Progeny
The Effect of Parental Involvement Laws on Youth Suicide
Joseph Sabia & Daniel Rees
Economic Inquiry, forthcoming
Abstract:
Using state-level data on suicides from the period 1987 to 2003, we find that the adoption of a law requiring a parent's notification or consent before a minor can obtain an abortion is associated with an 11%-21% reduction in the number of 15- through 17-year-old females who commit suicide. In contrast, the adoption of a parental involvement law is not associated with a reduction in the number of older females who commit suicide or in the number of 15- through 17-year-old males who commit suicide. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that parental involvement laws represent an increase in the expected cost of having unprotected sex, and, as a consequence, serve to protect young females from depression and what have been termed "stressful life events" such as conflict with a parent or an abortion.
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Decreased births among black female adolescents following school desegregation
Sze Yan Liu et al.
Social Science & Medicine, forthcoming
Abstract:
Although the socioeconomic impact of school desegregation in the U.S. has been well documented, little is known about the health consequences of this policy. The purpose of this study was to quantify the associations between school desegregation and adolescent births among black and white females. We compared the change in prevalence of adolescent births in areas that implemented school desegregation plans in the 1970s with areas that implemented school desegregation plans in other decades, using difference-in-difference methods with 1970 and 1980 Census microdata. School desegregation policy in the U.S. in the 1970s was associated with a significant reduction of 3.2 percentage points in the prevalence of births among black female adolescents between 1970 and 1980. This association was specific to black female adolescents and was not observed among white adolescents.
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Effects of BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations on female fertility
Ken Smith et al.
Proceedings of the Royal Society: Biological Sciences, 7 April 2012, Pages 1389-1395
Abstract:
Women with BRCA1/2 mutations have a significantly higher lifetime risk of developing breast or ovarian cancer. We suggest that female mutation carriers may have improved fitness owing to enhanced fertility relative to non-carriers. Here we show that women who are carriers of BRCA1/2 mutations living in natural fertility conditions have excess fertility as well as excess post-reproductive mortality in relation to controls. Individuals who tested positive for BRCA1/2 mutations who linked into multi-generational pedigrees within the Utah Population Database were used to identify putative obligate carriers. We find that women born before 1930 who are mutation carriers have significantly more children than controls and have excess post-reproductive mortality risks. They also have shorter birth intervals and end child-bearing later than controls. For contemporary women tested directly for BRCA1/2 mutations, an era when modern contraceptives are available, differences in fertility and mortality persist but are attenuated. Our findings suggest the need to re-examine the wider role played by BRCA1/2 mutations. Elevated fertility of female mutation carriers indicates that they are more fecund despite their elevated post-reproductive mortality risks.
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Are Difficulties Balancing Work and Family Associated With Subsequent Fertility?
Siwei Liu & Kathryn Hynes
Family Relations, February 2012, Pages 16-30
Abstract:
Despite considerable interest in the causes and consequences of work-family conflict, and the frequent suggestion in fertility research that difficulty in balancing work and family is one of the factors leading to low fertility rates in several developed countries, little research uses longitudinal data to examine whether women who report difficulty in balancing their work and family roles go on to have fewer subsequent births. This article uses longitudinal data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care (N = 809) to examine whether difficulties in balancing work and family are associated with fewer subsequent births. Our results provide little support for the idea that working women in the United States who have difficulty in balancing work and family delay or forgo having additional children. Instead, women in the United States may achieve their fertility goals at the expense of continued labor force participation.
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The Effect of Child Support Enforcement on Abortion in the United States
Jocelyn Crowley, Radha Jagannathan & Galo Falchettore
Social Science Quarterly, March 2012, Pages 152-172
Objectives: This project aims to answer a critically important question of public policy: Does effective child support enforcement lead to a change in the incidence of abortion across the United States?
Methods: Using state-level data collected from 1978-2003 from a variety of sources, we employ fixed effects regression analysis to examine whether financial security as measured by five types of child support enforcement effectiveness impacts abortion outcomes.
Results: We find that child support enforcement effectiveness decreases the incidence of abortion as measured by the abortion rate, but not the abortion ratio.
Conclusions: Income transfer policies such as child support enforcement can affect certain fertility outcomes such as abortion rates across the states.
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Offspring Sex Preference in Frontier America
Nora Bohnert et al.
Journal of Interdisciplinary History, Spring 2012, Pages 519-541
Abstract:
Analysis of the fertility histories of women born between 1850 and 1900, as given in the Utah Population Database (UPDB), reveals the effect of the number, as well as the sex composition, of previous children on birth-stopping and birth-spacing decisions. Specifically, agricultural and Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) households - two sub-populations that might have placed different values on male and female children for economic, social, and/or cultural reasons - showed a distinct preference for male children, as expressed by birth stopping after the birth of a male child and shorter birth intervals in higher-parity births when most previous children were female. Remarkably, women in both the early "natural fertility" and the later contraceptive eras used spacing behavior to achieve a desired sex mix. Although the LDS population had relatively high fertility rates, it had the same preferences for male children as the non-LDS population did. Farmers, who presumably had a need for family labor, were more interested in the quantity than in the sex mix of their children.
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A curvilinear effect of height on reproductive success in human males
Gert Stulp et al.
Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, March 2012, Pages 375-384
Abstract:
Human male height is associated with mate choice and intra-sexual competition, and therefore potentially with reproductive success. A literature review (n = 18) on the relationship between male height and reproductive success revealed a variety of relationships ranging from negative to curvilinear to positive. Some of the variation in results may stem from methodological issues, such as low power, including men in the sample who have not yet ended their reproductive career, or not controlling for important potential confounders (e.g. education and income). We investigated the associations between height, education, income and the number of surviving children in a large longitudinal sample of men (n = 3,578; Wisconsin Longitudinal Study), who likely had ended their reproductive careers (e.g. > 64 years). There was a curvilinear association between height and number of children, with men of average height attaining the highest reproductive success. This curvilinear relationship remained after controlling for education and income, which were associated with both reproductive success and height. Average height men also married at a younger age than shorter and taller men, and the effect of height diminished after controlling for this association. Thus, average height men partly achieved higher reproductive success by marrying at a younger age. On the basis of our literature review and our data, we conclude that men of average height most likely have higher reproductive success than either short or tall men.
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Means, variances, and ranges in reproductive success: Comparative evidence
Laura Betzig
Evolution and Human Behavior, forthcoming
Abstract:
Data on reproductive success in traditional cultures suggest that for men, but not for women, range and variance rise as subsistence intensifies. For hunter-gatherers, ranges and variances tend to cluster in single digits: they reach 15 or 16, at the high end. For herder-gardeners, ranges and variances are more consistently in double digits: they get as high as 80 or 85. And for full-time agriculturalists in the first civilizations, ranges consistently ran to triple digits: emperors from Mesopotamia to Peru were the fathers of hundreds of children. In human societies, as in other animal societies, reproductive skew goes up with a more sedentary life.
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State abstinence education programs and teen birth rates in the US
Colin Cannonier
Review of Economics of the Household, March 2012, Pages 53-75
Abstract:
Title V, Section 510 of the Social Security Act, passed in 1996 and implemented in 1998, appropriates funding to states for the purpose of educating minors on the benefits of abstinence before marriage. Despite considerable research on the impact of abstinence education on teen fertility outcomes, high quality population-level studies on state abstinence education using panel data are absent. This paper uses state-level data to analyze the impact of abstinence education on the birth rates for teens 15-17 years by evaluating the Title V, Section 510 State Abstinence Education (SAE) program. For an average state, increasing spending by 50000/year on SAE can help avoid approximately four births to teenagers, resulting in net savings of 15,652 to the public for each birth avoided.
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Variation in State Unintended Pregnancy Rates In the United States
Kathryn Kost, Lawrence Finer & Susheela Singh
Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, forthcoming
Context: Newly available data show large differences in rates of unintended pregnancy across states. Because key policy and program decisions that could affect these rates are made by state governments, it is important to assess whether characteristics of the states are associated with this variation.
Methods: Regression analysis was used to assess the relationship between the variation in state unintended pregnancy rates in 2006 and state-level aggregate measures of demographic composition, socioeconomic conditions, contraceptive use, and funding of and access to family planning services.
Results: State unintended pregnancy rates were positively associated with the proportion of resident women who were black or Hispanic. However, these associations were almost entirely accounted for by differences in the age and marital status of women, the proportion without health insurance and the proportion receiving Medicaid. In addition, these last two measures were strongly associated with state unintended pregnancy rates after the other measures were controlled for: An increase in the proportion of women uninsured was associated with elevated unintended pregnancy rates, and an increase in the proportion receiving Medicaid coverage was associated with reduced rates.
Conclusions: State programs and policies should pay particular attention to increasing support for family planning services for minority groups. Findings also suggest that insurance coverage and receipt of Medicaid among women of reproductive age deserve further exploration as potentially important mechanisms for reducing state unintended pregnancy rates.
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Three Strategies to Prevent Unintended Pregnancy
Adam Thomas
Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, forthcoming
Abstract:
This paper presents results from fiscal impact simulations of three national-level policies designed to prevent unintended pregnancy: A media campaign encouraging condom use, a pregnancy prevention program for at-risk youth, and an expansion in Medicaid family planning services. These simulations were performed using FamilyScape, a recently developed agent-based simulation model of family formation. In some simulation specifications, policies' benefits are monetized by accounting for projected reductions in government expenditures on medical care for pregnant women and infants. In a majority of these specifications, policies' fiscal benefit-cost ratios are less than 1. However, in specifications that account additionally for projected savings to programs that provide a broader range of benefits and services to young children, all three policies have benefit-cost ratios that are comfortably greater than 1. The results from my preferred specifications suggest that the simulated policies would produce returns to taxpayers on each dollar spent of between $2 to $6. On the whole, the results of these simulations imply that all three policies are sound public investments.
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Veronika Halvarsson, Sara Ström & Fredrik Liljeros
Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, February 2012, Pages 85-91
Aims: The aim of this study is to examine the association between the prescription of oral contraceptives and the incidence of chlamydia, and between the prescription of oral contraceptives and the number of abortions in a population-based ecological study.
Methods: For this study we used register data from the Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control (chlamydia incidence), the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare (number of abortions), Statistics Sweden (population data), and Apoteket (Swedish pharmacy) (prescriptions for oral contraceptives). We conducted ordinary least squares regression analysis of the association between chlamydia or abortions and the prescription of oral contraceptives.
Results: The prescription of oral contraceptives has a positive association on both the incidence of chlamydia and the numbers of abortion. Our best model predicts that prescription of 100 yearly doses of oral contraceptives increase the abortions by 3.3 cases among 16-year-old women and 0.7 cases among 29-year-old women, while cases of chlamydia increase by 6.7 among 16-year-old women and 1.5 among 29-year-old women.
Conclusions: Our findings indicate that the use of oral contraceptives among young people and young adults is positively associated with the chlamydia incidence and the abortion rate in these populations in Sweden.
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Boguslaw Pawlowski & Agnieszka Zelazniewicz
American Journal of Human Biology, forthcoming
Objectives: Neonatal weight and health depend on many epigenetic and environmental factors and also on a child's genes as inherited from the mother and the father. The "Hunting for Good Genes" (HfGG) hypothesis claims that women pursue short-term mating strategies in order to obtain good genes for their progeny. If this is true, one should expect that in comparison to children born in long-term relationships (LR), children born in short-term relationships (SR) should have a larger neonatal size and be healthier.
Methods: To test the HfGG hypothesis, and whether sexual strategy influences neonatal parameters, we used an on-line questionnaire aimed at mothers. Totally, 1,558 women took part in this study, and among them 130 conceived their first-born child in a short-term relationship (SR mothers) and 1,428 in a long-term relationship (LR mothers).
Results: There was no difference between those two groups of children in terms of birth weight and Apgar score. Although we found no difference in the occurrence of genetic diseases and birth defects between SR and LR boys, the girls born by LR mothers were healthier than those born by SR mothers. We also did not find any difference in the sex ratio of the children born to SR and LR mothers.
Conclusions: The results of our study do not support the "Hunting for Good Genes" hypothesis for the first born child. In the contemporary western society of the study, women do not seem to derive genetic benefits expressed as child condition at birth from short-term relationships.
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Use of Levonorgestrel Emergency Contraception In Utah: Is It More than "Plan B"?
Lindsay Melton, Joseph Stanford & Jann Dewitt
Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, forthcoming
Context: It is important to understand why some women use levonorgestrel emergency contraceptive pills repeatedly, because the method is not intended for repeated use, and current evidence suggests that it is approximately 77% effective at preventing pregnancy.
Methods: An anonymous patient survey of 1,040 women aged 18-29 purchasing levonorgestrel at Planned Parenthood clinics in Utah was conducted during a 4-6-week period in 2007. Chi-square tests and analyses of variance were used to examine associations between selected characteristics and level of levonorgestrel use. Logistic regression was used to assess characteristics independently associated with repeated use.
Results: Twenty-nine percent of participants had used levonorgestrel more than twice in the prior year. Fifty-eight percent believed that levonorgestrel is at least 90% effective in protecting against pregnancy; 16% believed that it is 100% effective. In univariate analyses, lifetime number of partners, currently having multiple partners, substance use at last intercourse and perceived effectiveness of levonorgestrel were positively associated with repeated levonorgestrel use in the previous year. The measure most strongly associated with repeated levonorgestrel use in multivariate analyses was perceived effectiveness: Women who believed that the method is 90-99% or 100% effective in preventing pregnancy had greater odds of repeated use than those who believed it is 75-89% effective (odds ratios, 1.8 each).
Conclusion: Women who repeatedly use levonorgestrel may have an inflated perception of its effectiveness. Future research, including qualitative research, may help clarify factors that lead to inflated perceptions of effectiveness.
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May Lau, Hua Lin & Glenn Flores
Journal of Adolescent Health, February 2012, Page S14
Purpose: Adolescent pregnancy is a major U.S. public-health problem, but little is known about clusters of factors associated with the highest and lowest prevalence of partner pregnancy for adolescent males. The study goal was to identify factors that, when clustered, are associated with the highest and lowest pregnancy prevalence for US adolescent males.
Methods: The National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) is a nationally representative survey of 15-44 year olds. Bivariate analyses of the public 2002 and 2006-08 NSFG cycles were performed to identify factors associated with partner pregnancy in males 15-19 years old. Recursive partitioning analysis (RPA) was done to identify markers which, when combined, are associated with the highest and lowest partner pregnancy prevalence in adolescent males.
Results: The partner pregnancy prevalence for 2,506 U.S. adolescent males was 3%. In bivariate analyses, compared with males never involved with a pregnancy, males involved with a pregnancy were significantly (p<.05) more likely to have public insurance (51% vs. 26%), have accompanied their female partner to a family planning clinic/Planned Parenthood (PP)(45% vs. 6%), agree that unmarried females can have children (74% vs. 57%), and feel uncomfortable talking with their female partner about condom use (79% vs. 48%), and less likely to have received first contraceptive education <= 6th grade (10% vs. 24%). In RPA, males who had never accompanied their female partner to a family planning clinic/PP had a 2% partner pregnancy prevalence vs. 15% in those who had ever accompanied their female partner to a family planning clinic/PP. The combination of ever accompanying female partners to family planning clinics/PP, ever HIV tested, agreeing a man should work and a woman should take care of the home, and age of first sexual activity >14 years old was associated with the highest partner pregnancy prevalence (78%). The combination of ever accompanying female partners to family planning clinics/PP, ever HIV tested, agreeing a man should work and a woman should take care of the home, and age of first sexual activity <=14 years old had a partner pregnancy prevalence of 39%.
Conclusions: The following cluster of factors was associated with three in four U.S. males impregnating their female partners: ever accompanying their female partner to a family planning clinic/PP, ever HIV tested, agreeing a man should work and a woman should take care of the home, and age of first sexual activity >14 years old. Partner pregnancy prevalence was only 39% for those who never went with their female partner to a family planning clinic/PP. These findings suggest that pregnancy prevention efforts may be most promising when they target adolescent males characterized by the combinations of ever going to a family planning clinic/PP, ever testing for HIV, holding traditional views on male and female roles in the home, and older age at first sexual activity.
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Grandparental investment and reproductive decisions in the longitudinal 1970 British cohort study
David Waynforth
Proceedings of the Royal Society: Biological Sciences, 22 March 2012, Pages 1155-1160
Abstract:
There has been a recent increase in interest among evolutionary researchers in the hypothesis that humans evolved as cooperative breeders, using extended family support to help decrease offspring mortality and increase the number of children that can be successfully reared. In this study, data drawn from the 1970 longitudinal British cohort study were analysed to determine whether extended family support encourages fertility in contemporary Britain. The results showed that at age 30, reported frequency that participants saw their own parents (but not in-laws) and the closeness of the bond between the participant and their own parents were associated with an increased likelihood of having a child between ages 30 and 34. Financial help and reported grandparental childcare were not significantly positively associated with births from age 30 to 34. Men's income was positively associated with likelihood of birth, whereas women's income increased likelihood of birth only for working women with at least one child. While it was predicted that grandparental financial and childcare help would increase the likelihood of reproduction by lowering the cost to the parent of having a child, it appears that the mere physical presence of supportive parents rather than their financial or childcare help encouraged reproduction in the 1970 British birth cohort sample.
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Intergenerational Transmission of Reproductive Behavior during the Demographic Transition
Julia Jennings, Allison Sullivan & David Hacker
Journal of Interdisciplinary History, Spring 2012, Pages 543-569
Abstract:
New evidence from the Utah Population Database (UPDB) reveals that at the onset of the fertility transition, reproductive behavior was transmitted across generations - between women and their mothers, as well as between women and their husbands' family of origin. Age at marriage, age at last birth, and the number of children ever born are positively correlated in the data, most strongly among first-born daughters and among cohorts born later in the fertility transition. Intergenerational ties, including the presence of mothers and mothers-in-law, influenced the hazard of progressing to a next birth. The findings suggest that the practice of parity-dependent marital fertility control and inter-birth spacing behavior derived, in part, from the previous generation and that the potential for mothers and mothers-in-law to help in the rearing of children encouraged higher marital fertility.
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Chelsea Bernhardt Polis & Laurie Schwab Zabin
Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, forthcoming
Context: Perceived infertility is an individual's belief that she or he is unable to conceive or impregnate, regardless of whether this belief is medically accurate. This perception may lead to contraceptive nonuse, which may, in turn, lead to unintended pregnancy. Little research has examined perceived infertility among young adults, including potential associations with contraceptive behaviors.
Methods: The frequency of perceived infertility among young adults was assessed using 2009 data from a nationally representative telephone survey of 1,800 unmarried men and women aged 18-29. Multinomial regression analyses assessed associations between respondents' perceived infertility and selected background, reproductive knowledge, sexual experience and contraceptive use characteristics.
Results: Overall, 19% of women and 13% of men believed that they were very likely to be infertile. Hispanic women and women who had received public assistance in the past year had elevated odds of perceived infertility (odds ratios, 3.4 and 3.0, respectively), as did Hispanic men and men of other racial or ethnic minorities, except blacks (2.5 and 6.1, respectively). Men who had some college education, had received sex education or were not in a current relationship had decreased odds of thinking they were very likely to be infertile (0.3-0.4). Among men, perceived infertility was associated with the belief that they were likely to have sex without using a contraceptive in the next three months (2.6).
Conclusions: A substantial proportion of young adults believe they are infertile. Improved provider counseling and sex education may be useful in helping them to better understand their actual probability of infertility, and this knowledge may lead to improved contraceptive use.