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Biomedical subjects

R R Rindfuss

Publications and source records attributed to R R Rindfuss.

29 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1979

Convenience and the occurrence of births: induction of labor in the United States and Canada.

This paper, using data for the United States and Canada on number of births by day of the week, presents indirect evidence for the widespread incidence of the practice of elective induction. For both the United States and Canada, it is found that substantially fewer births occur on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays than on weekdays. Controlling for such factors as prenatal care, race, education, legitimacy, birth weight, and time trend strongly suggests that the induction of labor is responsible for the patterns found. The paper concludes by discussing the framework within which the practice of elective induction of labor should be evaluated and justified.

Appointments and Schedules↗
PubMed1978

A fertility reaction to a historical event: southern white birthrates and the 1954 desegregation ruling.

On 17 May 1954 the Supreme Court, in its decision in Brown v. Board of Education, declared de jure segregation of the public schools to be unconstitutional. It is argued here that a consequence of that decision was a decline in childbearing among white Southerners. In the nation as a whole, period fertility rates increased between 1954 and 1955, but in 9 of the 11 former Confederate states they decreased. Further analysis shows that these Southern fertility decreases began about 12 months after the Supreme Court decision. This variation in behavior in reaction to a historical event has important implications for the explanation and prediction of fertility.

Birth Rate↗
PubMed1978

Elective induction and stimulation of labor and the health of the infant.

This study examines a large heterogeneous sample to determine whether elective induction and stimulation of labor have a beneficial or deleterious effect on the health of the infant. Previous studies have reached contradictory results, partly because of the small sample sizes employed. This study uses a multiple regression analysis of New York City birth certificate data from 1968. We find a small, but significant, negative effect on the newborn of both elective induction of labor and elective stimulation of labor. When hospital care context is allowed to vary, much larger negative effects were found within municipal hospitals and to a lesser extent on service wards of voluntary hospitals. Although 1968 findings cannot be applied to 1978, the implications are clear.

Apgar Score↗
PubMed1978

Age and marital status at first birth and the pace of subsequent fertility.

Taking care to minimize the truncation bias inherent in cross-sectional data and controlling for other variables, this paper demonstrates the strong effects of both age and marital status at first birth on the pace of subsequent fertility. These effects are particularly strong in the interval immediately following the first birth but persist even into the fourth interval. Important differences are found with respect to the experience of rapid fertility, rather than in the mean lengths of intervals. These results add to the growing attention to the social dimensions of age as a variable in fertility processes.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1976

Patterns of births: implications for the incidence of elective induction.

This paper, using data for the State of Wisconsin on number of births by day of the week, presents indirect evidence for the widespread incidence of the practice of elective induction. It is found that substantially fewer births occur on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays. Controls for birth order, type of delivery, and time trend reinforce the possibility that elective inductions are responsible for the patterns found. Implications of the patterns found are discussed.

Birth Order↗
PubMed1976

Annual fertility rates from Census data on own children: comparisons with vital statistics data for the United States.

This paper begins by describing the procedure and data requirements for calculating annual fertility rates from census data on own children. Then, using data from the United States Censuses of 1960 and 1970, fully adjusted estimates are presented and compared with recorded vital statistics rates. Total fertility estimates derived from own children data for whites average less than two percent lower than the recorded rates- a difference that can be attributed partially to the fact that the estimates are adjusted for net census undercount but the recorded rates are not. Even without adjustments for mortality, children not living with their mothers, and net census undercount, the own children data estimates accurately replicate recorded trends (even though the levels are misspecified). The utility of own children data for the study of differential fertility is discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Medical and contraceptive reasons for sterilization in the United States.

Over the past two decades, the proportion of sterilizations--for both contraceptive and noncontraceptive reasons--among women of reproductive age (WRA) has risen in the United States. In 1982, more than one in ten WRA were sterilized for noncontraceptive, or medical, reasons. However, the rationales these women had for undergoing sterilization were not always clear-cut; often a mixture of medical and contraceptive reasons were given. In this study, Cycle III data from the National Survey of Family Growth, 1982, were used to investigate the determinants of different types of sterilization decisions--sterilizing for contraceptive, medical, or "mixed" reasons. It is important to recognize this "mixed" component of sterilization motivation. Parity and, to a lesser degree, education have consistent effects on differentiating these types of rationales, which appeared to have somewhat different patterns among black and white women.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The effect of marital dissolution on contraceptive protection.

An analysis of data from the 1973 and 1976 National Surveys of Family Growth indicates that although marital disruption affects contraceptive practice, the patterns of contraceptive behavior among separated women who remain sexually active are very similar to those of women who remain married. Women about to separate rely less on barrier methods than do continuously married women, and this pattern persists after separation. It is likely that coitus-related methods are less frequently used because they require cooperation between the spouses. In addition, coitus-related methods are probably used less after separation because these methods are less effective, and unintended pregnancies are less desirable in the intermarital or postseparation period. As might be expected, both before and after separation, women who experience marital dissolution are less likely than the continuously married to be sexually active. The difference is greater after separation, but the major finding is the similarity of separated and continuously married women with respect to both coitus and contraceptive protection.

Contraception↗
PubMedDate not supplied

How old is too old? Age and the sociology of fertility.

Are we due for a new baby boom as couples who had postponed childbearing begin to make up for lost time? Analysis of National Fertility Study data suggest that "later means fewer"--quite apart from the declining fecundity that occurs at older ages. Couples who delay having children until relatively late in life are subject to fewer pressures to have children (or more children) even as the reasons not to begin (or increase) their families become more salient.

Adult↗