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Biomedical subjects

S H Preston

Publications and source records attributed to S H Preston.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources
PubMed1983

An integrated system for demographic estimation from two age distributions.

This paper presents a simple method for estimating a birth rate and a level of mortality for an intercensal period. The birth rate is estimated from the intercept of a line fitted to data and the level of mortality from the slope of that line. The formula that is developed is based upon a recent generalization of stable population relations. An estimate of childhood mortality level is an optional but significant piece of additional input. An important by-product of the procedure is an estimate of the true age distribution.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

The incidence of divorce within cohorts of American marriages contracted since the Civil War.

The proportion of marriages that end in divorce can be estimated from vital registration or from census data. The former source suggests considerably higher levels of divorce than does the latter. A new series, combinig the two sources, is presented for annual marriage cohorts back to 1867. Actual experience to 1970 is traced and a projection beyond that point is made for cohorts with incomplete divorce histories. The cohort divorce series moves steadily upwards and shows much less variability than an equivalent series of period divorce rates. Factors related to high divorce within a cohort are armed service mobilization and high unemployment rates in the year of marriage, and slow national economic growth between pre- and post-marital periods.

Divorce↗
PubMed1976

Family sizes of children and family sizes of women.

This paper demonstrates the relation that obtains between the average family size of women and the average family size of offspring of those women. It estimates the value of these two measures for cohorts of American women aged 45-49 in various years from 1890 to 1970. It shows that children born during the post-war baby boom actually derived from smaller families than those born during the low-fertility 1930's; that under current patterns a woman would have to bear an average of almost two children fewer than were borne by her mother merely to keep population fertility rates constant from generation to generation; and that average family size for nonwhite children exceeds that for white by 50 percent, although the racial difference in family sizes of women is only 19 percent.

Ethnicity↗
PubMed1976

[Causes of death responsible for international and intertemporal variation in sex mortality differentials].

Relative to a particular level of female mortality, male mortality is lower than expected, currently and historically, in Northwestern Europe, Southeastern Europe, and Tropical Latin America; it is higher than expected in Western-Central Europe and in the Far East. The geographical pattern of differentials is attributable primarily to variation in the masculinity of mortality from cardiovascular diseases, neoplasms, and influenza/pneumonia/bronchitis. Over time, male mortality has increased relative to a particular level of female mortality, and these same causes of death are principally responsible. In the 1960's, high masculinity of mortality was associated independently with low proportions in primary activities, high proportions hiring in large cities, and with high discrimination against females in school enrollment combined with poor nutritional standards. The former two variables once again operate primarily through cardiovascular disease, neoplasms, and the respiratory diseases, whereas the discrimination-nutrition interaction appears to operate through infectious diseases. Variations in levels of economic modernization are capable of accounting for a substantial portion of the regional differences, although certain constitutional factors such as physiotype are also plausibly implicated, and they are also congruent with trends in sex mortality differentials.

Asia↗
PubMed1975

The influence of women's work opportunities on marriage rates.

Several authors have argued that increased work opportunities for women have helped to produce a reduction in the average age at marriage in the United States. This paper tests this proposition on data for the 100 largest SMSA's in 1960. Using ordinary least-squares regression, we find that areas of relatively attractive female employment opportunities had relatively low proportions of women ever married in the age interval 22-24. Other variables significantly related to the proportion married in an SMSA are its sex ratio, percent Catholic, and number of inhabitants. A decline in the sex ratio and improvements in female employment opportunities appear to have been equally influential in producing declines in proportions married between 1960 and 1970.

Adult↗