriage beyond their mid-20s. However, the relationship between these patterns, and particularly the degree to which marriage postponement explains lower fertility among the highly educated, is not well understood. We use data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 cohort to analyze differences in parenthood and achieved parity for men and women, focusing on the role of marriage timing in achieving fertility goals over the life course. We expand on previous research by distinguishing between entry into parenthood and average parity among parents as pathways to underachieving, by considering variation in the impact of marriage timing by education and by stage of the life course, and by comparing results for men and women. We find that women with a bachelor’s degree who desired three or more children are less likely to become mothers relative to women with the same desired family size who did not attend college. Conditional on becoming mothers, however, women with at least a bachelor’s degree do not have lower completed family size. No comparable fatherhood difference by desired family size is present. Postponing marriage beyond age 30 is associated with lower proportions of parenthood but not with lower parity among parents. Age patterns are similar for women and men, pointing at social rather than biological factors driving the underachievement of fertility goals.


Author(s):  
Uche C, Isiugo-Abanihe

Fertility preferences reported by currently married women are analyzed with respect to their characteristics and contraceptive use. Only 36 percent of the women gave numerical responses to the question on desired family size, while 63 percent gave ‘up to God’ responses. Nigerian women still have a preference for a large family size (6 children), which may be considered moderate relative to family size of 7 to 10 children reported in earlier studies. Only 18 percent of currently married women desired to cease childbearing, a low figure indeed, but much higher that the 5 percent recorded a decade ago by a comparable national survey. The study reveals a^ high level of consistency between desire for children and whether or not desired family size exceeds the number of living children, and shows that fertility preference reasonably predicts contraceptive use. Desire to cease childbearing is as closely related to contraceptive use as most of other variables considered. There is therefore the need to improve contraceptive accessibility and knowledge of fertility control possibilities for the general public, which are among the objectives of Nigeria’s population policy.


1983 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Shannon Stokes ◽  
Wayne A. Schutjer ◽  
John R. Poindexter

SummaryThe influence of fertility preferences on contraceptive use is examined among a sample of low income, rural Egyptian women. The findings reveal that while overall use of contraceptives was at modest levels, one-third of respondents who wanted no more children were currently practising contraception. Moreover, fertility preference emerged as the strongest predictor of contraception among the series of social and demographic factors examined.


2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (11) ◽  
pp. 5041
Author(s):  
Farkhondeh Jamshidi ◽  
Ahmad Ghorbani ◽  
Sina Darvishi*

The abuse of some pesticides especially to suicide is one of the current problems of pesticides. Aluminum phosphide induced poisoning usually happens to suicide and sometimes it is due to accidental occupational exposure and in a few cases it has some criminal intensions. This study is conducted to evaluate patients poisoned with aluminum phosphide. In the present study the medical records of cases of poisoning with rice tablets (aluminum phosphide) hospitalized in Ahvaz Razi hospital is studied. Accordingly, a checklist is prepared that included demographic information of patients (age, gender) and information on patient records (information on poisoning) are completed using the patients’ medical records. The analysis of data is done by SPSS V22. 18 patients poisoned with rice tablet (aluminum phosphide) are studied. Results of the study show that 11 patients are male and seven are female. The mean patient age is 27.06 ±8.04 years that is 28 ±9 and 25 ±6.02 in men and women respectively. Statistical tests show no statistically significant difference in mean age in both genders (P> 0.05). Among patients, 11 subjects took aluminum phosphide to attempt suicide and 3 cases took it unintentionally and of course the reason is not mentioned in four cases. Among the patients who tried to commit suicide by taking aluminum phosphide, 6 cases are male and 5 cases are female that no statistically significant difference is observed between the genders in this respect (P> 0.05). In addition to the study of the complications caused by this poisoning and its mortality, it is recommended to responsible authorities to provide the necessary educations and treatments to prevent this type of poisoning.


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