PubMed HealthSearch

SEARCH · PubMed Health

Results for “Marriage Patterns”

Explore indexed PubMed citations for clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health research. Read source abstracts and follow each citation to its original PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

Fertility, infertility and child survival of Somali women.

The relationship of reproductive patterns, some socio-economic factors and child survival was studied in 766 rural Somali women. A structured questionnaire was the method of data collection. Teenage marriage was the norm for the women, and divorce was very common. The mean number of live births was 5.2, and the mean number of surviving children was 3.7. 2/3 of the women aged 45+ had a parity of 6 or more, about one third had had at least one miscarriage and one fifth had experienced one stillbirth. Primary infertility was observed in 7% of the women aged 45+, while 20% were considered subfertile. Verbal autopsy showed that mortality was highest among infants and accounted for 63% of the child deaths. Major causes of death were neonatal tetanus, diarrhoea and respiratory diseases. Child survival and reproductive outcome ratios were found to be negatively related to the increasing age of the mother and parity. Divorce and widowhood were also found to be associated with low child survival.

Abortion, Spontaneous

Effects of maternal birth season on birth seasonality in the Canadian population during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Birth records of the French-Canadian population for the period 1621-1765 were analyzed retrospectively to examine the effect of maternal birth season on the seasonal distribution of births. Preliminary examination indicated that there was a bimodal pattern in birth seasonality: a major peak in early spring, a trough in early summer, a minor peak in autumn, and a trough around December. Because this seasonality was strongly biased at the level of the first birth by the month of marriage, which was concentrated in November, the seasonality of nonfirst births (n = 32,926) was examined in relation to the four seasons of maternal birth. Mothers born in May-July showed a flatter monthly distribution of nonfirst births at a maternal age of 28 years or more. Analysis of marriage-first birth intervals indicated that mothers who married in August-October showed a lower percentage of immediate conception (intervals of 8-10 months), whereas those mothers born in May-July had a higher percentage of immediate conception. This difference in birth seasonality shown by mothers born in May-July is similar to results from early twentieth-century Japan. Some seasonal infertility factors could have affected the embryos at the earliest stage of pregnancy, modifying a part of the seasonal variation in birth rate.

Birth Intervals

Nuptiality and fertility in the Dominican Republic.

Women in marital unions had more live births than those in consensual unions. The relationship between cumulative fertility and the number of fertile sexual unions is positive for the early childbearing years and negative for the later ones. There is no consistent pattern of relationship between fertility and the sociocultural independent variables for different subgroups according to nuptiality pattern. The relationship between fertility and nuptiality in the Dominican Republic is consistent with that for the Caribbean region.

Adolescent

The pattern of reproductive life in a Berber population of Morocco.

Reproductive patterns were studied from data collected in 1,450 Berber households in the province of Marrakesh, Morocco in 1984. Women aged 45-49 years had a mean of 8.9 pregnancies to achieve 5.7 living children. Social influences on fertility rates show the importance of tradition, particularly through time-dependent variables such as age at marriage, waiting time to first birth, interbirth intervals, and duration of breastfeeding. Birth control does not appear to affect the tempo of fertility; rather, its main use is to bring the reproductive period to a close. The comparison of two subsamples of women separated by a 25-year interval indicates an actual acceleration of the tempo of fertility by the reduction of waiting time to first birth and of interbirth intervals. The supposed ongoing process of demographic transition is not clearly observed in this population.

Adolescent

Traditional belief and practice among the Pokot people of Kenya with particular reference to mother and child health: 1. The Pokot people and their environment.

In order to provide effective and sympathetic health care in a community, it is essential to have a detailed understanding of the culture. This is particularly true when one is concerned with the health of mothers and their children. The Pokot people of Kenya have developed a social structure and cultural practices which aim to optimize the chance of survival of the community in an often difficult and hostile environment. When examined in detail, some of these practices are seen to be beneficial, while others are associated with significant morbidity and mortality, especially in the area of mother and child health. In recent times, Pokot society has been in a phase of transition, influenced by new opportunities of educational, economic and social interaction, particularly since the completion of a tarmac road through the district in 1983. While many of these changes are undoubtedly beneficial to the community, they have been associated with a disintegration of traditional Pokot society and accompanied by changing patterns of existing diseases, as well as the opportunity for introduction and dissemination of diseases which were previously absent from or rarely encountered in the area.

Adolescent

Social structure and U.S. inter-state fertility differentials in 1900.

This paper investigates the importance of agricultural land shortages versus modernization of the society in influencing inter-state differentials in fertility in 1900, when the United States was in mid-transition. Urbanization and manufacturing characteristics of states were the strongest correlates of variations in the index of total fertility because urban-industrialism depressed both the probability of marriage and marital fertility. Other modern characteristics of American states were also important in understanding variations in marital fertility. Low labor force employment of children and farm mechanization, integrally related characteristics, seemed to depress levels of marital fertility in many parts of the United States, independent of the urban-industrial system. Agricultural land opportunity had little overall effect on marital fertility; however, it was quite important in understanding variations in patterns of marriage.

Adolescent

Population structure of the Indian people: some microevolutionary aspects.

Some aspects of population structure, namely village endogamy, marital distance and consanguinity in India are discussed. These parameters show social and geographic variation. The role of culture is of great importance in determining the mating pattern of a population. In the Indian situation, group endogamy in general does not cause inbreeding. Consanguinity is a cultural phenomenon of long-standing tradition, and so far there is no strong indication of a temporal change.

Biological Evolution

Phenotypic consequences of nonrandom migration in the Jirels of Nepal.

The phenotypic structure of human populations is shaped by a number of factors such as population size and marital migration. This paper examines the impact of migration on the between-village phenotypic differentiation of the Jirels, a tribal group of eastern Nepal. Data on stature and five cranial measurements for 526 individuals (males and females) are utilized to illustrate the patterns of phenotypic variation. A permutation method is used to generate the phenotypic consequences of random migration constrained to observed levels of movement. The results suggest that Jirel migration is nonrandom and that it produces higher levels of phenotypic differentiation than would result from a random migration process.

Adult

Sociologic aspects of adolescent fertility and childbearing among Hispanics.

This paper reviews several sociologic factors associated with fertility and childbearing among Hispanic teens. The influences of acculturation, patterns of prenatal care and pregnancy outcome among Hispanic adolescents are discussed. Statistics related to birth weight, to onset of prenatal care, and marital status of the mother are also reviewed by age and ethnicity. Suggestions on how to enhance health care access among Hispanic teens are provided.

Acculturation

Use of obstetric services in rural Nigeria.

The pattern and determinants of maternal service utilization were studied in a rural Nigerian community. The study sample consisted of 488 randomly selected women who had a childbirth or an abortion between May 1987 and September 1989. Although 93% registered for prenatal care in a health care institution, only 51% delivered in a health institution while 49% delivered at home mainly under the care of traditional birth attendants. Factors found to be most consistently associated with the use of health institutions for delivery were maternal education and occupation, religion, and occupation of the husband. Maternal age, parity and marital status and place of the residence were not significantly associated with the choice between home and institutional delivery. Logistic regression analysis was used to determine the odds ratio and to quantify the weight of these independent variables found to be significantly associated with the place of delivery as the outcome variable.

Adult

Temporal variation in the mating structure of Sanday, Orkney Islands.

Pedigree and vital statistics data from the population of Sanday, Orkney Islands, Scotland, were used to assess temporal changes in population structure. Secular trends in patterns of mate choice were analysed for three separate birth cohorts of spouses: 1855-1884, 1885-1924 and 1925-1964. The degree to which mating was random or assortative with respect to both genealogical and geographic distance was determined by comparing average characteristics of all potential mates of married males with those of actual wives. We integrated this procedure, originally developed by Dyke (1971), into a three-fold investigation of population structure: (1) comparison of random and non-random components of relatedness as measured from pedigree data; (2) an analysis of marital distance distributions for actual and potential mates of married males; and (3) the relationship between genealogical relatedness and geographic distance. As population size decreased from 1881 to the present, total kinship and spatial distances between spouses increased. Whereas the random component of relatedness increased over time, consanguinity avoidance was sufficient to decrease the total coefficient of kinship over time. Part of the increase in consanguinity avoidance was associated with isolate breakdown, as distances between island-born spouses, as well as the total amount of off-island migration, increased from the mid-nineteenth century to the present. Mate choice was influenced by geographic distance for all time periods, although this effect diminished over time. Since decreases in population size, concomitant with increases in consanguinity avoidance and community exogamy, have probably occurred quite frequently in small human populations, as well as in rural Western communities in the past century, observed secular trends illustrate the potential for change in population structure characteristic of isolate breakdown.

Consanguinity

Genetic microdifferentiation in the Semai Senoi of Malaysia.

Blood samples, demographic and cultural data were collected from seven settlements of Semai Senoi, a swidden farming ethnic group of Malaysia. Three genetic loci (ABO blood group, hereditary ovalcytosis, and hemoglobin) were analyzed in a total sample of 546 individuals. These data indicate a considerable degree of genetic microdifferentiation in this area of the Semai distribution. Parent-offspring birthplace data (analyzed by means of a migration matrix) and settlement histories show that settlements are not strongly isolated. Genetic differences in the study area demonstrate a reasonable correspondence with migration and the history of the settlements. Genetic convergence also occurs through the addition of migrant groups to established populations leading to new patterns of marriage between donor and recipient groups. The genetic structure of the total Semai population through time thus comprises a mosaic of shifiting allele frequencies in a series of semi-isolated local populations.

ABO Blood-Group System

A comparison of definable traits in women requesting reversal of sterilization and women satisfied with sterilization.

More women of reproductive age are being sterilized. Some of these women regret the decision and subsequently request a reversal of sterilization, whereas others do not. This study was undertaken to develop a profile of easily definable traits of 159 women who requested a reversal of sterilization and compare it with that of 160 women who apparently were satisfied with sterilization. Statistically significant differences were found. Remarriage was the most common cause for regret among women in the group which requested reversal of sterilization. Women in this group married younger, completed their family earlier, and were sterilized at a younger age. These women had significantly fewer live children and had undergone more therapeutic abortions (p less than 0.005).

Abortion, Therapeutic