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The present paper is part of a larger analysis of data collected in the summer of 1970 in the city of Cairo. The present analysis is based on a sub- sample of 569 households. The main objectives of the paper are: [(1)] to establish the existence of a difference between actual fertility and ideal fertility; [(2)] to show that the difference is related to some socio-economic and modernization variables; and [(3)] that differences in actual and ideal fertility in different social groups are similar and [(4)] that these differences can be explained to a substantial extent by differences in the use and the use-effectiveness of contraception. Respondents were asked how many children they wished to have themselves and also how many children they would want or consider ideal for Egyptians generally. Husbands also expressed their preferences. This is what Stycos calls a fertility belief system the sum total of consciously held beliefs and attitudes common to a group which have explicit preference to fertility behaviour. (excerpt)

This paper examines the relationship between the number of partnerships ever engaged in and fertility, as measured by the average number of live births. It was found that the larger the number of partnerships in which a woman had been engaged the higher is her fertility. This relationship between partnerships and fertility remains even when such variables as present age, age at first partnership, age at first pregnancy, time lost between unions, time spent in partnerships, time since entry into the first partnership, type of sexual union at first pregnancy, present type of sexual union, and current use or non-use of contraceptives are controlled by cross tabulation. Correlation analysis also bears out the positive relationship between partnerships and fertility. The data for this study came from a sample survey of 4,199 women of lower, and lower middle, socio-economic status who were interviewed in 1971 on the island of Barbados. The authors have confidence in the reliability and validity of their data and hence in their findings and conclusions. The authors believe that their findings contradict the previously established positive relationship between patterns of stability of sexual unions and fertility in English-speaking Caribbean societies. They conclude that the relationship was either not rigorously examined in the past or else has undergone changes as these societies modernize economically and socially.

This paper discusses the suitability of data on the fertility of polygamous marriages for drawing inferences on the effect of coital frequency on fertility. The author concludes that it may be possible to utilise these data, provided polygamous husbands distribute their sexual activity among all their wives, so that coital frequency for a polygamous wife is lower than that of a monogamous one. Polygamous Arab Beduin may be supposed to have intercourse regularly with all their wives. The author shows that childlessness is higher among first and second polygamous wives than among monogamous ones, and that the average number of children per fertile woman is lower. The higher incidence of childlessness may be due to response errors, or may demonstrate that childlessness is an incentive to polygamy. But the smaller average number of children per fertile woman shows a real differential. It is also shown that although the number of children born to polygamous women is smaller than that of monogamous wom...

The paper shows that persons who have passed matriculation differ from the rest of the population in marital status and the number of live births. Marriage frequency among male students is higher, and that among female students lower, than that for the urban population of the same age. The proportion of childless marriages is smaller among male students than among the rest of the population. The trend of fertility has been different for students as compared with other males of the same age. Fertility among students (of 1910 and 1920) has risen and among the rest of the population of the same age it has fallen. The most striking difference between the students and the rest of the population is to be found in the fact that for the students there is a positive and for the rest of the (urban) population a negative correlation between income and number of children. Finally, the data suggest that among Swedish students there may be a slight positive correlation between intelligence and number of children.

In this paper are formulated some convenient summary measures of fertility patterns. These measures, which are based on the Gompertz function, are total lifetime fertility, median age of mothers at childbirth, and inter-quartile range of age of mothers at childbirth. Estimates of the parameters of Gompertz function, based on Canadian data, are used to derive, for each of the summary measures, values which reflect historical fertility experience, and thus give an impression about the range of realistic values for these measures. A simple model of demographic activity which includes the Gompertz function is also considered, and this model is used in computer simulation experiments to determine the macro-demographic effects of changes in each of the three summary measures.

Summary This paper describes the results obtained in administering a modified Terman intelligence test to 327 Greek children aged from 7 to 12 years. A negative correlation between intelligence and family size was obtained. The results are compared with those obtained in similar inquiries in Britain and the U.S.A.

In this paper data relating to men born in 1924 in the two southernmost counties of Sweden, and called up for military service in 1944 are analyzed. The population registers yield certain demographic and social information about these men, and this may be related to their performance in an intelligence test administered when they were called up. The association between test scores and level of schooling on one hand, and such variables as nuptiality, age at marriage, number of sibs, marital fertility, the incidence of pre-nuptial conceptions and occupational class is discussed, and an estimate of the influence of differential fertility on the trend of intelligence is given.

Summary This paper analyses the replies to certain questions on ideal family size, family planning and the limitation of offspring and attitudes towards the use of contraceptives of 1,022 white married women recently interviewed in a Johannesburg fertility survey. Replies to questions on the above topics are correlated with certain sociological variables such as home language, religion, educational status, family income and occupation. The application of these controls to the sample data revealed some interesting differences in outlook with regard to family size, family planning and the use of contraceptives. Home language and religious affiliation were found to be amongst the most important variables. Generally speaking, in spite of some significant differences in fertility attitudes between certain groups composing the sample population, there appeared to be a good deal of uniformity with regard to ideal family size, family planning and the use of contraceptives.

The paper summarizes the procedure usually employed by Enke, Meier and others to estimate the benefit-cost ratio of a prevented birth. Some possible deficiencies in the formulation, the possible lack of relevance of the resulting computations, are considered. For example, since the benefit-cost ratios are exceptionally high they would imply unusually high rates of investment for family planning. The results would also apply for the birth prevention of not only high parity births, but also for first and second children. Some arguments are presented which suggest the possibility that the income distribution might be worsened as a consequence of the application of a family planning programme based on these principles - especially those which employ subsidies to induce the practice of family limitation. In addition it is also argued that the average economic quality of the population may be lower than otherwise as a consequence of such programmes, and that the consequences of such events are not taken into account in the usual formulation. Also the usual estimates of costs of such programmes are questioned since the relation between acceptances and births prevented are unknown given the lack of knowledge about the substitution between the proposed methods of family limitation and other means of population control. Finally, we present a model based on reasonable but different assumptions than the formulation popularized by Enke and others, and show that on the basis of this model it is possible to obtain results which are the exact opposite of the Enke model. Also it is argued that the model presented is much more sensitive to actual data than the usual formulation.